Circuits Assembly - January 2008 - (Page 8)

NEWS In Brief Flextronics Computing (flextronics.com) signed a supply chain consulting and materials procurement services agreement with MPC Corp. (mpccorp.com). Financial terms were not disclosed. CADParts & Consulting (cadpartsusa. com) will market Simplified Solutions’ (simplifiedsolutionsinc.com) complete line of subscriptions and products, including its 3-D Component Modeling Service, Yearly Pro/ Engineer Electrical Library Subscriptions and libraries of Pro/E and IGES formatted electrical components. Vierling (vierling.de) installed a Vitronics (vitronics.com) reflow soldering line. KIC (kicthermal.com) named Propelec S.A. (propelec.com) its distributor in Spain. GE Inspection Technologies (geinspectiontechnologies.com) in November completed its acquisition of Phoenix X-ray. Transaction terms were not disclosed. Titan Electronics Group completed the acquisition of the assets of EMS firm Nexus Nano Electronics (nexuscei.com). Software provider Optimal Electronics (optelco.com) named Technical Resources Corp. its representative in Florida, Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic. Smart Sonic (smartsonic.com) and YESTech (yestech.com) named Quiptech (quiptech.com) their representative in Hungary, Czech Republic, Slovakia and Romania. Industry Edited by Mike Buetow Report: XRF a Viable RoHS, Tin Whisker Screener TEDDINGTON, UK – A National Physical Laboratory (npl.co.uk) investigation into the suitability of XRF systems for screening electronics parts found PIN (semiconductor diode) and SiLi detectorbased systems suitable for RoHS compliance measurements in plastics and solders, but said proportional counter-based systems are not. All systems successfully detected lead at or above 1%, the group also revealed, easily beating the 4% threshold for determining tin whisker mitigation. The group tested 15 systems with a range of 40 typical components and assemblies. Eleven different systems were evaluated at 12 different sites. Systems based on PIN, SiLi and proportional counter detectors were included. Eleven systems were benchtop instruments; four were portable. Forty different samples were included in the study, ranging from contaminated plastic components through bulk solder alloys, to solder joints and solder-terminated components, says NPL. XRF systems using PIN or SiLi detectors generally proved efficient at distinguishing between noncompliant components (containing typically 2000+ ppm of restricted substances) and compliant components (typically <500 ppm of restricted substances). For levels between 500 ppm and 2000 ppm, the use of additional techniques may be required to provide discrimination, NPL says. The PIN or SiLi detectors also proved efficient at distinguishing compliant and non-compliant systems containing more than 1000 ppm cadmium. Below this level, however, additional techniques may again be required to provide discrimination. The lower RoHS limit for cadmium of 100 ppm did result in a number of false detections for this element, the company reports. Proportional counter-based systems were capable of registering the presence of RoHS-banned elements at levels greater than 3%; e.g., such as found in some plastics. Below this level, however, their ability to detect any banned substances was questionable, and use for such applications is not recommended. For tin whisker mitigation applications, lead levels in excess of 4% are required for solder samples. All systems successfully detected lead at or above this level, provided the sample size was large enough to fill the measurement window. Indeed, all systems proved capable of detecting/measuring lead levels above 1% in solder, according to NPL. The use of these instruments for both the applications studied (RoHS compliance or tin whisker mitigation) requires operators have both a thorough knowledge of the instrument themselves, and a good understanding of the structure and materials involved in the test samples. These are required to prevent incorrect data interpretation. Recommendations on instrument practice to obtain meaningful, repeatable results are given. In conclusion, XRF systems offer a viable method of screening for RoHS compliance and tin whisker mitigation, says NPL. Compared to chemical analysis, these systems offer lower unit and operating cost and faster results. Smaller sample sizes are also possible. However, use of these systems does require a semi-skilled operator. The work was carried out as part of a project in the materials processing metrology program of the UK Department of Trade and Industry. – Chelsey Drysdale People Motorola promoted president and chief operating officer Greg Brown to chief executive, replacing Ed Zander, who resigned but will remain chairman until May. Cisco Systems named Padmasree Warrior chief technology officer. She spent 23 years at Motorola, where she had been CTO since in 2003. AIM, Balver-Zinn Ink SN100C Deals BALVE, GERMANY – Nihon Superior (nihonsuperior.co.jp) in November extended the licenses of solder materials suppliers Balver Zinn Group and AIM for Nihon’s SN100C alloy solder pastes and wire worldwide. Under the agreements, as announced by Balver-Zinn (balverzinn.com) and AIM (aimsolder.com), the suppliers have rights to sell SN100C solder paste and cored wire solder globally. No financial or other terms were announced. Bar and wire products are unaffected by the pact. SN100C is a patented nickel-stabilized SnCu alloy, based on the eutectic Sn99.3Cu0.7% with a trace amount of nickel. Balver Zinn also said its recently acquired Cobar business unit will introduce a suite of Pb-free paste wire and flux products. Existing Cobar products will not be affected. – Chelsey Drysdale circuitsassembly.com 8 Circuits Assembly JANUARY 2008 http://www.npl.co.uk http://flextronics.com http://mpccorp.com http://www.cadpartsusa.com http://www.cadpartsusa.com http://simplifiedsolutionsinc.com http://www.vierling.de http://www.vitronics-soltec.com http://www.kicthermal.com http://www.propelec.com http://www.geinspectiontechnologies.com http://www.geinspectiontechnologies.com http://www.nexuscei.com http://www.optelco.com http://smartsonic.com http://yestech.com http://quiptech.com http://nihonsuperior.co.jp http://balverzinn.com http://www.aimsolder.com http://circuitsassembly.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Circuits Assembly - January 2008

Circuits Assembly - January 2008 Contents Caveat Lector Industry News Market Watch Talking Heads Focus on Business On the Forefront Screen Printing Better Manufacturing Walking on Water Flux Selection for Lead-Free Wave Soldering An A-to-Z Guide to X-Ray Inspection, Part II Evolution in Action Research Priorities for the Electronics Industry Selective Soldering Process Doctor Pb-Free Lessons Learned Materials World Product Spotlight Ad Index Assembly Insider Technical Abstracts

Circuits Assembly - January 2008

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