NEW YORK -- ASTM International's committee F40 on Declarable Substances in Materials will meet
April 18-20 in Norfolk, VA, and Nov. 14-16 in Tampa, FL .

ASTM meetings are open to all interested individuals.

For information contact Brynn Iwanowski at ASTM International, 610-832-9640; biwanows@astm.org.

EINDHOVEN, THE NETHERLANDS - Assembléon has received Frost & Sullivan’s 2006 Customer Value Enhancement award for surface mount technology equipment. This recognizes the contribution of Assembléon’s Installed Base Solutions to continuous performance improvement of equipment that is already installed on customer production lines.

Each year, Frost & Sullivan presents its Customer Value Enhancement award to a company demonstrating more innovative value creation and enhancement strategies than competitors.

NEW YORK -- 2008 will be the year MEMS take off in cellphones as the technology's small size, flexibility, and performance advantages become big drawcards, ABI Research said today. 

According to ABI, MEMS finds five major application areas in the cellphone: RF filters, adaptive tuning circuits, resonators and oscillators, audio microphones, accelerometers and motion sensors. The challenge is their cost compared to incumbent solutions, but as volumes pick up for MEMS components in these newer markets, there will be a concomitant decrease in cost, the research firm asserts.

MEMS technology for consumer markets has been discussed for at least 10 years, says principal analyst Alan Varghese. "The traditional challenges for MEMS related to the difficulty of reliably manufacturing components at high volumes, effective packaging techniques, long-term device reliability, technology cost and supply chain robustness, all of which had a damping effect on the industry. However the MEMS industry has been addressing these concerns, and innovative solutions are being offered in high volume markets such as mobile phones and consumer devices." 

JASPER, IN -- Kimball Electronics Group will acquire Reptron Electronics for $0.68 per share, or roughly $3.4 million. The deal between the two contract electronics manufacturers is expected to close during the first quarter 2007, and should push Kimball into the top 20 worldwide EMS firms as ranked by revenue.

The price is a 28% premium over Reptron's three-month volume weighted average stock price.

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HERNDON, VA – iNEMI’s Tin Whisker User Group has revised “Recommendations on Lead-Free Finishes for Components Used in High-Reliability Products.”  

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ALAMEDA, CA -- A common theme arose during discussions at Technology Forecaster's quarterly meeting last week: knee-jerk reactions on the part of OEMs and their manufacturing partners to the challenges of global electronics manufacturing are not working. 

Attendees reportedly expressed considerable frustration at the tactical measures they are taking to meet environmental regulations such as China RoHS and finding profitable and socially responsible ways to manufacture the low-volume, high-mix products that represent the next wave of electronics outsourcing for the global arena. "I am so tired of the fire drills for WEEE, RoHS, and now China RoHS," one OEM complained.

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BRUSSELS -- An update on the status of the environmental part of TBBPA EU Risk Assessment, recently published by the European Chemicals Bureau, found that emissions of TBBPA when added to plastics can cause risks in some scenarios for surface water, sediment and soil. 

No concern has been identified in practice by the risk assessment for TBBPA when used as a monomer to be reacted into the epoxy resins for the production of printed circuit board laminates. The ECB mentioned a theoretical scenario where risk reduction could operate for reactive use in cases where sewage sludge is spread to agricultural land, but there is no need for this in practice as all user sites send their industrial sludge to incineration or controlled landfills.

The update follows publication of the human health part last year in which no risks were identified.

The environmental part of TBBPA EU Risk Assessment is expected to be finalized mid 2007.

EBFRIP believes that most of the risks identified for additive application are manageable through a Voluntary Emissions Control Action Programme (VECAP)2. To date, more than two-thirds in volumes of TBBPA additive customers in Europe have committed to control and reduce emissions.

EBFRIP will work with the UK – in charge of TBBPA Risk assessment for the EU -- which will begin draft a strategy to reduce the risks identified above.

­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­TBBPA is used to comply with global fire safety requirements mainly as a reactive chemical in epoxy resins of printed circuit board laminates (such as FR-4, CM-1 and CM-3) and as an additive to ABS plastics

VECAP was established by the brominated flame retardant industry, which wanted to manage, monitor and minimise industrial emissions of commercially available brominated flame retardants into the environment through partnership with the supply chain. Developed for deca-BDE, it is now being applied to the main other commercial brominated flame retardants, TBBPA and HBCD.

For a copy of the first VECAP Annual Progress Report, click here.

NORTH BILLERICA, MA — BTU International has relocated its Southeast Asia headquarters to an expanded site in Singapore.

The new facility includes a state-of-the-art demo and training facility, comprehensive spare parts inventory, conference rooms, and increased office space to support BTU’s continuing growth in Southeast Asia.

At the opening ceremony, on Dec. 4, Boris Mathiszik, BTU’s director of sales for Asia Pacific, said, “We are very excited about our move and our resulting ability to better support our growing customer base in the region. With our branch office in Penang, Malaysia, and our Southeast Asia headquarters here in Singapore, we are able to provide our customers unmatched service and support capability.”

