Circuits Assembly articles from June 2005

Circuits Assembly archives from June 2005

Lightspeed: going mobile.(Caveat Lector)
June 1, 2005... Not many folks twice Rich Breault's age have his experience in electronics manufacturing--and he's all of 42. Still too young to have attained official tech guru status, Breault nevertheless has founded a pair of companies and for a spell...

Pb-free parts MIA.(Letters)(Letter to the Editor)
June 1, 2005... EPIC Johnson City has been ready for lead-free work for several months. We lack two things: a clamor from customers for it and complete availability of lead-free components--99% doesn't cut it. By and large, our customers are still in the...

Elcoteq Network Corp.(In Brief)
June 1, 2005... EMS provider Elcoteq Network Corp. (elcoteq.com) opened a plant in Bangalore, India, to manufacture telecommunications equipment. The facility will employ about 1,000 people.

Gemido.(In Brief)
June 1, 2005... Gemido will manufacture DEK's (dek.com) VectorGuard stencils and frames in France and Switzerland.

Assembleon.(In Brief)
June 1, 2005... Assembleon (assembleon.com) named APS France Equipments to represent its SMT placement line in France. The company also formally opened its China Competence Center in Shanghai to provide sales and service support, an application/demonstration...

Data I/O.(In Brief)
June 1, 2005... Data I/O (dataio.com) has expanded its alliance with Intel Corp. (intel.com) to provide flash memory programming. Intel will implement the devices in its new evaluation lab in the Philippines.

UGS.(In Brief)
June 1, 2005... PLM software provider UGS (ugs.com) announced that Alcatel-Shanghai Bell selected its Tecnomatix eM-Execution software for board assembly operations, traceability support and Pb-free compliance.

Synova.(In Brief)
June 1, 2005... Synova (synova.ch) opened a Japanese office to provide localized sales and support for its water jet-guided laser systems. The company also recently opened offices in Hong Kong and South Korea.

Siemens Logistics and Assembly Systems.(In Brief)
June 1, 2005... Siemens Logistics and Assembly Systems (siplace.com) opened a training facility at Senai University in Manaus, Brazil. It will provide SMT technology training for students and customers in the region.

PTC.(In Brief)
June 1, 2005... PTC (ptc.com) won a three-year agreement from Lockheed Martin, which selected Pro/Engineer as its preferred MCAD software.

Milco Marketing Inc.(In Brief)
June 1, 2005... Milco Marketing Inc. (milco.com) will represent International Manufacturing Services Inc. (ims-resistors.com) in Texas, Arkansas, Louisiana and Oklahoma.

Japan Unix.(In Brief)
June 1, 2005... Japan Unix (japanunix.co.jp) entered into a sales agreement with Christopher Associates Inc. (christopherweb.com) to distribute its robotic soldering systems in North America, including laser soldering systems and soldering irons for lead-free....

Nihon Superior.(In Brief)
June 1, 2005... Nihon Superior (nihonsuperior.co.jp) signed a license agreement enabling AIM (aimsolder.com) to manufacture and sell the Sn100C lead-free solder alloy throughout North America.

Cognex Corp.(In Brief)
June 1, 2005... Cognex Corp. (cognex.com), a supplier of machine vision systems, has acquired DVT Corp., a privately-held company based in Duluth, GA, for $104 million in cash, with another $11 million to be paid in one year.

Dimensions Consulting Inc.(In Brief)
June 1, 2005... Dimensions Consulting Inc. (dci-us.com) has doubled the size of its Santa Clara, CA, headquarters to include an in-house manufacturing division for its test sockets.

Photocircuits Corp.(In Brief)
June 1, 2005... Photocircuits Corp. (photocircuits.com) opened a PCB plant with Global Brands Manufacture Group (gbmgroup.com) in Kunshan, China. Three planned expansions over the next 18 months will increase capacity from 400,000 sq. ft. to 1.5 million sq....

Manufacturing Resource Corp.(In Brief)
June 1, 2005... Manufacturing Resource Corp. (mrc.com) will expand its operations into Grand Prairie, TX. The location will initially be set up for laser-cut stencil fabrication and later expand into tape and reel services.

Mouser Electronics.(In Brief)
June 1, 2005... Mouser Electronics (mouser.com) will distribute the Coto Technology (cotorelay.com) line of reed switches, reed relays and reed sensors.

Merix Corp.(In Brief)
June 1, 2005... PCB maker Merix Corp. (merix.com) will buy Eastern Pacific Circuits Ltd. for $120 million cash.

