Global SMT & Packaging March 2010 - European edition

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The Global Assembly Journal for SMT and Advanced Packaging Professionals

Nanotechnology Nanotechnology starting starting to to find find applications applications in in electronicS electronicS Head-in-pillow: Head-in-pillow: Identifying Identifying and and highlighting highlighting suspect suspect solder solder jointS jointS Advances Advances in in WLCSP WLCSP technologies technologies for for growing growing market market needs needs

Volume 10 Number 3 March 2010 ISSN 1474 - 0893

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Contents

Volume 10, No. 3 March 2010

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Contents 2

Are the chickens coming home to roost for lead-free?

Trevor Galbraith

European edition

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Technology Focus

10 Nanotechnology is now starting to find applications in electronics

Alan Rae, TPF Enterprises LLC 14 Head-in-pillow: Identifying and highlighting suspect solder joints

Dr. Evstatin Krastev and Dr. David Bernard, Nordson Dage 26 Advances in WLCSP technologies for growing market needs

R. Anderson, R. Chilukuri, T.Y. Tee, C.P. Koo, H.S. NG, B. Rogers, and A. Syed, Amkor Technology

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Special Features

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Interview—Jean-Yves Gomez, Vi TECHNOLOGY 2010 IPC APEX Expo—Technology Preview Case Study: Reliability and versatility bring success in motor drive manufacturing

34 regular columns

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Package on package (PoP) defects Bob Willis

18 Recovery: getting back to 2008 levels

Walt Custer and Jon Custer-Topai 36 On lead compliancy—how it works and how it does not

work

Werner Engelmaier 56 The not so obvious costs of ESD protection (and ways to

mitigate them)

Joe Fjelstad Other Regular Features Flexible circuits created using carbon nanotubes. (Source: University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign)

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6 Industry News 50 New Products

54 Association News 60 International Diary

Global SMT & Packaging – Celebrating 10 Years – March 2010 – 1

Editorial

Trevor Galbraith

Editorial Offices Europe Global SMT & Packaging Trafalgar Publications Ltd 8 Talbot Hill Road Bournemouth Dorset BH9 2JT United Kingdom Tel: +44 (1202) 388997 E-mail: news@globalsmt.net Website: www.globalsmt.net United States Global SMT & Packaging PO Box 7579 Naples, FL 34102 USA Tel: (866) 948-5554 Fax: (239) 236-4682 E-mail: news@globalsmt.net China Global SMT & Packaging Electronics Second Research Institute No.159, Hepin South Road Taiyuan City, PO Box 115, Shanxi, Province 030024, China Tel: +86 (351) 652 3813 Fax: +86 (351) 652 0409 Editor-in-Chief Trevor Galbraith Tel: +44 (0)20 8123 6704 (Europe) Tel: +1 (239) 784-7208 (US) E-mail: editor@globalsmt.net Managing Editor Heather Lackey Tel: +1 (866) 948-7778 E-mail: hglackey@globalsmt.net

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Editor-in-Chief

Are the chickens coming home to roost for lead-free?

In terms of blunders, the Toyota “sudden acceleration” saga has become a PR nightmare, similar to the bird-flu epidemic or the baby milk scandal suffered by their Chinese neighbors. And, like their Chinese neighbors, Japanese management has been overly secretive and ostrich-like in their approach to handling the problem.

Some claim this problem first surfaced as many as six years ago. We certainly know it has been around for over two years and in that time accounted for over 35 deaths and countless injuries. First the blame was put squarely on a mechanical problem and a sticky accelerator pedal. The blame soon moved to the electronics world and potential EMI interference.

There is no doubt that there is now a colossal amount of electronics in modern cars, and certainly the potential for a number of EMI problems, but if this were the case, would the defect not be intermittent in nature, and why would it only occur around the accelerator and not the many other, more densely populated areas of automotive electronics? No, the EMI story, like the sticking gas pedal, was only a smoke screen.

Some weeks ago, when this story first surfaced, a colleague of mine said he would lay money on the fact that this was caused by tin whiskers. After all, the defect is not intermittent, suggesting a dead short in the system. I agree with him.

Tin whiskers have been a cause in many system failures from the space shuttle to pacemakers. As many of us know, the seat of the problem is connected to the thickness of the intermetallic layers on pads and component leads. This problem has multiplied many times over since the introduction of lead-free solders with their higher tin content.

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If tin whiskers are at the root of the Toyota “sudden acceleration” crisis, then the effects could send ripples around the electronics manufacturing world. Not least of these are the lawsuits that are already starting to fly around the United States.

Curiously, in Europe manufacturers have a get out of jail card in the form of an EC Directive that states “the producer is not liable if the defect occurs as a result of his compliance with the RoHS regulations.”

However, the United States is not covered by this legislation and is fiercely more litigious.

Are the regulators in Brussels going to have to consider yet another revision to the RoHS rules (they have only just finished a revision in Q3 last year), and are manufacturers going to be subjected to more change to switch back to SnPb or to yet another alloy less affected by tin whiskers, tin pest, creep, voiding and the many other defects that lead-free has thrust upon our industry?

And finally, there has to be some irony about this problem landing back in Japan, the country that brought lead-free onto the world stage in the first instance.

Perhaps it’s time for a little more honesty from researchers and the trade bodies that represent us around the world before many more people get hurt.

—Trevor Galbraith

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Title

Package on package (PoP) defects

Bob Willis

Package on package (PoP) defects Package on package (PoP) assembly is new to many engineers. PoP introduces different processes, materials and challenges, which will undoubtedly highlight some process defects. The trick with any new production process is to gain as much hands-on practical experience as possible. It’s great fun seeing engineers presented with a PCB, PoP components, a tub of dip paste and rubber gloves!! Much better than looking at a computer screen all day, and a better learning experience?

X-ray imaging of PoP When you look at a PoP x-ray for the first time, don’t be surprised. It’s confusing, but the example in Figure 1 is perfectly normal and represents a satisfactory assembly. The high-resolution view shows two parallel rows of balls on two layers of a PoP assembly. The larger balls are on the topside component, the smaller balls on the bottomside, close to the printed board.

As with any high-resolution x-ray system, it is possible to see the pad to ball interface, visible in the joint area, indicating satisfactory reflow and connection.

Pad cratering/resin cracks Figure 2 is a microsection image taken of an area array solder joint termination showing the bottom of the ball to copper pad interface. A small void cavity is present in the solder connection, and just below the pad is a crack in the PCB resin. This is a common fault seen on boards which have

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been exposed to drop testing, flexture or vibration. The crack is through the resin in the interface next to the copper circuitry.

It has become a more common defect on high Tg laminates and with the increased rigidity of lead-free terminations Wet paste short Solder paste dipping is a common process used in PoP assembly. The second level package is dipped onto a flat plate of specially formulated dip solder paste during the placement cycle. In the case shown in Figure 3, the application plate depth control has been ineffective. When dipping, the depth of paste on the plate must be controlled accurately, otherwise excess or insufficient paste application will occur. In the example, there is a paste short between four terminations, and one ball has a limited deposit Solder balls Figure 4 is an x-ray image showing a four stack PoP assembly with columns of solder balls visible on the same pitch. In addition, the image shows chip component terminations with some evidence of voiding on the surface of the printed board. There is also some evidence of solder balling on the left of the image; however it’s difficult to say on which layer of the PoP assembly the random balls are located. Dip paste has a lower metal content, often designed for nitrogen reflow, and has a smaller solder particle

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size than stencil printing grades hence more prone to solder balling and slump during reflow.

PoP poor coplanarity One of the reasons solder paste is used on PoP assembly as opposed to dip flux is coplanarity of the ball terminations.

Possible warping of the components during reflow can cause the balls to be separated from the surface of the matting pads resulting in an open connection as shown. Dip flux is less forgiving in filling the separation gap whereas dip paste can bridge the gap between the two surfaces when reflowed. The JEDEC specification for PoP packages can provide an indication of the ball-to-ball coplanarity of the package but not the potential variation across the packages during reflow. Variations will be dependent on the package construction, soldering parameters and the base PCB flatness.

Uneven dip flux surface Just like dip solder paste on a rotary or linear application plate, the surface and the depth of the material must be controlled accurately to avoid excess or missed application of material to the terminations.

Figure 6 shows an uneven flux layer on a rotary plate. As the doctor blade has passed over the plate there are groves in the surface. This can be an indication of material drying on the doctor blade, the flux surface is staring to dry, limited blade

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Package on package (PoP) defects

sweep is being used or damage to the blade surface has occurred. Regular checks on the flux plate are important to eliminate the possibility of skipped flux application.

Excess flux depth Figure 7 shows the bottom of a PoP device prior to placement onto the first package.

The liquid flux should only be on the surface of the balls. In this case the part has been drowned with flux covering all of the balls and the surface of the package.

Excess application of flux can result in component float during reflow—depending on the solvent in the flux, the part could even jump off the board during reflow.

Excess flux should be avoided. It shows poor control, may cause problems during cleaning and will impact successful underfill if conducted.

PoP flux deposit In Figure 8, in-process inspection of a PoP assembly is shown after the second level component has been placed. The flux is visible at the ball to pad interface prior to reflow. With the blue colour the level of the original flux dip height is discernable as being approximately 50% of the ball.

This is considered to be satisfactory and should result in a reliable connection after reflow.

Poor underfill coverage Figure 9 is a sideways view of a PoP assembly showing one row of terminations after underfilling. The black underfill can be seen between the top and bottom of adjacent packages. The underfill is present but has failed to fill the cavity and cover all of the interconnections. Currently there are no international standards for underfilling, and it’s probably not known if this incomplete underfill would have any impact on the reliability for either temperature cycling or drop testing. It is, however, good practice to have a standard for reference and an in process control.

References for PoP assembly inspection are available at SolderingStandards.com.

Underfill reservoir Underfilling is common practice on portable products where large area array packages are used in combination with

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thin substrates.

This practice is to provide, in most cases, mechanical strength to the interconnecting surfaces rather than thermal expansion relief. It has been good practice over the years to apply underfill to the edge of parts and allow capillary action to suck the material under the parts to fill all the void areas under the packages and between the balls. Due to the decreased space on portable products, it is often the case that materials are now applied in larger quantity to adjacent area array devices and allowed to fill two parts at the same time. The result is other chip parts being coated with underfill. In reality is this an issue of a poorly controlled process or a well engineered application?

11—Underfill reservoir PoP solder balling As previously stated, dip solder paste has a lower metal content, is more often designed for nitrogen reflow, and also has a smaller solder particle size, type 5-6 powder as opposed to a stencil printing grade of type 3-4—hence more prone to solder balling during reflow. It’s important

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for engineers to go back to school and learn how to conduct solder balling and solder slump measurements of paste from different vendors.

Bob Willis is a process engineer working in the electronics industry, providing training, consultancy and process/product failure analysis. Bob will be running three new US workshops at APEX 2010 covering PoP, Conformal Coating Application and Counterfeit Component Inspection. In addition he will be running his Package On Package Workshop at SMT in Nurnberg, Germany. Bob offers on site workshops on conventional and lead-free manufacture, he is also happy to assist you set-up, fault find and optimise production lines for users and also provides conferences and workshops worldwide www.bobwillis.co.uk

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Global SMT & Packaging – Celebrating 10 Years – March 2010 – 5

Industry News

Industry News

Faster prototyping with fewer frustrations for Thales A new MY500 solder-jet printer from MYDATA is helping Netherlands-based Thales meet its requirements for rapid prototype production and for achieving first–time right soldering on boards that incorporate “difficult” components. An essential part of Thales’ work is the production of prototypes, and the goal of the company is to deliver these in the shortest possible time. A limiting factor used to be the time needed to obtain stencils for solder paste application, but the company has solved this problem by installing a MYDATA MY500 solder-jet printer, which totally eliminates the need for stencils. A further benefit is that the MY500 makes it easy to work with unusually shaped components, which create problems that are difficult to address with conventional solder paste application techniques. www.mydata.com Semiconductor inventories remain under control, defying doomsayers Despite a recent financial report warning of bloated semiconductor inventories at electronic distributors, stockpiles among these companies and in nearly all other segments of the chip supply chain remain lean, according to iSuppli Corp.

“Concerns have been raised that a semiconductor inventory bubble appeared among distributors starting in the third quarter of 2009 that potentially could impact the expected recovery of the chip industry in 2010,” said Carlo Ciriello, an analyst with iSuppli. “However, iSuppli sees no evidence to support the claim that semiconductor inventories at distributors were higher in the third quarter of 2009 than they were at the onset of the downturn in the third quarter of 2008.

In fact, iSuppli’s research indicates that inventory levels among these companies are well below the historical average.” www.isuppli.com

Aqueous Technologies reports highest quarterly revenue in company history Aqueous Technologies Corp., North America’s largest provider of batch defluxing systems, reports its highest quarterly revenue in its 18-year history.

“While 2009 was a challenging year for the electronics assembly industry, we experienced sharp increases in booked orders and revenue in the fourth calendar quarter,” said company president Michael Konrad. “While a fourth quarter increase is common in our specific business, the rise was greater than previous periods of seasonal increase. We also witnessed increased spread across multiple regions including North America, Europe, and Asia. Most importantly, January and February production schedules are unseasonably busy, indicating that a recovery is underway.” www.aqueoustech.com

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Etek Europe to represent Den-On Instruments in Eastern Europe Etek Europe now represents Den-On Instruments Co. Ltd.’s RD-500III series of hot air rework stations throughout Eastern Europe. The Den-On RD-500III series of rework machines has been developed to comply with exacting standards required in lead-free rework applications. The machines feature three independent heating systems to achieve uniform, regulated heating of the component and the PCB. Additionally, three cooling sources provide controlled cooling for optimal lead-free joint formation. Etek believes in offering its customers high-quality process solutions at competitive prices and considers the Den-On RD-500III products a perfect example of this philosophy. www.etek-europe.com Digi-Key Corporation Surpasses 2,000 Employees Digi-Key Corporation recently resumed hiring new employees and surpassed the 2,000 employee mark. As of January 3, 2010, Digi-Key had 2,020 employees. “If our projections for 2010 materialize, we would expect to see a significant increase in this number,” said Digi-Key president and COO Mark Larson. “In the first six months of 2009 we saw our sales plunge more that 20% when compared to 2008,” Larson said. “However, by the second half of the year we saw signs of improvement.

In October it was almost like somebody flipped a switch and sales turned up just as sharply as they had turned down at the end of 2008.” www.digikey.com.

R&D Technical Services appoints OSTEC Enterprise Ltd. in Russia R&D Technical Services Inc. appointed OSTEC Enterprise Ltd. as its representative for Russia. OSTEC Enterprise Ltd. provides a range of operations for the creation of high-efficiency assembly

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Industry News Title

APEX booth 1925

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Global SMT & Packaging – Celebrating 10 Years – March 2010 – 7

Industry News

factories from performance of enterprise audit to fine-tuning of the process using the clients’ products with subsequent technological support of the production.

OSTEC’s broad portfolio includes machinery, manufacturing support, software and materials for a variety of applications. The company offers ongoing enhanced training for industry professionals and clients’ personnel certification. OSTEC is a member of the international organization for the standardization of IPC and pursues the policy of implementing the world’s best standards in the processes of assembly of Russian electronics. www.ostec-smt.ru, www.rdtechnicalservices.com UK’s Defence Science and Technology Laboratory chooses Artisan Studio Artisan® Software Tools revealed that the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (DSTL) in the United Kingdom chose Artisan Studio for a new project requiring compliance with the Ministry of Defence Architectural Framework (MODAF) and recently standardized UPDM Profile. Artisan Studio was the first UPDM design tool released following the recent standardization of UPDM by the OMG. DSTL is an agency of the UK’s Ministry of Defence (MOD) and its center of scientific excellence. It houses one of the largest groups of scientists and engineers in public service in the UK. With its brief to ensure that the UK Government and Armed Forces have access to world-class scientific advice, DSTL delivers defense research, specialist technical services and the ability

to track global technological developments to support procurement decisions, defense policy making and operations. www.ArtisanSoftwareTools.com Bonding Source names Ablestik pastes Product Line of the Year for 2009 Bonding Source LLC, a reseller of specialty materials used in Microelectronics and RF/Microwave manufacturing, recognized Henkel’s Ablestik brand for defect-free shipments of electrically conductive and non-conductive pastes. “We’ve shipped thousands of syringes of Ablestik pastes to hundreds of customers all over the world,” said Bonding Source president Scott MacKenzie. “Our customers use the pastes for both automatic and manual application in commercial and defense electronics assemblies. Not once, since we started carrying Ablestik in 2006, have we received a complaint or issued a RMA for an Ablestik paste. That’s quite a record.” www.bondingsource.com EPCOS and Mouser agree to expand globally Mouser Electronics, Inc., announced that its distribution agreement with EPCOS has been expanded into Europe and Asia. Since October 2009, EPCOS has been combined with TDK in the new company TDK-EPC Corporation, which markets its products under the product brands TDK’s electronic components business and EPCOS. TDK-

Lyman Brown retires from BPM; William White to assume CEO position BPM Microsystems announced the retirement of Lyman Brown, executive vice president and chief operating officer, effective January 31, 2010. William White will transition back into the role of president and chief executive officer. White founded the company in 1985 while attending Rice University in Houston, Texas. Brown began his career with BPM Microsystems in June 2003 as the director of business development. He was promoted to executive vice president and chief operating officer in November of the same year. www.bpmmicro.com Martin Faulhaber appointed to managing director atg Luther & Maelzer GmbH, in cooperation with Everett Charles Technologies, announced the immediate promotion of Martin Faulhaber to managing director of the global atg-LM group. Since joining the atg Luther & Maelzer team in 1997, Martin has held roles from director of global service and vice president global operations to managing director in Germany since January 2009. www.atg-lm.com

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EPC is a global manufacturer of electronic components, modules and systems. The Mouser/EPCOS distribution agreement allows Mouser to provide EPCOS products worldwide. www.mouser.com National Electronics Week UK promises total industry event NEW UK 2010, to be held at the Birmingham NEC May 18th & 19th, is a total industry event, providing dedicated support for every electronics sector impacting both nationally and internationally. This year, NEW is providing dedicated support for every market sector, including components, design & development, embedded, EMS, photonics & laser, production assembly, solar & green design, test & measurement and wireless. In addition to widespread business opportunities for each sector, NEW UK 2010 is bringing a wealth of new and proven features to the exhibition, including an extensive technical seminar programme run by leading trade associations. NEW’s educational line-up includes IPC instructor-level training from Advanced Rework Technology, in addition to shorter IPC courses focusing on topics such as lead-free soldering, crimping and ESD Control. nationalelectronicsweek.co.uk Seho appoints Laryo S.R.L. as exclusive distributor in Italy Seho Systems GmbH appointed Laryo as its exclusive distributor in Italy. Seho has installed many machines worldwide, 500 of which are located in Italy. Laryo S.R.L. will offer Seho’s reflow ovens and wave and selective soldering systems, all of which are manufactured in Germany. Laryo was established in 2000. www.laryo.it, www.sehona.com ORPRO Vision appoints European sales and distribution manager ORPRO Vision appointed David Llewellyn as their new European sales & distribution manager. His focus will be on the development of ORPRO Vision’s sales distribution network, customer support and liaison and the enhancement of the sales brand.

