BANNOCKBURN, Ill., USA, July 13, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- More than 100 top executives representing companies in the U.S. electronics manufacturing industry are urging the U.S. Congress to address critical shortcomings in the printed circuit board (PCB) industry and the entire U.S. electronics supply chain.

The letter, organized by IPC, a global electronics manufacturing association, urged all members of the U.S. House to support H.R. 7677, the Supporting American Printed Circuit Boards Act of 2022, which would incentivize purchases of domestically produced PCBs as well as industry investments in factories, equipment, workforce training, and research and development (R&D).

The letter stressed that the legislation, introduced by Reps. Anna Eshoo (D-CA) and Blake Moore (R-UT), is critical to rebuilding a severely depleted but still-critical U.S. manufacturing sector; would ease an already strained U.S. supply chain; and would strengthen U.S. national security. PCBs are a critical component of the electronics ecosystem and are as integral to electronics as semiconductors. In fact, electronic systems cannot function without PCBs, and yet the United States is overwhelmingly reliant on non-domestic sources of them and is falling behind in cutting-edge PCB technologies.

“Despite the importance of PCBs to electronics systems, they have been an afterthought to policymakers for decades,” said IPC President and CEO John Mitchell. “This bipartisan legislation, if passed, will stimulate critical investments in PCB research and manufacturing in the United States. We’re glad to see so many industry leaders agree and join us in urging congressional support for this bill.”

A recent IPC report found that the United States has lost its historic dominance in PCB fabrication. Since 2000, U.S. share of global PCB production has fallen from over 30% to just 4%; China now dominates the sector at around 50%. The report also emphasized that any loss of access to non-domestic sources of PCBs would be “catastrophic” to the United States’ ability to produce electronics for weapons systems, communications equipment, medical devices, energy systems, and more.

The full letter and signatories can be found here.

 PCB WEST: The leading technical conference and exhibition for electronics engineers. Coming Oct. 4-7 to the Santa Clara (CA) Convention Center. pcbwest.com

TORRANCE, CA — July 2022 — Seika Machinery, Inc., a leading provider of advanced machinery, materials and engineering services, is pleased to offer the Malcom RCX Modular Profiler System with Video Camera. The Malcom RCX-C is an onboard camera system that can track and record a video of the PCB in the reflow oven.

The RCX-C focuses on a targeted view of the PCB inside of the reflow oven by capturing images by video recording with profiling overlay. The camera and lighting source are housed in a heat-resistant case, allowing users to actually see the reflow process.

The Malcom RCX Series modular reflow oven profiling system provides complete profiling of reflow ovens, including oven temperature, video imaging, O2 concentration, vibration and convection air velocity. It verifies that ovens are performing at optimal conditions and enables users to troubleshoot problem areas.

To learn more about Malcom reflow monitoring systems, visit https://seikausa.com/electronics-mfg-equipment/process-control-equipment/malcom-reflow-monitoring-systems.

Ask for a competitive quotation on any Seika equipment and place an order while supplies last. Contact Michelle Ogihara at 310-540-7310; e-mail michelle@seikausa.com; or visit www.seikausa.com.

PCB WEST: The leading technical conference and exhibition for electronics engineers. Coming Oct. 4-7 to the Santa Clara (CA) Convention Center. pcbwest.com

Indium Corporation®, a leader in supplying products to global electronics, semiconductor, thin-film, and thermal management markets, is partnering with SAFI-Tech, an Iowa-based startup that is creating no-heat and low-heat solder and metallic joining products.

Metallic soldering represents a key manufacturing process across many industries, including aerospace, automotive, and electronics. Current solder products trade off the reliability of joints formed with the very high processing temperatures needed to form those joints—a problem that has limited material selection and product design. SAFI-Tech’s patented supercooling platform removes this tradeoff by creating capsules of molten solder that can remain liquid far below the normal freezing point of metal. Using this platform, industry-standard alloys such as SAC305 can be soldered below LTS temperatures, and other alloys can be soldered as low as ambient temperature.

Indium Corporation and SAFI-Tech will evaluate market applications for supercooled solder materials and explore the development of new products.

Indium Corporation President and COO Ross Berntson said, “We’re always looking for innovative materials solutions that can give our customers ways to overcome current limitations of solder products. SAFI-Tech’s supercooling platform is a unique approach that has the potential to be a solution across a variety of applications.”

