Electronics Manufacturing Technical Articles

A Novel Local Search Integer-Programming-Based Heuristic for PCB Assembly on Collect-and-Place Machines

Nov 03, 2011 | Anupam Seth, Diego Klabjan, Placid M. Ferreira

This paper presents the development of a novel vehicle-routing-based algorithm for optimizing component pick-up and placement on a collect-and-place type machine in printed circuit board manufacturing. We present a two-phase heuristic that produces soluti...

Publisher: Mechanical Science and Engineering at UIUC

Manufacturability & Reliability Challenges with Leadless Near Chip Scale (LNCSP) Packages in Pb-Free Processes

Oct 27, 2011 | Cheryl Tulkoff, Greg Caswell

Leadless, near chip scale packages (LNCSP) like the quad flat pack no lead (QFN) are the fastest growing package types in the electronics industry today. Early LNCSPs were fairly straightforward components with small overall dimensions, a single outer row...

Publisher: DfR Solutions (acquired by ANSYS Inc)

Modelling of Thermal Stresses in Printed Circuit Boards

Oct 20, 2011 | Oldŕich Šuba, Libuše Sýkorová, Štépán Šanda, Michal Stanék

Results of FEM modelling of thermal stress analysis in printed circuit boards are given in the article. It is shown that thermal stress alone is not solely caused by differences in coefficients of thermal expansion of individual layers. The emergence of thermal stress is subject to both the layered structure of the wall and given boundary conditions, as well as the existence of a temperature gradient in the direction normal to the surface of the wall. A practical application focuses on the issue of recycling of PCB with the effort to achieve separation of layers due to thermal stress. Role modelling of thermal stress in this area lies in predicting the possibility of separation, depending on the type of thermal stress and material parameters....

Publisher: Tomas Bata University

Are Separate Solder Flip-Chip Bonders Still Required?

Oct 13, 2011 | Eric Klaver, Senior Product Manager, Assembléon. Patrick Huberts, Product Manager Semicon Market.

Increasing miniaturization is now encouraging manufacturers of handheld devices to stack bare dies or packages. As the process of manufacturing modules requires placing both passives and (stacked) bare dies, these two types of placement are merging very quickly into a single platform. That raises the question of whether SMT equipment will take over from traditional die bonders....

Publisher: Assembléon

Development of a Design & Manufacturing Environment for Reliable and Cost- Effective PCB Embedding Technology

Oct 06, 2011 | M. Brizoux, A. Grivon, W. C. Maia Filho; Thales Corporate Services. J. Stahr, M. Morianz; AT&S. Hemant Shah, Ed Hickey; Cadence Design Systems Inc.

The desire to have more functionality into increasingly smaller size end products has been pushing the PCB and IC Packaging industry towards High Density Interconnect (HDI) and 3D Packaging (stacked dies, embedded packaged components). Many companies in the high-end consumer electronics market place have been embedding passive chip components on inner PCB and IC Packages for a few years now. However, embedding packaged components on inner layers has remained elusive for the broader market due to lack of proper design tools and high cost of embedding components on inner layers (...)

This paper will highlight several key industrialization aspects addressed in the frame of the European funded FP7 HERMES* project to build a manufacturing environment for products with embedded components. The program entered its third year and is now dealing with the manufacturing of functional demonstrators as an introduction to industrialization....

Publisher: Cadence Design Systems, Inc.

Criminal Prosecution - Who can be held liable for the sale of counterfeit parts?

Sep 26, 2011 | Kristal Snider, Vice President; ERAI Inc.

On September 14, 2010, the late Shannon Wren, owner of VisionTech Components ("VisionTech"), and Stephanie McCloskey, VisionTech's Administrative Manager, were arrested during the execution of search and seizure warrants issued against the pair by the United States government after evidence connected them to the sale of counterfeit parts to the U.S. Navy, defense contractors and others. A ten-count indictment charged McCloskey with conspiracy, aiding and abetting in violation of Title 18 United States Code, Sections 371 and 2; trafficking in counterfeit goods, in violation of Title 18 United States Code, Section 2320; and mail fraud, in violation of Title 18 United States Code, Section 1341. McCloskey pled guilty to conspiracy and aiding and abetting for her role in the scheme....

Publisher: ERAI Inc.