David joined ORPRO Vision after working for DEK International for 35 years. www.orprovision.com

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Nanotechnology is now starting to find applications in electronics

Nanotechnology is now starting to find applications in electronics Alan Rae, TPF Enterprises LLC, Wilson, NY, USA Four years ago we outlined some of the areas where nanotechnology might be applied to electronics. We are now seeing real examples of use, particularly in new areas such as photovoltaics, but there are applications in more conventional applications such as solder and surface finishes.

Keywords: Nanotechnology, Semiconductors, Clean Tech, Interconnection, NEMS

Introduction The first presentation on nanotechnology at Pan-Pac predicted that nanomaterials would be entering the electronics supply chain and being assembled into products.

Today, there are indeed products in use—not as many as anticipated and not necessarily the same products as predicted.

We will explore some of these products and the areas in which they are being used.

We have seen controversy about nanomaterials in the workspace, we have seen completely new materials families such as graphenes emerge, and we have seen new electronics markets such as solar photovoltaics where nanomaterials play a key role in their success. Other areas have taken longer to develop than expected.

can enhance existing products or replace their structure or function.

Nanotechnology in semiconductors beyond the normal feature size shrinkage is raising interest in electronics circles. The novel 3-D structures known as FinFETs are predicted to be used in the next generation of semiconductor devices arriving in 20112012 and nano-wire based structures will be starting to appear in the same time frame.

These are highly complex structures made by sophisticated processes. Most nano applications that are reaching the market today are actually much more basic and many are concentrated in the area of improved materials.

Small size features—around the wavelength of light—can produce very interesting properties. Below the wavelength of light, nano structures can become invisible to the naked eye; band gaps in semiconductor materials can be modified to alter electrical and optical properties; metals can sinter and coalesce well below their melting temperatures and nanotubes and nano-wires can behave as individual transistors. Structured surfaces

The iNEMI 2009 roadmap The iNEMI roadmap (www.inemi.org ) is a comprehensive document that reviews the key issues affecting the electronics supply chain. Gaps in the technology or infrastructure that can adversely affect NEMI members are identified, and the NEMI Research Committee was formed to prioritize and disposition the tasks and identify companies, universities and government laboratories that can address them for the mutual good. The results are published in the Research Priorities1, downloadable from the iNEMI web site.

Almost every roadmap chapter in the 2009 roadmap identifies aspects of Figure 1. Enthone Nanofinish® (with permission). nanotechnology that

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Nanotechnology is now starting to find applications in electronics

Figure 3. Spectral Coverage of Si quantum dots. (University of Buffalo)

Figure 2. Hydrophobic and antibacterial coating of 80 nm Ag in polyurethane.

(NanoDynamics)

can be scratch-resistant, ultrahydrophobic or self-cleaning.

Nanotechnology has been described as a toolkit for the electronics industry in that it gives us tools that allow us to make nanomaterials with special properties modified by ultra-fine particle size, crystallinity, structure or surfaces. These will become commercially successful when they give a cost and performance advantage over existing products or allow us to create new products.

Semiconductors and packaging In 2009 we saw 45 nm node semiconductors deployed and real progress being made towards the next nodes.

We haven’t yet come to the “brick wall” predicting the end of Moore’s Law... but it is still on the horizon.

Packaging continues to be a concern and we are starting to see a real emphasis on 3D packing to address integrated functionality, speed, form factor, and cost (yes, better-faster-smaller-cheaper still rules, especially for smart phones and netbooks).

Nanomaterials use has generally been limited to evolution of filler systems used in packaging materials and underfills.

Replacement concepts for silicon

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“We have seen controversy about nanomaterials in the workspace, we have seen completely new materials families such as graphenes emerge, and we have seen new electronics markets such as solar photovoltaics where nanomaterials play a key role in their success.”

semiconductor technology have focused for several years on carbon nanotubes. This technology has been slowed by the difficulties of separating metallic and semiconducting nanotubes produced together in the synthesis process which differ only in the stacking sequence of carbon atoms in the tubes.

Better process control and new separation processes have allowed separation to take place but there are still cost and other issues involved.

Shepherding individual nanotubes into useful devices has also proved tricky.

One approach is to create a random mesh (rather like a non-woven fabric) that is then cut to shape; the other approach, pioneered by the NSF Center for High-Rate NanoManufacturing,2 is to

assemble them into lithographically formed features.

We are still some way from widely deployed applications of nanotubes in electronics although structural applications and those based on bulk conductivity are growing.

Interconnection We predicted a widespread use in interconnection, which has proved rather more difficult to achieve in practice. In composites and coatings the law of mixtures is always difficult (conductivity is dominated by the less conductive material especially if conductivity is directional, as with carbon nanotubes) and so concentrations required to reach acceptable conductivity may be higher than is economic.

The iNEMI nano solder project showed that nano-sized SAC alloy could sinter at 180˚Cand below but that flux formulation was problematic. Nano-sized metals can catalyze some flux ingredient

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Nanotechnology is now starting to find applications in electronics

Figure 4. Schematic of a NEMS single molecule detector. Plan view is in the left, side view is on the right.

decomposition as low as 120˚Cand flux residues could really hinder solidification.

Work is continuing on solder and solder replacement.

Nano Surface finishes have been faster to market. Nano surface finishes have been commercialized by Enthone (Cookson Electronics Inc.) Their novel surface finish, originally developed by Ormecon in Germany, combines a conductive polymer with a nano silver to combine the best features of OSP and silver. This product is potentially a substitute for ENIG as well as other surface finishes due to its superior, aging, oxidation and solderability properties coupled to multiple reflow capability3 Printed electronics as a discrete industry has not developed as fast as the marketing reports suggested—except in the solar area (see below). Nano inks, particularly those based on silver, are compatible with polymer substrates but are in general waiting for the markets to develop.

Clean energy Clean tech represents a huge growth opportunity for electronics. For the first time ever, alternative energy sources outstripped nuclear electricity in the USA in the first half of 2009—0.7 quadrillion BTU January-May 2009, according to the Department of Energy’s Monthly Energy Review4. Alternative energy depends heavily on nanomaterials used in electronics structures—in nano silver inks for current collectors for silicon cells, in printable thin film copper indium gallium selenide (CIGS) cell materials themselves as well as the conductors in the newer types of rigid and flexible cells that can lower cell costs below $1 per peak watt.

They are an area of increasing focus for EMS companies, with Jabil, Flextronic and Celestica among others very active in the field.

Nanomaterials have many potential applications in fuel cells and alternative fuel catalysis but their first widespread application has been in solar photovoltaics.

In the “front end” or cell formation process, reactive exothermic nano foils

Figure 5. Schematic of the two possible states of a carbon nanotube based memory cell (NRAM).

formerly produced by RNT Inc. are now supplied by Indium Corporation.5. This novel process uses a local exotherm to provide controlled heating and reliable mounting of sputter targets to backplates.

Printable CIGS (copper indium gallium sulpho-selenide) cells are being produced using nano inks by NanoSolar Inc.6. The nano ink is coated onto a metal backplate to allow the formation of these flexible and potentially low-cost cells.

At the “back end” of the process, metallization inks based on silver are used on the front surfaces of silicon solar cells. These metallizations together with backside aluminum and silver are co-fired at 800˚Ccausing cracking and distortion of the cells. Nano silvers processing at 200-300˚Care available but have yet to be widely accepted.

Displays The use of carbon nanotubes as “self-sharpening” cold cathodes in plasma televisions has been limited by improvements in the competing LCD televisions and concerns over the energy consumption of large plasma TV sets, California has enacted groundbreaking legislation limiting the energy consumption of TV sets7 and other states are likely to follow. Plasma TVs are typically less energy-efficient than LCD TVs, which are becoming more efficient as LCDs replace fluorescent backlights.

Indium tin oxide (ITO) is used not only in TV sets but also monitors, phone displays and solar cells and is supply limited. Nano alternatives being given serious consideration include carbon nanotube and graphene containing films.

Anti-smear nano coatings are being sold by suppliers including Aculon Inc8.

Hydrophobic and oleophobic coatings of this kind will be increasingly used for screens and other surfaces.

LEDs are replacing fluorescent tubes in TV and monitor screens to reduce power usage and mercury usage. Eventually they will start to replace fluorescent lighting more generally as costs start to fall.

Efficiency and spectral performance can be modified using quantum dots, nano-sized

12 – Global SMT & Packaging – Celebrating 10 Years – March 2010

particles of silicon that absorb unwanted frequencies and re-emit at desired frequencies. Silicon quantum dots will replace the first generation Cd materials.

NEMS NEMS—nano-electro-mechanical systems— are the nano equivalent of the micro systems in MEMS. Two examples below are the NEMS nose and nanotube-based memThe “NEMS Nose” is being developed by groups such as the Roukes Group at CalTech9. Here a nano-sized resonator can be used to detect molecular mass by alterations in the resonant frequency of a vibrating cantilever. Arrays with different surface treatments can be used for selective detection of chemical species and here we have created a NEMS analog of a mass spectrometer. This reduces the detector size from a device the size of a refrigerator to a NEMS device that can fit in a handheld detector. This has obvious applications for emergency services and medical use—and in addition, if the coating on the cantilever contained palladium, an extremely sensitive detector for hydrogen would be created—a sensor that will become vital if the hydrogen-fueled vehicle becomes a reality. Hydrogen has an extremely wide explosive range—from 4% to 75% in air, much wider than gasoline, which has a range from 1% to 7%. Hydrogen leaks in enclosed spaces are bad news!

Polymer based NEMS sensors such as those produced by NEMS AB10 promise to be very inexpensive to produce and can be made selective to specific molecules.

Nantero’s NRAM11uses bundles of carbon nanotubes in arrays that can be switched to form a n array of 0’s and 1’s depending on whether they have moved position under an applied field. This non-volatile memory promises to be faster and more durable than flash memory and to use a lot less power then SRAM, fast and low power but can not hold a lot of data, or DRAM, slow and high power consumption but high capacity.

Interestingly, as 2GB RAM memory is getting to be about the minimum memory requirement for a PC, cooling of memory

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Nanotechnology is now starting to find applications in electronics

is now an issue.

Totally new devices for new applications are quite rare and difficult to predict! These are totally new concepts giving us new tools to address opportunities that we don’t know how to address just now. An example from the past was the AFM (atomic force microscope), which allowed us to explore surfaces in previously unknown detail using a totally new principle. “Killer apps” like this may have shortcomings—there are a limited number of AFMs needed in the world and relatively few companies producing the detector heads.

NEMS can also enhance existing MEMS applications. These enhanced MEMS devices could detect smaller changes in acceleration, pressure, flow etc. Here the cost-benefit analysis is fairly straightforward if there is a clear market need for this type of measurement. This type of product will often be developed by established MEMS manufacturers New materials reaching commercialization One key new materials system has surfaced in the past 4 years. Graphene, composed of sheets of carbon atoms one atom thick, which seem to have many of the desirable properties of carbon nanotubes without the high cost and potential health and safety concerns. Potential applications include ITO replacement Many nano materials have been developed because of their interesting properties and companies have been founded on products for which there are limited market demand (technology push). This tends to produce leading edge products with very limited immediate commercial potential. Work by iNEMI and others suggests the time for deployment in the electronics industry is typically seven years for a new product that fits with the existing infrastructure and 15 years for a disruptive product. Doubters only need to look at the intensive phase of lead-free solder qualification and implementation (1999 to 2009…and still not complete for complex boards) or the implementation of MEMS devices in accelerometer applications—30 years! The electronics industry is fast moving in term of ultimate product development but very conservative when it comes to accepting new materials, devices and systems.

Managing HSE issues There continues to be a lively discussion internationally about whether nanomaterials should be regulated

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separately from traditional materials There are many opinions and the challenge is the diversity of types and diversity of applications—how do you equate nanosized silver, carbon nanotubes and liposomes, or nanomaterials in cosmetics, wind turbine blades, injected for medical image enhancement and automotive clear coat? Some nanomaterials behave differently at Figure 6. TEM of Graphene. (Wikipedia) below 100 nm—for example silver which will still yield significant performance and can be sintered as low as 120˚C, well economic benefits. below its 961˚Cmelting point—and others such as sodium chloride (which you inhale Acknowledgements every time you go to the beach) do not Past colleagues at NanoDynamics Inc; appear to behave differently. current colleagues and associates at At the moment products are registered Graphene Devices Ltd, University of under EPA’s TSCA and, if appropriate, Buffalo, Purdue University, Global Solar FIFRA programs. Only two materials have Technology, Cookson Electronics, iNEMI, been singled out for special attention, ISO and the Inventures Group. carbon nanotubes because of their unique structure and properties, and silver because References of the large number of antibacterial 1. “Research Priorities”, iNEMI Inc., products being launched—not all of them http://thor.inemi.org/webdownload/ properly registered—including computer RI/2009_Research_Priorities.pdf keyboards and mice.

2. Center for High-Rate ISO TC 229 “Nanotechnologies” is at NanoManufacturing http://www. the forefront of the harmonization task. northeastern.edu/chn/ As with any new technology there is a 3. Enthone Ormestar Ultra™ http:// “land grab” by national and international www.enthone.com/pwb/index.aspx standards and other organizations; ISO 4. US Department of Energy Monthly is looking to harmonize nomenclature, Report http://www.eia.doe.gov/mer/ metrology, health and safety guidelines 5. “Indium Corporation Acquires Assets and communication (data sheets, MSDS, of Reactive Technologies” http://www. labeling etc) to bring some order to the indium.com/news/nanotechnologies/ process.

6. NanoSolar Inc. http://www.nanosolar.

It is highly likely that all nanomaterials com/technology presented to the electronics board fab and 7. CA TV restrictions http://www.wired. assembly industries will be in some way com/gadgetlab/2009/03/california-tv/ encapsulated as inks, as pastes, in resins 8. Aculon Inc. display coatings http:// or as coatings compatible with existing www.aculon.com/displays.html processes and probably will not be subject 9. Roukes Group CalTech http://nano. to specific regulations. caltech.edu/ 10.

NEMS AB http://www.nems.se/ Conclusions 11.

Nantero NRAM http://www.nantero.

Nanomaterials are starting to be more com/mission.html widely used in electronics but it takes a significant time for these applications to take hold and for significant business to result. Most applications will be evolutionary rather than revolutionary but

Global SMT & Packaging – Celebrating 10 Years – March 2010 – 13

Head-in-pillow: Identifying and highlighting suspect solder joints

Head-in-pillow: Identifying and highlighting suspect solder joints Dr. Evstatin Krastev and Dr. David Bernard, Nordson Dage, Fremont, CA, USA

Head-in-pillow (HIP) or head-on-pillow (HOP) is the phenomena that can occur when incomplete wetting of a solder joint occurs after solder paste coalesces around, or near to, a ball grid array (BGA) solder ball after reflow but does not inter-mix, resulting in an open joint. These defects are difficult to detect with inline automatic x-ray inspection (AXI) systems or lower performance 2D x-ray systems.

However, head-in-pillow defects can be more easily indentified using modern high-performance digital 2D x-ray systems equipped with 70 degree oblique angle viewing.

Enhancing this capability is an automated HIP inspection routine that identifies and highlights suspect BGA solder joints without requiring an operator to manually inspect numerous locations within each BGA. Keywords: Ball Grid Array, Head In Pillow, Head On Pillow, Solder Joint Integrity, X-Ray Inspection, Oblique Angle View, Artificial Intelligence

Figure 1. Head-in-pillow defects imaged with 2D x-ray inspection.

Introduction Head-in-pillow (HIP) defects, also known as head-on-pillow (HOP), can occur after reflow soldering when the solder paste wets the printed circuit board pad while not fully wetting a BGA ball. While the resulting solder joint may initially exhibit electrical conductivity, it may lack sufficient mechanical integrity. Often these HIP defects are not detected during in-circuit or functional testing but arise as an intermittent field failure when the solder joint is placed under physical or thermal stress throughout its product life cycle.

Head-in-pillow defects have become more predominant with the advent of lead-free solder paste due to greater board warpage and resulting solder ball lifting caused by higher reflow temperatures. Studies have

14 – Global SMT & Packaging – Celebrating 10 Years – March 2010

shown that because board and component warpage are inconsistent and cannot be predicted, attention should be focused on reflow process parameters and material issues1. Process variables impacting upon HIP defects include the BGA solder ball alloys used, the type of reflow profile applied, the peak reflow temperature used as well as the solder paste chemistry. In some cases destructive cross sectioning with scanning electron microscope (SEM) examination may be required to confirm this type of deficiency after a circuit board has been returned as a field failure, having previously passing outgoing in-circuit or functional test.

Identifying HIP defects Even though HIP defects can be difficult

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Head-in-pillow: Identifying and highlighting suspect solder joints

Figures 2a and 2b. 2D x-ray image and enhanced 2D image of head-in-pillow defects.

to detect when using in-line automatic x-ray inspection (AXI) systems or 2D x-ray systems with lower performance characteristics, they can be readily identified with state-of-the-art 2D x-ray inspection systems without the need to destroy the printed circuit board as is the case with micro-sectioning (Figure 1)2.

