News
Sponsored by the ESD Association (Rome, NY), the 2004 EOS/ESD Symposium will package research, technology and education into one international electrostatic discharge (ESD) event Sept.19-23 at the Gaylord Texan Resort and Conference Center in Grapevine, TX.
The program is organized in three special interest tracks: ESD Test, Failure Analysis and Systems; Factory, Materials and ESD Control; and Device, Design and Technology. Attendees will be able to customize their experience along their specific areas of interest.
This year's symposium features 51 papers to be presented in 10 parallel technical sessions: MR Heads - Processing; RFIC and Novel Protection Devices; System Level and Other ESD Issues; On-Chip Protection Strategies, Physics and Modeling; Tester - Device Effects; Analysis and Modeling of ESD Design Failures; Factory and Materials; Characterization of On-Chip Protection; Novel TLP Testers; and Magnetic Recording Heads.
The technical sessions also feature the award winning paper from the 2003 RCJ EOS/ESD Symposium-Japan: ESD Protection Design Using a Mixed-Mode Simulation for Advanced Devices by H. Hayashi, S. Kuroda, K. Kato, K. Fukuda, S. Baba and Y. Fukuda of Oki Electric Industry Co., Ltd.
The week's events open with three full-day ESD tutorials. An additional 17 tutorials will be offered throughout the week, covering topics such as Air Ionization: Issues and Answers; Packaging Principles for the Program Manager; Device Technology and FA Overview; Electrostatic Calculations for the ESD Engineer; and Cleanroom Considerations for the Program Manager.
A two-day seminar, ESD Program Development and Assessment (ANSI/ESD S20.20), will take place on September 19-20.
Eight interactive workshops will cover Silicon Technology Scaling and ESD Reliability - Roadmap and Reality; Common Auditing Issues; ESD in Cleanrooms; Can TLP Go Beyond HBM and CDM?; Ionization Issues; Automated Equipment, ESD and Grounding Issues; ESD in Magnetic Recording, and HBM-TLP Testing Miscorrelation: Experiences, Explanations and Solutions.
Attendees also will have the opportunity to visit exhibit booths displaying ESD control products and services. The exhibits are open to anyone interested in EOS and ESD; symposium registration is not required to attend the exhibits.
Other events include a Welcome Reception, an Awards Breakfast, a Professional and Technical Women's Reception, the ESD Association Annual Meeting and Luncheon, Authors' Corners to discuss the technical papers with the authors and ESD training presentations.
The detailed program is available at: www.esda.org/symposia.html.
Copyright 2004, UP Media Group. All rights reserved.
Hover-Davis, Inc. (Rochester, NY) has hired Darrell R. Tullar as Marketing Manager. In this new role, Tullar will lead global technical and promotional marketing activities and strategies. His focus will be on market growth and increasing sales.
Tullar comes to the company with over 24 years of experience in the electronics industry. He has held positions in customer service, product management, marketing and sales, while at Motorola, Universal Instruments & PMJ Automec.
Copyright 2004, UP Media Group. All rights reserved.
The Surface Mount Technology Association (SMTA, Minneapolis, MN) is co-locating its annual conference, SMTA International, with the Assembly Tech Expo on September 26-30, in Rosemont, IL.
Many events are planned for industry professionals who have an interest specifically in lead-free soldering technology. To help industry professionals prepare for the 2006 deadline, this year's event will feature eight short courses, close to 40 technical papers and a Lead-Free Soldering Symposium.
The short courses will cover: Lead-Free Solder Joint Reliability; Lead-Free Conversion Project; Real Time Process Control, Including Lead-Free; Lead-Free Rework; Lead-Free Surface Finishes; Implementing Lead-Free at Your Facility; The Real Cost of Lead-Free; and Ten Steps to an Effective RoHs Compliance Process.
The technical papers will cover printing, selective soldering, moisture-sensitive devices (MSD), rework, ball grid array (BGA), flip chip, harsh environments, surface finishes, automated optical inspection (AOI), x-ray, tin whiskers, lead-free materials, processes and reliability.
Organized by Dr. Paul T. Vianco of Sandia National Labs, the symposium will provide technical information on alternative materials systems, tin whiskers, lead-free processing techniques and the growing knowledge base of lead-free solder joint reliability, as they related to lead-free technology.
Additionally, a free session entitled "Lead-Free: Where Are We Right Now?" will explore the transition from standard leaded solders in a volume-manufacturing environment with papers from Agilent, Flextronics and Indium Corp. of America. The SMTAI Opening Ceremony will focus on RoHS Compliance.
Copyright 2004, UP Media Group. All rights reserved.
The National Electronics Manufacturing Initiative's (NEMI, Herndon, VA) Tin Whisker User Group has released a draft proposal of tin whisker acceptance test requirements. As part of its efforts to help suppliers and users minimize the exposure to problems associated with tin whiskers, the group has developed the document to provide testing requirements and acceptance criteria for evaluating devices with tin finishes in high-reliability applications.
As the electronics industry moves toward lead-free assemblies, a simple manufacturing solution is to use pure tin, or alloys with high tin content, as coatings on lead-frames. However, tin is known to be susceptible to the formation of needle-like protrusions, or whiskers, and tin whiskers are a reliability concern. They can cause electrical shorts, disruption of moving parts or degraded RF/high-speed performance. Tin whiskers may grow between adjacent conductors of different potentials and cause either a transient short circuit if the whisker is burned open, or a permanent short if the whisker remains intact. At shorter lengths, whiskers may create a stub-type effect that degrades performance of high-speed/high-frequency circuits. Additionally, whiskers can potentially break loose and, as debris, cause mechanical or other electrical problems.
