Circuits Assembly Online Magazine - Current Issue

Products

Agilent Technologies Inc. announced that IDT (Integrated Device Technology Inc.), a communications IC company, has purchased eight Agilent BIST Assist production test cards to upgrade its 93000 Series SOC Tester. The upgrade allows testing of high-speed links in loopback/BIST mode for speeds up to 6.4 Gb/s.

Historically, as interface bandwidths in consumer devices such as televisions, set-top boxes and PCs increase, the cost of test rises exponentially. Manufacturers are also encountering consumer-pricing pressures. Agilent created the Built-in Self-Test Assist (BIST) card to break the trend of escalating costs for high-speed links in production and to act as an extension to the SOC tester.

The card features adjustable and precise jitter injection, DC access and at-speed level control. Said to have a flexible and wide application span for graphics, chipset, switches and SerDes devices in BIST or loopback mode (SATA, AMB, PCI Express and Fibre Channel, for example) that require high-fault coverage and high-speed data rates.

Agilent Technologies Inc., agilent.com/see/soctest

EWT-700C multi-functional inline workstation allows production to run two different products from the same conveyor station, thus splitting the line.

Designed to for inline and split (end of process/beginning of process) production.

Contains dual 500-mm long drives and can be positioned after a pick-and-place machine but before the reflow oven or other machine (as an example). Touch screen panel controls all programming.

Three modes of selectable operation are:

a) AUDIT Mode

b) PASS Mode

c) MANUAL Mode.

Custom lengths (both drives and overall dimensions) available on request.

Promation, Pro-mation-Inc.com

Speedline Technologies has released lead-free enhancements for its Electrovert Econopak Gold Wave Soldering Systems.

Designed for medium volume electronics manufacturers, the systems ship lead-free process ready.

The compact wave soldering solution now has UltraFill Nozzles and a Quick Change Solder Pot.

Nozzles are 40% percent wider than the traditional tin/lead nozzle. Their design and placement mean less superheat is required to reflow solder joints in the second wave. Benefits include improved hole fill, bridge defect reduction and reduced dross formation. Available in Melonite Corrosion Resistant Stainless Steel or Titanium material.

An optional Nitrogen shroud encompasses the nozzles in the pot. It allows for air or nitrogen operation and lift design ensures ease of maintenance and dedrossing without change or removal.

Solder pot allows for the easy switch between alloys such as tin/lead and lead-free solder. The unit includes a second solder pot with motors, pumps, flow ducts, nozzle and two trolleys.

The lead-free ready platform can be fitted with many features including nitrogen inerting, convection pre-heating, Rotary chip wave, gas knife de-bridging technolog, and alternate fluxing options. The solder module provides wave dynamics for densely populated circuits, SMT components and difficult-to-solder geometries. Processes boards up to 400 mm with 1.2 m of preheat.