Figure 1 clearly illustrates why these defects are referred to as head in pillow, or better, head on pillow. The defective BGA solder ball appears to be laying on the reflowed solder paste instead of forming a single interconnection after reflow.

Often considered an open joint, HIP defects frequently occur with BGA devices but can also be found in other area array devices such as flip chips and advanced three-dimensional semiconductor packages, including package on package (PoP), package in package (PiP) and system in package (SiP)3. Even with these complex semiconductor packages, HIP defects can be easily identified with off-axis x-ray inspection system without destroying the semiconductor device or damaging the substrate or printed circuit board.

X-ray inspection techniques Oblique angle viewing, or tilt angle capability, is of critical importance in identifying HIP defects (Figures 2a and 2b).

It is recommended best practice to use tilt, or oblique angles, of between 55 to 70 degrees with the ability to rotate 360 degrees around the point of inspection by moving the x-ray detector. This allows the ability to examine all around the BGA solder joints and does not suffer from occlusion of view by other solder balls or

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other aspects of the printed circuit board.

Emphasis should be placed on the proper use of tilt and rotation angles together with x-ray parameters including kilo volts (kV) and power (W) which are important when trying to detect defect features of only a few microns in size such as cracks within solder balls of area array devices including BGA or flip-chip devices.

One of the best ways board level assemblers can control costs is by maximizing production yields so there are fewer first-pass failures, as well as minimizing subsequent rework and repair. Assemblers should concentrate on setting up the right inspection and test regime that will eliminate difficult and reoccurring problems. One way to do this is to implement a highly capable x-ray inspection system with userfriendly features and sub-micron feature recognition. The payback on such a piece of inspection equipment can be substantial considering the full range of faults it can detect in addition to HIP defects, thereby providing a significant advantage in improving process control, maximizing manufacturing yields and reducing operating costs.

Automated inspection HIP routine The traditional method for detecting HIP defects before they leave a factory has been for an operator to manually inspect each solder ball within a soldered BGA using a modern 2D x-ray inspection system equipped with oblique angle viewing and sub-micron feature recognition capability. While this method has proven to be highly reliable in detecting HIP

defects, it is time consuming and labor intensive. All technological advances that help board level assemblers improve yield enhancement in a cost-effective manner are extremely helpful in general, and especially so in the current economic situation.

Working with leading industry authorities, an automated HIP inspection routine has been developed that can identify and highlight suspect HIP defects without requiring an operator to manually inspect each individual solder joint location within a BGA. As an optional extension module to standard automated analysis software, this automated inspection routine automatically analyses BGA solder joints for HIP failures. The system scans an entire BGA and a sophisticated artificial intelligence algorithm analyses all solder balls indicating those BGA solder joints that it considers to be HIP defects. These are then displayed via a color-coded overlay to the operator together with an HIP confidence value for each BGA joint (Figure 3). Further investigation can then be simply carried out by the operator to confirm the joint status, including the use of oblique angle views at high magnification. This additional information is then fed back into the HIP algorithm to improve the automated analysis function.

This automated inspection routine identifies the presence and locations of HIP failures within BGA devices with a statistical variance, even if the solder joints are fully or partially obscured by the presence of other components on the opposite side of a board. As with most x-ray

Global SMT & Packaging – Celebrating 10 Years – March 2010 – 15

Head-in-pillow: Identifying and highlighting suspect solder joints

Figure 3. Color-coded overlay displaying HIP confidence values for each BGA ball.

automation routines the auto HIP software does have certain limitations, however its performance improves with continued use due to the incorporated learning feature.

Conclusions Occurrence of head-in-pillow defects remains an industry wide concern despite improvements in solder paste flux chemistry and enhanced wetting characteristics of BGA ball solder alloys.

Indications are that HIP defects will persist for the foreseeable future due to higher lead-free reflow temperatures.

While manual inspection with a 2D x-ray inspection system continues to prove an effective method in detecting HIP defects, implementing an automated HIP inspection software routine is a further step in providing additional confidence

in solder joint integrity and helping to prevent HIP defect escapes.

Dr. David Bernard is product manager x-ray systems at Nordson Dage and may be contacted at david.bernard@nordsondage.com.

References 1. Seelig, K., “HIP Defects in BGAs,” Circuits Assembly magazine, December 2008 2. Krastev, E., “Modern 2D X-Ray Tackles BGA Defects,” SMT magazine, July 2008 3. Krastev, E., “Investigating Defects in 3D Packages,” Advanced Packaging magazine, June 2009

Dr. Evstatin Krastev is national applications manager for semiconductor packaging and printed circuit board inspection at Nordson Dage and may be contacted at evstatin. krastev@nordsondage.com.

16 – Global SMT & Packaging – Celebrating 10 Years – March 2010

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APEX booth 2241

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Global SMT & Packaging – Celebrating 10 Years – March 2010 – 17

Recovery: getting back to 2008 levels

Walt Custer and Jon Custer-Topai

Recovery: Getting back to 2008 levels Based upon a sample of 62 global electronic equipment vendors representing over 50% of the world’s electronic equipment sales, revenues rose 7% in 4Q’09 vs. 4Q’08 (Chart 1). The fourth quarter of 2009 was the first “growth quarter” since 3Q’08 (Chart 2).

Regionally SE Asia is leading the recovery (up 40% in the three months ending January 2010 vs. the same threemonth period a year earlier). The USA was up 2%, Europe down 14% and Japan off 16% based upon the most recent data available in mid February (Chart 3).

Supply chain inventories relative to sales dropped throughout 2009 (Chart 4), suggesting that we have entered 2010 with minimal excess stock levels to inhibit a decent sales recovery.

Semiconductor shipments are consistent with the recent electronic equipment data. Global chip shipments were up 28.9% on a three-month (3/12) basis in December (Chart 5). Regionally all areas moved back in to double-digit semiconductor shipment growth except Japan (Chart 6). However as we have 20100218

250

End markets cautioned in recent columns, don’t be misled by huge growth rates in 2010 as they • Worldwide IT spending will grow 4.6% y/y to US$3.4 trillion in 2010 (Table are relative to a very bad 2009. Chart 7 1)—Gartner (January 2010) shows the actual semiconductor monthly • China produced 180 million sales that drove Chart 6. The high 2010 computers, 620 million mobile phones growth rates are merely returning us to & 99.66 million color-TVs in 2009.— 2008 levels.

Ministry of Industry and Information Looking at the global electronic “food Technology chain growth,” 2009 was indeed a very Personal computers difficult year relative to 2008 (Chart 8).

However the fourth quarter of 2009 was • Asia Pacific demand for notebooks MUCH better (Chart 9). will surpass the USA in 2010 and W The electronic food chain is Europe in 2012.—IDC growing again, with electronic 2009 2010 equipment, semiconductors Spending Growth % Spending Growth % and printed circuit Computing 326.4 -13.9 331.7 1.6 boards all finally Hardware back in positive Software 220.7 -2.1 231.5 4.9 territory (Chart 10). This year our IT Services 780.9 -3.5 824.2 5.6 “recovery” will mean Telecom 1887.7 -3.6 1976.66 4.7 returning to levels All IT 3215.7 -4.6 3364.0 4.6 that proceeded the 2009 recession!

Table 1. Worldwide IT spending. (Source: Gartner)

20100218

Electronic Equipment Suppliers Composite of 62 Public Companies $ Billion

Quarterly Revenue Growth

Revenue, Net Income & Inventory

Preliminary 4Q'09 results based upon partial data

+7%

% Growth (quarter vs same quarter in prior year)

10.0

150

5.0

100

0.0

50

-5.0

0

Revenue Income Inventory

20.0 15.0

200

-50

Electronic Equipment Suppliers Composite of 62 Public Companies

-10.0 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4 00 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09

134 138 143 150 128 133 126 135 119 121 123 135 124 130 135 152 145 154 151 170 156 161 163 179 167 174 179 197 181 193 202 224 204 215 214 208 180 189 197 222 11 11 10 7 -2 -6 -12 -1 2 -12 -1 -0 5 4 7 10 10 11 11 14 12 12 12 20 13 9 15 18 16 19 17 17 16 15 14 -5 8 12 15 20 56 58 62 64 65 60 52 47 45 43 41 38 38 38 37 37 39 40 40 40 40 41 42 41 43 46 48 47 46 49 50 50 52 54 54 50 46 45 45 45

-15.0

1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 01

Computer 11, Internet 5, Storage 7, Communication 11, SEMI 13, Medical 3, Instruments 6, Military 6

Computer 11, Internet 5, Storage 7, Communication 11, SEMI 13, Medical 3, Instruments 6, Military 6

Chart 1.

18 – Global SMT & Packaging – Celebrating 10 Years – March 2010

Chart 2.

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Recovery: getting back to 2008 levels

• Global e-book reader shipments should

Internet/datacom • China residential gateway shipments are expected to rise from 4.5 million in 2009 to 11.4 million in 2010 and 16 million units in 2013. – iSuppli • Consumer 802.11n Wi-Fi access point shipments should exceed 32 million in 2010.—ABI Research • Global demand for mobile network cards and modules is expected to top 80-90 million units in 2010.—CCS Insight SEMI equipment • Global semiconductor equipment market is expected to grow by 46.8% y/y in 2010. – iSuppli • N. American semiconductor equipment industry posted US$863.3 million in orders in December 2009 (on a 3-month average basis) and a book-to-bill ratio of 1.03.—SEMI Automotive China surpassed the USA to become the world’s No.1 auto marker. Passenger car sales increased 49.70% to 9.23 million in

reach 9.3 million units in 2010.— Digitimes Research • Worldwide PC shipments rose 22.1% in Q4’09, the strongest growth rate in the past seven years.—Gartner • Media tablets shipments will rise from 4 million in 2010 to 57 million units in 2015.—ABI Research • Worldwide netbook shipments increased 79% y/y to 30.2 million in 2009.—Strategy Analytics Mobile communications • Global handset shipments grew 10% y/y to 324 million units in 4Q’09.— Strategy Analytics • Global market for smart cellular telephones is expected to grow from 181 million units in 2009 to 439 million in 2013. – iSuppli • Worldwide mobile phone market grew 11.3% in 4Q’09 to 325.3 million units; 1.13 billion units were shipped on a cumulative worldwide basis in 2009.— IDC

20100218

20100215

Global Electronic Equipment Shipment Growth

1.6

Taiwan/China Europe Japan USA 0

3/12 rate of growth in local currency

1.5 1.4

first 11 months in 2009 and are expected to grow 10% to 15 million new units sold in 2010.—China Association of Automobile Manufacturers.

Consumer electronics • Consumer electronics OEM market revenue will rebound 1.6% in 2010 to US$317.3 billion on improved sales of LCD-TVs, digital set-top boxes and appliances. – iSuppli • Consumer electronics prices fell by nearly 8% in 1H’09.—CEA • Consumer electronics sales in the 5-week Christmas holiday-shopping season fell 1% y/y to US$10.8 billion.—CEA • Worldwide consumer electronics revenue to OEMs is forecast to rise 1.6% to US$317.3 billion in 2010, to counter the 6.7% decline to US$312.3 billion seen in 2009. – iSuppli • 3D-capable TVs will grow from 1.2M+ shipments in 2010 to 15.6M in 2013.— DisplaySearch • Global LCD TV shipments are

Inventory/Sales Ratio

Large Component Distributors, Semiconductor, EMS & Quarterly Inventory/Sales ($) OEM Companies 0.85 Semiconductor EMS OEM Component Distrib

0.80 0.75 0.70 0.65

1.3

0.60

1.2

0.55

1.1

0.50 0.45

1

0.40

0.9

Chips

0.35

0.8

Distr EMS

0.30

0.7

Europe = Eurostat EU27 NACE C26 (computer, electronic & optical products)

0.6

1 4 7 10 1 4 7 10 1 4 7 10 1 4 7 10 1 4 7 10 1 4 7 10 1 4 7 10 1 4 7 10 1 4 7 10 1 4 7 10 1 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 00 01

0.25 0.20

OEM 3 4 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4 1 2 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 00 01

CY

CALENDAR YEAR

4 Component Distributor, 18 Semiconductor, 12 EMS and 60 OEM Company Composite

Chart 3.

Chart 4.

20100204

20100204

Monthly Semiconductor Shipments $ Billions (3-month average)

Global Semiconductor Shipments 3-Month Growth Rates on $ Basis

1.6

3/12 Rate of Change

1

8

6

12/08

12/09

% CH

Americas

2.70

3.83

+42.2%

Europe

2.55

2.94

+15.4%

0.8

Japan

3.74

3.61

-3.3%

0.6

Asia Pacific

8.42

12.04

+42.9%

17.41

22.43

+28.9%

2

1.4

3 4

1.2

10

5 7

9 11

1

0.4 1591591591591591591591591591591591591591591591591591591591591591591591591591591 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 00 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10

Total $ Shipments from All Countries to an Area SIA website: www.sia-online.org/

Chart 5.

www.globalsmt.net

Total SIA www.sia-online.org/

Chart 6.

Global SMT & Packaging – Celebrating 10 Years – March 2010 – 19

Recovery: getting back to 2008 levels

• expected to reach 171 million units in • •

• •

manufacturers recorded 2008 shipments of US$38.258 billion; 87% of connector market.—Bishop and Associates ACW Technology is building its first manufacturing facility in the U.S in Durham.

Alchemy Technical Consulting added a IBL SV260 tabletop vapor phase machine.

Altech UEC added Universal Instruments’ Genesis platform.

Altrel appointed Bertnard Demoule director of Eolane group.

Axiom Electronics received AS9100 and ESD S20.20-2007 certifications.

Bitron Sosnowiec (South Poland) went on strike over salary.

Catalyst Manufacturing Services received AS9100 Aerospace certification in Endicott, New York; Raleigh, North Carolina; and Tijuana, Mexico.

Celestica: • acquired Invec Solutions.

• invested US$2.8 million+ to establish

2010.—DisplaySearch Global LED LCD TV shipments should reach 32 M. units in 2010. – DisplayBank Major appliance shipments grew 4.5% m/m and 0.9% y/y to 4.6 million in December.—Association of Home Appliance Manufacturers U.S. retail videogame console sales increased 16% y/y to nearly US$2.2 billion in December.—NPD Group Digital-camera shipments are expected to grow 3.8% y/y to 110 million cameras in 2010 following 106 million (-11.6% y/y) in 2009.—Camera and Imaging Products Association.

EMS, ODM & related assembly activity • Worldwide EMS and ODM provider revenue will rise 7.8% y/y to US$280.8 billion in 2010.—iSuppli • World’s top 100 connector 20100204

20100218

Total Semiconductor Shipments to an Area Monthly Shipments - Reporting Firms

$B 15

Japan N America Europe Asia Pac

SE Asia

10

5

a metrology laboratory in its Suzhou, China, facility.

• Healthcare Division appointed Nancy Duarte-Lonnroth director of quality, regulatory affairs, Richard Rubin director of market development, and Michael Sobolewski director of sales and business development Compal Broadband Networks acquired Motorola’s Euro Docsis CPE business units for NT$300 million (US$9.43 million).

CTS produced redesigned (post-recall) Toyota gas pedal parts in three plants.

EE Technologies added a high speed rapid prototyping line in Reno, Nevada.

Elcoteq: • issued EUR 29 million hybrid securities to repay outstanding subordinated debt.

• Monterrey, Mexico, received CustomsTrade Partnership Against Terrorism (C-TPAT) security certification.

• received contract to build Inmarsat sat phones in Estonia.

Global "Electronic Foodchain" Growth 2009 vs. 2008

Electronic Equipment Military Business & Office Instruments & Controls Medical Communication Internet Computer Storage SEMI Equip

-6

-17

0 1591591591591591591591591591591591591591591591 95 96 97 98 99 00 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10

-30

SIA website: www.sia-online.org/

5

-17

-10

-4 -5

-26

Semiconductors (SIA) Passive Components Component Distributors EMS-Large ODM PCB PCB Process Equip

-9

-14

-10

-18

-23 -25

5

-13

6

-20 -20

-15

-10

-5

0

5

10

% Change

US$ equivalent at fluctuating exchange; based upon industry composites including acquisitions

Chart 7.

20100218

Chart 8.

Global "Electronic Foodchain" Growth 4Q'09 vs. 4Q'08 (preliminary results)

Electronic Equipment Military Business & Office Instruments & Controls -8 Medical Communication Internet Computer Storage SEMI Equip Semiconductors (SIA) Passive Components Component Distrib EMS-Large ODM PCB PCB Process Equip -10

Converted @ Constant 2008 Exchange Rates

3/12 rate of change

8

21

SIA

El Equip

1.1 0.9

29

8 8

0

"0" Growth

1.3

11 17

-6

PCB

1.5

9

-1

3

World Electronic Equipment, PCB & Semiconductor Shipments

7

4

-4

20100218

0.7

26

6 10

20

0.5

30

40

3 6 9 12 3 6 9 12 3 6 9 12 3 6 9 12 3 6 9 12 3 6 9 12 3 6 9 12 3 6 9 12 3 6 9 12 3 6 9 12 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 00 01 CALENDAR YEAR

% Change

US$ equivalent at fluctuating exchange; based upon industry composites including acquisitions

Source: Custer Consulting Group

Chart 9.

20 – Global SMT & Packaging – Celebrating 10 Years – March 2010

Chart 10.

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Meet us at

IPC APEX EXPOTM 2010

Mandalay Bay Resort & Convention Center

April 6th - 8th

South Convention Center, Bayside Halls C & D, Booth 1948

Surface Mount Technology

Las Vegas, Nevada, USA

AOI solutions to reduce defective PCBAs

automotive

consumer computer telecom Proven

Efficicent

Dual-lane

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by Synapse

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www.vitechnology.com www.globalsmt.net

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CREATING VALUE

Global SMT & Packaging – Celebrating 10 Years – March 2010 – 21

Recovery: getting back to 2008 levels

• will expand its Tallinn Estonia facility

in 2Q10.

• began offering after market support for Nokia.

FCT Assembly: • received ISO 9001:2008 certification.

• appointed ARK Manufacturing Solutions as its representative for Arizona, New Mexico and Southern Nevada.

Flextronics: • re-hired workers in Timisoara, Romania.

• experienced supply chain shortages in 3Q.

