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BAC GIANG, VIETNAM -- Luxshare Precision Industry will invest an additional $330 million in an electronics manufacturing plant in Bac Giang, a northern Vietnam province.

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DONGGUAN, CHINA ― Sasinno USA is pleased to announce plans to exhibit in Hall A2, Stand 275 at productronica 2023, scheduled to take place Nov. 14-17 at Neue Messe München in Munich, Germany. The company is gearing up to showcase its cutting-edge MAS-i2 Selective Soldering Machine with Electro Magnetic Pump and Unit-i1 selective soldering system, highlighting its commitment to revolutionizing electronics manufacturing.

The MAS-i2 Selective Soldering Machine boasts a three-section conveyor system, efficiently handling fluxing, preheating and soldering stages. By optimizing the workflow, the MAS-i2 reduces downtime and enhances production efficiency, with one board in soldering, another in preheating, and a third in fluxing. The system can accommodate two fluxer valves, offering flexibility to choose identical or different valves. For instance, the use of two drop jet valves can effectively double production, or a combination of a drop jet valve and a micro-spray valve enables simultaneous application of two distinct fluxes.

The soldering capabilities of the MAS-i2 are equally impressive, featuring two individual solder pots in separate Z-axis assemblies. This enables soldering on PCBs up to W508 x L508mm (20" x 20") for two nozzles individually or W235 x L508mm (9.25" x 20") for two parallel nozzles. The system's unique flexibility extends to solder pump options, allowing users to employ one solder pump, two pumps simultaneously for accelerated speed, or a combination of different nozzle sizes and solder types without the hassle of changing components.

The Unit-i1 is the latest generation compact inline selective soldering machine. This multifunctional solution integrates a drop jet fluxer nozzle, bottom IR preheating, selective solder pot, and AOI function within a space- saving 55" footprint. The Unit-i1 serves as a comprehensive station for fluxing, preheating, soldering, and inspection. Its versatility shines whether used as a standalone unit or as part of a modular system. For high-volume production, boards can be loaded consecutively, and for varied production needs, each machine can work independently.

With a global reputation for "Smart and Steady Innovation," Sasinno has cultivated a robust worldwide distribution network supported by well-trained engineers. For more selective soldering & turkey THT line solution details, visit www.sasinno.com 

will bruwer

Will Bruwer

Senior sales executive Will Bruwer has nearly 20 years’ experience selling advertising for magazines and other media. He is based in Atlanta. will@pcea.net / p: 404-313-1539

Frances Stewart

Frances Stewart

Vice president sales and marketing Frances Stewart oversees all sales and marketing functions for PCEA, including PCD&F/CIRCUITS ASSEMBLY, PCB UPdate, and the PCB East and PCB West trade shows. She is based in Atlanta. frances@pcea.net / p: 770-361-7826

BOHEMIA, NY – Q Source, a provider of custom solutions for the Bio-Medical, Electronic, Pharmaceutical Manufacturing industries, is excited to announce its strategic partnership with XDry Corporation, a renowned dry cabinet manufacturer. This collaboration brings XDry’s innovative dry cabinet solutions to Q Source’s extensive network of customers across multiple industries.

XDry specializes in providing a comprehensive range of low- humidity cabinets tailored to various needs, including storage for printed circuit boards, electronic moisture-sensitive devices (MSD), optics, laboratory equipment, industrial equipment, and more. These dry cabinets are designed to maintain precise humidity control down to 1%, ensuring the safe storage of valuable and moisture-sensitive materials.

XDry cabinets are distinguished by their exceptional efficiency in moisture control from substrates, materials and mediums. Equipped with an advanced LED control system, XDry cabinets automatically restore Relative Humidity (RH) levels to the user-defined set point, guaranteeing a controlled environment. What truly sets XDry apart is its use of a desiccator, offering an impressive lifespan of up to 15 years.

This longevity translates into a maintenance-free system with minimal operating costs, making XDry cabinets a cost-effective choice for businesses.

Key Features of XDry Cabinets:

  • Redundant drying capabilities
  • Three-year warranty
  • Competitive pricing
  • Precise humidity control (1% RH and higher)
  • Compliance with industry standards, including IPC/JEDEC J-STD-033 and IPC/JEDEC J- STD-020

Q Source, known for its unwavering commitment to delivering high-quality industrial solutions, is thrilled to add XDry cabinets to its product portfolio. This partnership aligns with Q Source’s mission to provide its customers with access to the latest and most innovative technologies available in the market.