Rutronik.(In Brief)
June 1, 2005... Rutronik (rutronik.com), a European components distributor, has chosen Data I/O's (dataio.com) PS300 automated programming and handling system for device programming.

Nepcon east brings new products to Boston area.(Industry NEWS)
June 1, 2005... Boston -- Nepcon East/Electro, the longtime expo for electronics assembly, took place under chilly conditions in Boston. But that didn't deter decent-sized crowds from checking out the latest equipment and materials. The biggest exhibitors...

Does your customer service stack up?(Industry NEWS)
June 1, 2005... How dependable is your company? The Service Excellence Awards from CIRCUITS ASSEMBLY may be the best way for companies who care about customer service to prove their ability. The annual recognition program, now in its 14th year, is judged by...

Study: nickel plays role in stencil paste release.(Industry NEWS)
June 1, 2005... Flemington, NJ -- The nickel content of screen-print stencils appears to be the figure of merit when migrating to lead-free assembly, according to a DEK (dek.com) study on the impact of stencil materials on paste volume repeatability,...

Web sites aid Pb-free transition.(Industry NEWS)
June 1, 2005... Jersey City, NJ -- Cookson Electronics Assembly Materials has launched an RoHS materials declaration service on its Website to provide access to information for its lead-free products. The site--alphametals.com/lead_free/rohs.html--should...

OK to consolidate brands.(Industry NEWS)
June 1, 2005... Menlo Park, CA -- OK International is consolidating its Metcal, Techcon Systems and Impell product lines under the OK International brand. The move permits the company to apply the "full weight of its design, manufacture, distribution and...

Kyocera to outsource phones, cut 1,700 jobs.(Industry NEWS)
June 1, 2005... Tokyo -- Kyocera Corp. will outsource cellphone production in North America to Flextronics and cut 1,700 jobs at its mobile phone division to turn the loss-making business around. The latest restructuring follows Kyocera's (kyocera.com)...

Key Tronic reports gains, will add capacity.(Industry NEWS)
June 1, 2005... Spokane, WA -- EMS provider Key Tronic Corp. reported fiscal third quarter revenue of $49.7 million, up 33% from last year. For the April quarter the company reported net income of $852,000, up 661% from last year and up 74% from the second...

Fabrinet to buy more JDS Uniphase plants.(Industry NEWS)
June 1, 2005... San Francisco -- Fabrinet, an engineering and electromechanical manufacturing services company, will purchase the manufacturing facilities located in Fuzhou, China, from JDS Uniphase. The deal is expected to be completed by June 30. Terms...

Oxford Instruments.(People)
June 1, 2005... Oxford Instruments named Jonathan Flint director and CEO. Flint was UK managing director of Vislink pcl.

Indium Corp.(People)
June 1, 2005... Indium Corp. promoted Tom Pearson (pictured) to mid-Atlantic area sales manager. He joined Indium in 1983 and was previously a sales team leader. The company also hired Christopher Nash as account specialist for inside sales and added two...

Comet North America.(People)
June 1, 2005... Comet North America named Paul Lukaniec technical services manager. James Evans was named business manager of the vacuum capacitor division, leaving his position as national sales manager at BOC Edwards Kachina. Jon Dupree, previously regional...

KIC.(People)
June 1, 2005... KIC promoted Marybeth Allen to general manager--Europe. She has been North American sales manager the past six years.

'Searching' for an upturn.(Market WATCH)
June 1, 2005... Trends in the U.S. electronics equipment market (shipments only). % Change Jan. Feb. (r) March* YTD Computers and electronics 3.7 -1.7 0.8 9.3 ...

Manufacturing growth slipped in May.(Market WATCH)
June 1, 2005... Tempe, AZ -- New orders and backlogs for manufacturers grew for the 23d straight month in April although the rate of growth slipped again. New orders were down 3.4 points and inventories fell 6.2 points, yet production rose 0.2 point, said the...

CIOs up IT forecast.(Market WATCH)
June 1, 2005... Framingham, MA -- A poll of the nation's top information officers predicts spending will grow 7.9% during the next 12 months, up from 6.4%. The poll was conducted April 7-14 by CIO magazine (cio.com). Growth is forecast for software, and for...

Industry market snapshot.(Market WATCH)
June 1, 2005... Book-to-bills of various components/equipment. Dec. Jan. Feb. March Semiconductor equipment (1) 0.99 0.80 0.78 0.81 Semiconductors (2) -3.5% 0.0% 16% 2.2% Rigid...