• • Foxconn/ Hon Hai: • is constructing 1,000 hectare industrial park in Hai An District,Vietnam.

• entered talks to buy Motorola Israel’s Arad plant

• offered 500,000-yuan (73,219 U.S.

dollar) reward regarding employee’s January 2010 death.

• set up China LED epitaxial wafer joint venture with Nichia.

• added 30,000 employees in Shenzhen.

• signed one billion SMD LED lead frames/month supply agreement with Chang Wah. • is building an NB PC integrated supply chain in Chongqing, China.

• received order for five million LCD TVs from Samsung.

Hansatech EMS implemented lean manufacturing and reduced NPI cycle times by 40%.

IMI: • listed 1.137 billion common shares in the Philippine Stock Exchange.

• is closing its Philippines LCD assembly unit.

Incap will close down its Vokatti factory and transfer production to Estonia in 2010.

Integrated Ideas & Technologies named Matthew Associates its representative for the SMT and metal fabrication divisions for Maine, Vermont, New Hampshire, Connecticut, Massachusetts and Rhode Island.

Inventec plans to expand its server R&D center in Taoyuan, Taiwan, from 1,400 workers to 3,000 in 2012.

Jabil: • Cassina de Pecchi, Italy, plant went on strike over change in hours worked.

• started 45 MW solar module line in Chihuahua, Mexico, to accomodate BP Solar assembly contract.

• cut 1,500 jobs in Jalisco, Mexico, due to lower BlackBerry shipments.

•

Kitron received a €2.5 million defense order from Kongsberg Group.

Mack Technologies became PCBA services provider for Performance Technologies

(Rochester, NY).

Matric (Seneca, PA) received AS 9100 certification.

Mikroelektronika added a new testing facility in Brno, Czech Republic.

NBS installed additional SMT line at its headquarters facility in Santa Clara, California.

Northstar Electronics received contract add-on from L-3 to build consoles for the Canadian Navy’s Halifax Class Frigate Upgrade Program.

Note appointed Göran Jansson to CEO and president.

Plexus: • appointed Steve Gearhart to CIO. • established legal entity in Germany, Plexus Deutschland GmbH. • named Christin Taege European customer manager and Rena Thomas European business development director.

PKC Wiring Systems: • ended Kempele, Finland opeations.

• appointed Harri Ojala managing director.

Qualastat Electronics will move into its new 13,175 SF Chandler headquarters in June, 2010.

Qual-Pro appointed Richard Fitzgerald to COO. Quanta Computers began building its third Chinese mainland manufacturing base in Chongqing.

Remploy Electronics appointed Tony Harrison key account manager.

Sanmina-SCI: • San Jose, California PCB facility received AS9100 Aerospace certification.

• Became EMS provider for broadband, IPTV and NGN solutions products manufactured at UTStarcom’s Hangzhou facility.

SMTC regained compliance with the minimum bid price requirement of The Nasdaq stock market.

STI Electronics received ISO14644-1:1999 certification.

Surmotech added an ERSA Versaflow 3 selective soldering machine.

Syrma Technology joined wireless industry consortium DASH7.

TECHMA U.S.A., Inc. will begin closing its Gretna, Virginia, manufacturing operations March 19, 2010.

Technical Manufacturing Corporation celebrated its 25th anniversary.

Titan Supply Chain Services launched new sales division, Titan EMS. TT electronics’ Kuantan, Malaysia’s manufacturing facility received ISO 13485:2003 medical certification.

Ultra Electronics Manufacturing & Card Systems received NADCAP AC7120 for electronic and mechanical assembly

22 – Global SMT & Packaging – Celebrating 10 Years – March 2010

processes.

Victron named Sudarshan Bahl director of quality and regulatory affairs.

Materials & process equipment • Global lithium ion battery materials are expected to grow from 306.6 billion yen in 2009 to 652.1 billion yen in 2014.—Fuji Keizai Co. • Global specialty films market will grow at 6.1% CAGR from US$22.18 billion in 2009 to US$29.77 billion by 2014.— Pira International • Global SMT placement equipment revenues are expected to grow from US$1,740.5 million in 2008 and to US$2,498.5 million in 2015.—Frost & Sullivan Acculogic Manufacturing Test Systems opened a testing services and support satellite office in Laguna Hills, CA. AdoptSMT Group opened a new 600 sq. m. London office.

Assembléon: • Nordic was renamed Nordic SMT. • started SUPREME (SUstainable PRoduction EquipMEnt) research project with the Technical University of Eindhoven, TNO, Xycarb Ceramics, Tegema Group en Fiberworx. atg Luther & Maelzer promoted Martin Faulhaber to Managing Director of global atg-LM group.

Beckhoff acquired Smyczek GmbH & Co. KG. BPM Microsystems named William White CEO, replacing retired Lyman Brown.

Christopher Associates released new SPC software for Koh Young solder paste inspection systems.

Computronics released its BEN-Z300 bench lead-free wave solder machine.

Conexant appointed Phillip Pompa senior VP of product marketing.

Cookson: • appointed Peter Hill and François Wanecq to its board.

• Altoona, PA, electronics’ laboratory achieved ISO 17025 accreditation.

DEK launches its new VectorGuard® double layer platinum stencil.

Dow Corning opened a Warsaw office for silicon-based materials and solutions.

Etek Europe began purchasing and stocking Aqueous Technologies’ automated defluxing, stencil cleaning and cleanliness testing equipment.

Goepel electronics added a third building at its headquarters in Jena, Germany.

Heraeus acquired Lord Corporation’s thick film cermet product line.

IBL Vapour Phase named Blundell its UK soldering equipment representative.

Japan Gore-Tex commercialized LCP film with high thickness accuracy suitable for high-frequency flexible printed circuit

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Global SMT & Packaging – Celebrating 10 Years – March 2010 – 23

Recovery: getting back to 2008 levels

boards.

KEERS Technologies entered the refurbished feeder business.

Kuraray introduced two grades of liquid crystal polymer film for flexible printed circuit boards, multilayer circuit boards and white light emitting diode substrates.

Kyzen appointed Yankee Tronics as its representative for upstate New York.

Manncorp introduced seven new electronic assembly turnkey lines with throughput rates ranging from prototyping to 10,500 CPH. Mentor Graphics added full-wave 3D electromagnetic analysis functionality for PCB design.

Microscan introduced a new track, trace and control solution.

Micro-tec unveiled copper paste fine line (30 micron) printing technology.

Milara and Mirae combined technologies to produce a printer and pick-and-place system.

MIRTEC was named one of Inc. 5000 fastest growing companies in 2009.

Mydata appointed Oempartners as its representative in Eastern Canada including Ontario and Points East.

Nordson YESTECH appointed Kevin Garcia as regional sales manager.

Orpro Vision appointed David Llewellyn European sales & distribution manager.

Panasonic Factory Solutions named Assembly Products its representative for Massachusetts, Connecticut, New Hampshire, Vermont, Maine and Rhode Island.

Park Electrochemical appointed Susan Macaluso to program manager, Jean-Francois Le Rouzic to director of marketing and sales in Europe and Mark Carlson to director of global RF marketing.

R&D Technical Services named ARK Manufacturing Solutions its representative for Arizona, New Mexico and Southern Nevada.

Seho named Laryo S.R.L. its exclusive distributor in Italy.

Sigrity introduced an electrical and thermal co-simulation tool for IC package and printed circuit board design.

SMART Group introduced new solder paste assessment test.

Sonoscan developed analytical techniques that separate counterfeit plastic IC packages from genuine packages.

Spectra-Physics introduced a high power 355 nm industrial laser for via hole drilling and flex circuit cutting.

Union Tool plans to increase printed circuit board drill unit sales by 61% y/y to 354 million units in 2010.

Vitronics Soltec: • entered new distribution partnership agreement with GPS Technologies GmbH.

• eliminated its Advanced Technology Group.

XJTAG introduced second generation boundary scan test system.

Semiconductor & other components Top 10 OEMs/ODMs accounted for one-third (US$77.3 billion) of ‘09 semiconductor consumption revenue.— Gartner Global semiconductor sales in December fell 1.2% m/m (rose 29$ y/y) to US$22.4 billion; total 2009 sales declined 9% y/y to US$226.3 billion. – SIA $1 billion capex club members are: Samsung ($6 billion), Intel ($5.3 billion), TSMC ($3 billion), Hynix ($2 billion), Toshiba ($1.95 billion), AMD/ GlobalFoundries ($1.9 billion), Micron ($1.3 billion), Nanya ($1.1 billion) and Elpida ($1 billion).—IC Insights Semiconductor fab utilization rates reached about 80% at the end of 2009 from 48% in 1Q’09 and is expected to rise in 2010 to 87% in 3Q’10.—iSuppli Semiconductor days of inventory (DOI) for distributors fell 15% y/y to 36.9 DOI at the end of the 3Q’09; DOI at semiconductor makers declined 11% to 66.4 during the same period.—iSuppli China IC production value is expected to rise 15.4% to 120 billion yuan (US$17.6 billion) in 2010. – CSIA Chips: • Worldwide PC chip shipments increased 31% y/y in 4Q’09.—IDC • Worldwide microprocessor shipments increased 2.5% in 2009 to 320.7 million.—IDC • Global microprocessor sales are expected to rise 15.1% in 2010.—IDC • Graphics chip shipments grew 14% y/y in 2009.—Jon Peddie Research • Wi-Fi IC shipments grew 28% y/y in 2009.—ABI Research • Cellular broadband chipset market is forecasted to grow 35% y/y through 2014 fuelled by notebooks, netbooks/ smart books, mobile internet devices, and eReaders.—IDC • Global digital signal processor market will grow 15% in 2010 as revenue rises from US$5.6 billion in 2009 to US$6.4 billion.—Forward Concepts Taiwan-based IC designers were asked to order 12-weeks earlier due to tight foundry capacity.

IC market is expected to grow 15% y/y to US$270.7 billion in 2010 with top 10 growth markets being: 1. DRAM—31% 2. 32-bit MCU—18% 3. Automotive—Special Purpose Logic/MPR—18% 4. Flash Memory—18% 5. Automotive App-Specific Analog—17%

24 – Global SMT & Packaging – Celebrating 10 Years – March 2010

6. Computer App-Specific Analog—16% 7. Computer and Peripherals—Special Purpose Logic/MPR—15% 8. Consumer App-Specific Analog—15% 9. MPU— 15% 10. Data Conversion—14% 11. Voltage Reg. & Ref—14%.

Source:IC Insights Touch-screen module shipments are expected to grow from 971,755 units in 2009 to 5.4 million units in 2013.—iSuppli Touch-screen display revenues should grow from US$2.2 billion in 2010 to US$3.4 billion in 2014.—NanoMarkets Research Walt Custer is an independent consultant who monitors and offers a daily news service and market reports on the PCB and assembly automation and semiconductor industries. He can be contacted at walt@custerconsulting.com or visit www.custerconsulting.com.

Jon Custer-Topai is vice president of Custer Consulting Group and responsible for the corporation’s market research and news analysis activities. Jon is a member of the IPC and active in the Technology Marketing Research Council.

He can be contacted at jon@custerconsulting.com.

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Global SMT & Packaging – Celebrating 10 Years – March 2010 – 25

Advances in WLCSP technologies for growing market needs

Advances in WLCSP technologies for growing market needs R. Anderson, R. Chilukuri, T.Y. Tee, C.P. Koo, H.S. NG, B. Rogers, and A. Syed, Amkor Technology, Research Triangle Park, NC, Singapore and Chandler, AZ This paper will share current results of Amkor’s WLCSP board level reliability testing for both larger package size and smaller pitch. The 6.8 mm test vehicle used for the large WLCSP package testing has 196 I/O set on a 400 µm pitch uniform array. The 300 µm pitch package has 100 I/O and is 3.8 mm on each side. Amongst other design variations, solder alloy and redistribution layer thickness are explored as a means to enhance reliability.

In addition to board level reliability testing, processing challenges will be discussed, as well as lower cost processing solutions for standard pitch designs.

Introduction As WLCSP technology matures, it is being adapted to fit into other application spaces that were once thought to be outside of its reliability capabilities. For example, die size continues to increase to accommodate high I/O RF applications. In addition, in recent years we have seen the pitch shrink from the more common 500 µm to 400 µm, and now the industry is even testing 300 µm pitch. Both larger die size and smaller pitch are solutions for customer needs to fit more I/O on the surface of the die.

Board level testing of WLCSP Although the subject of reliability testing standards can quickly spark a heated debate regarding how one type better replicates reality than another, the JEDEC standard remains a widely accepted and an easily repeatable set of guidelines. In

aaddition, many other testing standards are proprietary and thus, impossible to share and discuss in public forums. The most important aspects of testing are to prove repeatability in experimental procedure and results and to keep variables at a minim µm so that outcomes can be compared from test matrix to test matrix.

Even though each test standard (JEDEC vs. proprietary methods) has its merits, each has its downsides that prevent it from fully replicating the real environment that the WLCSP device will experience. This creates loopholes within each testing guideline, which may be exploited, intentionally or unintentionally, by reliability engineers. To guard against this, test vehicle designs, test procedures, and results have been reported in detail in an attempt to accurately convey the lifetime of the parts. Figure 1

Keywords: WLCSP, Board Level Reliability, CSPnl

(a)

(b) Figure 1. Die Design: (a)10x10 I/O, 300 µm pitch, 3.8 mmx3.8 mm, 200 µm diameter sphere (b)14x14 I/O, 400 µm pitch, 6.8 mmx6.8 mm, 250 µm diameter sphere.

26 – Global SMT & Packaging – Celebrating 10 Years – March 2010

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Advances in WLCSP technologies for growing market needs

shows die designs for both the 300 µm pitch WLCSP and the 400 µm pitch large die test vehicle. Figure 2 illustrates the Cu redistribution layout on the PCBs. The drop test board is an eight-layer board, and the thermal cycle board has four layers.

Figure 2. PCB Cu Daisy Chain : a) 300 µm pitch daisy chain; Cu pad diameter is 150 µm (NSMD) b) 400 µm pitch daisy chain; Cu pad diameter is 250 µm (NSMD).

JEDEC drop testing The setup of the board level drop tester follows the guidelines of JEDEC drop test standards1-3, with 15 WLCSP devices (3x5 matrix) assembled on a test board (132x77 mm). The test board is connected to a fixture with the die side facing down and then mounted to a drop block with screws in the four corners of the PCB. This procedure insures that the board experiences maxim µm flexure. The drop block is dropped from a certain height along two guiding rods, onto a rigid base covered with a rubber layer. A multichannel in-situ high speed data acquisition system is used to measure input/output acceleration, in-plane strains on board, and resistance of daisy-chained components.

The JEDEC drop test standard recommends certain input acceleration values and pulse shapes1-3. The testing described in this paper applied the aggressive JEDEC condition H (2900 G/0.3 ms). The widely used JEDEC condition B (1500 G/0.5 ms) proved to be impractical for these parts due to the extensive testing time that would have been required to collect sufficient data for statistical analysis. Four boards per test case were utilized for drop testing.

In previous papers, a comparison between condition B and condition H has been made for Amkor’s CSPnl stack-up6-8.

Figure 3 is a cross section cartoon of the CSPnl stack-up layers. The acceleration factor derived between condition H and condition B is approximately 1.8x5,8.

Consequently, if the first failure (FF) of a design under the condition H test conditions is 100, then the FF under condition B would be estimated to be 180.

JEDEC thermal testing The JEDEC thermal cycling condition used for this study was JEDEC JESD22A104C, Condition G4. Parts were cycled between -40 to 125˚C at 1 cycle/hour. The temperature ramp was 18 minutes and

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Figure 3. WLCSP Cross Section: A) Customer die; B) Polymer layer 1; C) Plated Cu RDL; D) Polymer layer 2; E) Sputter UBM metal; F) Plated UBM metal 1; G) Plated UBM metal 2.

the dwell time at temperature was 12 minutes. Three boards with 15 mounted WLCSP devices were used for each test case.

WLCSP layer stack-up and failure analysis Good failure analysis is important for interpreting reliability test results. Failure analysis provides insight on the point of initial failure and the cause for the open in the circuit. Without this, the testing provides merely pass/fail information without affording insight on design changes that can make the devices more reliable. Typically, dye and pry tests and cross-sectioning are performed on failed samples to determine the failure locations and modes. The methods used for failure analysis have been outlined in past proceedings7-8.

The primary failure mode for drop testing, using the above device stack-up and board design combination, has been observed to be breaks in the Cu RDL. The likelihood of these breaks can be reduced by thickening the copper, which tends to move the failure mode to a separation of the UBM metal and the RDL. This new failure is created through a rocking motion of the solder sphere on the UBM, which effectively wedges the UBM from the Cu RDL5-7. As this new failure occurs more slowly than the break of the thin Cu RDL line, the lifetime of WLCSP can be improved by thickening the Cu RDL. Primary failures for thermal cycle stressing are typically bulk solder failures.

For this reason, harder solders generally perform better in thermal cycling8-9. In addition, a weak point for failure is the IMC region between the solder and the UBM on the die side. The thermal cycle lifetime can be increased by choosing solders that suppress formations of brittle IMC layers.

Solder vendors offer doped SAC alloys where the dopant is added to suppress the growth of these IMC formations.

Fine pitch WLCSP overview The cost savings realized by shrinking pitch sizes down from 500 and 400 µm to 300 µm can be significant. On a 200 mm wafer, the number of die per wafer almost triples when the pitch is reduced from 500 µm to 300 µm. Thus, without sacrificing I/O, the cost per die for backend wafer processing and die processing significantly decreases.

The wafer processing capability for a 300 µm pitch design remains the same as a 500 µm design with the exception of the ball place operation. It may be necessary for backend factories to upgrade older ball place tools with newer ones that are capable to place spheres ≤200 µm in diameter. Similarly, repair tools at the ball place operation may need to be upgraded.

In addition to cost savings, the deployment of 300 µm pitch opens the WLCSP market to many chip designs where the number of I/O cannot be fanned-in on the die surface at 400 µm and 500 µm pitch.

There are few other desirable wafer level options when excessive I/O prevent a die from being used in a WLCSP application.