Best and Simplest Recovery Solution for Missing Data

Sep 26, 2011 | USB Recovery

How to repair flash drive documents when missing due to malicious software installations? Company presents drive recovery software to restore digital files and compressed folders from accidently formatted usb removable media drives....

Publisher: USB Drive Recovery

Thermal Spot Curing of Adhesives with Photonic Energy; a novel fiber delivery method of radiant heating to accelerate the polymerization of thermally active adhesives

Sep 22, 2011 | Ruben Burga, Dr. Mohammed Saad

The remainder of this paper will deal with the adhesive cure mechanism most often found in the microelectronics industry; the thermal activation and cure of adhesives that are most commonly based on epoxy backbones. The use of heat is already prevalent in the microelectronics industry as most printed circuit board assemblies use some element of this thermal energy (reflow ovens for example) during the component soldering and assembly stage or during their burn-in stage (convection ovens)....

Publisher: IRphotonics

Near Term Solutions For 3D Packaging Of High Performance DRAM

Sep 15, 2011 | Vern Solberg, Wael Zohni

The revolution in performance driven electronic systems continues to challenge the IC packaging industry. To enable the new generations of processors to reach their performance potential many manufacturers have developed interface formats to enable greater memory bandwidth. To ensure that the memory functions are able to support the increased signal speed, package developers are relying more and more on innovative 3D package assembly techniques and process refinement....

Publisher: Invensas Corporation

Anisotropic Conductive Adhesive Bonding - A High Quality Interconnection Technique

Sep 08, 2011 | Miyachi Europe GmbH

Anisotropic Conductive Adhesive Bonding is an interconnection technique mostly used for connecting displays to pcb’s using anisotropic conductive adhesive and flex foils. For successful implementation there are a few basic constraints. If these are followed, display connection is a simple and reliable process, giving top quality connections. Heat-Sealing can be done in any factory and can be introduced in a few months, from start of design to mass productions...

Publisher: MIYACHI EUROPE GmbH

Manufacturers Use Technology to Help Weather the Economic Downturn.

Sep 02, 2011 | Alison Falco, president; Dynamic Systems Inc.

Too often the manufacturers will implement technology for financial reporting purposes but overlook efficiencies that can generate cash flow and reduce costs on the manufacturing floor. Accurate information that provides a business owner or manager the ability to make immediate decisions about his/her operation resulting in a boost to profitability is crucial during an economic downturn. If revenue is down and the market mood does not permit price increases, then profitability can only be realized by reducing costs. So you must ask yourself "What prevents me from 100% efficiency?"...

Publisher: Dynamic Systems, Inc.

Scavenging

Sep 01, 2011 | Harold Hyman

Scavenging, Site Dressing, Residual Solder Removal. What's in a name? "That which we call an onion, by any other name would smell as strong" (apologies to the immortal bard). And, regardless of the name you give it, the objective is the same, namely the clean up of remaining solder after a component (particularly a BGA) or R.F. Shield has been removed from a PCB. This paper will describe the various methods that are available and discuss their pros and cons....

Publisher: VJ Electronix

Alternative Pb-Free Alloys

Aug 25, 2011 | Dr. Randy Schueller

While SnAgCu (SAC) alloys still dominate Pb-free selection in North America, especially Sn3.0Ag0.5Cu (SAC305), there are alternative material systems available. Any OEM that is concerned about the high reflow temperatures of SAC or relies on ODM, it is im...

Publisher: DfR Solutions (acquired by ANSYS Inc)

Technical Considerations for Controlling ESD in Electronics Manufacturing

Aug 18, 2011 | Microscan

Overview of ESD, Associated Risks and Prevention Measures...

Publisher: Microscan

Detection of Bare PCB Defects by Image Subtraction Method using Machine Vision

Aug 11, 2011 | Ajay Pal Singh Chauhan, Sharat Chandra Bhardwaj

(Proceedings of the World Congress on Engineering 2011) A Printed Circuit Board (PCB) consists of circuit with electronic components mounted on surface. There are three main steps involved in manufacturing process, where the inspection of PCB is necessar...

Publisher: Sant Longowal Institute of Engineering and Technology (SLIET)

SMT Line Improvements for High Mix, Low Volume Electronics Manufacturing

Aug 04, 2011 | William Edward Swaim

This work covers two major projects aimed at increasing quality and efficiency on a high mix, low volume surface mount electronics production line. Specifically the installation of a ten zone reflow oven and an enhanced changeover method for SMT pick and ...

