Circuits Assembly Online Magazine - Features

BOSTON, Dec. 10 -- The apex of the shipping season ended just before Thanksgiving and demand for air lift has moderated throughout much of the Asia-Pacific region, a major logistics provider said today.

Delays are still being reported at transit hubs and importers continue to rush shipments in advance of unfilled quotas, Trans Global Logistics said in an email note.

Fuel surcharges and freight rates remain high as stabilizing oil prices and moderating shipping demand have been offset by the weak U.S. dollar. Today, OPEC announced a $1 per barrel increase for oil.

Activity remains strong at Taipei and Shanghai, where new customs clearance procedures went into effect Dec. 1 and products to be shipped are reportedly delayed up to three days.

China is expected to see a bump in activity in the next four weeks, leading up to the Chinese New Year on Feb. 9. "We expect markets in China to be very active in early January as importers rush to take advantage of quota elimination on many apparel categories. Export activity will also spike in early February because Chinese factories will shut down during the weeklong Lunar New Year holiday," Trans Global wrote.

SUWANEE, GA, Dec. 8 - ASYS, a manufacturer of handling equipment and process equipment, is the latest recipient of Siemens L&A's Electronics Assembly Systems Siplace Partnership Award.

In a press statement Siemens L&A EA chief executive Tilo Brandis said, "The partnership between ASYS and Siemens is defined by developing creative, flexible solutions and the permanent optimization of the business relationship."

The relationship between ASYS and Siemens dates to 1995. In 1997 ASYS designed and developed a lift system for connecting a line of Siemens' placement systems in a parallel manner. To date ASYS has supplied more than 1,000 of the systems to Siemens.

The Siplace Partnership Award recognizes business partners that benefit users of Siemens' products or services.

TOKYO, Dec. 9 -- Hitachi has implemented a lead-free solder alloy across its manufacturing plants worldwide, according to recent news reports.

The electronics company has chosen a SnAgCuIn alloy for its high-reliability communications and medical gear and larger PCBs, according to Nikkei Shinbum News.

The company chose the solder for its melting temperature, tensile strength, thermal cycling and aging characteristics, the report said. SnAgCuIn melts at 204C, well below the point of other lead-free alloys. The alloy is supplied by Singapore Asahi Chemical and Solder Industries Ltd.

According to the report, another lead-free alloy -- this one SnZn -- failed to pass Hitachi's tests.

Hitachi said that while indium costs more than other metals, the price point is "only 20 to 30%" higher and that all lead-free alloys cost more than SnPb solder.

Japanese OEMs have been early adopters of lead-free alloys. According to the report, NEC, Sharp and Fujitsu use SnZn, while Panasonic uses SnAgBiIn.

MINNEAPOLIS, Dec. 8 -- The SMTA today announced Abby Tsoi as recipient of its Excellence in Leadership Award, for his work in forming the organization's Hong Kong chapter.

The award honors SMTA members who stand out as leaders within the association.

In a press release, SMTA said Tsoi's devoted hours of time, personal financial support and leadership so that colleagues could benefit from SMTA membership via a local chapter. He was the first student from China to earn SMTA Certification and joined other chapter officers in Minneapolis for a Leadership Forum last March.

MINNEAPOLIS, Dec. 8 -- Dr. Udo E. Frank took home the the Best Paper Award for the International Wafer-Level Packaging Congress held October in San Jose.

Frank, of FeinFocus GmbH, received the award for his paper "Detecting and Analyzing Wafer Bump Voids with X-ray Inspection," in which he disclosed an x-ray imaging technology said to detect and measure voids within solder bumps on chips. The paper also revealed software that determines component viability based on preset threshold values.

The event was sponsored by SMTA. Papers detailed leading-edge IC packaging and test technologies with special emphasis on 3D stacked packaging.

The x-ray inspection system detailed in Frank's paper converts 3D voids to measurable 2D images, enabling the system to calculate the ratio of the size of the void within a solder bump to the total mass of the ball. The system can also determine the largest linear distance between two points in the void and compare the result with the diameter of the ball.

The paper will soon be online in at smta.org.

SINGAPORE, Dec. 8 -- Autron Pte. Ltd., a subsidiary of Autron Corp., will supply assembly equipment to a leading Chinese cellular phone maker, a deal worth $20 million, the company said.

Hangzhou Eastcom Cellular Phone Co. will purchase $20 million worth of SMT equipment and maintenance over the next three years, Autron Pte. said. Autron will also help manage Hangzhou's spare parts inventories.