Currently, it is common to reduce or combine I/O or to consider complicated technologies like Wafer Level Fan-out, where die are embedded in an epoxy substrate material so that the I/O can be fannedout over an area larger than the die while maintaining standard pitch sizes. Both of these options may be avoidable if the pitch can be reduced to 300 µm. For example, a 6.5 mm die has capacity for 144I/O on a 500 µm pitch array but can accommodate up to 400I/O array on 300 µm pitch.

The large-scale implementation of 300 µm pitch WLCSP is not limited by wafer processing technology but is limited by assembly considerations. The assembly equipment that is currently being used at 400 µm and 500 µm pitch is not necessarily compatible with 300 µm pitch. Assembly operations at 300 µm pitch would begin to resemble those used for flip chip packaging and would necessitate transition to a higher cost and higher accuracy assembly

Global SMT & Packaging – Celebrating 10 Years – March 2010 – 27

Advances in WLCSP technologies for growing market needs

Figure 4. Drop Data: 300 µm pitch WLCSP, NSMD vs. SMD.

tool set. In addition to the assembly challenges, the fabrication of fine pitch boards will be more expensive.

Fine pitch WLCSP realibility results Typically, it is preferable to mount WLCSP devices on NSMD pads in order to maximize the lifetime of the package.

However, at smaller pitches there are risks of failures on the board side where the Cu pad may pull away from the PCB. Therefore, as part of this 300 µm pitch characterization study, the performance of NSMD pads was compared to the SMD case. The NSMD Cu pad is 150 µm in diameter, and the SMO for the SMD case is 180 µm. Figure 4 is a Weibull plot showing drop test results for this comparison for SAC405 solder for all group A positions (four corners of board) on the PCB board. The first failures (FF) for both cases exceed 100 drops even with the Condition H, 2900G acceleration.

The NSMD case outperformed the SMD case in FF (228 vs. 118) and Mean Life (1437 vs. 535). The first two failures in both cases appear to have different slope as compared to the other failure data, which would indicate a different failure mode.

Still to-be-collected FA data should provide further insight on the failure mechanisms for these early failures.

The thermal cycle data is still under collection for the NSMD vs. SMD case.

The data obtained to date is shown in Figure 5. Even after only 1651 cycles, it is evident that the NSMD case is again outperforming the SMD case. The NSMD case exhibits a FF at 1192, while the SMD case has a FF at 876.

Since 300 µm pitch WLCSP begins to resemble flip chip packaging, some ap-

Figure 5. TC Data: 300 µm pitch WLCSP, NSMD vs. SMD.

plications may find it necessary to use an underfill with 300 µm pitch parts.

This would be in contrast to standard pitch WLCSPs, which generally are mounted without underfill. The benefit of underfilling 300 µm pitch WLCSP was explored in this characterization study.

Figure 6 shows drop data comparing

the same SAC405Figure 6. Drop Data: 300 µm pitch WLCSP NSMD, UF vs. non-UF (U6 and NSMD case used U10 only). in Figure 4-5 with an underfilled case. counts. Therefore, to keep up with market For the underfilled needs, Amkor is expanding their WLCSP case, no failures were observed for the product offering to include large die Group A corner positions on the boards; WLCSP devices. As shown in Figure 1, the failures were only observed at the U6 and WLCSP device qualified in this study is a U10 positions. Therefore, this is the data 6.8 mm die with 196I/O. plotted in Figure 6 for both the underfilled and non-underfilled case. The lifetime of Large die reliability results the underfilled case is significantly higher Doped SAC alloys refer to the addition (FF=956 drops) than the non-underfilled of trace amounts of an exotic metal like case. These parts are still in thermal cycle Ni, Sb, Co, Bi, etc. that suppress either testing. As of 1651 cycles, there were zero the secondary or primary IMC growth. failures for the underfilled case.

In addition, the dopants can change the grain structure size of the IMC, potenLarge die WLCSP overview tially enhancing the lifetime of the device.

A significant portion of the current market The doped SAC alloys used in this study space that utilizes WLCSP technology have less than 1.5% Ag content and less is focused on die ≤5 mm. In fact, it is than 1% dopants. These doped alloys are estimated that 85% of the WLCSP market compared to the performance of the more is 100 I/O or less. However, the other 15% conventional alloys SAC405 and SAC105. of the market space consists of applications Figure 7 shows drop data at JEDEC like RF with larger die needing higher I/O

28 – Global SMT & Packaging – Celebrating 10 Years – March 2010

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Advances in WLCSP technologies for growing market needs

Figure 7. Drop Data: Large die (6.8 mm, 196I/O) WLCSP alloy comparison.

Condition H (2900 G/0.3 ms) for four different SAC solder types. All solder types had FFs near or greater than 100 drops.

The SAC105 had the worst performance.

In contrast, the doped alloys exhibited FFs greater than 460 drops, while SAC405 had FF at 184 drops. The first two data points for each case possess a very distinct steep slope, with the rest of the data falling along a less severe slope. This difference in slope indicates a possible change in failure mechanism. Even though two different slopes exist for each data set, the slope for the first two failures in each case is very consistent and conclusions can be drawn on which solder is superior in drop testing.

Figure 8 shows the thermal cycle data for the 6.8 mm die for the same SAC solder types tested in Figure 7. All alloys demonstrate FFs greater 550. In addition, it is apparent that the doped alloys are out performing the standard SAC105 and SAC405 alloys.

Cost effective WLCSP solutions Amkor’s strategy in the past has been to offer one reliable WLCSP offering, CSPnl (Chip Scale Package-next level), that covered the entire product space. The CSPnl offering includes a bump on pad (BOP) design and single layer RDL design (see Figure 9 a-b). The RDL stack-up is the same design explained in Figure 3 and is the design used for the reliability data presented in the previous sections. The RDL-CSPnl enables customers to convert existing wirebond products into WLCSP, while the BOP design provides a solution for customers that design their product in the front end for a WLCSP application. Reliability results for the BOP design were previously shared in

Figure 8. TC Data: Large die (6.8 mm, 196I/O) WLCSP alloy comparison.

thickness has been further validated by IMAPS proceedings in 20095. other relevant reliability tests. Based on Amkor’s recent focus for WLCSP is customers’ reliability needs and applicato offer a lower cost RDL option that will tions, CSPnl and CSPX3 will be offered as meet the reliability requirements for most RDL WLCSP solutions.

WLCSP applications. This new option is Figure 9d shows an even lower cost alpictured in Figure 9c. The main difference ternative named CSPX2,where the first polybetween this lower cost option, named mer layer is left out of the device stack-up.

CSPX3, and CSPnl is that it contains two less plated layers under the solder sphere.

Similar to the simplified stack-up of CSPX3, this two photolithography stack-up requires The ‘X’ refers to the ‘crossing out’, of the less processing steps. The application space two plated layers and the ‘3’ refers to the for the CSPX2 device is still under investigathree photolithography mask levels needed tion; the use of this device type requires to create this lower cost stack-up. This management of potential RF interference three mask stack-up provides cost savings between the I/O array and active areas on through elimination of process steps, lower the die. More reliability data and informamaterial costs, and faster process cycle tion for this stack-up will be discussed in times. the near future.

The plated UBM layer in CSPnl not only enhances the mechanical reliability of the device but also serves as a diffusion CSPX3 reliability results Figure 10 shows the drop performance of barrier. Since the solder ball is placed CSPX3 for both JEDEC drop condition directly on the Cu for CSPX3, it is necessary to use a thicker Cu RDL layer to account H (2900G/0.3ms) and condition B for the consumption of the Cu by the Pb(1500G/0.5ms). From failure analysis, the free solder. A study with multiple reflows primary failure mode is separation at the showed that the IMC growth begins to IMC formed at the Pb-free/Cu interface. plateau even after the first reflow for The acceleration factor between the two SAC405 solder. The first reflow consumed different drop conditions for this type of approximately 3 µm of Cu, the fifth reflow consumed less than 1 µm, and after 20 reflows another 0.5 µm was consumed. Therefore, a Cu thickness for CSPX3 has been chosen so that the Cu remaining is more than the CSPnl RDL thickness, even with the worse case scenario of 4.5 Figure 9. Amkor WLCSP Stack-up Options: a) BOP-CSPnl b) RDL-CSPnl µm of Cu consumption.

X3 c) CSPX3 d) CSPX2.

The selected CSP RDL

30 – Global SMT & Packaging – Celebrating 10 Years – March 2010

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Global SMT & Packaging – Celebrating 10 Years – March 2010 – 31

Advances in WLCSP technologies for growing market needs

Figure 10. CSPX3 Drop data for JEDEC condition H and B.

IMC failure is 3x, as compared to 1.8x found for the CSPnl stack-up. The FFs for the condition B and condition H tests are 195 and 684, respectively. The CSPX3 test device was a 5.5 mm die populated with 300 µm SAC405 spheres on a 500 µm pitch in a 10x10 I/O array. The board design layout used for this study is similar to what is illustrated in Figure 2. The boards used were NSMD with 235 µm diameter Cu pads.

The thermal cycling data presented in Figure 11 shows that the FF for CSPX3 is greater than 1000 cycles. Thus, based on the drop data and thermal cycling data, CSPX3 is a cost effective and viable WLCSP option.

Conclusions The market and application for WLCSP has exponentially grown in the past few years. This has necessitated the need for finer pitch, larger I/O count, and more cost effective solutions. The data in this paper has demonstrated that WLCSP technologies are available at 300 µm pitch as well as large I/O die at standard pitch. In addition, lower cost WLCSP technologies, needing fewer processing steps, can meet industry reliability requirements.

Acknowledgments Appreciation is extended to our colleagues from the R&D group of Amkor Korea: SS Park, ES Yang, DH Moon, SW Cha, TK Hwang and WJ Kang, for their technical support as well as our colleagues in Amkor Taiwan: Max Chen and Webb Wong

Figure 11. CSPX3 TC Data: 5.5 mm die with 300 µm SAC405 spheres on a 500 µm pitch 10x10 I/O array.

References 1. JEDEC Standard JESD22-B111, Board Level Drop Test Method of Components for Handheld Electronic Products, 2003.

2. JEDEC Standard JESD22-B104-B, Mechanical Shock, 2001.

3. JEDEC Standard JESD22-B110, Subassembly Mechanical Shock, 2001.

4. JEDEC Standard JESD22-A104C, Temperature Cycling, 2005.

5. R. Anderson, T.Y. Tee, R. Chilukuri, H.S. NG, C.P. Koo, and B. Rogers, “Amkor’s CSPnl™: Comparison of Bump on Pad and Cu Redistribution WLCSP Designs”, IMAPS Proc., Scottsdale, AZ, (2009).

6. T.Y. Tee, H.S. Ng, A. Syed, R. Anderson, C.P. Khoo, B. Rogers “Design for Board Trace Reliability of WLCSP under Drop Test”, 10th Eurosime Conference, Netherlands, (2009).

7. T.Y. Tee, L.B. Tan, R. Anderson, H.S. Ng, J.H. Low, C.P. Khoo, R. Moody, B. Rogers, “Advanced Analysis of WLCSP Copper Interconnect Reliability under Board Level Drop Test”, EPTC Proc, Singapore, 1086-1095 (2008).

8. R. Anderson, T.Y. Tee, R. Moody, L.B. Tan, H.S. NG, J.H. Low, and B. Rogers, “Integrated Testing & Modeling Analysis of CSPnl™ for Enhanced Board Level Reliability”, IWLPC Proc., San Jose, CA, 184-190, (2008).

9. R. Anderson, Robert Moody, Boyd Rogers, and Dan Mis, “Board Level Reliability Results for Amkor’s 12x12 I/O CSPnl™”, IMAPS Proc., Scottsdale, AZ (2008).

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APEX booth 2219

MV-3 Desktop AOI Series

MV-7 Inline AOI Series

3 MORSE ROAD • OXFORD, CT 06478 PHONE: (+1) 203-881-5559 • FAX: (+1) 203-881-3322 www.mirtecusa.com www.globalsmt.net

Global SMT & Packaging – Celebrating 10 Years – March 2010 – 33

2009 Rep & Distributor Review Title Interview

an you give our readers an overview of Vi TECHNOLOGY, its size, locations and technology segments?

Interview—Jean-Yves Gomez Vi TECHNOLOGY

Vi TECHNOLOGY, based in the Grenoble area of France, has been a technology innovator of reflow ovens and AOI equipment for 20 years. Trevor Galbraith spoke with managing director Jean-Yves Gomez to discuss the latest technologies coming out if the VIT stable and his ambitious plans for the future.

Can you give our readers an overview of Vi TECHNOLOGY, its size, locations and technology segments?

Vi TECHNOLOGY is about 100 people in Grenoble, most of them in R&D. We invest about 25% of our revenue in R&D. Despite the 2009 economic crisis we continued to invest in R&D and hired engineers. For 2010, we have a plan to almost double our R&D resources.

Most of the investments are for the AOI products. Optical inspection is split over two product lines, the PCB, which is our main activity, and the semiconductor packaging we started two years ago.

In your VIT AOI platforms, what are the merits of using a CAD data approach to information capture, versus a golden board?

It depends of what the manufacturer wants to do. If the goal is to have a “GoNoGo” approach to show to his own customer that he has an inspection system, the golden board approach is fine. It will generate a lot of false calls and escapes, but it is still easy to program and easy to use. But results will not ensure a high-quality level, and it will not be possible to improve the manufacturing process.

By opposition, using the CAD data approach will take a bit more time in programming the equipment, but the philosophy is very different. Instead of starting from a golden board, supposed to be good, you start from the “reference,” and you compare the board manufacture with the ideal case. It helps to improve the manufacturing process since you can observe all drifts versus the CAD data, and of course use the information to improve the process.

Looking at the quality requirements needed to satisfy the end-customer, it is

more and more difficult to use a golden board approach and pretend that you master your process technology and your quality. The only possible conclusion is to say in comparison with a reference board the product seems to be ok.

You offer inline AOI systems as well as standalone. Are you still able to keep up with the beat rate of the line using the CAD data approach?

The entry point to program our equipment could be at different level, but in any case as I explained, you need to refer to something perfect if you like to ensure your process repeatability, and for that the only absolute reference is the CAD data. All our customers using a Vi TECHNOLOGY standalone system are looking for process improvement and quality of their manufacturing; it is why they always want to refer to the CAD data.

Buying AOI equipment is in some way a non-productive cost unless you use it to improve your manufacturing performance.

Then you can easily get a payback in about 12 months. It is the first meaning of AOI. What are the merits of using black and white versus color in AOI? This is a simple question of gathering the

34 – Global SMT & Packaging – Celebrating 10 Years – March 2010

information. It is better to have a black and white camera with lots of levels of gray than using a camera with only few levels of color. In fact a black and white camera uses different colors for lighting; therefore for each color used, you get lot of information.

A color camera is only a black and white pixel array on which we add some colorization layers filtering the wavelength for each pixel. When using a white color lighting in this case, the attenuation gotten for each pixel, due to the color filter, is such that you are losing information.

Color camera is a marketing fashion; as soon as you know the technologies

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Interview

used you understand the limitation and prefer to have a black and white camera.

To illustrate with another example, for instance the DSC camera, most of consumers like to have 10, 12, 14 and tomorrow 20 megapixels DSC, but picture quality taken from a DSC will not mainly depend of the sensor, it will depend of the lens quality and bandwidth. Higher is the number of pixels, better seems to be the quality, which is wrong.

What is Vi TECHNOLOGY’s philosophy towards new product development and introduction?

We are always delivering to our customers technologies enabling them to target new components inspection. This is a continuous work since we introduced new products two to three times a year.

The concept there is to be able to upgrade the existing solution already bought by our customers. When we develop a new functionality, our installed-base of equipment is upgradable. Therefore it is always possible for a customer having several years old equipment to use the latest solution from us without having to spend the full cost of a new AOI. You have an ambitious goal of producing one new product every six months. How are you planning to achieve this goal?

We did it in 2009; we will do it in 2010.

Our R&D is organized in different teams. One is focusing on innovations for products at a horizon from two to five years. Another team that we call continuous R&D is focusing on products already introduced on the market or products to be introduced in the next two years. And the third one is maintenanceoriented to develop customer requests or to improve existing equipment.

You entered the 3D SPI space back in 2008. What key differentiators and attributes does the SPI system offer?

The technology we are using is different from the one already existing on the market. It brings to our customer a better accuracy. 3D SPI is a measurement tool and without very accurate measurement it is useless. So with our partner we focus on the absolute measurement value and repeatability.

You have a separate metrology division that manufactures wafer inspection systems. This is a very crowded area. How do you compete against some of the more established vendors, and what features

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and benefits does the REVEAL range offer?

We have the capability to inspect wafers as well as special packaging such as 3D package (stacked dice), system in package, TSV, CSP, optical package and MEMS packaging. I believe we have the expertise to observe very small defects less than 1 µ and we are also very fast in inspection. I believe that due to the experience we got from the PCB industry, we have been able to develop fast and accurate positioning equipment and a very speedy way to capture the information and process it. At least it is what our customers are saying.

We are in the inspection since nearly 20 years and the accumulated experience in PCB is very useful for the semiconductor.

The other benefit is the experience we gain in semiconductor for new type of packages which help us to develop in advance new algorithms for PCB. Do you see a lot of potential for growth in this segment?

The complexity of electronic appliances is increasing, and semiconductor companies increase the silicon functionalities’ as well as improve silicon packages to answer to these needs. So there are new domains where optical inspection is required since it is the only way to improve manufacturing yields and production ramp-up. Semiconductor companies are very sensitive to these parameters. They can make profit or losses on a new product line by being very reactive at new product introduction. It is where we can help them since we have developed a tools box allowing us to develop equipment able to answer to their needs in few weeks.

ovens. More products will come. eXelsius, our thermal branch, is studying all new products, distributing them and ensuring they meet the quality standard. The manufacturing is coming from VIT-DC. You are positioned toward mid- to highvolume production manufacture, yet you suffered very little downturn during the global recession and in fact, you are on course to record the best quarter in the history of the company. What were the reasons behind this success when most of the consumer-led, high-volume companies were hurting?

To be honest I do not understand all the reasons. I believe there are some major factors for success: • Listening to customers and delivering the product they are looking for.

• Introducing new solutions, Hardware or Software.

