NEW YORK – Electronics components remain in short supply, with major distributors upping lead times by as much as 100%.

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MANASSAS, VA – Zestron Corp. now offers ion chromatography at its technical center here.

“The installation of ion chromatography is a direct response to the rapidly growing customer demand for premium precision cleaning facilities and services,” said Harald Wack, president of Zestron.

Ion chromatography is an analytical technique that validates product cleanliness based on the separation of the ionic species in a solution. In the case of circuit boards, ion chromatography can help identify high levels of ionic contaminants that can contribute to shortages.

NORWALK, OH – EMS providers EPIC Technologies and SFO Technologies have formed an alliance to leverage complimentary capabilities, provide global manufacturing support for their customers’ requirements in North America, Europe and Asia, and cooperate in joint sales and marketing efforts.

“We recognize that some of our customers are looking to source in multiple regions,” said Bhawnesh Mathur, EPIC’s CEO. “Our alliance with SFO Technologies enables us to offer those customers a comprehensive manufacturing option in Asia that seamlessly integrates with our existing program management resources. Similarly, SFO Technologies will be able to offer its customers an expanded North American solution through EPIC’s facilities.”

“The combined strength of EPIC’s manufacturing solutions and SFO’s unique model of providing end-to-end product support solutions covering design, software, value engineering, re-engineering and product development, manufacturing and testing will offer our customers competitive, full-service solutions anywhere in the world,” said N. Jehangir, SFO’s managing director.

No financial terms were disclosed.

AUSTIN – The popularity of e-books, particularly Amazon’s Kindle, drove electronic paper display shipments to 5 million units in 2009, up 417% year-over-year, says DisplaySearch.

“Seeing this growth for a new application, especially in the second half of last year, is a vote of confidence from consumers who seem to have embraced e-books,” said Hiroshi Hayase, DisplaySearch director of small/medium displays. “Momentum from e-book popularity last year combined with new, larger-screen products hitting the market right now means that this trend will continue, so we will see large shipment volume increases in the first half of 2010.”

Amazon’s Kindle e-book, with a 6" display, captured 66% of the total EPD market in 2009, says the research firm. This market domination is expected to increase as the Kindle DX, with a 9.7" display, is positioned to compete with Apple’s iPad, released earlier this month, which uses a 9.7" TFT LCD.

“We expect to see other service providers increase their presence in the US and expand e-book adoption in Europe and Asia as well,” Hayase added.

ARLINGTON, VA -- Electronic component orders took another leap in March, mimicking increases in January, according to the monthly report compiled by the Electronic Components Association.

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WASHINGTON, DC – The US International Trade Commission has determined not to continue an initial determination involving patent violations of certain flash memory chips being imported into the US.

The investigation began Dec. 18, 2008, based on a complaint filed by Spansion Inc. of Sunnyvale, CA. The complaint named more than 30 respondents.

On Mar. 12, the complaint and notice of investigation were amended to terminate several respondents from the investigation and to add certain entities as respondents.

On Mar. 15, Spansion filed a consent motion for partial termination of the investigation as to all asserted claims of the patent. The next day, the ALJ granted Spansion’s motion.

None of the parties petitioned for review of the ID, and the commission has determined not to review it.

HERNDON, VA – The International Electronics Manufacturing Initiative is organizing four new initiatives to address gaps in organic substrate technologies.

These initiatives will focus on warpage (understanding the causes of, and establishing methods for measuring), wiring density and holistic modeling.

The first proposed initiative is Primary Factors in Warpage. This initiative will focus on gaining a greater understanding of the causes of warpage, particularly in first- and second-level assembly, to better control it. The team will identify key material properties, process parameters, reflow profiles, package pitches, environmental factors and other contributors that impact warpage.

The second is Warpage Qualification Criteria. This initiative proposes to define a qualification method and criteria that will more accurately predict results (e.g., sample size, precondition, variations of material and processes) and establish measurement methods (dimensional and test).

Third, Wiring Density Program plans to develop a system-optimized, next-generation plus one technology that focuses on prioritized areas to achieve maximum wiring density at minimal cost (e.g., material set, low-cost lithography/laser, plating, inspection and test).

Finally, Holistic Modeling Process has a goal of developing a multilevel design tool to optimize package designs for electrical, mechanical and thermal performance. The team proposes to identify critical materials properties and proposed specifications for a specific package type; determine data depth/accuracy in critical materials properties required for model effectiveness, and develop a holistic approach by involving data experts from materials, packaging and substrate suppliers.

Discussions at iNEMI’s Packaging Substrates Workshop identified and prioritized technology requirements for next-generation organic substrates and packages.

Subsequent discussions identified opportunities to address industry needs and defined these new initiatives. These initiatives are in the organizational stage; anyone interested can participate in the regular teleconferences.

