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BALVE, GERMANY – Solder materials supplier Balver Zinn Group has acquired a global license for solder pastes and wire using Nihon Superior’s SN100C alloy.
 
The licensees will sell SN100C bars and ingots in territories only assigned by Nihon Superior; DKL services the UK and Ireland, while Balver Zinn covers areas from the Atlantic coast of Europe to India.
 
Balver Zinn also said its recently acquired Cobar business unit will introduce a suite of Pb-free paste wire and flux products. Existing Cobar products will not be affected.
 
SN100C is a patented nickel-stabilized SnCu alloy, based on the eutectic Sn99.3Cu0.7% with a trace amount of nickel.
SCOTTSDALE, AZ – Notebook PC unit sales are forecast to increase at a cumulative average growth rate of 18% per year this decade (2000-2010) compared to a CAGR of 4% for desktop PCs, reports IC Insights.
 
PCs have accounted for a third or more of the world's IC revenues since the early 1990s. Through the end of this decade, the status of PC systems will not change, despite periods of slow annual growth rates for units shipped and worldwide revenues from products. Stronger growth rates, however, are materializing worldwide in the notebook segment, says the research firm.
 
Of a PC system's total cost, an estimated 30% is represented by IC components in 2007. This percentage is expected to rise steadily through by 2011, partly because PC system prices will fall slightly faster than IC ASPs. IC content in PCs will also be driven higher by the growth of embedded cameras in computers, which will contain CMOS image sensors, analog-to-digital converters, and image signal processors, along with the advent of solid-state disks and hard-disk cache systems built with NAND flash memory ICs, says IC Insights.
 
Of the $220.3 billion IC market in 2007, 33% is estimated for PC-related devices. While several other existing and new IC system applications are showing stronger growth rates, the huge PC segment is expected to account for no less than 32% of the integrated circuit market through 2011.
MANASSAS, VA – A recently published study on proper flip chip cleaning confirms an optimized cleaning process will ensure all flux residues from the die-attach process be removed from the narrow capillaries between the flip chip and the substrate.
 
Zestron, the study’s author, found the cleaning process has to be adapted to the low standoff of flip chip components, which is influenced by bump height. Other important factors affecting the cleaning process are bump pitch and array, as well as flux type and volume, wafer passivation, and the time prior to cleaning, the firm says.
 
Cleaned assemblies were subjected to long-term reliability tests to determine the achieved cleanliness level, Zestron says.

SAN JOSE, CA – Worldwide semiconductor sales in October rose to $23.1 billion, an increase of 5% year-over-year, and an increase of 2% sequentially, the Semiconductor Industry Association reported today.   Read more ...
BANNOCKBURN, IL – October rigid PCB shipments were down 0.8% and bookings were down 1.7% year-over-year, IPC said today. Flexible circuit shipments were down 8.6% and bookings were up 0.2% year-over-year.
Read more ...
LOS ALTOS, CA – Third-quarter PC shipments were up 15.5% year-over-year, says research firm Henderson Ventures.

PC growth has rebounded with the help of low-cost shipments to the emerging economies, along with the slowly growing acceptance of Microsoft’s Vista operating system, and global PC shipments growth has been accelerating, reports Henderson.

For 2007, unit shipments are predicted to hit 264 million, a growth rate of 11.6%, says the firm.

The traditional two-year cycle is forecast to continue through 2009, but without a major dent in the expected growth rate for next year.

The introduction of WiMax is expected to have a positive impact on PC purchases in 2009; as WiMax becomes an accepted technology, laptop computer owners will increasingly want to acquire the capability via a new portable PC, much as PC owners traded up when WiFi became available, says Henderson.

Also, the impact of the Vista OS is likely to peak in 2009. However, global saturation, including many emerging markets, will tamp down the achievable growth rates for the foreseeable future. And even though a sizeable 10.2% increase is predicted for 2009, that pace is far below peak levels achieved in the past, including the 17.9% burst in 2005, reports the researcher.

 

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