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Sunday, April 22, 2018

VOLUME - NUMBER

What's Next for Visual and Optical Inspection?

By Mark Clymer and Ed Balcerzak, UNITRON, Ltd., and Kieran Slicker, Ash Technologies, Ltd.
It is difficult to decide which system is best for inspecting and ensuring circuit board integrity. This is complicated, since the requirements of the application, work environment and sample are the primary considerations. Also, where a traditional inspection system may have been sufficient ...

Clean and Efficient Recycling for SMT/PCB Metals Waste

By Jack Scott, Ph.D., Steve J. Butler and Thomas Mitchell, Conecsus, LLC
From solder dross to paste residues on consumable products, such as used stencil wipes, solder paste jars and syringes, electronics manufacturing produces metal-bearing residues and wastes in all kinds of forms. Even though RoHS has taken most of the lead out of the PCB manufacturing ...

Coating Complex Electronics with Flexible Dispensing Systems

By the Equipment Staff of Specialty Coating Systems (SCS), Inc.
The use of conformal coatings and materials is rising, offering the protection necessary for complex electronic products to function in harsh environments. To provide that protection, numerous conformal coatings and materials are available, such as acrylics, silicones, epoxies, urethanes ...

Intelligent, High-Speed Component Counting with X-Ray Technology

By Dr. Jan Richarz, Research and Development, and Bernd Will, Product Manager, optical control GmbH & Co. KG
Downtime should never be caused by poor planning and inventory control. Downtime on the line should only ever occur as a result of a planned setup, changeover or other scheduled event. Including accurate component counting as a part of daily inventory management is key for continuous ...

Quality-Driven Production Drives Inspection and Measurement in M2M Communication

By Yasuo Watabe, Sales Promotion Group Leader, Saki Corporation
Quality is more important than ever, as the electronics industry faces new technologies, market realities and the race toward the smart factory, with its Industry 4.0 and machine-to-machine (M2M) initiatives.

Silver Sintering: A Reliable Alternative to Lead-Free Bonding

By Marco Koelink, Business Development and Commercial Manager, Advanced Packaging Center, and Michiel de Monchy, European Applications Manager Die Attach and Preforms, Alpha Assembly Solutions
The challenges of working with lead-free bonding materials are now facing stiff competition from silver (Ag) sintering. Ag sintering, or low-temperature diffusion bonding is gaining popularity for its excellent electrical and thermal conductivity. Due to some interesting optical properties ...

Solving Wave Solder Issues with In-Process AOI and Rework

By Simon Smith, Marketing Manager, Pillarhouse International, Ltd.
The industry has been pushing to remove wave soldering from the through-hole assembly process for a number of years. This is not always possible, due to the speed and volume requirements of the production line. Common wave-associated soldering problems, such as bridging between pins ...

Transitioning the Factory from "Smart" to "Intelligent"

By Bill Cardoso, Ph.D., President, Creative Electron, Inc.
Industry 4.0 initiatives that connect the production equipment in the SMT line, such as IPC's CFX initiative, are critical to the design of today's smart factory. So are smart storage towers or smart stencil storage systems. On the other hand, the "intelligent factories" of the future ...

AMBER's Wireless Applications Kit for Raspberry Pi Makes Evaluation Simple

By Selina Schuler, Software Developer, AMBER wireless GmbH
From decentralized intelligence and cyber-physical systems to the smart home and smart factory — the Internet of Things (IoT) is being brought to the fore. However, the IoT does not only mean connecting devices using the Internet. When cables get in the way and Wi-Fi is not practicable ...

Design-for-Testability Verified with Hardware Emulation

By Dr. Lauro Rizzatti, Verification Consultant
On the production/testing floor, is it better to pass a failing device or to reject a good one? Obviously both are bad choices. If you reject a good device, you shoot yourself in the foot, since you lower the yield of your manufacturing facility and take a hit to profits. But, if you ...

Machine Vision Products: Designing the Future's Inspection Machines

By Paul Groome, Semiconductor Business Director, Machine Vision Products
When Machine Vision Products, Inc., (MVP) was founded 25 years ago, cell phones were in their infancy and portable electronics simply didn't exist. The majority of manufacturing was through-hole, the i486 was the main computing platform and Windows 3.1 was flashy and new.

Measuring Surface Flatness with Acoustic Micro Imaging Tools

By Tom Adams, Consultant, Sonoscan
Acoustic micro imaging tools, or acoustic microscopes, are well-known for their ability to pulse ultrasound into a sample, collect the echoes and create acoustic images. These images show the desired depth without harming the sample. These tools can even create nondestructive cross-sections ...

Precise Measurement of Surface Free Energy Promotes Superior Adhesion

By Jeff Elliott
The process of determining the ideal plasma treatment that will resolve a challenging bonding or adhesion issue is an exact science, often the domain of chemists and physicists. However, with multiple options and chemistries at their disposal, coming up with the ideal plasma "recipe ...

STI's Multifaceted Organization Meets Next-Gen Assembly Needs

By Troy Moore, Systems Design Engineer, STI Electronics
For STI, a multifaceted technical organization that offers electronics assembly, training and other specialized services, flexibility allows it to put customers first and to focus on the highest possible product quality.

Successfully Measuring LED Modules, Lamps and Luminaires

By Mikolaj Przybyla, Managing Director, GL Optic Lichtmesstechnik
In March 2015, the International Commission on Illumiation (CIE) published the first international standard with guidelines on LED light source measurements. Previous standards only addressed measurements of traditional light sources.

Cover and ESD Protection for Shielded Fixture Kits

By Matthias Zapatka, CTO, INGUN USA
INGUN's fixture kits are well-known for their ease of operation and cassette design. Expensive dedicated fixtures can only cover one device under test (DUT). INGUN's fixture kits can be reused for several devices — simply by swapping out the insert, while keeping the same frame and ...

Enhanced Manufacturing Services 4.0 Part 2: NPI Driven by Test Coverage

By Christophe Lotz, President and CEO, ASTER Technologies, LLC
The purpose of any test solution is to maximize test coverage, ensuring that the majority of defects are detected, while minimizing the test cost. If a product is not tested well enough, poor-quality products can be devastating to a manufacturer's reputation. If a product is tested ...

Evaluating EMS Providers from Two Angles: Supply Chain and Engineering

By Jeff Elliott
The ideal contract manufacturer is more than a transactional supplier, but a partner who improves both the product and process. When OEMs outsource PCBs or electronic box build assemblies, the primary criteria when selecting a contract manufacturer have always boiled down to cost, quality ...

Machine Optimization: Is it Artificial Intelligence?

By Bjorn Dahle, President, KIC
Whether we hype it and call it artificial intelligence (AI) or the more modest "machine optimization," reflow oven optimization software is a great example of a smart machine.

New Solder Attach Technologies Streamline Application-Specific Assembly

By the Staff of Interplex Holdings Pte., Ltd.
Manufacturers have been pre-tinning component solder leads for years, but mostly for through-hole technology. SMT and lead-free soldering have made this type of preparation difficult, until now.