• Being close to them, offering good service from our Application and Support team, Frost and Sullivan delivers to us this award based on a customer survey.

• Having a distribution network, professional and competent in term of sales but also customer support.

Having myself a semiconductor background, I learn two very important things. One, customer service is the number on priority. And two, listen to customers—they know what they need better than us. I applied these concepts to VIT, and I believe this is part of our success.

Vi TECHNOLOGY still manufactures a range of reflow ovens in China. Can you tell us more about this operation?

SMT is a very mature industry. Have you ever considered moving into photovoltaic or other industries?

A few years ago we decided to partnership with a small company in China to manufacture reflow ovens. It was a manufacturing agreement only as the R&D was done in France and all quality controls made in China before shipment to France. Then all trials were made in France.

The cooperation was working very well and the products quality was answering to western company needs. We decided to take a share in this Chinese company, named DC. With the DC’s shareholder we decided to create a new company named VIT-DC Automation Equipment.

VIT-DC manufactures reflow ovens, wave soldering, conveyors as well as curing

Moving to silicon based photovoltaic is clearly not in our focus. The market is too crowded. To other industries, maybe, but it is too early to speak about it.

I am still convinced there is a lot to do in the SMT industry, today is state of the art, but with new technologies we will realize within five to 10 years, it will be the Stone Age. The Stone Age did not disappear because of a lack of stone but because of innovation!

Thank you, Jean-Yves.

Trevor Galbraith.

Global SMT & Packaging – Celebrating 10 Years – March 2010 – 35

Milestones 2010

On lead compliancy—how it works and how it does not work

Werner Engelmaier “The working of compliancy in solder attachments is non-intuitive; not to say counter-intuitive.”

On lead compliancy—how it works and how it does not work In past columns I certainly have talked a lot about the reliability of solder joints in general (see Refs. 1 through 5) and attachment with compliant leads in particular (see Refs. 6 & 7). Recent experiences with clients convince me that the issue of how the compliancy of leaded as well as unleaded solder joints works and does not work to enhance reliability needs to be revisited—the working of compliancy in solder attachments is non-intuitive; not to say counter-intuitive.

Let’s first revisit the basics. In Figure 1 a column is shown connecting two plates; the column is displaced a distance D. If the column height is h, then the resulting strain in the column is given by γ.

The previous discussion referred to a straight-cylinder column; most solder joints are not straight cylinders, however.

Unless they are stretched to cylindrical or hourglass shapes, they are collapsed solder balls. The strain distribution in those geometries is not uniform; collapsed solder balls typically show failure modes near

Figure 1. The strain resulting in a column of height h displaced a distance D.

their attachments to either the component or the PCB. Note however, these failures are not interfacial. For hourglass-shaped solder joints, the failures are typically away from the attachment regions. This is shown in Figure 2.

Early work on solder joint shapes indicated better creep-fatigue performance with cylindrical or hourglass geometries.

The resulting different plastic strain ranges and relative fatigue lives for the various geometries are shown in Figure 3 from Reference 8. Of course, most of the increased fatigue live comes from the increase in solder joint height, but not all of it.

Thus, while the geometry effects are not of first-order importance [Ref. 9], stress/strain concentrations due to highly collapsed solder balls or solder-maskdefined (SMD) attachments have been shown to reduce fatigue life by up to a factor of three [Ref. 10].

Depending on the material, the resulting fatigue damage, if the

displacement is cyclically repeated, can be quite different. If the column is made of a metal and the displacement is small, a return to the original position reduces the strains and stresses to zero. If this displacement is cycled at temperatures where creep is not an issue, e.g. copper at room temperature, than the fatigue damage results in high-cycle fatigue as described by the Basquin equation.

For larger displacements, a combination of elastic and plastic strains takes place and results in a combination of low-cycle fatigue (described by the CoffinManson equation) and high-cycle fatigue.

However, even under these circumstances, the cyclic strain energy as described by the area in the hysteresis loop is small and thus the numbers of cycles-to-failure are relatively large.

In contrast, for a metal subject to creep, e.g. solder at room temperature or higher, the creep process in normal operation is essentially complete in each cycle, meaning that all the strain is converted to plastic

Figure 2. Failure modes for solder joints that have ‘controlled collapse’ ball and hour-glass-shaped geometries [Source: W. Engelmaier, Bell Labs, USA].

36 – Global SMT & Packaging – Celebrating 10 Years – March 2010

www.globalsmt.net

Milestones 2010

APEX booth 1549

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KIC International Sales - Europe +39.06.4547.3670 europe.sales@kicmail.com www.kicthermal.com

KIC International Sales - Singapore +65.6744.4998 asia.sales@kicmail.com www.kicthermal.com

KIC International Sales - China +86.512.6763.5171 asia.sales@kicmail.com www.kic.cn

Global SMT & Packaging – Celebrating 10 Years – March 2010 – 37

On lead compliancy—how it works and how it does not work

100

10

Total Shear Strain Range, 1 Δγ [%]

Copper Solder

0.1

0.01 10

102

103

104

105

106

Mean Cycles-to-Failure, Nf

Figure 4. Stress-strain hysteresis loops for mechanically cycled copper and solder columns.

Figure 3. Fatigue Life improvements with solder joints stretched from ‘controlled collapse’ balls to hourglass-shaped columns [Source: R. Satoh, et al., Hitachi, Japan].

deformation due to yielding and creep.

This is illustrated in Figure 4 where the hysteresis loops for copper and solder columns resulting from mechanical loading are relatively compared. It shows that during the creep process the stresses are reduced to zero by converting the elastic strains into plastic strains, thereby maximizing the cyclic fatigue damage.

The consequence is that for the same cyclic strain range, the fatigue life of solder is significantly less than for a non-creeping metal, as illustrated in Figure 5.

Thus, one can think of the solder joint height, h, as a measure of compliancy for leadless solder joints. In practice, the value of h can vary significantly is shown in the examples in Figure 6.

Of course, more compliancy is possible with compliant leads as intermediary elements between the component body and the PCB. Leads come in a variety of geometries (see Figure 7); however not all are sufficiently flexible.

Leads can range from super-compliant to non-compliant. This has been defined in Reference 10 as ‘super-compliant’

having a lead stiffness of KD < ~5 N/ mm (30 lb/in)}, ‘compliant’ in the range of ;~5 N/mm < KD < ~90 N/mm, and ‘non-compliant’ as KD > ~90 N/mm (500 lb/in).

However, these definitions were made prior to the RoHS Pb-free directive; with the much stiffer Pb-free solders that also have greater yield strength and much lower creep rates, these definitions turn out to be inadequate. As the cyclic hysteresis loops in Figure 8 show the lead compliancy needs to be sufficient to keep stresses in the solder joints below the yield strength of the solder alloy.

The leads shown in Reference 6 clearly

Figure 5. Manson-Coffin plot of mean cycles-to failure for copper and solder for a range of applied cyclic strains.

have insufficient compliance to improve solder joint reliability.

References: 1. Engelmaier, W., “Solder Joint Fatigue Reliability—Part 1: Physics of CreepFatigue,” Global SMT & Packaging, Vol. 2, No. 3, May 2002, pp. 33-34.

2. Engelmaier, W., “Reliability Improvement with Underfill,” Global SMT & Packaging, Vol. 6, No. 3, March 2006, pp. 66-67.

3. Engelmaier, W., “Achieving Solder Joint Reliability in a Lead-Free World, Part 1,” Global SMT & Packaging, Vol. 7, No. 6, June 2007, pp. 40-42.

Figure 6. Photos very thin solder joint for a ceramic chip capacitor contrasted with solder columns of different heights [Sources: T. Ahrens, Fraunhofer Institut, Germany; W. Engelmaier, Bell Labs, USA; Marie S. Cole, IBM, USA].

Figure 7. Photos J-leads, gullwing leads and S-leads [Sources: J. Waldvogel, Intel, USA; W. Engelmaier, Bell Labs, USA]

38 – Global SMT & Packaging – Celebrating 10 Years – March 2010

www.globalsmt.net

compliancy—how works and DL Trade Ad 4_9:LayoutOn1 lead 5/1/09 3:49 PM it Page 1 how it does not work

Compliant Lead/ Solder/Component/ PCB Stiffness Lines

Solder/Component/ PCB Stiffness Line

Yielding & Creep Creep Heating 0.3

Shear Strain [%]

Cooling More Less Compliant Lead

Solder/Component/ PCB Stiffness Line

5

Shear Stress [MPa]

Figure 8. Thermal cyclic hysteresis loops for a leadless solder joint and solder joints with a somewhat compliant and a very compliant lead.

4. Engelmaier, W., “Achieving Solder Joint Reliability in a Lead-Free World, Part 2,” Global SMT & Packaging, Vol. 7, No. 7, July 2007 [EU-edition], pp. 48-50; No. 8, August 2007 [US-edition], pp. 44-46.

5. Engelmaier, W., “How to Estimate Solder Joint Reliability, Part 1,” Global SMT & Packaging, Vol. 7, No. 9, September 2007, pp. 60-64.

6. Engelmaier, W., “Of Ceramic Components: Failed Solder Joints, LLCCCs, ‘Bulbous’ Solder Joints, ‘Super-Compliant’ Leads, and Forgotten Lessons,” Global SMT & Packaging, Vol. 3, No. 2, March 2003, pp. 42-43.

7. Engelmaier, W., “Solder Joint Reliability Prediction for Chip Components, MELFs, TSOPs, SOTs, etc.,” Global SMT & Packaging, Vol. 9, No. 6, June 2009, pp. 30-32.

8. Satoh, R., et al., “Development of New Micro-Solder Bonding for VLSIs,” Proc.

3rd Int. Elec. Pack. Soc. (IEPS), Itasca, Ill., October 1983, pp. 455-461.

9. Engelmaier, W., “BGA and CGA Solder Attachments: Results of LowAcceleration Test and Analysis,” Proc.

Surface Mount International Conf., San Jose, CA, August 1995, pp. 344-358.

10. IPC-D-279, Design Guidelines for Reliable Surface Mount Technology Printed Board Assemblies. IPC— Association Connecting Electronics Industries, July 1996.

Werner Engelmaier will be giving some of his reliability workshops at the Reliability Conference in Frankfurt, Germany, May 20-21, 2010; im FED-Kurs in Stuttgart, Deutschland, 26.Mai 2010; at SMT/ HYBRID/PACKAGING 1010 in Nürnberg, Germany, June 8, 2010; and at the Universität Wien at the end of June. He will be available for in-house workshops and consulting in both English and German in the May through June timeframe; for details of the workshops go to www.engelmaier.com; for more information about the workshops and consulting contact engelmaier@aol.com.

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THERE ARE NO SHORTCUTS TO A 5-MIL DOT Small, repeatable volumes are a challenge. But not impossible if you have been creating them as long as we have. However, to do it well, you need three things: Dispensing Expertise in a variety of applications: micro-attach, precision fill, highly-repeatable patterns; Micro Valve

Feasibility Testing and process verification based on years of product engineering, material flow testing, and software control;

Product Development for patented valves, dispensing cartridges, needles, and accessories.

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DispenseLink® for Micro Volume Dispensing R

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DL Technology is a registered trademark of DL Technology LLC. DispenseLink is a registered trademark of DL Technology LLC. HY-FLO is a trademark of DL Technology LLC.

Werner Engelmaier has over 44 years experience in electronic packaging and interconnection technology and has published over 200 papers, columns, book chapters and White Papers.

Known as ‘Mr. Reliability’ in the industry, he is the president of Engelmaier Associates, L.C., a firm providing consulting services on reliability, manufacturing and processing aspects of electronic packaging and interconnection technology. He is the chairman of the IPC Main Committee on Product Reliability. The TGM-Exner Medal was bestowed on him in 2009 in Vienna, Austria, he was elected

into the IPC Hall of Fame 2003, and was awarded the IPC President’s Award in 1996 and the IEPS Electronic Packaging Achievement Award in 1987. He also was named a Bell Telephone Laboratories Distinguished Member of Technical Staff in 1986 and an IMAPS Fellow in 1996. More information is available at www.engelmaier. com, and he can be reached at engelmaier@aol.

Global SMT & Packaging – Celebrating 10 Years – March 2010 – 39

Case Study: Reliability and versatility bring success in motor drive manufacturing

2010 IPC APEX Expo— Technology Preview Taking place April 6th through 9th, this year’s IPC APEX Expo promises to be one of the most exciting out on the exhibition floor, where more than 300 exhibitors will be showing equipment, materials and services. As always, Global SMT & Packaging brings you just a small preview of what you’ll find at the show. We hope to see you there!

Acculogic—APEX booth #249 Acculogic’s Manufacturing Test Systems Division will feature the latest testing technologies, including the FLS 980Dxi Flying Scorpion, only patented double-sided, multi-probe (16) flying probe system with 3-D probing, analog, digital and boundary scan test capability on all probes (top and bottom side). Shrinking component sizes and denser packaging technologies are posing new challenges to test. FLS980Dxi uses highly repeatable closed-loop linear motor drives and joysticklike variable angle probe modules (0° to 6°) to maximize physical access and guarantee

repeatable probing of fine-pitch devices and small components such as 0201 and 01005s. www.acculogic.com Aqueous Technologies— APEX booth 725 Aqueous Technologies Corp. will feature its Trident III and Trident Duo automatic defluxing and cleanliness testing systems, along with its Zero-Ion G3 (pictured) and StencilWasher-ECO technologies. The Zero-Ion g3 ionic contamination (cleanliness) tester is designed to test electronics assemblies for ionic contamination. It automatically removes and detects contamination on an electrical assembly or bare board and provides quantitative contamination measurements. The Zero-Ion g3 uses a dynamic technology that provides automatic regeneration of the machine’s

40 – Global SMT & Packaging – Celebrating 10 Years – March 2010

test solution, maintaining a high degree of test solution sensitivity. The system meets the requirements of military and commercial cleanliness testing standards including MIL 2000A, IPC test method

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2010 IPC APEX Expo—Technology Preview

001, MIL-C-28809, MIL-P-55110 and IPC TM650-2.3.26. The Zero-Ion also has been determined to be 3.7 times more sensitive than the manual resistivity of solvent extract (R.O.S.E.) test. www.aqueoustech.com ASC International— APEX booth #1634 ASC International, a manufacturer of true 3D solder paste inspection systems, will be offering live demonstrations of its new inline 3D solder paste inspection system as well as other SPI and AOI products. The LineMaster provides highly accurate and repeatable results at line speeds. Offering defect detection on pads as small as 01005’s and a long list of features such as Gerber programming, bridge detection, registration, defect analysis, onboard SPC run charts and customized report. The LineMaster offers all of these important features and more at a price point that will set a new standard for the industry. www. solderpasteinspection.com

Juki— APEX booth #1735 Juki Corporation will showcase a range of leading products, such as its FX-3XL component mounter. With IPC speed of 60K cph, the FX-3XL (large board size 22” x 24”) expands Juki’s presence into the ultra-high-speed assembly market while delivering on Juki’s standards for high quality, reliability and cost of ownership. The modular FX-3 fits seamlessly into Juki’s portfolio of products and adds its powerful optimization software and quickchange feeder banks to set the standard for electronics manufacturing uptime. Also showing is the KE3020XL (large board size 22” x 24”), the newest flexible placement machine from Juki that offers the flexibility, accuracy and repeatability to produce the high quality products that your customers demand. Juki will also display its new, motor-driven electronic feeder that is ideal for steadily feeding ultra small components, sensitively and fast. The electronic feeder makes setting the feed pitch simple to change with just the press of a button, and status is displayed by a seven segment LED. www.jas-smt.com

BTU International—

APEX booth #2171 BTU International will feature the Pyramax 100N™ convection reflow oven.

The Pyramax 100N™ features 100 inches of heated length and eight zones, 350ºC maximum temperature, flexible platform configuration, low power and gas consumption, and a comprehensive menu of options. The oven provides excellent thermal uniformity through BTU’s exclusive closed-loop convection control. Add to this, low consumption of nitrogen and power, and you get the kind of productivity and efficiency that customers expect from BTU. www.btu.com Cobar Solder Products— APEX booth #1876 The Balver Zinn Group announces that Cobar Europe BV will introduce its new Aquasol branded water soluble solder paste. Aquasol can be used with any common soldering alloy. SnPb and lead-free SAC and SN100C versions are available, all exhibiting excellent performance in the four key process steps: printing (including

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fine-pitch capability), placement, reflow and cleaning. Due to a perfect balance between adhesive and cohesive forces, there is efficient separation from the squeegee and good aperture release with long stencil life.

With Aquasol Water Soluble paste, voiding is minimized in both air and nitrogen processes. Post-soldering flux residue can be removed using hot de-ionized water with or without cleaning agents. www.cobar.com CyberOptics— APEX booth #2271

CyberOptics Corporation will feature its latest inspection equipment. The CyberOptics brand has become synonymous with combining quality and accuracy with speed. Visitors at the show will be the first

to discover the technology innovations behind the company’s latest inspection equipment—unique image acquisition automatic optical inspection (AOI) and zero machine-to-machine variation 3-D solder paste inspection (SPI) systems. CyberOptics will display the industry recognized, award winning SE500™ 100 percent 3-D solder paste inspection system at the show.

Building on CyberOptics’ reputation as the leading provider of solder paste inspection systems with industry-leading volume accuracy, the SE500 can inspect pad sizes down to 01005 component size (150 x 150 µm) while keeping up with ever-increasing line speeds. www.cyberoptics.com DEK—APEX booth #1573 DEK’s Sentinel is a productivity-enhancing print verification and process management technology that captures the full board image, analyzes the data and accepts or rejects the print—all in real time. The system also has the capability to manage printing inputs and outputs, as well as integrate verification and traceability tools. Designed to improve yield without impacting cycle time, Sentinel allows printing and high-speed inspection to run concurrently. www.dek.com

Global SMT & Packaging – Celebrating 10 Years – March 2010 – 41

2010 IPC APEX Expo—Technology Preview

Kyzen—APEX booth #2241 Kyzen will feature AQUANOX® A4703 neutral pH aqueous cleaning chemistry. An aqueous cleaning solution designed with a pH neutral formulation, AQUANOX® A4703 is combined with Kyzen’s revolutionary inhibition technology to provide superior material compatibility. Additionally, A4703 is effective at concentrations as low as three percent, while being environmentally friendly and providing the lowest cost of ownership. This chemistry was developed for use in spray batch and spray in-line cleaning systems to remove OA, no-clean, and RMA pastes and fluxes, including difficult Pb-free residues.