To learn more about XDry cabinets and explore other top-tier brands offered by Q Source, please visit the Q Source website at www.qsource.com

CLINTON, NY – Indium Corporation Regional Technical Manager and Technologist – Advanced Applications Andreas Karch will present as part of EPP’s free web session on power electronics on October 19.

Power electronics are used in a wide range of applications, including energy transmission and conversion, electromobility, renewable energy, industrial equipment, and electric drives. Power electronics assemblies require the manufacture of the components and their assembly into a functional electronic assembly. The exact manufacturing processes vary depending on the type of power electronics assembly, the area of ​​application, and the specific requirements. To ensure high product quality and reliability, the manufacture of electronic assemblies for power electronics requires specialized facilities, qualified personnel, and strict quality control measures.

Andreas’ presentation, Reliable Cooling of Power Modules Through Optimized Solder Materials, will examine the use of optimized metal TIMs (thermal interface materials) in the context of power electronics manufacturing.

“High-performance power semiconductors such as SiC/GaN enable the design of high-performance power modules,” said Andreas. “An optimized thermal connection to the cooling system is vital to reliably harness this performance.”

Andreas serves as Technologist – Advanced Applications and Technical Manager for Germany, Austria, and Switzerland for Indium Corporation. He has more than 20 years of experience in automotive electronics and power electronics, including the development of advanced customized solutions. In 2014, the Austrian Patent Office awarded him the “Inventum” award for his patent for innovate LED automotive lighting as one of the top ten applicants. He is an ECQA-certified development engineer and has earned the Six Sigma Yellow Belt.

Components with Sn99 or other whisker-prone finishes can now be rapidly de-taped, tinned, cleaned and re-taped. 

Component finishes made up primarily of Sn99, with the remaining alloys being silver, nickel, copper, germanium or some combination thereof, have been known to result in tin whisker growth, increased tombstoning of smaller chip capacitors and resistors, reduced shelf life of components (a reduction in solderability over time) due to Sn99’s higher oxidation rates versus leaded finishes, and other issues.

While certain high-reliability products are exempt from RoHS and similar directives, all are ultimately affected as a result of component vendors’ desire to provide a common Sn99 finish. It is not economical for component suppliers to provide the same components in both Sn63 and Sn99 finishes. Gold as a final finish is seeing increased use as a protective coating to prevent oxidation, but must be removed in high-reliability soldering applications. As more components come only with gold finish, the need for rapidly de-taping, tinning to remove the gold using a dynamic wave, and then re-taping becomes more pressing.

Tin whiskers increasingly are problematic. Some studies detail the probability of tin whisker bridging.1 While high-reliability military, aerospace, avionics, traffic control, medical and industrial equipment are exempt from the RoHS Directive (and for good reason), all need to incorporate some type of whisker mitigation method to disposition Sn99-finished parts. Industry standards for high-reliability electronics specifically require whisker mitigation methods (tinning with at least 3% lead) be used for any components with a Pb-free finish, and the tinning must cover 100% of the component lead, not just the part to be soldered.Any gold on the component leads, no matter the thickness, shall be removed to prevent gold embrittlement. To achieve these objectives, many rely on some sort of tinning and component repackaging service, either performed in-house or by an outside provider. This traditionally has been a manual process due to the wide variety of component types and requirements, but increasing volumes and process variability are quickly rendering manual tinning costly and impractical. Here are some of the reasons:

  1. To prevent tin whisker growth, the entire portion of the component lead or termination must be coated, either with a SnPb alloy, or some other stress-mitigating alloy. The tinning solder must contain at least a 3% Pb alloy to be effective as a whisker mitigation method.
  2. At the same time, the molten solder should never make direct contact with the component body for more than two sec. to prevent damage to internal connections or lead-frames, which may lead to reduced reliability.3
  3. To apply solder coating over the entire component lead or termination right up to the component body without damaging the component, the immersion dwell time and depth must be precisely controlled so as to permit solder to wick up the last 0.003˝-0.005˝ of the termination, thereby preventing thermal shock damage to the component and leaving no portion of the Sn99 finish exposed. This requires a computer-controlled automated system. In addition, the tinning flux must be of the type that will remain on the component lead all through the tinning cycle to ensure good wetting.
  4. The solder level must be precisely controlled, such that an automated system can be fully utilized. Attempting to manually fill solder to a precise level within a pot, or to manually dip a component with the required precision and hold it for a dwell time measured in milliseconds, is humanly impossible.

