Electronics Manufacturing and Electronics Assembly

We make electronics equipment used in corrosive environments. Do you recommend the use of HASL versus immersion gold for our application? The Assembly Brothers, Phil Zarrow and Jim Hall, answer this question.
Board Talk

Assembly Optimization for Thin Flip-Chip Chip-Scale Packages
A robust board assembly recipe is demonstrated for thin FCCSP packages with reflow warpage values of up to 110μm or higher.
Production Floor

Robots Begin to Develop Common Sense Knowledge
MIT engineers are working to give robots a bit of “common sense” when faced with situations that push them off their trained paths.
Technology Briefing

Design Considerations That Influence LED Solder Joint Reliability
In this paper we examine the influence of three factors on thermal-mechanical solder joint reliability of LEDs mounted on an IMS PCB using FEA.
Analysis Lab

Hybrid Conformal Coatings for Mitigating Tin Whiskers
In this stydy, nanoparticles were functionalized to bind them to the polymer structure while avoiding the collection among the particles.
Materials Tech

Jetting Solder Paste Opens Up New Possibilities
Today Jet Printing is no longer seen as a futuristic technology but it has proven itself and the technology is still gaining momentum.
Production Floor

New Requirements for Sir Measurement
Flux residues can create interaction with solder resists and the component body. This paper discusses a new SIR measurement process.
Analysis Lab

Opens With Assembled QFN Components
We are experiencing opens on assembled QFN components at a rate of 9%. The failure only appears in rows near the component center. What is happening?
Board Talk

Low Surface Energy Coatings Rewrite Area Ratio Rules
Paper on the properties of solder paste release and the effects of surface free energy that make up the stencil printing process.
Materials Tech

Wearable Devices to Operate Robotic Exoskeletons
A team has developed a wearable, stretchy patch about the size of a BandAid, which sticks to your skin and picks up tiny signals coming from human muscles.
Technology Briefing

Grain Refinement for Improved Lead-Free Joint Reliability
In the study reported in this paper the effect of trace additions of selected elements on the grain structure of pure tin and lead-free solder alloys was observed.
Analysis Lab

Electroplating of Cu in TSV
The research objective is to estimate metallurgical and mechanical properties of low alpha solder. Cu-filling property to TSV was also investigated.
Production Floor

Problems With Viscosity and the Moon
At an English shampoo factory near the sea, they were having problems with the shampoo viscosity. What was the cause?
Mysteries of Science

Characterization, Prevention and Removal of Particulate Matter on PCBs
This paper describes a means of measuring the DRH of minute quantities of particulate matter (1 mg or less) found on PCBs.
Production Floor

Humanoid Robots are Finally on the Way

Over three years, there has been an explosion of companies racing to integrate the hardware and software that will constitute a viable humanoid robot.
Technology Briefing

Conformal Coating Prevention and Analysis of Resistor Silver Sulfide Corrosion
This paper covers all the long-term test results as a follow-up to an earlier publication reporting interim results and preliminary conclusions.
Analysis Lab

Pb-Free Water-Soluble Solder Paste Improves Reliability

This paper details a water-soluble lead-free solder paste that has improved voiding performance and washability over previous generations of solder paste.
Materials Tech

Engineered Tin-Copper Alloys in Selective Soldering
The performance with one alloy under design conditions that make soldering difficult demonstrate the need to evaluate the performance differences.
Production Floor