Publisher: Auburn University

Air Flow Measurement in Electronic Systems

Jul 28, 2011 | Advanced Thermal Solutions, inc.

Electronic circuit boards create some of the most complex and highly three dimensional fluid flows in both air and liquid. The combination of open channel (clearance to the next card above the components) and large protrusions (components, e.g., BGAs, PQF...

Publisher: Advanced Thermal Solutions, Inc

Production Line Dynamics: What Count Is What Actually Comes Out Of Your Line

Jul 21, 2011 | Eric Klaver, Senior Product Manager

In high-volume production, it is the price of the end product that matters. Purchasing decisions for production equipment therefore usually boil down to price divided by output modified by some efficiency factor....

Publisher: Assembléon

Developments in Fine Line Resist Stripping

Jul 14, 2011 | R. Massey, N. Wood, J. Huang

In this paper, the concept for the next generation of resist stripper solutions is introduced, with specific emphasis upon development of new solutions targeted at the ever demanding fine line applications. The novel formulation used minimises the initial...

Publisher: Atotech

SMD Naked Capacitors Technologies For Severe Application Environments And Circuit Functions

Jul 07, 2011 | E.Boni, D. Montanari, L. Caliari, F. Bregoli, L. Barbieri, F. Bergamaschi

The demand for miniaturized electronic equipment and fully-automated assembly lines for mass-production of new products require the availability of a complete range of SMD components...

Publisher: KEMET Electronics Corporation

Quantitative Evaluation of New SMT Stencil Materials

Jun 29, 2011 | Chrys Shea, Quyen Chu, Sundar Sethuraman, Rajoo Venkat ,Jeff Ando, Paul Hashimoto

High yields in the stencil printing process are essential to a profitable SMT assembly operation. But as circuit complexity continues to increase, so do the challenges of maintaining a successful solder paste deposition process. To help assemblers address...

Publisher: Shea Engineering Services

Back to Basics – Why Clean?

Jun 28, 2011 | ZESTRON

ZESTRON America’s spring edition of ZESTRON News goes back to basics providing the latest information on the topics of cleaning in the electronics manufacturing industry....

Publisher: ZESTRON Americas

A Review of Test Methods and Classifications for Halogen-Free Soldering Materials

Jun 23, 2011 | Jasbir Bath, Gordon Clark, Tim Jensen, Renee Michalkiewicz, Brian Toleno

Over the last few years, there has been an increase in the evaluation and use of halogen-free soldering materials. In addition, there has been increased scrutiny into the level of halogens and refinement of the definition and testing of halogen-free solde...

Publisher: Indium Corporation

Use of Non Etching Adhesion Promoters in Advanced PCB Applications

Jun 16, 2011 | Roger Massey, Adrian Zee

Based on tests carried out with commercially available chemistry, this paper discusses the advantages available through the use of NEAP processes for inner layer bonding and soldermask pretreatment. The process is characterized with a view to high volume ...

Publisher: Atotech

Defect freeQFN Assembly

Jun 09, 2011 | Brian J. Leach

QFN Description: A QFN package is a QUAD-FLAT-NO LEAD device. This package is small and lightweight and has no leads (unlike a gull wing or J-leaded device). QFN’s have a thermal pad (paddle) on the bottom side of the part that offers heat dissipation and...

Publisher: AccuSpec Electronics, LLC

Warpage Measurement of PCB With 3D Metrology

Jun 09, 2011 | Craig Leising

Flatness measurement of electronic parts and assemblies, or PCB’s, has become increasingly critical as geometries become smaller: finer pitches, smaller solder ball volumes, thinner substrates, etc. Additionally, processing temperatures vary and can pla...

Publisher: NANOVEA

Accurate Quantitative Physics-of-Failure Approach to Integrated Circuit Reliability

Jun 02, 2011 | Edward Wyrwas, Lloyd Condra, Avshalom Hava

Modern electronics typically consist of microprocessors and other complex integrated circuits (ICs) such as FPGAs, ADCs, and memory. They are susceptible to electrical, mechanical and thermal modes of failure like other components on a printed circuit boa...

Publisher: DfR Solutions (acquired by ANSYS Inc)

Package Converter Compliments Chip Obsolescence

May 26, 2011 | Ila Pal

The Semiconductor industry enabling today’s electronics market place is widely disseminated between multiple customer factions such as consumer electronics, telecommunications, automotive, medical devices, military, aerospace, industrial controls, embedde...