As mentioned, oxidation issues with older Sn99-finshed components are just beginning to materialize. Because pure tin oxidizes much more rapidly than a lead-containing alloy, Sn99 parts have a shorter shelf life before wetting defects begin to add to the DPMO of any soldering process. In addition to the simple non-wetting or poor wetting defects, tombstoning can become a major issue when using oxidized Sn99 chip capacitors and resistors because either end may not wet as readily as the other, and this imbalanced wetting action is what causes the component to be pulled toward one pad or the other.

For those companies required to meet the Pb-free portion of the RoHS restrictions, tinning with SnPb37 solder to prevent whisker growth is not an option.

However, alloys such as Kester’s K100DL or Nihon Superior’s SN100C4 are doped with trace amounts of other alloys that may help inhibit tin whisker growth. These alloys can be used to tin components within the robotic tinning cell and will renew the component solderability of oxidized Sn99 components as well.

For these reasons, General Dynamic’s Advanced Information Systems group approached V-Tek to build a robotic tinning cell using a precise component handling system (Figure 1).

 

The robotic tinning platform performs the following steps:

  1. An Epson robot picks the component from either a standard eight to 45 mm tape fed into the de-taper, which is any feeder for most pick-and-place machines, or any JEDEC matrix tray. After processing the parts, a Hover-Davis re-taper is used to re-tape the parts. This TM-50 unit is integrated into the robotic platform and controlled by the robot software. Matrix tray locations are taught into the robot software (Figures 2 and 3). 
  2. The V-Tek robot is set up to use Mydata nozzles or those from other common pick-and-place machines.
  3. The robot then performs a process control inspection of the previously formed component leads using a Coherix 3-D camera system to inspect for bent or abnormal component leads, lead coplanarity, toe-to-toe span and heel-to-heel span to within 0.001˝. Rejects are placed in a reject tray for disposition or rework.
  4. After 3-D inspection, the robot applies a halide-free water-soluble flux specially formulated for automated tinning. This flux prevents bridging on fine-pitch leaded components.
  5. Next, the robot dips the component into a nitrogen-blanketed dynamic (flowing) solder pot (Figure 4). Immersion can be done within 0.001˝ z-axis accuracy for programmed increments of time down to 1 ms, and with the entire spectrum of component package styles such as SOICs, QFPs, SOT-X, connectors, and leadless chip capacitors and resistors down to 0402 size. The part can be dipped at virtually any angle, depth and dwell. 
  6. After the tinning step is completed, the robot precisely holds the component into a hot deionized water wash system that is an integral part of the platform (Figure 5), and then presents the component to an air knife system for drying.
  7. The robot then brings the tinned and cleaned component over a second Coherix 2-D inspection system (Figure 6) to verify there are no solder bridges, icicles or excess solder, insufficient solder coating, or other solder defects (Figure 7).  

  8. Next, the robot places the finished component back into a new tape or matrix tray or reject tray for disposition/rework (Figure 8). The tray position is programmable and can be taught to the machine.
  9. As previously described, de-taping of components is performed using pick/place feeders clamped onto the robotic platform, and the robotic software controls sequencing. Feeders from most major pick-and-place machines can be used.

The system can handle small quantities of components quickly and efficiently to meet the needs of flexibility when running small lots. In addition, the robotic tinning cell can be used for many other applications. One example is to use the robot to dip BGAs into the solder pot to a precise depth to remove the old solder balls as part of a BGA rework/reballing process.

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank Mark Jensen and George Andreadakis of V-Tek, and Dan Volenec and Mike Soltys of General Dynamics AIS, for their long and hard work in the development, debugging, programming and qualification of the Robotic Tinning machine.

References

1.    S. McCormack and S. Meschter, “Probabilistic Assessment of Component Lead-To-Lead Tin Whisker Bridging,” International Conference on Soldering and Reliability, May 2009.
2.    J-STD-001DS, “Space Applications Electronic Hardware Addendum to J-STD-001D Requirements for Soldered Electrical and Electronic Assemblies,” September 2009.
3.    Shirsho Sengupta and Michael G. Pecht, “Effects of Solder-Dipping as a Termination Re-finishing Technique,” doctoral thesis, August 2006.
4.    Keith Sweatman, personal communications.

Richard Stadem is a principal process engineer at General Dynamics Advanced Information Systems (gd.com); richard.stadem@gd-ais.comCornel Cristea is director of engineering at V-TEK Inc. (vtekusa.com).

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