Ian Tevis, SAFI-Tech’s President and Co-Founder, said, “Indium Corporation is a world leader and innovator in electronics solder products. Our partnership with Indium will allow customers to explore the unique opportunities possible with our supercooled solder materials.” Indium Corporation® is a premier materials refiner, smelter, manufacturer, and supplier to the global electronics, semiconductor, thin-film, and thermal management markets. Products include solders and fluxes; brazes; thermal interface materials; sputtering targets; indium, gallium, germanium, and tin metals and inorganic compounds; and NanoFoil®. Founded in 1934, the company has global technical support and factories located in China, Germany, India, Malaysia, Singapore, South Korea, the United Kingdom, and the U.S.

SAFI-Tech is an advanced materials company creating supercooled molten metal products. SAFI-Tech’s supercooled platform was invented by co-founders Dr. Ian Tevis and Dr. Martin Thuo at Iowa State University.

For more information about Indium Corporation, visit www.indium.com or email jhuang@indium.com. You can also follow our experts, From One Engineer To Another® (#FOETA), at www.linkedin.com/company/indium-corporation/ or @IndiumCorp.

PCB WEST: The leading technical conference and exhibition for electronics engineers. Coming Oct. 4-7 to the Santa Clara (CA) Convention Center. pcbwest.com

Indium Corporation® will feature its proven, innovative products for LED manufacturing at the Mini LED Backlight Mass Production and Application Trend Conference, Thursday, July 28 in Shenzhen, China.

Indium Corporation produces a wide range of products to meet the current and evolving needs of the industry. As mini-LEDs are increasingly used in displays for consumer electronics at home and in external displays due to their superior contrast ratios, deep blacks, and high dynamic ranges.

Indium Corporation’s suite of semiconductor and advanced assembly materials is ideal for Mini-LED assembly and the small pad sizes and tight pitches required in their assembly.

Solder paste solutions to be featured include:

• LEDPaste NC38HF, a no-clean, halogen-free solder paste specifically formulated to accommodate fine feature printing, especially for mini- or micro-LED applications. This new product will be released at the show and combines superior wetting performance with excellent stencil print transfer efficiency to satisfy the broadest range of process requirements for the smallest LED applications. It also delivers high tackiness and is available in a wide range of alloys, including Ag-free options.

• Indium12.8HF, a no-clean, halogen-free microdispensing solder paste that is inherently compatible with Indium Corporation’s best-selling solder paste—Indium8.9HF—and is optimized for long-term jetting and microdispense applications. Originally formulated for micro-LED applications, Indium12.8HF has proven to be useful in a wide range of applications requiring precision dot diameter/line width deposits down to 80μm.

• Indium3.2HF is a water-soluble, halogen-free, Pb-free solder paste. Indium3.2HF formulated with Indium Corporation’s Type 6 SGS powder is ideal for fine feature printing applications. It also offers consistent, repeatable printing performance combined with a long stencil life. Flux solutions to be featured include:

• NC-809, an award-winning, halogen-free, ultra-low residue, flip-chip flux designed to hold die or solder spheres in place without risk of die shift during the assembly process. NC-809 exhibits superior wetting performance and is the first ULR flux qualified for ball grid array ball-attach applications for packages that are sensitive to traditional water cleaning processes.

• WS-829 is a wafer-level ball-attach flux is a water-soluble, halogen-free flux that can be used for ball-attach on substrate in a standard BGA manufacturing process (especially for the smallest sphere applications < 0.25mm) as well as wafer-/panel-level packaging. It is designed for printing and pin transfer applications for the smallest sphere and high-density applications, including LED die-attach.

• LED TACFlux® 007 is the leading die-attach flux for LED industry. Specifically designed for die-to-sub-mount applications with sputtered film or solder preform alloys, it provides melting points that range from tin-silver (SnAg), SAC (SnAgCu) and pure tin (Sn) up to gold-tin (AuSn) eutectic. It may be applied using various application techniques, holds the die in place during reflow, and is easily cleaned to give high wire bond pull-strengths.

About Indium Corporation

Indium Corporation® is a premier materials refiner, smelter, manufacturer, and supplier to the global electronics, semiconductor, thin-film, and thermal management markets. Products include solders and fluxes; brazes; thermal interface materials; sputtering targets; indium, gallium, germanium, and tin metals and inorganic compounds; and NanoFoil®. Founded in 1934, the company has global technical support and factories located in China, Germany, India, Malaysia, Singapore, South Korea, the United Kingdom, and the U.S.

For more information about Indium Corporation, visit www.indium.com or email jhuang@indium.com. You can also follow our experts, From One Engineer To Another® (#FOETA), at www.linkedin.com/company/indium-corporation/ or @IndiumCorp.

PCB WEST: The leading technical conference and exhibition for electronics engineers. Coming Oct. 4-7 to the Santa Clara (CA) Convention Center. pcbwest.com