Circuits Assembly Online Magazine - News

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WILSONVILLE, OR - Expedition and Board Station RE PCB layout tools now come with advanced design capabilities for flex and rigid-flex boards. The Board Station and Expedition design flows now permit definition and checking of flex circuit design rules, including curved trace settings by area, complex contour following for routes, teardrops at pins, t-junctions and route width changes, cross-hatching of shielding areas and selective pad modifications. The enhancements are available now; pricing starts at $7,500 per year. Mentor Graphics www.mentor.com

O.C. White Offers Full Spectrum Lighting for Pb-Free Assembly, Inspection
12-20-2004

Full spectrum lighting (FSL), a critical feature for lead-free assembly and inspection applications, is now supplied free of charge on all illuminated magnifier products. Full spectrum light contains the entire range of visible wavelengths, so that the human eye can see all objects and a range of materials; helps to inspect lead-free solder connections.

According to president Richard May, "Lead-free solder connections are not smooth and shiny like those of lead-bearing solders; they are rough, irregular and frosty-looking. This surface appearance makes it even more difficult to see microscopic cracks, voids and defects in a solder joint, or to judge between an acceptable defect level and an unacceptable one. Full Spectrum Lighting gives the inspector or assembler a critical edge in working with lead-free connections, adding enhanced visibility to duller and rougher lead-free alloys so that effective inspection can be accomplished."

The O.C. White Co., ocwhite.com

Cybersolv is a low-VOC, water-based aerosol maintenance cleaner to remove dirt, oil, grease, wax, flux, paste, adhesive, marker, ink, brake dust, grime, monomer dust and fingerprints from copper, aluminum, iron, brass, stainless, ceramic, cement, glass, plastic, rubber and cloth. Available in 14 oz. cans; 12 cans per case.

The product family is a collection of traditional chemistries packaged for use in benchtop and maintenance applications. Offer the convenience of pre-saturated wipes, trigger spray bottles, hand cleaners and specialty solvents.

The cleaning solvents are based on simple organic compounds that are clean, effective and designed with the operator in mind. Chemistries are made from renewable resources; low vapor pressure and high flash points allow the formulations to operate safely in under-screen cleaning applications.

Kyzen, kyzen.com

Loctite 3629 is a low-temperature cure epoxy adhesive suited for high-speed dispensing on a range of standard machines, including ProFlow cassettes for printing.

Has been successfully tested in lead free production environments. Low-temperature cure requirement makes it ideal for applications where heat sensitive materials need to be bonded prior to wave soldering. Lower oven temperatures also reduce energy use.

Meets on-board reliability testing standards, suitable for use on PCBs in high reliability equipment used in harsh operating environments.

Unique color makes visual inspection easy; uncured adhesive is fluorescent under UV light.

Available in a range of syringes and cassettes.

Henkel, henkel.com/electronics

RFID Smart Feeder validation system is reportedly robust and flexible enough for all machine types. Can be retrofitted to existing placement machines. Enables closed-loop feeder and component setup validation; eliminates human errors and reduces changeover time; provides real-time material inventory, traceability and feeder slot scans.

Integrates with feeder setup verification software from third-party suppliers to eliminate manual barcode scanning.

Cogiscan, cogiscan.com

1072 VOC-Free rosin flux is both halide- and VOC-free. The new chemistry combines the benefits of rosin with the environmentally friendliness of a water-based product.

Specifically developed for wave soldering of surface-mount, mixed-technology and through-hole electronic assemblies. Water-based nonflammable formulation eliminates special storage requirements. Said to offer solderability on difficult-to-solder assemblies and a wide process window.

Indium Corp. of America, indium.com

PALO ALTO and MOUNTAIN VIEW, CA, Dec. 14, 2004 -- Agilent Technologies Inc. and Synopsys Inc. have introduced a scan diagnostics reference methodology that speeds fault localization and failure analysis for semiconductor design and test engineers, the result of a three-year strategic alliance.

The methodology is enabled by the Agilent 93000 SmarTest Program Generator (PG) 2.2 and the Synopsys TetraMAX automatic test pattern generation (ATPG) solution, in conjunction with the Agilent 93000 SOC Series test platform. The tools automate the bidirectional information sharing between electronic design automation (EDA) and automatic test equipment (ATE) required for scan diagnostics.

As process geometries shrink and device complexity grows, identifying device failures becomes increasingly difficult. The demand for shorter time to market and lower product cost makes rapid diagnostics and fault localization vital during the first silicon evaluation and production ramp up. EDA companies have begun to offer fault localization tools, but they require failure information from automatic test equipment. Until now, a standardized and supported means for sharing information from ATE has not been available.

