Electronics Manufacturing Technical Articles

EMI-Caused EOS Sources in Automated Equipment

Mar 31, 2016 | Vladimir Kraz

Electrical overstress causes damage to sensitive components, including latent damage. A significant source of EOS is high-frequency noise in automated manufacturing equipment. This paper analyses sources of such noise, how it affects components and how to mitigate this problem....

Publisher: OnFILTER, Inc.

Cable and Harness Manufacturing: Five Qs to ask when selecting a Cable and Harness Tester ...

Mar 25, 2016 | Margaret Bishop (CAMI Research)

Ready to purchase a new tester? Interested in improving productivity & quality? Ask these technical questions of your potential supplier....

Publisher: CAMI Research Inc.

High Frequency DK and DF Test Methods Comparison High Density Packaging User Group (HDP) Project

Mar 24, 2016 | Karl Sauter; Oracle Corporation, Joe Smetana; Alcatel-Lucent

Today's Electronic Industry is changing at a high pace. The root causes are manifold. So world population is growing up to eight billions and gives new challenges in terms of urbanization, mobility and connectivity. Consequently, there will raise up a lot of new business models for the electronic industry. Connectivity will take a large influence on our lives. Concepts like Industry 4.0, internet of things, M2M communication, smart homes or communication in or to cars are growing up. All these applications are based on the same demanding requirement – a high amount of data and increased data transfer rate. These arguments bring up large challenges to the Printed Circuit Board (PCB) design and manufacturing.

This paper investigates the impact of different PCB manufacturing technologies and their relation to their high frequency behavior. In the course of the paper a brief overview of PCB manufacturing capabilities is be presented. Moreover, signal losses in terms of frequency, design, manufacturing processes, and substrate materials are investigated. The aim of this paper is, to develop a concept to use materials in combination with optimized PCB manufacturing processes, which allows a significant reduction of losses and increased signal quality....

Publisher: Alcatel-Lucent

Enabling High-Speed Printing Using Low-Cost Materials: Process Stability is Paramount

Mar 17, 2016 | Michael L. Cieslinski, Brent A. Fischthal

The rapid growth of electronic devices across the globe is driving manufacturers to enhance high-speed mass production techniques in the PCB assembly arena. As manufacturers drive to reduce costs while maximizing production by expanding facilities, updating automation equipment, or implementing lean six sigma techniques, the potential to build scrap product or rework printed circuit boards increases dramatically.

Manufacturers have two general paths to reduce the costs of high-speed printed circuit board assembly production. The first path is to reduce cost by focusing on high quality printing and mounting. The other, increasingly popular option is to utilize low-cost materials. In either case, the baseline must provide a consistent high-speed solder paste printing method, which considers the fill, snap-off, and cleaning processes.

Building on our expertise and testing, this paper will highlight the two trains of thought with specific focus on how low-cost materials affect print performance. It will also explore technologies, which can help provide stable, high-speed screen printing....

Publisher: Panasonic Factory Solutions Company of America (PFSA)

Acceptance Testing Of Low-Ag Reflow Solder Alloys

Mar 10, 2016 | Kris Troxel, Aileen Allen, Elizabeth Elias Benedetto, Rahul Joshi

Since the implementation of the European Union RoHS directive in 2006, the electronics industry has seen an expansion of available low-silver lead (Pb)-free1 alloys for wave soldering, miniwave rework, BGA and CSP solder balls, and, more recently, solder pastes for mass reflow. The risks associated with the higher processing temperatures of these low-silver (Ag between 0-3 wt%) solder alloys, such as potential laminate or component damage, increased copper dissolution, and reduced thermal process windows may present manufacturing challenges and possible field reliability risks for original equipment manufacturers (OEMs). In order to take advantage of potential cost reduction opportunities afforded by these new alloys, while mitigating manufacturing and reliability risks, the company has defined test protocols [1-4] that can be used for assessing new Sn-Ag-Cu(SAC), Sn-Ag, and Sn-Cu alloys for general use in electronics.

This paper describes initial test results for low-silver alloys using these solder paste alloy assessment protocols for BGAs and leaded components, and the impact of the alloys on printed circuit assembly process windows....