Publisher: Ironwood Electronics

Improve Margins By Reducing Rework - A Benchmark Comparison

May 19, 2011 | Sjef v. Gastel, Manager of Advanced Development, Assembléon

Electronic equipment manufacturers know that rework and scrap cost them money, but rarely know just how much. Calculating it is relatively straightforward knowing the production line’s First Pass Yield (FPY), though....

Publisher: Assembléon

Total Loss: How to Qualify Circuit Boards

May 12, 2011 | Don DeGroot; CCNi, Peter Pupalaikis; LeCroy, Brian Shumaker; DVT Solutions, LLC

We clarify the role of signal loss measurements, aka Total Loss, in specifying and qualifying circuit board materials for high-speed electronic design. We then demonstrate the NIST Multiline measurement technique in particular by characterizing test line...

Publisher: Connected Community Networks, Inc.

Manufacturing Substrates with Embedded Passives

May 05, 2011 | R. N. Das, K. I. Papathomas J. M. Lauffer, S. Rosser, M. D. Poliks, V. R. Markovich

Passives account for a very large part of today’s electronic assemblies. This is particularly true for digital products such as cellular phones, camcorders, and computers. Market pressures for new products with more features, smaller size and lower cost v...

Publisher: i3 Electronics

Matrix maintenance in PXI with BIRST

Apr 21, 2011 | David Owen, Business Development Manager.

Switching systems, and in particular matrices are a key part of many tests systems, they allow a single core set of test equipment to be connected to the UUT, saving the cost of duplicating test equipment. That places the switching matrix in a very vulner...

Publisher: Pickering Interfaces Ltd.

Soldering And Handling Recommendations For Large Size MLC Capacitors

Apr 14, 2011 | Holy Stone Tech Paper

Multilayer Ceramic Capacitors (MLCC) come in a broad range of sizes, geometries, and values, offering design engineers with many options for designing circuits. In many cases these MLCC’s offer advantages over other types of capacitors including low ESR/E...

Publisher: HolyStone International

Voiding Control for QFN Assembly

Apr 07, 2011 | Derrick Herron, Dr. Yan Liu, and Dr. Ning-Cheng Lee

Quad Flat No Leads (QFN) package designs receive more and more attention in electronic industry nowadays. This package offers a number of benefits including (1) small size, such as a near die-sized footprint, thin profile, and light weight; (2) easy PCB t...

Publisher: Indium Corporation

Gold Wire Bonding Performance and Reliability of ENEPIG Surface Finishes.

Mar 30, 2011 | Kenneth Lee, Mustafa Özkök, Stefan Schmitz

The expression "multifunctional PCB", as a synonym for a PCB which is applicable with a variety of assembly techniques, is already established on the market. That means the PCB can be used for multiple reflow soldering and multiple assembly techniques lik...

Publisher: Atotech

A Two-Layer Board Intellectual Property to Reduce Electromagnetic Radiation

Mar 24, 2011 | Nansen Chen, Hongchin Lin

In this paper, a PCB layout technique is proposed to maintain ideal return paths for high-speed traces routing. Our goal is to implement and verify the digital LCD-TV in 2-layer PCB including the high-speed memory interfaces with less electromagnetic radi...

Publisher: MediaTek Inc.

Method of Modeling Differential Vias

Mar 17, 2011 | Lambert Simonovich, Dr. Eric Bogatin, Dr. Yazi Cao,

Accurate, models for vias in a multilayer circuit board are necessary to predict link performance in the GHz regime. This paper describes a methodology to build a high bandwidth, scalable first approximation circuit model using simple transmission lines o...

Publisher: Lamsim Enterprises Inc.

Backplane Architecture High-Level Design

Mar 16, 2011 | Lambert Simonovich

The backplane is the key component in any system architecture. The sooner one considers the backplane’s physical architecture near the beginning of a project, the more successful the project will be. This white paper introduces the concept of a backplane ...

Publisher: Lamsim Enterprises Inc.

Practical Fiber Weave Effect Modeling

Mar 16, 2011 | Lambert Simonovich

Fiber weave effect is becoming more of an issue as bit rates continue to sore upwards to 5GB/s and beyond. Due to the non-homogenous nature of printed circuit board laminates, the fiberglass weave pattern causes signals to propagate at different speeds wi...

Publisher: Lamsim Enterprises Inc.