SOs leading package growth.(Market WATCH)
June 1, 2005... San Jose -- Outsourcing of IC packaging assembly has fully resumed with double-digit growth the past three years. Contractors will continue to inherit a growing percentage of the IC packaging business as semiconductor makers focus on the front...

Q1 mobile phone shipments fall.(Market WATCH)
June 1, 2005... Framingham, MA -- Following a record quarter of worldwide shipments, the mobile phone market slowed slightly in the first quarter due to expected seasonality. According to IDC (idc.com), first-quarter worldwide mobile phone shipments totaled...

The $250 million mistake.(Talking Heads)(Interview)
June 1, 2005... Executives like John VanNewkirk usually find themselves courted by Wall Street, not running low-cost sellers of test systems. Yet that is exactly what the president and chief executive of CheckSum (checksum.com) is doing. Armed with degrees...

Second helpings: on the preowned equipment market, "what you heard" is not always "what the vendor offered.".(Global Sourcing)
June 1, 2005... During the last downturn, the electronics industry saw many manufacturers use the secondary equipment market as a smart business management tool. In some cases, the acquisition of used equipment permitted companies to survive the dramatic...

The 7,000 year cycle: lead-free soldering was probably the first metal joining practiced. Is its end near? And what of solderless assembly?(On the Forefront)
June 1, 2005... What's at the top of your worry list? RoHS and lead-free, right? But progress is being made and freedom from lead--or at least lead reduction--is in sight. How long did it take to get the lead out? Just a few years? Let's take a brief look at...

How post-print inspection improves performance: the skinny on how AOI and integrated systems add up.(Screen Printing)
June 1, 2005... Due to the complexity of the variables associated with solder paste printing, the vast majority of defect opportunities originate with this process step. The defect rate of the manufacturing process is an important metric to monitor--it...

Forsake not thy stencil: new technology makes reusable stencil frames attractive (finally!).(Better Manufacturing)
June 1, 2005... For every complex problem, there is a solution that is simple, neat, and wrong.--H. L. Mencken Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not simpler.-- Albert Einstein I have often pointed out that the solder paste...

Underfills in Pb-free assemblies: increased stresses on assemblies--the result of lead-free soldering--raise the possibility of underfills as reliability enhancers.
June 1, 2005... Lead-free solder joints in grid arrays are vulnerable to failures resulting from CTE (coefficient of thermal expansion) mismatches. The chief causes are the lower ductility of lead-free alloys, combined with a greater tendency for the assembly...

The boundary scan infrastructure: a primer on how boundary scan, or JTAG, works.(Virtual Nails)
June 1, 2005... Boundary scan or, more accurately, the IEEE 1149.1 Standard Boundary Scan Test Strategy, traces its roots to the mid 1980s. That's when an ad hoc working group, the Joint Test Action Group (hence the JTAG name for the methodology), began...

Pb-free solder processing and reliability: no drop-in lead-free alloy exists, but several are "almost" there. A summary of metallurgical and process considerations.(Pb-Free Processing)
June 1, 2005... Replacing lead-based solder poses technical issues from processing to long-term reliability. The metallurgy of tin-lead is well established. However, no direct replacement exists; hence the need to develop an understanding of alternatives,...

In China, volume reigns supreme: westerners continue to make life difficult for Chinese equipment suppliers looking for sales.(Nepcon Shanghai)
June 1, 2005... Nepcon China/EMT China is not your typical trade fair, and the several thousand engineers spilling through the show halls are only one reason. Start with the Shanghai Ever-bright Convention Center itself. With the center taking up two...

Impact of inerting on wetting and solderability: nitrogen offers the same level of wetting performances as low-activated pastes without the effects of residues.(Atmospheric Pressures)
June 1, 2005... The RoHS directive will ban lead use in new electrical and electronics equipment. Solder pastes will be replaced by lead-free compositions with comparative performances but higher melting points. The challenge is the increased soldering...

Tracking material composition data: how a new jointly authored standard may automate and simplify the format for the entire supply chain.(Countdown to Pb-Free)
June 1, 2005... To demonstrate compliance with environmental regulations, manufacturers must have information about the material composition of components and bulk materials that go into their products. However, few companies are able to efficiently collect,...

The importance of measurement: does your process generate a charge? There's only one way to know for sure.(ESD Association)
June 1, 2005... One question often asked is: Does my process generate an electrostatic charge and if so, how much? If the ESD program manager is looking for a simple yes or no, the answer may be disappointing. If, however, the program manager is making an...