“There are very challenging issues and gaps for the industry in the substrate and packaging areas that, if not addressed collaboratively, will impact the continued miniaturization and increasing densities of today’s electronics,” said Bill Bader, CEO of iNEMI. “There is a real concern that substrate technology could become a limiting factor for electronics, both in terms of performance and of continued industry growth.”

TAIPEI – Hon Hai (Foxconn), the world’s biggest electronics contract manufacturer, reported March sales rose 52.6% year-over-year to NT$157 million ($4.97 million).

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BANNOCKBURN, IL – Jeffrey Kukelhan, Dr. Polina Snugovsky and Jason Bragg, and Arnaud Grivon were winners of the Best Paper awards at IPC Apex this year.

Kukelhan’s “Copper Tin Intermetallic Crystals and Their Role in the Formation of Microbridges between the Leads of Hand Reworked Fine-Pitch Components,” took the US Best Paper honor, and Snugovsky and Bragg won International Best Paper for “Drop Test Performance of a Medium Complexity Lead-Free Board after Assembly and Rework.”

The Celestica paper was coauthored by Russell Brush, Eva Kosiba, Billy Lee, Marianne Romansky, Suthakaran Subramaniam and Michel Thomson, all from Celestica; Andrew Ganster, Crane Division NSWC; William Russell, Raytheon; Dennis Fritz, SAIC; Carol Handwerker, Sc.D., and Jonathan Tucker from Purdue University.

The other International Paper award went to Arnaud Grivon of Thales Corporate Services, for “Industrial PCB Development Using Embedded Passive and Active Discrete Chips Focused on Process and DfR.” Coauthors were Michel Brizoux, Dr. W.C. Maia Filho and E. Monier-Vinard, all from Thales, along with Johannes Stahr and Mike Morianz of AT&S.

Kukelhan is an engineer with BAE Systems. Snugovsky and Bragg are with Celestica, and Grivon is with Thales Corporate Services.

Russell Nowland, Alcatel-Lucent, was presented the US Honorable Mention award for “Telecommunication Case Studies Address Head-in-Pillow Defects and Mitigation through Assembly Process Modifications and Control.” Richard Coyle and Peter Read, both from Alcatel-Lucent, and George Wenger, from the Andrew Division of Commscope, coauthored the paper.        

Nearly 100 papers were submitted for consideration. Papers were evaluated on their technical content, originality, test procedures and data used to deduce conclusions, quality of illustrations and the clarity and professionalism of writing.

The event’s Technical Program Committee selected the winners through a ballot process.

BANNOCKBURN, IL – The industry standard for compliance documentation involving environmental regulations has been updated to include the REACH and China RoHS requirements.

IPC-1752A, Materials Declaration Management, is said to provide an expanded industry-wide reporting format for material declaration data exchange between companies in the electronic interconnect supply chain.

The revised spec has a broader scope to address compliance with additional substance restrictions, including REACH and China RoHS. The new standard is also set up to more efficiently incorporate additional substance restrictions, promulgated through either existing or new regulations.

One shift in the standard is the focus on the definition of the data fields and structure through the XML schema. To improve capabilities with version 2.0, the subcommittee chose to focus efforts on the schema changes and open up any software development to third-party software providers.

The committee has been working with third-party software developers to ensure the development of implementation tools supporting the 1752A materials data exchange. A basic and free open source product developed by the National Institute of Standards and Technology, called Scriba, is a Java-based tool that supports all the major features of IPC-1752A.

While Scriba doesn’t handle database storage, users who need that function can buy commercial software or create their own database management system using XML schema. A handful of software companies have or will soon have programs ready.

IPC-1752A is modular, to facilitate user navigation.

AUSTIN – DisplaySearch today raised its forecast for 3D-capable TV shipments, as hype turns into “real products.”

The research firm said shipments would grow from 2.5 million in 2010 to 27 million sets in 2013, dominated initially by developed regions, with North American shipments accounting for more than half of shipments this year.

“In 2009, we saw the first 3D-capable TVs, with the market greatly accelerating at CES 2010. Now we are seeing the hype turning into real products,” said Paul Gray, director of TV electronics research. “The key issue will be how consumers react to the initial product launch, and what the industry will learn from the feedback of early adopters. Complications in the TV supply chain – especially 3D content shortages – remain the biggest hurdles to overcome.”

The video processing and extra display performance required for 3D remain relatively costly compared to entry-level models, says the research firm. As a result, 3D is constrained by the penetration of double or quadruple frame rate sets in the market.

While 3D is forecast to show rapid growth, DisplaySearch indicates only 27% of 40" or larger sets shipped in 2013 will be 3D-capable. Furthermore, Blu-ray Disc and HD broadcast have low penetration in Western Europe, and as a result, a content gap remains that needs to be filled before 3D can flourish.

LAGUNA, PHILIPPINES – Electronics manufacturing services Integrated Micro-Electronics today announced the official opening of its factory in Chengdu, a large city in southwestern China.

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