Publisher: HP Inc.

Nanocopper Based Paste for Solid Copper Via Fill

Mar 03, 2016 | David Ciufo, Sujatha Ramanujan, Janet Heyen, Michael Carmody; Intrinsiq Materials, Sunny Patel; Candor Industries.

This paper discusses a nano copper based paste for use in via filling. The company manufactures nano copper and disperses the coated nano copper into a paste in combination with micron copper. The resultant paste is injected or fills a via. The via is subsequently sintered by means of photonic sintering, or by heat in a reducing environment. The process will be accomplished in under an hour and results in filled solid copper vias....

Publisher: Intrinsiq Materials Inc.

ph Neutral Cleaning Agents - Market Expectation & Field Performance

Feb 25, 2016 | Umut Tosun, Jigar Patel, Kalyan Nukula, Fernando Gazcon, ZESTRON America

With regard to precision cleaning applications within electronics manufacturing, pH neutral product development was a major breakthrough in recent years. The impetus for this development resulted from changes with regard to solder paste formulations and resulting assembly processes.</p><p>The greater use of lead-free solder paste and the required higher reflow profiles have resulted in even more difficult to remove burnt-in flux residues. Coupled with increases in component density, larger component packages, higher lead counts, finer lead spacing, and lower standoff distances, effective cleaning is greatly challenged. The aqueous alkaline based cleaning agents can effectively remove these flux residues, however, the process often requires an increase in wash temperature and exposure time, chemical concentration, and mechanical energy. Although an efficient and effective cleaning process can be developed, oftentimes, the required operating parameters present a new set of challenges with regard to material compatibility.</p><p>Since their introduction, the newly developed pH neutral formulations have proven to be capable not only of removing these difficult post reflow residues from complex board geometries, but do so without affecting material compatibility of sensitive components. Additionally, they perform at low concentration levels. This study reviews the performance of pH neutral cleaning agents as compared to alkaline cleaning agent alternatives and includes field data demonstrating their effectiveness with regard to material compatibility and cleaning performance....

Publisher: ZESTRON Americas

Sample Preparation For Mitigating Tin Whiskers In Alternative Lead-Free Alloys

Feb 18, 2016 | Mehran Maalekian, Karl Seelig, Timothy O'Neill

As lead-free alloys shift into high reliability electronics, the issue of tin whisker growth remains a primary concern among those in the industry. Current research shows that there is no perfect alloy for all cases of electronic usage. Industry leaders and researchers continue to study and search for a lead free alloy that is able to withstand harsh environments while maintaining high reliability....

Publisher: AIM Solder

Effective Methods to Get Volatile Compounds Out of Reflow Process

Feb 11, 2016 | Gerjan Diepstraten

Although reflow ovens may not have been dramatically changed during the last decade the reflow process changes step by step. With the introduction of lead-free soldering not only operation temperatures increased, but also the chemistry of the solder paste was modified to meet the higher thermal requirements. Miniaturization is a second factor that impacts the reflow process. The density on the assembly is increasing where solder paste deposit volumes decreases due to smaller pad and component dimensions. Pick and place machines can handle more components and to meet this high through put some SMD lines are equipped with dual lane conveyors, doubling solder paste consumption. With the introduction of pin in paste to solder through hole components contamination of the oven increased due to dripping of the paste....

Publisher: Vitronics Soltec

Make the Right Design Choices in Load Switching and Simulation in a High Current and Mechatronic Functional Test

Feb 04, 2016 | Derek Ong, Lok Teng Kee, Chuah Rhun Chia

In a typical mechatronic manufacturing functional test setup, actual load simulations are usually done by connecting the DUT outputs to power or ground in order to establish either a high or low side driver. Each output is connected with different load and the test will either be sequential or concurrent. At lower power levels, these can usually be managed with general purpose switches. However, when it comes to higher power levels of currents more than 5 amps, such switching and loading might pose a greater challenge. Furthermore, critically in the manufacturing line, the tradeoff between cost and test time would have a great influence on the test strategy.

This paper will present some key points to design a cost effective high power switching and load management solution....

Publisher: Keysight Technologies