"System developers face two key problems," said Joe Smetana, principle engineer, advanced technology for Alcatel and chair of the NEMI Tin Whisker User Group. "First, there is no scientific consensus on whisker formation and growth fundamentals, despite five decades of research. Second, there is no standard set of tests that can accelerate whisker formation and growth and relate these tests to field conditions with any reasonable degree of certainty. These issues make it difficult for developers to safely specify tin-based lead-free finishes for components used in their products, particularly those concerned with high-reliability or design life of more than five years."
NEMI has previously published recommendations for test conditions for evaluating tin whisker growth and for mitigation practices to help prevent whisker formation. The latest publication combines practices established by the previous documents and adds information such as test lengths, failure criteria, number of parts and additional bias voltage testing. It provides guidelines for post finishing inspection and preconditioning; outlines a flowchart for acceptance requirements; provides a framework for a qualification test report; and defines requirements for process controls and periodic testing.
The Tin Whisker User Group has scheduled a meeting on June 2, in conjunction with the IEEE Electronic Components and Technology Conference (ECTC), in Las Vegas, NV. The group will review the proposed test requirements with suppliers and solicit feedback on the practicality of implementing the various recommended mitigation and testing approaches. Supplier inputs during the meeting will be considered by the User Group for possible modifications to the test requirements.
The draft of the NEMI acceptance test requirements document is available at http://www.nemi.org/projects/ese/tin_whisker_activities.html.
Copyright 2004, UP Media Group. All rights reserved.
Assembly Technology Expo will take place Sept. 28-30 in Rosemont, IL, and will feature a keynote address by actor John Ratzenberger, producer and host of the Travel Channel's John Ratzenberger's Made in America series that honors the creative and entrepreneurial spirit of American manufacturing. Ratzenberger will share insights that he has gained visiting American factories and working alongside the men and women who produce many of America's best-loved products, including Harley Davidson motorcycles, Chevy Corvettes, John Deere tractors, Craftsmen tools, Zippo lighters and Slinky toys.
"We can't imagine a more fitting way to mark ATExpo's 25th year than a tribute to the greatness and inventive spirit of American manufacturers," said Kelvin Marsden-Kish, vice president of the assembly family of events, produced by Reed Exhibitions. "Mr. Ratzenberger is clearly passionate about great American products and respects the skill and dedication of the men and women who create them. He has become a highly effective advocate of American ingenuity at work and of manufacturers who invest in the effort to maintain a competitive edge here in the U.S."
For Ratzenberger, manufacturing is much more than an abstract concept. It's a way of life and a source of pride that ties communities and generations together. The son of blue collar working parents in one of the northeast's leading industrial cities, Ratzenberger grew up with the idea that Americans were hardworking inventors and problem solvers. Before turning to an acting career, he worked as a carpenter and takes pride in pointing out the houses that he helped build to his children. Despite his celebrity status, Ratzenberger still regards himself as a garage tinkerer. He holds five patents for a packaging process that he invented.
"I've always had a high regard for people who put their hands to something useful," Ratzenberger said. "A tool and die maker is an artist on par with those who display their works in expensive art galleries. A painter can always paint over a mistake. But when you work with tolerances of 1/1000th of an inch on a spinning lathe, you can't afford to be careless."
Ratzenberger is perhaps best known for his portrayal of the know-it-all, nebbishy mailman Clifford C. 'Cliff' Clavin, Jr. in the sitcom Cheers. His movie acting credits include roles in Superman and Superman II; Star Wars V-The Empire Strikes Back; Ghandi; and all five of Pixar's animated feature films, providing the voices for Hamm in Toy Story and Toy Story 2, PT Flea in A Bug's Life, the Abominable Snowman in Monsters, Inc. and a school of moonfish in Finding Nemo.
Copyright 2004, UP Media Group. All rights reserved.
Led by its members, IPC (Northbrook, IL) pushed for a fair, open and rules-based international trading system at its recent Capitol Hill Day, an industry lobbying event.
In more than 50 appointments with lawmakers, senators and their staff, IPC's Government Relations Committee and more than 40 industry leaders lobbied Congress to enforce the U.S.' international trade agreements and more aggressively officiate U.S. trading partners' obligations under the World Trade Organization and other international trade agreements. In particular, Capitol Hill Day attendees asked Congress to keep the pressure on U.S. trading partners that manipulate their currency in order to gain a competitive and trade advantage over their U.S. counterparts.
During his keynote address, Rep. Donald Manzullo, chairman of the House Small Business Committee, emphasized that lower business costs, not protectionist trade policies, will revitalize the U.S. manufacturing sector.
Congressman Phil English (R-Pa.) concurred with Manzullo in his address, as he discussed his countervailing duty bill and other congressional efforts that help level the playing field with foreign competition.
"After a three-year absence, IPC's GR Committee decided to bring back this important program to assist our members in continuing the industry recovery," said IPC President Denny McGuirk. "IPC's lobbying efforts, though, extend beyond this one-day event and cover a vast array of policies that greatly impact today's U.S. electronics manufacturer. Presently, we are lobbying to reduce the corporate tax rate on U.S. manufacturing and production income by 3%, and, to maintain competitiveness, we are supporting the extension of the research and development tax credit and the bonus 50% depreciation. IPC staff is also working on several important environmental initiatives, including a reduction of Toxics Release Inventory (TRI) reporting burdens, a broader exclusion of all recycled materials and development of lead-free labeling and materials declaration."
After recent lobbying efforts at the state and local level, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's recently signed the California's Workers' Compensation Reform Bill, which promises to save up to $7 billion a year for the state's employers. IPC also successfully opposed a bill in Maine that would have banned all brominated flame retardants, including TBBPA-the main flame retardant in printed circuit boards.
Copyright 2004, UP Media Group. All rights reserved.
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