BERLIN – The International Electronics Manufacturing Initiative is sponsoring a workshop here on the technical and regulatory challenges anticipated in the implantable and portable segments of the medical electronics industry.  

The event is scheduled for Sept. 16 and 17 and will focus on identifying the technology challenges and standardization gaps that can best be solved by collaborative efforts by the medical electronics industry.

Workshop discussions will cover research programs, regulatory requirements/processes, and technology deployment challenges.

The event will include speakers from Endicott Interconnect Technologies; IMEC; IZM; Med-el; Micro Systems Engineering; Reinhardt Microtech, and Sanmina-SCI.

For information and to register, visit http://www.inemi.org/cms/calendar/Medical_Pkg_Sept2010.html. 

CONKLIN, NY – The first Advanced Research in Electronics Assembly Consortium meeting of the year began with an update on the effects of print paste volume on drop test performance for 0.4 mm pitch CSPs.

The discussion migrated toward thermal characterizations, with a look at the reliability of thermal interface tapes, followed by in-depth studies of unique methods for enhancing the performance of filled polymeric thermal bond lines.

The thermal interface assembly “cookbook” was also reviewed at the event, hosted by Universal Instruments’ Advanced Process Lab.

A look at the overall robustness and reliability of electronics assemblies under conditions of overstress, thermal and isothermal cycling, long-term aging, and more complex loading histories included a focus on BGA and CSP assemblies, but emphasis was placed on configurations found to behave differently.

Presentations looked at pad cratering and an analysis of intermetallic failures on electrolytic NiAu; Pb-free solder microstructure and reliability, including detailed discussions on the thermal cycling of Pb-free BGAs, TSOPs, QFNs and solder joints; thermal cycling and why TSOPs, QFNs, LGAs, and passives are all different from BGAs in this regard; and a look at the reliability of reballed components and Pb-free solder joints on ENEPIG pads.