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The Surface Mount Technology Association (SMTA, Minneapolis, MN) has announced the program for the International Wafer Level Packaging Congress on Oct. 10-12 in San Jose, CA. The program is now available live on the SMTA Web site.

The exhibition will track leading-edge IC packaging and test technologies with special emphasis on 3-D stacked packaging. It includes a three-day technical program and two days of exhibits presented by leading suppliers to the semiconductor packaging and testing industry.

Full details on the courses, technical sessions and special events can be found at: http://www.smta.org/iwlpc/.

Valor Computerized Systems (Yavne, Israel), a provider of manufacturing productivity solutions to the electronics industry, announced that IPC (Northbrook, IL) has recognized the company with its Special Recognition Award. This award, presented on behalf of the printed circuit board (PCB) and electronics manufacturing services (EMS) industry, their suppliers and customers, is in appreciation of Valor's commitment in developing IPC-2581, Generic Requirements for Printed Board Assembly Products Manufacturing Description Data and Transfer Methodology, and its donation of the ODB++ (X) format.

"By generously donating their ODB++ format to the IPC committee working on IPC-2581 and by providing volunteer committee support from their development group in Israel, Valor made tremendous contributions to the development of this new standard and notably displayed its dedication to the industry," said David Bergman, IPC's vice president of standards and technology. "The time and travel commitment to the two-year standard was significant on Valor's behalf, and IPC would like to recognize Valor's efforts to and support of the industry."

The standard is the result of three years of a collaborative industry initiative, initially started by the National Electronic Manufacturing Initiative (NEMI) and followed by IPC's standardization effort. The standard is in XML schema and was built on Valor's ODB++ format, with added data concepts from IPC's GenCAM standard (IPC-2511B).

www.valor.com

www.ipc.org

IPC (Northbrook, IL) recently presented Mateusz Czerw, Eric Li and Edwin Moy with $500 scholarships from the IPC Electronics Assembly Scholarship Fund, an endowment the association established to support the electronics program of Curie Metropolitan High School in Chicago, IL. IPC also donated $1,000 to the school for additional educational materials and equipment for Curie's electronics program.

In addition to maintaining a 3.0 GPA in electronics, sustaining a 90% attendance record and establishing a history of achievement in electronics at the school, the students were selected by Curie's electronics instructor, technical department counselor and education-to-careers coordinator for submitting exemplary written essays that described their post-secondary educational plans and future career goals.

"IPC has always valued education and we will continue to support efforts that grant students an opportunity to further their training in the electronics field," said IPC president Denny McGuirk.

In 2003, Circuits Assembly magazine and Technology Forecasters financed the $10,000 fund through a portion of entry fees from past Service Excellence Awards programs. IPC donates $2,500 each year to the career academy that includes a magnet school for the arts, a vocational/technical program and an international baccalaureate program.

IPC selected Curie Metropolitan High School as the sole beneficiary because of the school's three-year industrial electronics course that gives students work-oriented, hands-on experience using the latest advancements in business and technology. Curie is one of the only high schools in the U.S. to use IPC-A-610C, Acceptability of Electronic Assemblies, as a standard in its industrial electronics curriculum.

www.ipc.org

Cognex Corp. (Natick, MA), a supplier of machine vision systems and vision sensors, will host a new series of free machine vision seminars in major North American cities this fall. The Understanding and Applying Machine Vision Sensors half-day events show how vision sensors can perform automated inspection tasks in the automotive, medical, pharmaceutical, food and beverage, consumer products and electronics industries.

Designed as an introduction for factory automation professionals responsible for production efficiency and product quality, each seminar combines a machine vision basics tutorial with live demonstrations of the new industrial grade In-Sight 5000 Series vision sensors and ID readers. The tutorial covers how vision sensors work in manufacturing applications to accurately gauge, guide, identify and inspect products to reduce scrap costs and inventory problems and achieve a high level of product quality.

In addition to walking away with an understanding of the fundamentals of implementing a successful vision solution, participants will receive free In-Sight Explorer trial software on a CD, which provides hands-on experience developing vision applications from start to finish. The CD also includes application examples, preliminary design considerations, a multi-media tutorial on building vision applications, lighting and optics videos and a utility package that helps determine the field of view and resolution requirements of vision applications.

The seminars will run from August through December in major cities across the U.S., Canada, Mexico and Puerto Rico. Register online at www.cognex.com/seminar or call (800) 677-2646.

Eleven Cookson Electronics employees representing offices around the globe have been awarded the Presidents Award for their work in 2003. The awards were officially presented at a ceremony at the Castle Hill Inn and Resort, Newport, RI, in May, with 65 employees and guests in attendance.

Doreen Agnew, Robert Wallace, Gary Klimala, Robert Cahill, Wim van Ravenswaay, Rich Caron, Rick Correia, Stephen Whitehead, John Tremblay, Mark Foster and Axel Fuhrmann were presented awards for specific achievements that have gone above and beyond their day-to-day responsibilities with direct impact on the business.

"This is a very prestigious honor that recognizes the highest level of performance within our organization," said Allan MacDonald, vice president of human resources. "These employees should be very proud of their accomplishments."

The ceremony included an opening video and introductions of each recipient, along with a description of his or her accomplishment by the individuals who nominated them for the recognition award.

Cookson Electronics is a supplier of assembly materials, semiconductor packaging and specialty chemicals and coatings used in the electronics assembly and surface finishing industries.

www.cooksonelectronics.com

Cookson Electronics Assembly Materials (Jersey City, NJ) will implement a tin surcharge covering the dramatic increase in the cost of tin on all invoices for ALPHA solder paste when the London Metal Exchange price exceeds $9,500/metric ton. The surcharge calculation is based on official LME pricing (www.lme.co.uk) which confirmed that tin prices more than doubled in the last six months over the previous two-year average.

In May, the price of tin broached the $10,000/per metric ton psychological level. Adding to the upward price pressure on tin, some analysts and research groups suggest that the production of tin for 2004 will be approximately 6% less than the demand. Prices for other metals over the same period have also risen sharply with copper up 91%, lead up 128%, nickel up 146% and silver up 95%. The surcharge does not address the cost increases for these metals.

"This year-long run up in the cost of tin has hit us particularly hard," said David Zerfoss, president of Cookson EAM. "An example of its impact is that 63% of 90% of the solder paste we ship worldwide is tin...Given this severe cost increase situation and the importance of tin in the assembly process, we are forced to ask our customers to share the burden with us. As soon as tin prices drop below $9,500/metric ton, I will rescind the surcharge."

www.alphametals.com