The SmarTest PG 2.2 offers a transition from the EDA environment to the capabilities of the 93000 SOC Series, which speeds test development for functional and scan tests. SmarTest PG 2.2 provides a scan failure map on the SOC Series in their native scan context, speeding first silicon debug. Features a simplified user interface and command-line operation, and supports industry-standard EDA input formats, including Standard Test Interface Language (STIL), Waveform Generation Language (WGL), Value Change Dump (VCD), Extended VCD (EVCD) and Core Test Language (CTL).

MIXPAC S-50 System for two-component adhesive dispensing works with manually operated dispensers from ConProTec, as well as with a new patented, battery-powered EZ-mix HI hand-held dispensing unit by DTIC Dispensing Technologies.

When used together, the systems obtain a higher flow rate and dispense thicker materials safely. The S-50 can accommodate volumetric ratios of 1:1, 2:1, 4:1, 10:1 and 3:2.

ConProTec Inc., conprotec.com

Designed to test microelectronic devices, MEMS, photonic and other small components, the 5848 MicroTester provides precise load and displacement measurement capability and claims an excellent cyclic performance.

Applications include semiconductor die shear and pull tests, tensile testing of fine wires, flex testing of circuit boards and substrates, and peel tests of thin films and substrates. Load capacity of 2 kN, provides sub-micron position measurement accuracy and ultra high-precision load and position control for static testing of micro-components and cyclic fatigue testing.

Includes an extremely rigid frame, for horizontal or vertical orientations, and an encoder mounted directly on the loading actuator for position measurement resolution of better than 20 nanometers.

Instron, instron.com

AlSiC (Aluminum Silicon Carbide) metal matrix composite for optoelectronic housings and lids enables a tailored coefficient of thermal expansion (CTE), offering compatibility with various electronic devices and assemblies. Unlike traditional housing materials, the isotropic CTE value of AlSiC can be adjusted for specific applications by modifying the Al-metal/SiC-particulate ratio. CTE matching capabilities ensure alignment and precision.

Exhibits high thermal conductivity for thermal dissipation, prevents bowing and flexing of packaging and substrate material that can lead to failure. Traditional housing materials with lower thermal dissipation can cause delamination, leading to air gaps and poor reliability.

The near and net-shape fabrication process produces the composite material and fabricates the product geometry, allowing rapid prototyping for high-volume thermal management solutions. Unrestricted geometry enables the inclusion of design features such as septums, walls and radial features. Casting process allows integration of high thermal conductivity inserts (>1000 W/mK) or cooling tubes.

CPS Corp., alsic.com

The new WaferRepair platform addresses the technology requirements associated with the reliable, cost-effective laser fuse processing of high density DRAM and other memory devices using redundancy, as well as laser programming for device customization and repair of non-memory devices. Delivers refinements in beam placement accuracy, laser spot size and ultra-fine, ultra-stable energy control that enable the processing of extremely tight-pitch fuse structures for yield enhancement. Feature the system precision required by 90-nm and smaller design rules.

Based on the new platform, the M450 fuse processing system features a laser spot size of 1.4 µm. The M455 has a laser spot size of 0.7 µm, enabling aggressive fuse pitch shrinks below 2 µm. Both process fuses at a rate of 60,000 Hz with beam-positioning accuracy of +/- 0.150 µm.

GSI Lumonics Inc., gsilumonics.com

ITT Industries, Cannon now offers many of its switch products in lead-free versions. Many also contain no cadmium, mercury or other toxic substances, such as hexavalent chromium, polybrominated biphenyls or polybrominated diphenyl ethers.

Switches such as the trackball navigation switch, and KMR, KMS, TPC, TPA and KSU tact switches are completely free of all chemicals mentioned above and are completely compatible with lead-free solder processes.

ITT Industries, Cannon, ittcannon.com

Following the adoption of the PumpPrint process from DEK printing machines and the installation of DEK Infinity printers, Tianjin-based OEM HEG has made significant improvements to its adhesive application process yields.

The company uses the machines to apply SMT adhesives for their automotive and consumer electronics products, replacing their SMT dispensers.

Since the installation of the printers, overall production defect rates have dropped to 20-30 ppm, as confirmed by HEG's quality assurance measures, which include 2-D inspection, visual inspection, AOI and electrical test. The company also reports that throughput for boards that require adhesive application has increased to more than 135 PCBs/hr, and over 81,000 adhesive dots/hr.

According to HEG, a major advantage of the PumpPrint process is its ability to operate even in harsh environmental conditions, as the process can adapt to quite a range of temperature and humidity conditions and glue viscosity levels.

HEG currently operates 21 automatic insertion machines, seven fully automatic SMT lines and nine manual assembly lines, reportedly achieving 8.16 million SMD placements/day and 8.68 million insertions/day.