The new office address is:

 BTU Overseas, Ltd

No. 9 Kaki Bukit Road 1

#02-10 Eunos Technolink

Singapore 415938

Tel : 65-67414567

PHOENIX – Anoraks with printed heating elements. LEDs, non-emitting displays, photovoltaics on rigid substrates. Low-weight, high-rel military applications. These were just some of the uses of printed electronics displayed and discussed at IDTechEx’s annual Printed Electronics USA in December. More than 300 delegates attended this year's event, which was characterized by demonstrations of market-ready products. Three U.S. military talks illustrated how this sector is still advancing faster than most. Here the objective of reducing the weight of a soldier’s pack by two-thirds was just as important as multipurpose items, such as the tent that doubles as an antenna and photovoltaic power supply. T-Ink demonstrated new applications of existing printed technology such as batteries, sensors, buttons and lights. Flexible OLEDs, as displays, signage or lighting, now look 10 years away, but electrophoretics are already here with flexible versions coming much sooner. Some pundits are forecasting printed flexible OLEDs at low volumes for the next few years, but flexible electrophoretics volumes are predicted to be much higher. Many forms of photovoltaics now look launchable in 2007. Printed thin film transistor circuits remain a year away, but many working samples were displayed. Most agree that a high percentage of printed electronics applications in the next few years will be from applications created from new markets. Some in printed conductors are considering developing semiconductors. Others hope to replace indium tin oxide semi-transparent electrodes in OLEDs, AC electroluminescent displays and so on. Here progress is slow, but HC Starck is a leader. Conductive plastics with better than resistor-like performance are still elusive. However, these problems are all seen as commercial opportunities. Giants of the chemical, plastics, printing, packaging and electronics industries were all present to see how they could participate in this new industry, with its potential for hundreds of billions of dollars annually, dwarfing the success of the silicon chip.
 

BANNOCKBURN, IL -- The IPC today will announce plans to produce an electronics assembly trade show outside Chicago next fall.

The show will take place the week of September 24, 2007, in Schaumburg, IL, a Chicago suburb. It is backed by the SMEMA Council, a group of major assembly equipment OEMs and an adjunct of IPC. The official name of the show is the IPC Midwest Conference & Exhibition, although some are casually referring to it as Apex Midwest.

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TOKYO – Global sales of ICs rose 11.3% to $261.4 billion in 2006, driven by demand for DRAM memory chips and devices used in mobile phones, research firm Gartner said. Intel remained the market leader, with sales of $31.3 billion, good for a 12% share. However, the chipmaker’s revenue fell 9.5% year-over-year. Samsung Electronics expanded its share to 7.9% this year, as sales increased 12.4% to $20.6 billion. Said Jeremey Donovan, research director at Gartner, "Outside of DRAM, wireless semiconductor sales once again drove strong performance in the industry." Third place Texas Instruments’ sales jumped 17.4% to $11.9 billion, or 4.5% market share, Gartner said. Infineon Technologies jumped to fourth from seventh last year, growing 29% to $10.6 billion. Toshiba fell to fifth from fourth despite an increase in sales of 9.9%, to $9.9 billion.
 

MINNEAPOLIS – SMTA issued call for papers for several upcoming conferences. The SMTA conference in Shanghai, to be held in conjunction with Nepcon China, will address issues concerning electronics manufacturing, advanced packaging and Pb-free reliability. The conference will take place April 23; abstracts are due Dec. 31. For more information, visit http://smta.org/education/education.cfm#shanghai.   
 
The 2007 Medical Electronics Symposium will be held May 1-3, in Minneapolis. It will focus on the medical electronics and medical device applications. The technical committee is soliciting abstracts and papers with up-to-date information about company expertise, practices and applications. Abstracts are due Jan. 5. Submit abstracts to Melissa Serres at melissa@smta.org or visit http://smta.org/education/education.cfm#medical for more information.
 
The 3D/SiP/Advanced Packaging Symposium will be held May 9-11, in Research Triangle Park, NC. The focus will be on advanced packaging. Submit abstracts by Jan. 5. Visit http://smta.org/education/education.cfm#AP for a list of suggested topics and more information.
 
The International Conference on Soldering and Reliability will be held in Toronto in spring 2007. Submit abstracts by Jan. 18. Visit http://smta.org/education/education.cfm#toronto for more information.
 
Successful Lead-Free RoHS Strategies: Do it Right, Do it Now will take place June 20-21 in Boxborough, MA. Submissions covering case studies, successful practices, problems and solutions are welcome. Abstracts are due Jan. 19. Contact Melissa Serres at 952-920-7682 or melissa@smta.org.
 
SMTA International 2007 will be held Oct. 7 to 11, in Orlando. Submit abstracts by Feb. 16. Use the online form at http://smta.org/smtai/call_for_papers.cfm.