Solder Materials Science Gets Small as Miniaturization Challenges Old Rules

Mar 10, 2011 | Neil Poole, Ph.D. and Brian Toleno, Ph.D.

History shows that the electronics assembly industry is always up for a good challenge. This was proven with the successful move from through-hole to SMT assembly, the elimination of CFCs from the cleaning process and implementation of lead...

Publisher: Henkel Electronic Materials

A New (Better) Approach to Tin Whisker Mitigation

Mar 03, 2011 | Craig Hillman, Gregg Kittlesen, and Randy Schueller

Most of the electronics industry by now knows about tin whiskers. They know whiskers are slim metallic filaments that emanate from the surface of tin platings. They know these filaments are conductive and can cause shorts across adjacent conductors. And they know that these shorts can cause some really bad failures (see nepp.nasa.gov/whisker/ for a list longer than you need). But, with all of this knowledge, the industry is still struggling on how to predict and prevent these "Nefarious Needles of Pain"....

Publisher: DfR Solutions (acquired by ANSYS Inc)

Dross and the Selective Soldering Process

Feb 24, 2011 | Alan Cable

In the selective soldering process, dross can be detrimental. Dross (and I use this term to encompass all surface contamination) is created in conjunction with the presence of Oxygen in two different areas of the process, and by separate means. Each must ...

Publisher: SELECT Products | Nordson Electronics Solutions

Ground Pours - To Pour Or Not To Pour?

Feb 17, 2011 | Barry Olney

Copper ground pours are created by filling open unused areas with copper generally on the outer layers of the board then connecting the copper fill with stitching vias to ground. Usually, small isolated areas < 2.5.mm square are deleted automatically by t...

Publisher: In-Circuit Design Pty Ltd

Novel Transmission Line for 40 GHz PCB Applications

Feb 10, 2011 | Jamal S. Izadian, Ph.D. - RFCONNEXT, Inc., Julian Ferry, Justin McAllister - Samtec, Inc.

In this paper, we discuss an electromagnetics based approach to transmission line design, and then explore a novel printed transmission line, Periodic Micro Transmission Line (PMTL™, Patents Pending), with improved signal integrity to 40 GHz....

Publisher: Samtec, Inc.

0201 and 01005 Adoption in Industry

Feb 03, 2011 | DfR Solutions

First introduced in the year 2000, the 0201 package was sold in significant numbers in the electronics industry by 2003. According to some estimates, it currently accounts for approximately 20% of surface mounted component (SMC) demand worldwide1. This pu...

Publisher: DfR Solutions (acquired by ANSYS Inc)

Dispelling 10 Myths About Nitrogen Reflow

Jan 27, 2011 | Dr. Andy Mackie

In this paper, we will talk about reflow in an enclosed oven, although many of these discussions may pertain to wave soldering and even vacuum soldering.....

Publisher: Indium Corporation

Development of Ultra-Multilayer Printed Circuit Board

Jan 20, 2011 | Yasuyuki Shinbo

This article introduces the technical development that went in to realizing an 80-layer ultra-multilayer printed circuit board, which meets the market demand for a "semiconductor test board supporting memory increases"....

Publisher: OKI Printed Circuits Co., Ltd.

PCB Stack-Up

Jan 20, 2011 | Henry Ott Consultants

PCB stack-up is an important factor in determining the EMC performance of a product. A good stack-up can be very effective in reducing radiation from the loops on the PCB (differential-mode emission), as well as the cables attached to the board (common-mo...

Publisher: Henry Ott Consultants

Tin Whiskering on PCBA Capacitors in Storage (Inside ESD Bag, Inside a Sealed Cardboard Box)

Jan 13, 2011 | Terry Munson

The tin whisker failures investigated in this paper were found on functional RoHS-compliant hardware. The samples were not conformal coated. This paper will document the conditions associated with the whisker formation under the following conditions; tin ...

Publisher: Foresite Inc.

Evaluating The Accuracy Of a Nondestructive Thermocouple Attach Method For Area-Array Package Profiling

Jan 06, 2011 | Brian O' Leary, Tim Grove, Dr. S. Manian Ramkumar

The oven recipe, which consists of the reflow oven zone temperature settings and the speed of the conveyor, will determine a specific time‐temperature profile for a given PCB assembly. In order to achieve a good quality PCB assembly, the time‐temperature ...

Publisher: KIC Thermal