AQUANOX® A4703 is easily controlled by refractive index, manually or when using an automated process control system such as the Kyzen PCS. AQUANOX® A4703 is available in one, five, and 55 gallon containers. www.kyzen.com ECD—APEX booth #1361 ECD will feature its suite of oven thermal profile verification products.

These products

are designed to facilitate the vital step of “verification” being performed at all stages of the thermal process, whether determining profile requirements, characterizing the profile, or confirming the oven’s operation to be within specifications. All help ensure

42 – Global SMT & Packaging – Celebrating 10 Years – March 2010

targeted profiles are met and that OEMs and EMS providers are receiving quality output and being protected from liability.

With ECD’s suite of products, verification is now one of the easiest tasks to perform, eliminating any reason for skipping this vital quality management stage, and enabling full Thermal Quality Management (ThQM™). www.ecd.com ESSEMTEC— APEX booth #1059 Essemtec will feature a range of new equipment, including the new Paraquda SMD pick and place machine, which features ultra short changeover times, a new intuitive operation system, Eplace, and an integrated quality management system that reduces manufacturing costs for electronics. Compared to other pick-and-place machines, the new Paraquda, with up to 210 feeders capacity, brings significant added values regarding precision, quality, flexibility, control and ergonomics. Paraquda’s pick-and-place head can simultaneously hold and measure four components. The range of components is vast—it spans from 01005 resistors up

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2010 IPC APEX Expo—Technology Preview

to 4 inch sq components, up to 1 inch in height. The minimum pitch is specified with 0.01 inches. The high-resolution fly-by vision system is equipped with the latest Cognex SMD image processing technology, thus can detect any kind of component, even odd-shaped parts. www.essemtec-usa.com Europlacer— APEX booth #2259 Europlacer will display its IINEO SMT platform along with its new XPii-II pick-andplace. XPii-II is a new approach to modular pick-and-place, incorporating technology from Europlacer’s innovative award-winning iineo platform. XPii benefits from low-maintenance linear motors, highresolution digital cameras and advanced on-head optical component sensing. With these advanced features, users benefit from all the capabilities of the iineo in a compact space. As an additional benefit, the modularity enables users to build lines to meet growing demands. XPii-II features

two placement heads and uses Europlacer’s proven core features, such as turret head, intelligent feeders and powerful software without compromise. Unlike traditional chip-shooter style machines, XPii-II has no restrictions or limitations on component range. www.europlacer.com Everett Charles Technologies (ECT)—APEX booth #1283 Everett Charles Technologies (ECT) Contact Products Group (CPG) will demonstrate the company’s latest technologies and answer customer inquiries related to its range of products, including Bead Probe Technology, the concept of using small raised bumps for placing test points directly on the PCB’s copper traces, thus forming a “bead” that becomes a test point target for use during in-circuit testing. www. ectinfo.com EVS International— APEX booth #1783 EVS International will highlight the EVS 9000 solder recovery system in distributor Sono-Tek’s booth.

EVS International

worked with the global marketplace to gain invaluable feedback from which to develop solder dross recovery solutions that satisfy the high standards required from a modern manufacturing environment—particularly with regard to reliability, ease of operation, maintenance and environmental management. The new EVS 9000 offers manufacturers solutions for all of these issues with reduced footprint, advanced electronic controls and integrated diagnostics. www. solderrecovery.com FCT Assembly— APEX booth #2317 FCT Assembly will highlight NL930PT, a no-clean, lead-free, halide-free pinprobable solder paste.

The paste is unique in that it is a clear residue, pin probable paste that can print down to low surface area ratios consistently. Combined with SN100C, this solder paste produces the most cosmetically appealing solder joint available on the market. NL932 no-clean, lead-free, halide-free solder paste features

APEX booth 1759

www.globalsmt.net

Global SMT & Packaging – Celebrating 10 Years – March 2010 – 43

2010 IPC APEX Expo—Technology Preview

Nordson ASYMTEK— APEX booth #1925 Nordson ASYMTEK will showcase a new fifthaxis tilt and rotate capability for its conformal coating system. The applicator can now tilt 0° and 30° and rotate 0°, 90°, 180° and 270°.

While the nozzle is tilted to 30 degrees, the mechanism can be rotated in 90-degree increments to direct the fan pattern to the left, right, front or back to coat all four sides of a component. This new mechanism is faster, quieter, and weighs less than the current tilt-and-rotate implementation. The operation saves about 0.3 second in moving from any given position to any other one. www.nordsonasymtek.com

excellent solderability, enabling the process to handle the most difficult wetting requirements. www.fctassembly.com FCT Recovery—APEX booth #2317 FCT Recovery, a division of FCT Assembly, will have company representatives on hand to discuss its advanced recovery services.

FCT Recovery offers recovery services for lead-free, tin/lead dross and scrap including solder paste and wipes in quantities as small as 25 lb. Customers are updated at every step in the process, and FCT Recovery writes customer checks within 15 days of receipt of material. Customers also receive a certificate of recycling for their material. www.fctrecovery.com FINE LINE STENCIL— APEX booth #2317 FINE LINE STENCIL, a division of FCT Assembly, will feature the UltraSlic™ FG solder paste stencil, the latest breakthrough in stencil technology. With superior paste release below surface area ratios of 0.5, UltraSlic™ FG outperforms all existing stencil technologies on the market today.

Using the latest stencil laser technology and Datum Alloys’ new Fine Grain stencil material, exclusively distributed by Ed Fagan, Inc., UltraSlic™ FG stencils provide superior aperture registration, higher performance and lower cost compared to electroform. www.finelinestencil.com FINETECH—APEX booth #2329 FINETECH will debut the new FINEPLACER Core rework system in. The FINEPLACER

Core offers proven rework technology for a wide spectrum of SMT components, ranging in size from 0201 to 50 x 50 mm BGAs, and handling PCBs up to 300 x 400 mm.

The semi-automated design includes force measurement with automatic component lift off and placement. Based on key technology from FINETECH‘s industry leading platforms, the Core represents a compact, yet versatile hot-gas rework system that will provide a level of professionalism exceeding its attractive price. www.finetechusa.com Fuji America—APEX booth #659 Fuji is introducing some new additions to the world famous NXTII platform. With over 23,000 units installed worldwide, the NXTII continues to develop and evolve with the ever changing surface mount market. First, the new V12 placement head will increase the NXTII’s chip placing capability from the current 22,500 cph to an amazing 28,000 cph. The V12 head can be used on any NXTII module. Second the NXTII has a new module called the M6SP. This new higher accuracy module can place standard components and tray parts, as well as package on package and bare die with an accuracy of 10 microns. It’s shown here in the photo with the new MWU8i (Multi Wafer Unit for 8 inch or 200mm wafers). The MWU8i can place bare die directly from the wafer and can present the part to the placement head either bumps up or bumps down. www.fujiamerica.com

44 – Global SMT & Packaging – Celebrating 10 Years – March 2010

Glenbrook Technologies—APEX booth #559 Glenbrook has incorporated ultra-high resolution, powerful microfocus x-ray tubes, five-axis positioners and sophisticated software into systems that are typically half the size and half the cost of other systems with similar specifications. xamine internal solder joints and bonds in advanced technology packages — BGAs, μBGAs, flip-chips, ICs and other complex components—that cannot be verified by visual inspection. At the same time, obtain precise images from soft materials—molded plastics and encapsulants—as easily as from denser materials. www.glenbrooktech.com Henkel Corporation— APEX booth #2159

Multicore HF108 is a lead-free, halogenfree solder paste that combines all of the benefits of robust lead-free materials with the advantage of no deliberately added halogen. The material has zero intentionally added halogens and is under the limit of detection in the rigorous oxygen bomb/ ion chromatography test. Formulated for low voiding in fine-pitch CSPs and BGAs and outstanding solderability over a wide range of reflow profiles in air and nitrogen, Multicore HF108 has proven capability on a variety of surface finishes including Immersion silver and OSP copper. www. henkel.com Inovaxe Corporation— APEX booth #658 Inovaxe will introduce its Suitcase-Sized Kit Cart. Using the revolutionary “single package, single location” control feature, the system provides non-dedicated, high-density, flexible component package storage and Web-based inventory control.

It accommodates the complete SMT kitting function for the production floor, providing location, inventory accuracy and correct component validation for feeder

www.globalsmt.net

Failure definition—not as easy as it sounds

FCT Assembly’s group of companies are premier suppliers of stencils, precision parts, and lead-free soldering products for the electronics industry with the technical expertise to help troubleshoot your most challenging problems.

APEX booth 2317

WINNER

Winner of 2008 Advanced Packaging Award

A-Laser

Leader in Precision Cut Parts An innovative laser cutting company specializing in precision thin metal and thin plastic laser ablation.

• • • • •

Precision Cut Parts Flexible Circuits High Precision Metal Parts High Precision Plastic Parts High Precision Polyimide Parts

www.fctassembly.com

www.globalsmt.net

Global SMT & Packaging – Celebrating 10 Years – March 2010 – 45

2010 IPC APEX Expo—Technology Preview

loading and replenishment. www.inovaxe.com MARTIN—APEX booth #638 MARTIN, a FINETECH company, will demonstrate the new Expert 10.6XL rework system. The Expert 10.6XL is a fully portable, cost-effective rework solution especially suited for the repair of large, high value PCBs. Due to its intuitive interface,

process repeatability and semi-automated operation, it is an umatched value. The system includes a new hybrid under-heater and control unit, all integrated into one attractive housing. This hybrid platform combines both infrared and convection heating technologies to achieve outstanding board temperature uniformity, thus minimizing temperature based PCB distortion. www.martin-smt.de MIRTEC—APEX booth #2219 MIRTEC will showcase its complete line of AOI and SPI systems.

GOT BALLS?

“We are eager to display the latest advancements to our award winning inspection systems at APEX this year,” said Brian D’Amico, president of MIRTEC Corp.

“We are especially excited to unveil MIRTEC’s new 15 megapixel ISIS vision system. Although still under prototype development, we are confident that this new technology will bring unprecedented speed and performance to the inspection industry. We are looking forward to sharing this exciting new technology with our customers.” MIRTEC will feature an MV-7xi configured with the new ISIS vision system at booth #2219. All attendees are invited to visit with MIRTEC for a first hand demonstration of this new technology. www.mirtecusa.com Nordson YESTECH—

Not Likely…

and if so, got more than you can handle?

Ordering solder spheres can be difficult. Our competitors would rather not entertain your order for solder spheres … unless, of course, you are looking to order a cool quarter of a million. But what about different alloys and sizes? Yeah, looks like you will have to order too much.

EasySpheres solves this dilemma.

You need 10,000 of a Sn63/Pb37 .020” diameter? No sweat, we can help. How about filling that engineering request for Sn10/Pb90 .030” diameter? Your engineer can have those in his hands tomorrow morning*. At EasySpheres, we stock a broad selection of first run solder spheres, alloys and sizes. We can easily fill your order whether you want 10,000 or several million.

Our state-of-the-art Web site can process your request in three easy steps. After all, our name is our word. * Orders placed by 11:00 AM Pacific Standard will ship the same day.

Visit us at www.easyspheres.com

46 – Global SMT & Packaging – Celebrating 10 Years – March 2010

APEX booth #1759 Nordson YESTECH, a subsidiary of Nordson Corporation, introduces its X1 semi-automatic, batch loading x-ray inspection system offering EMS providers and semiconductor packagers a superior yield enhancement solution to reduce costs, improve quality and increase throughput.

Nordson YESTECH’s X1 provides users with a high-resolution x-ray capability in a flexible, compact and maintenance free configuration. The X1 is ideal for inspecting mixed BGA/SMT devices, connectors and plated though hole (PTH) assemblies.

The high power 130Kv x-ray source provides ample energy to image even the most demanding samples, including those with metal sinks. www.yestechinc.com

www.globalsmt.net

2010 IPC APEX Expo—Technology Preview

Nordson EFD— APEX booth #1641 Nordson EFD’s new Solder Plus® UV is a UVfluorescent solder paste that enables pre- and postreflow detection of solder deposits on automated production lines with costeffective standard vision systems. Typical uses include consumer electronics, automotive and medical device applications. It is very difficult to detect solder paste deposits and verify proper reflow with conventional vision systems and inspection software. Exciting Solder Plus® UV paste with a UV light source causes it to emit a fluorescence that is easily detected with a conventional vision system. www.efd-inc.com Pillarhouse—APEX booth #2149 Pillarhouse International new, patented sliding bottom side IR pre heat for its Jade Handex selective soldering system is controlled via the Pillarcomm software or the optional closed loop sensor systems for ease of set-up and operation. With the addition of the bottom side unit, the Handex is now configurable with top and bottom IR heater to help process thermally challenging boards. Pillarhouse is also introducing a rotating Jetwave solder nozzle system and a combination fluxer and preheat module. www.pillarhouseusa.com Polyonics—APEX booth #1377 Polyonics Inc. will exhibit its full line of THERMOGARD® and TRIBOGARD® thermal transfer printable label materials. TRIBOGARD®, a new generation of barcode labels with enhanced anti-static technologies, not only enables you real-time information for WIP tracking, but also provides you with anti-static features to protect boards and their components from ESD events during label application or during label life. www.polyonics.com Qualitek—APEX booth #1548 Qualitek’s lead-free DSP866 is even lower in halogens than the adopted levels developed by the (IEC) International Electrochemical Commission as acceptable in final assembled product. DSP866 contains 0% total halogens. DSP866 is also a no-clean lead free formulation that provides excellent print definition characterized by bricklike prints. Good release is seen on 12-9 mil apertures with print speeds in the range of 1.0-6.0 inch per second. (25mm-150mm). www.qualitek.com SEHO Systems—APEX booth #259

www.globalsmt.net

SEHO Systems GmbH will have the GoSelective light and other soldering equipment on display.

Depending on the application, the GoSelective light is designed for stand-alone operation or as an inline system to be integrated into a fully automated production line. During the process, the assembly remains on its position. The various workstations, i.e. the

fluxer unit, and preheating and soldering units that are mounted on a high-precision axis system, successively approach the solder joints. This allows flexible processing of assemblies up to 500 x 500 mm with absolutely reproducible results. www.sehona.com Seika Machinery, Inc.— APEX booth #407 Seika Machinery, Inc., a provider of advanced machinery, materials and engineering services, will feature its leading

See Acculogic’s Latest Testing Technologies at APEX 2010 Booth 249

In-Circuit Test

FiS640 Compact and Low Cost In-Circuit Test System Small footprint In-Circuit Tester (ICT), with up to 2048 non-multiplexed channels, high-accuracy analog measurement instrument, Power-up and Boundary Scan (JTAG) Test and programming, patented Vectorless test for Open pins detection on digital devices.

ew Flying Probe Test N

Flying Scorpion FLS980Dxi Patented DoubleSided, Multi-probe (16) Flying Probe system with 3D probing, analog, digital and Boundary Scan JTAG , test large circuit boards and backplanes (41”x25.5”).

Boundary Scan JTAG Test ScanNavigator™ powered by Victory™ Software is a leading suite of powerful tools for Boundary Scan JTAG testing and programming, full support for IEEE1149.1 and IEEE1149.6 standards. Wide range of hardware platforms, including PCI, PXI, VXI,PC104, USB and Ethernet based multiand-parallel remote processing.

Acculogic Ltd. 500 West Cummings Park, Suite 1850 Woburn, MA 01801 Phone: +1-781-937-5907 Fax: +1-781-658-2504 www.acculogic.com

Global SMT & Packaging – Celebrating 10 Years – March 2010 – 47

2010 IPC APEX Expo—Technology Preview

machinery, including the new Solder Paste Recycling Unit, which enables approximately 90 percent of waste solder paste to be recovered as solder bar. The system provides a major decrease in disposal costs for factory waste, a reduction in CO2 emissions, and reduced costs for solder bar as a result of recycling waste.

As an additional benefit, the recycling unit enables selection of manual mode and automatic mode using a touch screen panel. Also on display is the Anritsu 3D Solder Paste Inspection System, which features advanced technology like ultrahigh resolution—horizontal (10 µm/20 µm interchangeable) and vertical (1 µm, best in class)—high-speed inspection (33 sq cm/sec at 20 µm resolution; 13.8 sq cm/sec at 10 µm resolution) and easy programming and maintenance in that program generation is accomplished in approximately five minutes and consistent results are provided, regardless of the operator. www.seikausa.com Siemens—APEX booth #2011 Siemens Electronics Assembly Systems (SEAS) will introduce its new SIPLACE SX placement machine platform.

The SIPLACE team will demonstrate how quickly and easily you can add performance to an existing line without influencing feeder capacity and how quickly and easily you can add feeder capacity without influencing performance, enabling manufacturers to make a minimal initial investment and gain maximum scalability. SIPLACE SX is the first placement platform on the market to offer optimum placement speed and feeder capacity with scalable gantry modularity. www.siplace.com Sono-Tek—APEX booth #1783 Sono-Tek’s SonoFlux EZ ultrasonic reciprocating spray fluxing system is an economical system designed on a reciprocating platform. The ultrasonic atomization module uses a high-impact flux transfer system for maximizing topside fill. The system is easily integrated into all major wave solder machines and is compatible with all PCB

Smart Sonic—APEX booth #1771 Smart Sonic will introduce the EnviroGuard™ 100% closed-loop stencil cleaner at APEX 2010. EnviroGuard is the first and only aqueous stencil cleaner able to clean all types of solder paste with a 100% closedloop process—wash and rinse! Smart Sonic matched the unique properties of its 440-R® SMT Detergent to a specifically designed filtration/UV system that facilitates 100% close-looping and zero VOCs of both the wash and rinse solutions. Normal operation requires the filters to be changed only quarterly at a cost of approximately $300 per maintenance cycle. The liquid hazardous waste never exits the system! 99% of the waste solder paste from stencils and misprinted PCBs is captured for easy recycling.

