Circuits Assembly articles from July 2004

Circuits Assembly archives from July 2004

Lead free: how to deal.(Editorial)
July 1, 2004... Author and speaker Jack Shaw gave us the news: Either keep learning or be absorbed by your competitor. At the recent IPC Technology Market Research Council (TMRC) meeting held in Baltimore, MD, Shaw put forth, "Every business in this room will...

Cookson Electronics CEO Sharpe resigns.(Industry News)
July 1, 2004... Cookson Group plc (London, UK, www.cookson.co.uk) has announced that Raymond Sharpe, chief executive officer of the electronics division, has resigned his position and left the company. Sharpe will join Texas Pacific Group, the equity firm that...

Key Electronics chooses Aegis Software.(Industry News)
July 1, 2004... Aegis Industrial Software Corp. (Horsham, PA, www.aiscorp.com), a provider of manufacturing productivity software, has announced that Key Electronics (New Albany, IN, www.keyelectronics.com) has purchased the entire scope of Aegis software to...

LaBarge acquires Pinnacle Electronics.(Industry News)
July 1, 2004... LaBarge Inc. (St. Louis, MO, www.labarge.com) has completed its acquisition of Pinnacle Electronics LLC (Pittsburgh, PA). The purchase price of the acquisition, which was made by a wholly owned subsidiary of LaBarge, was $41 million in cash....

Data I/O offers support for TI's digital signal controller.(Industry News)
July 1, 2004... Data I/O Corp. (Redmond, WA, www.dataio.com), a provider of manual and automated programming systems, announced high-volume programming support for Texas Instruments' (TI, Dallas, TX, www.ti.com) TMS320F2810 digital signal controller on its...

VDC, Circuits Assembly launch 3-D CSP market study.(Industry News)
July 1, 2004... Venture Development Corp. (VDC, Natic, MA, www.vdc-corp.com), a technology market research firm, and Circuits Assembly (Atlanta, GA), a UP Media Group publication, are launching a multiclient market research study analyzing global market...

NEMI user group issues Tin Whisker recommendations.(Industry News)
July 1, 2004... The National Electronics Manufacturing Initiative (NEMI, Herndon, VA, www.nemi.org) has issued a set of interim recommendations for lead-free component finishes to be used in high-reliability electronics applications to minimize the risk of...

Pentaplex gets the lead out of hot air soldering.(Industry News)
July 1, 2004... Pentaplex Inc. (Elgin, IL, www.pentaplexinc.com), a small, privately owned printed circuit board (PCB) fabricator, has finished pilot testing a lead-free hot air leveling (HAL) process that meets its customers' requirements with a minimum of...

Lead-Free Workshop gives Hands-On experience.(Industry News)
July 1, 2004... On May 25-26, Henkel Technologies, Engent, KIC, Speedline Technologies and Siemens Dematic presented a two-day Hands-On Lead-Free Technology Workshop in Norcross, GA. The program provided participants with a variety of information concerning...

"Made in America" host Ratzenberger to keynote ATExpo.(Industry News)
July 1, 2004... Assembly Technology Expo (www.atexpo.com) will take place Sept. 28-30 in Rosemont, IL, and will feature a keynote address by actor John Ratzenberger. He is the producer and host of the Travel Channel's John Ratzenberger's Made in America series...

SMTA International offers Lead-Free Technology information.(Industry News)
July 1, 2004... The Surface Mount Technology Association (SMTA, Minneapolis, MN) is co-locating its annual conference, SMTA International (www.smta.org/smtai), with the Assembly Tech Expo (ATExpo) on September 26-20, in Rosemont, IL. Many events are...

Electronics manufacturing outlook: midyear TMRC check.(Market Watch)
July 1, 2004... At the IPC Technology Market Research Council's (TMRC) May meeting in Baltimore, the speakers concurred on their midyear business outlooks for electronics manufacturing: Orders are steadily up, but modest for some sectors, with intense price...

Q&A with Hal Stern, CTO, Sun Services.(The Fine Pitch)
July 1, 2004... Circuits Assembly: Give us an overview of Sun Services and its products. Hal Stern: Sun Services teams with partners to provide customers with control of their information technology (IT) environments through codeveloped solutions. Our...

Predicting the next downturn: high gas prices, inventories and interest rates may derail the current economic growth.(On the Forefront)
July 1, 2004... This year is turning out to be a good one for the electronics industry. Foundries are operating at capacity, many integrated circuit (IC) package contract assembly lines are full and assembly and test equipment is back-ordered. With personal...

One step closer to lead-free standards: IPC's technical committees continue to work on revisions for expected release in the fall.(Standard Features)
July 1, 2004... IPC's J-STD-001 and IPC-A-610 technical committees are pushing to get lead-free assembly acceptance criteria in the next revisions. More than 40 members of the two committees met for a week in early May to continue work on these projects. ...

Effect of high-temperature requirements for lead-free solder: although the thought of processing lead-free solder moves us out of our traditional comfort zones, the information and techniques needed to be successful are available.(Cover Article)
July 1, 2004... Lead-free solder processing is a major topic at industry conferences and in many electronics magazines' articles and advertisements. Like it or not, lead-free solder processing is here, and it will affect us all sooner or later. The...

