News
The PPM Project, sponsored by SMART Group and the U.K. Department of Trade and Industry, seeks to measure defect levels of tin/lead and lead-free assemblies. The groups will use parts per million defective as the main metric. Companies across Europe will be included in the study, which will be based on existing product acceptability methods to ensure results can be easily compared.
In a press statement, the groups said that "a common question is, How does my process compare with other companies' in terms of yield? The information did not exist or was not easily available to small and medium volume companies until the launch of the project."
IPC and IEC standards will be used to support the PPM evaluation, the groups said.
The PPM Project is part of LeadOut, an effort to inform and prepare electronics manufacturers for lead-free products. Results will be available from the LeadOut Website soon. For more information contact technical@smartgroup.org.
The agreement is subject to approval by Tecnomatix shareholders and regulatory authorities.
Under the terms, Tecnomatix shareholders will receive $17 per share in cash, a premium of 39% over Tecnomatix's average closing price over the last 60 trading days.
Tecnomatix's board has unanimously approved the deal.
US Patent 6,819,004 covers an epoxy-fluxing technology that enables no-flow underfill. The methods and materials covered within the patent permit attachment of flip chips to electronics assemblies sans underfill adhesive processes.
Kester is offering licenses for the patented technology.
In a press release, Kester said the novel technology halves the number of process steps by eliminating a steps for flux residue cleaning, capillary underfill lengthy dispensing and capillary underfill post-curing.
Central to the technology is the use of epoxy that acts as a flux during the initial soldering and then acts as an adhesive during encapsulation. The soldering or fluxing operation and encapsulation have been combined into a single stage. The patent for this technology not only covers the material but also the application such that the flip chips could be attached to the substrate simultaneously with the remainder of the surface mounted devices, Kester said.
"This patent reflects Kester's dedication to continuous innovation, which is our competitive anchor. We are very pleased that Kester's invention has been recognized by the United States Patent and Trademark Office," said Brian Deram, vice president of research and development.
Kester is actively marketing several formulas that are covered by this newly issued patent under its trademarked "SE-CURE" line. Users, the company said, are indemnified from the method of use claims covered by this patent. Licensing opportunities are available, Kester said.
Henkel will make a cash donation of $677,000 (500,000 euros) plus clothing and hygiene products valued at $677,000 (500,000 euros).
"Henkel has endeavored to respond to this catastrophe by providing aid and assistance to the victims in as rapid and as unbureaucratic a manner as possible," said Knut Weinke, executive vice president, human resources.
Henkel is a provider of consumer and industrial brands like Loctite adhesives, Dial soap, Duck duct tape.
The 53,000 sq. ft. facility will house R&D and applications engineering for the company's die attach, semiconductor underfill, encapsulant and semiconductor mold compound products.
The company's electronics assembly materials headquarters will also move to the site.
"Combining the research and development operation with applications engineering has many benefits," says Dr. Larry Crane, global director of semiconductor research, development and engineering, in a press statement. "This shared expertise gives us the ability to enhance the coordination of customer projects, streamline product introductions, build and test parts for customers and bring advanced materials to market more quickly."
The facility houses a cutting-edge R&D lab, including an analytical and failure analysis lab. It boasts a 5,000 sq. ft. Class 10,000 cleanroom, for semiconductor applications, and a 2,000 sq. ft. surface mount production line.
Henkel said it plans several new facilities worldwide.
"Doing business with reference customers such as NASA Ames Research Center and the University of Minnesota Supercomputing Institute, we value highly that Solectron does such an excellent job at producing our PCBAs and performs NPI activities in its facility in Milpitas," said Dick Harkness, vice president of manufacturing operations, SGI. "Having an EMS partner with a robust, near-market manufacturing capability enables us to quickly react to customer needs and offers an added level of supply chain security for mission-critical government accounts."
In all, SGI presented five Outstanding Supplier Awards in fiscal 2004.
