Circuits Assembly - June 2008 - (Page 10)

NEWS In Brief Valor Computerized Systems (valor. com) appointed Technical Resources Corp. (trcflorida.com) its representative in Florida, Puerto Rico and Dominican Republic. It also named Hankuk Valence (valence. co.kr) its representative in Korea. EMS firm Electronic Systems Inc. (electronicsi.com) signed Alki Sales as its manufacturing representative in Texas and Oklahoma. Flex Interconnect Technologies’ (fit4flex.com) quality management system has been certified to AS9100 revision B standards. The audit was conducted by Intertek Systems. Industry NPL Devises Pb-free Alloy Tester TEDDINGTON, UK – A new approach adopted by the National Physical Laboratory (npl.co.uk) has led to the design and build of equipment for testing low cycle isothermal fatigue of Pb-free solders. The NPL–IPTM (Interconnect Properties Test Machine) applies defined deformation under precision control to measure materials properties, explains Dr. Chris Hunt. The apparatus permits materials data to be obtained from solder samples that have volumes and geometries similar to those of real solder joints, and from joints loaded in shear, mirroring the practical situation in the field. The instrument reportedly can accommodate various solder alloys and surface coatings, and permits direct microscopic examination during the test at temperatures from -55 to 125°C. A four-point measurement system for resistance monitoring also has been embedded and found to correlate well with structural degradation recorded during fatigue testing of solders, says NPL. The resistance measurement is directly related to the development of a crack; resistance data can be used to predict crack growth rates. The results indicate lifetime can be measured using load decrease and resistance increase. Measuring these parameters directly for different solders and conditions, and relating them to real assembly performance, will aid modeling of lifetime prediction for Pb-free solders, says NPL. – Chelsey Drysdale The IPTM measures materials properties. People DEK USA named Brian Lau general manager – Americas. He was formerly Group Manager, SMT Sales at Panasonic. Inovar Inc. named Rick Gour director of quality assurance. He has 20 years’ experience in program management, engineering and quality fields, much of it with TRW, where he most recently served as manager of value management and Six Sigma Black Belt. He is a graduate of Weber State University. Sun Microsystems promoted Mike Splain to executive vice president, Microelectronics Group. A Sun fellow with 20 years’ experience at the company, Splain will lead all aspects of microelectronics technology development and business operations. He remains Sun’s chief engineer and the Systems Group CTO. Zestron appointed Tony Ge to its Asia/Pacific application technology team. He was previously an analytical engineer at SMIC Shanghai, and has a master’s in chemical engineering from Zhejiang University. ‘Lack of Martha Stewarts’ Slowing XRF Acceptance BOXBORO, MA – If XRF is the best choice for detecting the presence or absence of RoHS-banned substances, why aren’t more companies using it? That was one of the unavoidable questions during the Boston SMTA chapter meeting in April, as several leading XRF suppliers explained their systems’ pros and cons and weighed the problems of the nearly twodozen assemblers in attendance. That the EU has thus far handled violations quietly – or not at all – probably has a lot to do with the relatively modest penetration of XRF into the electronics industry thus far. Furthermore, North America has no federal legislation banning lead or other reportedly hazardous substances. Many of the vendors, including RMD Instruments (rmd-leadtracer.com), Innov-X Systems (innovxsys.com) and Oxford Instruments (oxford-instruments.com), echoed Thermo Scientific (niton.com), which noted a common response among users: “We’re not going to do it until we hear of people being fined.” Added Monet MacGillivray of Innov-X, “There aren’t many Martha Stewarts in the industry,” alluding to the lack of a high-profile indictment to spur more stringent compliance measures. Most of the discussion revolved around the capabilities of XRF to detect certain substances, testing standards (another bugaboo), and even determine whether a part is counterfeit. An absence of industry inspection standards is a severe drawback, the representatives agreed. As RMD’s Sia Ashfari asserted, “The lack of standards for spot sizes and measurement area are holding back use. For example, a spot size that is too small can lead to inaccurate readings in Pb- and Sn-rich and starved areas. But if it’s too large, you can’t measure certain components.” In short, spot size needs to be matched to the component, he says, but there aren’t any test standards in place to follow. He also pointed to the inherent conundrum with using “percent of weight” as a metric. “Percent of what?” he asked. For example, would it be the lead? The component? The board? The International Society for Testing Materials is in the early stages of determining XRF test methodologies, but it’s unclear when those guidelines will be brought to the public. Many persons noted the influx of counterfeit or incorrectly marked components into the supply chain, and declared with some surprise that assemblers seem content to rework large numbers of boards after finding bad parts, rather than using XRF to inspect boards and components on the way into the factory. As MacGillivray wryly noted, “People buy XRF for two reasons: to make money, or keep from losing money.” – Mike Buetow Ed: Share your thoughts on this topic on Mike Buetow’s blog: http://circuitsassembly.com/blog/?p=170 10 Circuits Assembly JUNE 2008 circuitsassembly.com http://npl.co.uk http://www.valor.com http://www.valor.com http://trcflorida.com http://valence.co.kr http://valence.co.kr http://electronicsi.com http://www.fit4flex.com http://www.fit4flex.com http://innovxsys.com http://circuitsassembly.com/blog/?p=170 http://circuitsassembly.com

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

Circuits Assembly - June 2008 Contents Letters Caveat Lector Industry News Market Watch Talking Heads Screen Printing Better Manufacturing China Goes ‘Upmarket’ Out of the Garage Improving Production Line Performance Manufacturing Steps Onto the Enterprise IT Stage Measuring and Controlling Wave Height and Dwell Time Wave Soldering Tech Tips Test and Inspection Process Doctor Pb-Free Lessons Learned Getting Lean Eastern Advances Semicon West Product Preview Product Spotlight Ad Index Assembly Insider Technical Abstracts

Circuits Assembly - June 2008

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