UFP printing platform.(SEMICON[R] West2005 Product PREVIEW)(Buyers Guide)
June 1, 2005... Galaxy micron-class high accuracy screen printing platform places solder balls at wafer and substrate levels, for ultra-fine-pitch print and reflow bumping. Equipped with ISCAN (Intelligent Scalable Control Area Network) technology, Instinctiv...

Precision batch dispenser.(SEMICON[R] West2005 Product PREVIEW)(Buyers Guide)
June 1, 2005... Spectrum S-820 is a batch processor for semiconductor packaging such as underfill, cavity fill, die attach and encapsulation. Closed-loop system performs with a range of fluids, processes and substrates. Integrates with most jets, pumps and...

Platform placement system.(SEMICON[R] West2005 Product PREVIEW)(Buyers Guide)
June 1, 2005... AdVantisXS scalable placement system evolved from GSMxs, delivering accuracies of [+ or -]9 [micro]m at 3 sigma with a 25% increase in feeder capacity and 10% speed improvement. Backward compatible, including to GSM Genesis platform. Includes...

Multifunctional assembly system.(SEMICON[R] West2005 Product PREVIEW)(Buyers Guide)
June 1, 2005... ONYX29 multi-use system assembles and repairs high-precision applications including flip chip/C4, stacked-die, MEMS, optoelectronics, RF devices and wafer-level manufacturing. Places parts within 5 [micro]m, incorporates upper and lower heaters...

Modular macroscopes.(SEMICON[R] West2005 Product PREVIEW)(Buyers Guide)
June 1, 2005... Leica Z6 (with 6.3:1 zoom ratio) and Z16 (with 16:1 zoom ratio) APO macroscopes offer visual inspection, machine vision and documentation for zero-defect production. Apochromatically corrected for contrast image sharpness and color fidelity....

Residue remover.(SEMICON[R] West2005 Product PREVIEW)(Buyers Guide)
June 1, 2005... Baker Aleg-370 post-etch cleaner removes bulk photoresist and etch/ash residues. Reportedly has a bath life of more than 24 hrs., is water soluble, environmentally friendly and does not contain fluorides or hydroxylamine. Corresponding stripper...

High-speed bondtester.(SEMICON[R] West2005 Product PREVIEW)(Buyers Guide)
June 1, 2005... Series 4000HS high-speed bondtester measures solder bond reliability rather than just applying force to the ball/bump. Increases rate of strain on solder balls with a higher force transferred to the bond. Test results provide data about bond...

Flip-chip underfill.(SEMICON[R] West2005 Product PREVIEW)(Buyers Guide)
June 1, 2005... Hysol FP4548FC underfill for flip-chip devices features low coefficient of thermal expansion properties. When cured, said to create a rigid, low-stress seal to dissipate solder joint stress, extend thermal cycling performance and simplify...

Multi-stage ejector pump.(SEMICON[R] West2005 Product PREVIEW)(Buyers Guide)
June 1, 2005... P2010 multi-stage ejector vacuum pump is 1.08" high and weighs 0.54 oz., for semiconductor applications like handling wafers. Can generate a vacuum of 24.9 inHg at a feed pressure of 26 psi, reducing compressed air costs. Does not require motor...

Air ionizer.(SEMICON[R] West2005 Product PREVIEW)(Buyers Guide)
June 1, 2005... FusION bipolar air ionizer controls electrostatic charge in a local area. Incorporates miniature power and control circuitry in a compact package. No adjustments or calibration are necessary. The 3.0 X 1.9 X 3.8" unit weighs 8 oz. and has...

Interconnect flux.(SEMICON[R] West2005 Product PREVIEW)(Buyers Guide)
June 1, 2005... WS-364 high viscosity, paste-type interconnect flux claims to offer high yields in the BGA bumping process. Said to have a wide process window and excellent cleanability (residue can be removed with room temperature water). Suitable for SnPb...

Ultrasonic coating.(SEMICON[R] West2005 Product PREVIEW)(Buyers Guide)
June 1, 2005... Prism Ultra-Coat delivers precise coating of fluxes, photo resists and conductive inks onto any substrate. Uses ultrasonic technology with a titanium spray head and digitally controlled liquid delivery system. Thickness ranges from sub-micron...

In case you missed it.(Technical Abstracts)
June 1, 2005... This month's abstracts come from papers presented at Apex, February 2005 (ipc.org). Soldering "Lead-Free Solder Flip Chips on FR-4 Substrates with Different Assembly Processes and Materials" Authors: David Geiger, Dongkai...