NEPCON Shanghai recap: the world grows smaller.(On the Road)
July 1, 2004... If you want to do business in China, you have to be in China. There are no two ways about it. In fact, you should not just be focused on China but on all of Asia, including Japan, Vietnam, Korea and Taiwan. --Nithia Devan, Assembleon ...

Join our EAX program today! Electronic assembly exchange.(Assembly Insider: Special Advertising Section)(Advertisement)
July 1, 2004... * MAXIMIZE THE RETURN OF SURPLUS ASSETS with global exposure through online auctions * EAX program delivers $20M in gross proceeds over one year to clients worldwide * Proven effective asset disposition solution for surplus assets ...

Electronic reprints.(Assembly Insider: Special Advertising Section)(Advertisement)
July 1, 2004... Electronic reprints show your clients, partners and employees that you have been recognized in a well-respected industry magazine. They also serve as an attractive endorsement, adding credibility to your company and its products and services....

ESSEM TEC: production equipment for electronics.(Assembly Insider: Special Advertising Section)(Advertisement)
July 1, 2004... LEAD FREE SOLDERING ESSEMTEC--the leading Swiss manufacturer of low/midsize volume production equipment presents the latest technology in lead free capable REFLOW OVENS. RO300FC Table top or stand alone full convection reflow oven...

PCB UPdate: news and resources for PCB industry professionals.(Assembly Insider: Special Advertising Section)(Advertisement)
July 1, 2004... PCB UPdate is a semimonthly e-mail newsletter from UP Media Group, which provides subscribers with the terrific editorial content and expertise of UPMG's two industry magazines: Printed Circuit Design & Manufacture and Circuits Assembly....

PCB depaneling systems.(Assembly Insider: Special Advertising Section)(Advertisement)
July 1, 2004... Tab-routed and scored board depanelers are showcased in this new Fancort brochure. Seven different pneumatic and electrically powered benchtop systems are described, including the NE52 programmable tab router for processing densely populated,...

Supply chain collaboration: managing the most-effective supply chain.(Focus on Business)
July 1, 2004... Over the past several years, U.S. manufacturers have been developing strategies and techniques for supply chain collaboration in an effort to remain competitive in the face of increasing global competition. Supply chain collaboration is a...

Stencil and screen printing Q&A: a list of some of the most frequently asked questions concerning screen printing in electronics manufacturing.(Screen Printing)
July 1, 2004... This article is a review of frequently asked questions and answers concerning stencil and screen printing issues in the electronics manufacturing industry. Specifically, it addresses issues such as how to determine appropriate speed for various...

High volume repair system.(Product Spotlight)
July 1, 2004... For repair challenges arising from component failure, assembly error, device revision and firmware updates, the Fineplacer high volume rework system automatically sequences the repair steps: component (including shield cans) de-solder and...

Automated gold wire bonder.(Product Spotlight)
July 1, 2004... The Model 8000 gold ball-and-stitch thermosonic wire bonder incorporates a 300 X 150 mm x-y range linear motor actuated positioner carrying a dual axes voice coil driven bond head with a rectilinear z-stroke of 800 mils (20 mm). The software...

Needle cleaning station.(Product Spotlight)
July 1, 2004... The XyflexPro needle cleaning station helps manage material build-up on the needle tip and prevents material drip. When combined with the bent needle detection option, the system maintains process integrity by minimizing the potential for...

Flip chip bonder.(Product Spotlight)
July 1, 2004... The 8800 FC Quantum enables high throughput in a single machine for a variety of flip chip applications. The machine's dual bonding system (DBS) consists of two flip modules, two gantries--each fitted with a bond head and substrate camera, two...

X-ray inspection system.(Product Spotlight)
July 1, 2004... The XiDAT XD7600 inspection system provides for oblique angle views of up to 70[degrees] for any position 360[degrees] around the 458 X 407 mm inspection area. The system can inspect ball, bond and wire interconnections on ball grid array (BGA)...

Stud bumper.(Product Spotlight)
July 1, 2004... The WaferPRO Plus is a high-speed, single-pass stud bumper that handles wafers up to 300 mm. It bonds 22 bumps-per-second, depending on bump type, size and pitch, offers [+ or -] 5 [micro]m positional accuracy at 3 sigma and can bump down to 65...

Laser wafer scribing system.(Product Spotlight)
July 1, 2004... The ChromaDice UV diode-pumped solid-state (DPSS) laser system delivers high-speed wafer scribing with typical yields greater than 99% at less than $2 per wafer. The laser scribing process cuts a well-defined chip with consistently narrow cuts...

How much protection is enough? Ask yourself these five questions concerning ESD protection--you might not like your answers.(ESD)
July 1, 2004... Perhaps the most frequently asked question in static control is straightforward and basic: How much protection is enough? [TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII] The question is usually triggered by the need to make certain choices: If I have...

Is white residue a reliability risk? Not all white residues pose a threat to performance.(Process Doctors)
July 1, 2004... I am frequently asked if white residue is a problem. The answer depends on what the source of the white residue is and what caused it to turn white. [TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII] The white flaky residues seen on assemblies are often...