Book Reviews
By Keith Gurnett
Reed Electronics Research
Newnes
Butterworth-Heinemann
308 pages
£75.00
Apologies to the author, but this surface-mount technology handbook has no new information, and it is overpriced for what information you do get. If Reed Electronics Research wanted to get involved with technical manuals, why did they not use the expertise of the workshop leaders at NEPCON West and NEPCON Asia? The talent is at their fingertips, but it was not used to its full advantage.
There are some good sections, but many current technologies are not included. The number of color ads is surprising, especially when photographs illustrating technical content are printed in black and white. Over 50 pages are filled with a supplier directory.
There are still many companies that have not adopted surface-mount components into their designs; so there is always room for another textbook to support the introduction of this technology. However, there are better and cheaper books available. Try Soldering in Electronic Assembly from the same publisher.
By Robert Corbitt
McGraw Hill
10 chapters and glossary of
terms
Adopting an environmental policy across a company or group without some kind of reference source is difficult. This book outlines the legislation currently in circulation along with detailed sections on air, water and solid waste. The book does not specifically relate to the electronics industry, but the issues are relevant to any company.
A couple of chapters have a heavy emphasis on North America. The sections on water collection and the changes that have been made over the past 20 years were fascinating. The author provides some detail on how the amount of wasted resources has decreased.
From a technical point of view, the methods used to monitor and measure levels of contamination in the environment are interesting and informative. The methods used to measure air, water and different forms of waste are detailed; the limits imposed in different countries and why those differences may have occurred are also interestingly examined.
Also contained in the book is a detailed glossary of terms, acronyms and abbreviations. The final chapter is devoted to project assessment and how to conduct an environmental study. The chapter makes a very good point on the use of consultants to assist in this area provided they have the relevant practical experience.
Structural Integrity and Reliability in Electronics - Enhancing Performance
in a Lead-Free Environment
By W.J Plumbridge, R.J. Matela and Angus Westwater
By Ning-Cheng Lee
Newnes
270 pages, 12 chapters, illustrations
and photographs
List Price: $79.99
Ning-Cheng Lee is an industry veteran and has, for many years, worked for Indium Corp. of America (Utica, NY). I have always liked his presentation style and technical articles. His writing is similar to a lab report—detailed information is given on a problem, ideas on combating the problem are offered, and a result and final conclusion finalize the work. The material is always practical, easy to implement and easy to understand.
Chapters cover major topics of traditional surface-mount technology: ball grid array (BGA), chip scale packaging (CSP) and flip chip. Lead-free assembly is also addressed. Ning-Cheng provides a very practical chapter on underfilling and issues relating to in-circuit test probing. Some material suppliers may suggest that since Indium manufactures such materials, the book is a great way to promote those products—that is not the case in the text.
The book is packed with good illustrations and photos. A reader may find some of the photos and x-ray photos confusing—some are not actual photos, but artist impressions. Perhaps the true images could not be obtained for inclusion in time for publication. Nevertheless, this issue does not detract from the value of the text in any way. Overall, it's a great book and well worth the cost.
By Howard Manko
McGraw Hill
This book is considered an engineering bible on soldering materials and processes. It was originally published in 1976 and now sees its fourth release with updates in a number of areas. The text has been updated, but where the changes have been made is not obvious. Much more of the book could have been updated, especially with regard to lead-free soldering and solders, selective soldering, flip chips, ball grid arrays (BGAs) and microBGAs.
If you need a good reference book on soldering, this book is one. However, I don‚t recommend this book if you are considering updating from the last edition. The updates provided don‚t justify an upgrade.
By John H Lau and Ricky Lee
McGraw Hill
560 pages, 12 chapters,
illustrations and photographs
Lau and Lee have produced another timely textbook for the printed circuit board (PCB) industry, and it will useful for PCB design and fabrication engineers alike. The use of microvias of different styles has been growing in the industry for the last few years with many new techniques being used to fabricate ever-smaller connections. The team behind the relatively new Professional Engineering Series from McGraw Hill should be congratulated on yet another strong title.
The new text is not exclusively for the PCB fabrication engineer as its title may suggest; it covers via technology for board- and component-level interconnection. Increasingly, ball grid arrays (BGAs) and chip-scale packages (CSP) use microvias to make interconnection between the PCB and silicon possible. The first chapter sets the scene with industry trends and the ever-decreasing feature sizes demanded in professional consumer products.
In Chapter 3, Lau and Lee cover manufacturing, design and reliability aspects of each of the major via types, including drilled, laser ablation and photo vias. The text also provides good coverage of the basic PCB fabrication process and where changes may be necessary for different via manufacturing techniques. Of particular interest are the changes in base substrates necessary with laser vias.
As with many textbooks today, a chapter of this book relates to alternative solders, „Solders for the Next Generation.‰ A hot issue for engineers today is alternatives to lead-based alloys, which this chapter covers from a solder alloy prospective and from the effect on area array packages such as BGAs and wafer-level chip-scale packages (WLCSPs).
Chapter 11 covers the assembly process for flip chip and CSP onto the base substrate and features a number of issues relating to underfill. It illustrates some of the mechanical and electrical faults that occur after environmental testing and also illustrates visual defects and those that can only be found during x-ray or C scan.
This book is a good, strong reference, well illustrated with line drawings, micrographs and product examples.
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