John VanNewkirk, president and CEO, said, "CheckSum's ICT plus boundary scan solution provides superior alignment between tester resources deployed and the actual fault spectrum of today's complex boards than traditional big-iron testers do."

 "First, component technology and the SMT assembly process itself have shifted the fault spectrum of a typical board such that big-iron ICT test capabilities are no longer aligned to it," said VanNewkirk. "For example, ICT vector testing was designed for the straightforward static logic of the devices of the 80s and early 90s. Modern ICs are not testable with conventional ICT 'backdrive' vectors because of access, speed and device complexity issues. As a result, expensive digital vector capability remains idle in virtually every big-iron ICT.
 

 

 

Los Angeles, CA -- MS2 Technologies, a P. Kay Metal-affiliated company, has introduced a new technology to enhance wave and selective soldering. The first of the series of products eliminates dross and oxides from the soldering process without the need for nitrogen or other exotic gases. The elimination of dross provides a substantial reduction in electronic assembly material costs especially with the advent of higher priced lead-free solders. The process entered production testing this spring and will be commercially available in November.
 
The company will launch a version for use with leaded solder and another for lead-free solders, including the various SAC alloys.
 
Larry Kay, president of P. Kay Metal and MS2 Technologies, and one of the inventors of the process, said, “The use of MS2 will reduce solder purchases for through-hole assembly by 40-75% depending on production volume.”
 

Polyonics introduces 1 and 2 mil color polyimide labels. The labels are coated with a permanent pressure-sensitive acrylic adhesive and a high opacity, medium gloss topcoat available in six tinted colors ¾ pink, yellow, orange, blue, green and violet. They are thermal transfer printable and scan with both visible and IR scanners. Barcode labels made from the materials reportedly demonstrate excellent performance in lead-free wave solder environments, which range from 260º to 290ºC.
 
Designed for barcode or alphanumeric identification of PCBs or electronic components, can withstand mixed circuit board processes, on either the top or bottom side of the board. Said to have excellent resistance to harsh fluxes, cleaning agents, saponifiers and wave solder environments, and resist common methods of cleaning.
 
Polyonics developed the labels, which will survive both standard and lead-free processes on top or bottom side of the board, for manufacturers looking to color code production/process lines.   Some companies choose to use the plain white polyimide labels for standard “non-compliant” subassemblies, and a color-coded label (e.g., pink, yellow, orange, blue, green or violet) for the compliant products. 
 
Polyonics Asia Ltd., polyonics.com

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 By combining the Cogiscan Smart Material Control technology with its component feeders, Hover-Davis will be able to provide a one-stop shop for Intelligent Feeding Solutions. 
 Features of intelligent feeders include:
Identify and track components and feeders with barcode and RFID
Provide real-time visibility of all materials on the shop floor
Reduce waste of time and materials
Eliminate human errors and improve productivity
Generate complete component traceability reports
Standardize data acquisition across multi-vendor lines
Enable communication between feeders, machines and systems
 

 Cogiscan, cogiscan.com

CAT 35 ILDS (Integrated Liquid Delivery System) dual-mode spray head is an alternative to conventional air-atomizing, film coating and dispensing technologies. 
 
Consists of an ultrasonic transducer with a titanium spray forming head and integrated liquid and air applicators. Has two modes: narrow (5 mm pattern width) and wide (3 to 25 mm pattern width). Applies a thin, defect-free coating 0.5 to 5 mils in thickness, said to provide excellent uniformity.
 
Nozzle-free spray head works with urethanes, acrylics, water-based, solvent-based and 100% solids UV curable conformal coatings and is compatible with all Prism Systems.
 
Ultrasonic Systems, ultraspray.com

New software for In-Sight vision sensors reportedly improves workflow, eases integration and speeds deployment of vision sensors on the factory floor:
 
In-Sight Explorer 3.1 features a Windows XP look and feel, and supports the use of industry-standard OPC communication tags.
In-Sight OPC Server makes it easy to exchange data with other OPC programs and systems including PLCs, distributed control systems (DCS) and distributed I/O networks.
In-Sight ActiveX Display Control allows users to integrate In-Sight images and display graphics into third-party HMI and SCADA packages.
 
Trial software is available at http://www.cognex.com/insight.
 
Cognex Corp., cognex.com

 

 

 

 

KIC will display Wave Surfer, a new wave application fixture, in booth 5511 at AT Expo.
 
The self-contained measurement system for wave solder machines provides critical data on wave solder machine setup and its process. Has five embedded thermocouples, works in conjunction with SlimKIC 2000 for profiling and setup. 
 
Made of a material similar to typical wave solder pallets, can withstand thousands of passes. The fixture holds the SlimKIC in place during each run to measure the pertinent process data in the wave solder machine including peak temperature, dwell time, parallelism and conveyor speed. 
 
KIC, kicthermal.com

Kester will showcase EnviroMark 907 (EM907), a no-clean, lead-free solder paste, in booth 5636 at AT Expo next week. Designed for high-yield, lead-free manufacturing, was engineered specifically for the higher thermal demands and higher melting temperature lead-free alloys, such as the SnAgCu (SAC) alloys.
 
Features a long stencil life, offers lead-free joints that closely resemble those achieved with Sn/Pb solder paste. Capable of extended downtimes in printing, maintains excellent print quality at print speeds up to 6 in/sec. (150 mm/sec). Has excellent cold and hot slump behavior, preventing bridges and solder ball formation.
 
Said to have excellent solderability to a variety of board surface metallizations, including OSP, Ni/Au, Immersion Sn and Immersion Ag. Features solderability to an array of component metallizations, including Pd/Ag and Alloy 42.
 
Flux chemistry offers bright solder joints, even in air reflow. This cosmetic feature is an added benefit during inspection. The paste leaves only a light-colored residue and provides a stable tack life.
 
Reflowable in air or nitrogen, prints down to 0201 pad sites, has superior printing characteristics to 16 and 20 mil pitches (0.4 and 0.5 mm) and meets J-STD-004 Flux Classification ROL0.
 
Kester, kester.comhttp://www.kester.com

Kyzen Corp. will highlight AQUANOX A4630 in booth 5834 at the upcoming Assembly Technology Expo.
 
Designed from the ground up to clean lead-free materials while providing low cost of ownership. This sixth-generation product brings ambient temperatures and low concentrations while exceeding industry standards for both people and environmental safety. It also is multi-metal safe for use on yellow metals, aluminum, ferrous and composites as well as most precious metals and some plastic, rubber, glass and ceramic substrates.
 
Typically used in aqueous spray-in-air equipment at 10 to 20% from ambient temperatures. Said to provide brilliant joints, pass after pass, without the use of sump side additives and throughout an extended bath life.
 
Equally effective on all no-clean materials.