The remaining 1% is removed by the EnviroGuard filtration system for a completely contained and environmentally benign cleaning process! Users simply return the spent filters to Smart Sonic for regeneration and reuse. www.SmartSonic.com

fluxes, including fluxes that contain rosin (often used in lead-free manufacturing).

The SonoFlux EZ brings all of the benefits of ultrasonic spray fluxing to manufacturers otherwise unable to invest in a higher cost ultrasonic spray fluxing system. www.SprayFluxing.com Universal Instruments— APEX booth #1083 Universal Instruments Corporation offers complete solutions and can assist you with every aspect of your products’ life cycle, ranging from applied materials selection, prototype production builds, factory layout to applications design and development.

At the show, Universal will be exhibiting the latest in semiconductor technology, including their high-accuracy single-beam platform, which features unmatched capabilities of accuracy, speed and flexibility.

This machine is equipped to manage the assembly requirements of emerging technologies such as flip chip, system in package, embedded components and 3D assembly.

Also learn how their Line Level software can make prototyping, NPI programming and set-up both fast and simple while eliminating the risk of errors! www.uic.com Valor—APEX booth #2228 Valor Computerized Systems, Inc., will show a complete interoperable manufacturing execution suite designed to integrate solutions that will assist manufacturers in the design, planning, monitoring, control, scheduling, box build, traceability, test and rework processes. The product suite encompasses the entire production process, from the receipt of goods into the produc-

48 – Global SMT & Packaging – Celebrating 10 Years – March 2010

tion inventory locations through to PCA assembly and test, full system assembly and test, right through to the final packing of the finished goods ready for shipment.

Components include vPlan for complete SMT programming and data management; vManage, for complete SMT/PCB material control, verification and traceability; and vCheck, a complete PCB quality management solution with AOI/ICT direct interfaces and synchronized delivery of detailed work instructions for board and system level assembly. www.valor.com VJ Technologies— APEX booth #2059 VJ Technologies, Inc., will demonstrate advanced rework with solder scavenging performed by the Summit Series and 400 Series rework systems. The Summit 1800 performance rework platform incorporates all of the innovative features that have been developed since the invention of high-level, semi-automatic surface mount and microelectronics rework technology.

The 400 series value rework platform is capable of addressing challenging lead-free rework applications. On the x-ray side, VJ will display the Vertex 130 versatile x-ray platform capable of 2D and 2D off axis xray inspection. The Vertex is highly suitable for production environments and capable of addressing a wide range of applications. www.vjelectronix.com

www.globalsmt.net

Productronica confirms industry rebound

Advanced SMT Solutions for Electronics Assembly

APEX booth 407

As a multinational distributor, SEIKA has a strong reputation for providing high-performance and quality SMT solutions at cost-effective pricing.

We even provide every product with full technical support, installation, and engineering services.

Our reputation along with our partners is solid in Asia and Japan, and now it’s time the rest of the world discovers what the East already knows – our advanced machinery and materials for the electronics industry.

Hioki Flying Probe Tester

Visit us at

www.seikausa.com to see more of our products!

McDry Dry Cabinets

• High-speed, fixture-less testing • Fine pitch probing capability of 0.2mm

• Store MSDs safely without nitrogen • Conforms to IPC/JEDEC J-STD 033b.1

Sayaka PCB Router

Hirox Digital Microscopes

• Low stress depanelization • Easy software programming

• Inspect objects in 360° with patented Hirox design • BGA, QFP, cross section inspection with measurement

YJ Link Conveyors • Patented magnetic roller mechanism limits stress on PCB’s during transfer • Safety covers with interlocked doors

Anritsu 3D Solder Paste Inspection Machine • High-speed, ultra-high resolution • Easy programming, auto calibration

Seika Solder Paste Recycling System • Recover 90% of your solder paste waste • ROI within months!

Atlanta Office: 3030 Business Park Drive, #3030-B Norcross, GA 30071 Phone: (770) 446-3116 Fax: (770) 446-3118 Los Angeles Office: 3528 Torrance Blvd., Suite 100 Torrance, CA 90503 Phone: (310) 540-7310 Fax: (310) 540-7930

www.globalsmt.net

Global SMT & Packaging – Celebrating 10 Years – March 2010 – 49

New Products

New products Essemtec introduces simultaneous through-hole LEDs and SMD placement Essemtec’s CLM979 radial component feeder enables the assembly of throughhole LEDs on a standard pick-and-place machine, saving space, time and money.

The feeder releases LEDs from the tape, cuts the wire ends and prepares the component for pickup.

The CLM979 feeder transports the components, releases them from the radial tape, cuts the wire ends to the desired length and aligns them parallel, ready to be handled by the SMD pick-and-place with a vacuum pickup tool. In order to guarantee smooth insertion of the LEDs into the soldering holes, the wire ends are inspected by using optical systems (laser and vision). If the wires are out of tolerance, e.g. because of a bent terminals, the component is rejected. The CLM979 feeder can be mounted in parallel to standard SMD component feeders, making mixed placement possible in one run. www. essemtec.com

assembly costs. The TTC middleware is the first jointly released solution since the company’s strategic partnership agreement with Cogiscan last year. www.microscan.com

Microscan introduces new Track, Trace and Control solution Microscan’s new Track, Trace and Control (TTC) solution, developed in partnership with Cogiscan, features new Microscan TTC middleware, which can partner with any of Microscan’s machine vision or auto ID hardware to address plant-wide information. Microscan’s TTC middleware is specifically designed to provide workin-progress (WIP) visibility through any factory (tracking), validate the process flow (control) and provide the history of the process steps accomplished on a product (traceability). With TTC middleware, efficient data collection is combined with error proofing to demonstrate process compliance, while reducing material and

DEK launches new VectorGuard® double layer platinum stencil DEK has extended its popular VectorGuard® stencil portfolio with the addition of the double layer platinum stencil, a unique stencil technology offering manufacturers a series of performance benefits over conventional screens. The mesh layer of the two-layer structure serves to hold the stencil intact while accurately controlling the flow of paste to the second layer. VectorGuard double layer platinum stencils are an ideal solution for semiconductor applications and component manufacture, meeting the needs of production challenges requiring fine line or mixed feature sizes. www.dek. com

Manncorp.com launches seven new SMT turnkey lines Manncorp introduced seven new electronic assembly turnkey lines with throughput rates ranging from prototyping to 10,500 cph. The lines are targeted to OEMs and others who are considering turning away from outsourcing by bringing PCB assembly in-house for the first time.

The systems are also aimed at existing assemblers who wish to upgrade to latest-generation equipment. The turnkeys, priced from $29,500 to $180,000, include stencil printer (or solder paste dispense capability), automated pick-and-place machine, and lead-free reflow oven.

The higher-end lines additionally include a pass-through inspection conveyor and board loader/unloader. www.manncorp.com

50 – Global SMT & Packaging – Celebrating 10 Years – March 2010

New SPC software for Koh Young solder paste inspection systems Christopher Associates is pleased to announce the introduction of Koh Young’s new statistical process control software package, allowing the user to track manufacturing performance and improve yields in real time. The system will generate very useful SPC data and present this in pie charts, pareto charts, etc. using any number of different parameters including pad size, part number, pad shape, part type, by pcb supplier and other metrics. The software can be used on or offline. www. christopherweb.com Intertronics get tough with electronic components Those clever people at Intertronics are getting tough with electronic components that need to be made more rugged, to be more resistant to shock, vibration and rough handling. This “toughening-up” process involves edge bonding or underfill of components with the recently introduced DYMAX 9422SC or 9-20790 room temperature, fast, light cure adhesives. In particular the 9422-SC is a component reinforcement and staking material engineered to hold critical components, such as ball grid arrays (BGA) and video graphic arrays (VGA), for secondary processes or for long-term reliability. These light-curable

www.globalsmt.net

New Products

adhesives dispense and cure in seconds to provide the optimal balance of production efficiency and technical performance. www. intertronics.co.uk JTAG ProVision™ —now with added ‘Buzz’ JTAG Technologies has announced an interim update to its renowned ProVision™ boundary-scan development tools suite that includes the new continuity test module ‘Buzz’. Service Pack 1 for CD release 15 (CD15-SP1) is available immediately for download for licensed users with current support contracts.

JTAG ProVision™, first released in 2006, uses a unique project database structure, automatically analysing the boundary-scan and non-boundary-scan elements of a design to create rapidly a full set of tests and in-system programming applications.

The new Buzz module allows users, with minimal design information, to check quickly the continuity between two or more pins without the need to import detailed design (netlist) information. www. jtaglive.com No surprises with Paragon TCM® kitting solution Reducing the real cost of component acquisition by up to 20%, Paragon Electronic Components’ unique kitting solution aims to eliminate unwelcome surprises and hidden costs from manufacturers’ procurement processes. Known as Total Component Management™ or TCM®, the Paragon

approach to kitting manages the series of complex logistical tasks required to create and deliver a bill of materials ready to enter production without the need for further inspection or preparation. www. paragon-plc.com

The Adventures of James Bondless

Questar gold ball bonder simplifies set-up, changeover Questar Products International has developed a fine-pitch, fine-wire (17 µ-75 µ), automatic gold ball bonder designed specifically to meet today’s production challenges associated with smaller lot sizes, multiple product variations and frequent set-up changes.

Designated the Q2119A, this gold ball auto bonder supports a variety of customer needs from prototyping to medium volume production. Package conversions can be completed in minutes while accommodating a multitude of device configurations. The system offers finepitch capability, fast and accurate pattern recognition system, ball bumping and coining capability, and programmable security bonds. www.questarproducts.com XJTAG unveils XTR series secondgeneration boundary scan system New features and usability enhancements on the latest XTR series are guaranteed to save developers time and reduce the amount of test equipment required.

The XJTAG XTR series includes all the features of the XJTAG development system plus lots of new features and usability enhancements, from support

Smart Sonic’s 440-R® SMT Detergent is guaranteed to safely clean any type of solder paste from any fine-pitch stencil and is the only stencil-cleaning chemistry verified for specific parameters of Environmental Safety, User Safety and Cleaning Efficiency by the U.S. EPA’s Environmental Technology Verification Program.

Request your sample today!

www.globalsmt.net

sales@SMTdetergent.com +1-818-707-3110 www.SMTdetergent.com

New Products

for multiple JTAG chains to the ability to measure supply rail voltages and signal frequencies. These features are designed to save developers, test engineers, OEMs and contract manufacturers time and money, and reduce the amount of test equipment required during production testing and board bring up. www.xjtag.com

Sonoscan expands counterfeit identification menu SonoLab®, the applications laboratory division of Sonoscan, has developed analytical techniques that bring the number of acoustically detectable features and characteristics used to separate counterfeit plastic IC packages from genuine packages to 25. Identifying counterfeit components is becoming more difficult as counterfeiters are becoming more skilled at making their knock-offs resemble genuine components. Using a greater number of acoustic techniques increases the confidence factor when separating genuine parts from fake parts.

Measuring two or three parameters may suggest that a part is genuine or fake, but having a menu of 25 items on hand makes it much easier to make clear distinctions. www.sonoscan.com Teknek launches Nanocleen Teknek launched a new, advanced contact cleaning system for the electronics industry. Two years in development, Nanocleen heralds a new generation of contact cleaning technology with advanced contamination and static control features. Nanocleen offers a number of benefits over conventional contact cleaning systems including the ability to remove particles

down to 25 nm and to dissipate static.

Nanocleen’s high performance roller can remove 25-50% more particles than other contact cleaners. The roller and adhesive roll are 100% silicone free. The Nanocleen system can be fitted to old and new versions of the Teknek Clean Machine as well as other makes of contact cleaning machine using an optional upgrade kit, so investment in new hardware is unnecessary. www.nanocleen.co.uk A-Laser provides precision cutting for Kapton spacers Laser cutting service provider A-Laser’s laser operators are trained to understand and implement high-level process demands, allowing the company to take on work that other shops turn away. The company, a division of FCT Assembly, recently announced that it is now able to provide intricate cutting services for Kapton spacers. Spacers often are used in test socket applications as contact holders, where part profiles seem to be shrinking.

A-Laser is capable of cutting 2 mil slots with its lasers with the highest precision. www.a-laser.com Bliss Industries renews focus on custom carts and racks Bliss Industries Inc. has a renewed focus on custom engineered carts and racks.

In this economy, customers need to do more with less. Customers often require a custom cart that is designed to solve a specific problem. Bliss offers quick turnaround on modified, standard and custom carts for all types of material and tooling applications, specializing in ESD-safe carts and racks. Bliss Visual 3D Engineering significantly speeds the process and gets it right the first time, even for one cart. Specializing in electronics manufacturing and assembly, Bliss offers a complete line of support equipment from the receiving dock to the shipping dock, covering every step of the manufacturing process. Bliss products help ensure that manufacturing areas are as lean as possible. www.blissindustries.com Kelvin test socket for low resistance testing of devices with lead pitch down to 0.4 mm Aries Electronics now offers a new Kelvin test socket that handles devices with a lead pitch down to 0.4 mm. The new socket uses two independent Aries Kelvin spring probes per device pad for highly reliable, low resistance testing of MLF, QFN, LGA and other leadless devices. With a signal path of only 0.082” (2.08 mm), the new

52 – Global SMT & Packaging – Celebrating 10 Years – March 2010

Kelvin test socket provides minimal signal loss for higher bandwidth capability. The socket’s low cost, two-piece construction and small overall size allows the maximum number of sockets per test board. www. arieselec.com Low maintenance poppet valve for precision fluid dispensing The Tridak Model 785 poppet valve can be used in numerous applications to dispense low-to-medium viscosity materials such as adhesives, silicones, greases, and other filled materials.

This economical valve improves fluid dispensing accuracy and consistency.

The Model 785’s design minimizes friction between the actuating components of the valve and the material being dispensed. Minimizing this friction substantially decreases valve maintenance and downtime. www.tridak.com 4 and 6-inch wide label printers from Tharo Systems The Tharo Systems H-400/H-600 series thermal transfer, bar code label printers, available in 203 or 300 DPI, feature a durable all metal construction with a cast aluminum center wall for added strength.

The large media window allows for easy viewing and monitoring of supplies.

Standard features include a high-speed USB 2.0 interface for super-fast data transfer and a real-time clock for time and date stamping of labels. The standard stripper sensor on the H-400 Series can be used for either strip-and-peel or tearoff applications. Along with all of these standard features, the Tharo H-Series printers also ship with a free version of Tharo Systems’ EASYLABEL® Start software for custom designing and printing labels. Options include cutter, internal rewind, ethernet adapter, and applicator interface. www.tharo.com

www.globalsmt.net

New Products

KIC introduces the Profiling Kit KIC’s new, comprehensive Profiling Kit contains all the necessary accessories for profiling a PCB: thermocouples (TCs), aluminum tape, gloves, scissors, pick and more. KIC’s Explorer profiler series has gained a reputation for being exceptionally easy and quick to use. The Profiling Kit is yet another extension to the complete experience with quick and convenient profiling. Profiling is essentially a means to an end. What is important is to set up the oven quickly, and to make sure that each and every product is processed in spec. The new Profiling Kit joins the other KIC offerings designed to help electronics manufacturers achieve world-class quality and productivity, and to accomplish this quickly and conveniently. www.kicthermal.com

Heraeus introduces dielectric and lead-free silver conductor pastes for aluminum substrates The Thick Film Materials Business Unit of Heraeus has developed two new products to improve the efficiency of mounting silicon IC’s to aluminum substrates.

Working in tandem, this new thick film dielectric and conductor system provides very low thermal resistance between the chip and the heat sink in high power applications such as HB LEDs. The unique glass system of the new lead- and cadmiumfree dielectric paste (IP6075) from Heraeus was developed to offer excellent thermal conductivity on both 3003- and 6061-grade alloy aluminum substrates. The conductor paste, fired together at 550°C with the dielectric paste, provides excellent solderability and adhesion. www.heraeus.com Assembléon introduces high speed, high quality screen printer Royal Philips Electronics subsidiary Assembléon introduces its MCP screen

www.globalsmt.net

printer, with an innovative head design offering variable attack angle printing, allowing it to maintain constant solder pressure independent of the stencil thickness. The single-head system also allows easy setup, and reduces maintenance by half. With a board cycle time as low as 11 seconds, it is the first stencil printer to match the high throughput of some of today’s high-volume pick & place machines. It is the first printer to match their high quality, too, by reducing defect per million (dpm) figures by up to 50%. www.assembleon.com

APEX booth 2150

Replace costly DeDicateD pcB suppoRt tooling RED-E-SET ® Ultra HD is the latest technology in ultra highdensity board support from Production Solutions.

Ultra HD benefits users by: • Replacing expensive custom tooling plates • Providing flexibility between PCB revisions • Reducing changeover time • Eliminating defects due to inadequate board support • Increasing revenue by reducing machine downtime • Eliminating component damage The Ultra HD modules are available in both strip format for adding/removing support depending on board width and our new format, which is board/application specific.

Contact Production Solutions to learn how to improve your productivity by replacing costly dedicated PCB support tooling.

production solutions, inc.

12675 Danielson Court, 403 | Poway, CA 92064 Phone: 858-486-1088 | www.production-solutions.com

Global SMT & Packaging – Celebrating 10 Years – March 2010 – 53

Title Association & institutes news

Association & institutes news SMART Group announce new process control test methods solder paste standard SMART Group announce the release of its first standard, “Control of Solder Paste used in Electronic Assembly Process” (Document reference: SG PCT01), intended to help electronics assemblers to determine the suitability of the solder paste prior to production. The tests show the actual useful life of the paste that will help to reduce waste and environmental impact.

The test methods employed are adaptations of the methods employed by paste manufacturers found in IPC-TM-650, IPC J-STD004/5 and IEC 61189-5. They assess solder paste for slump, spread, wetting, tack and balling. Gathered data also provides the “open time” that the selected paste can provide to the user.

Process control tests have become essential to CEMs, ECMs and ODMs as they strive to enhance yields, improve product reliability and increase profits.

Good measurement practice, preferentially, requires only one variable— the item under test. However, this often requires far more sophisticated methodology than is practicable in a production environment—the demands in production are for something that is quick and easy to do, allowing a go/no-go answer rather than a definitive pass/fail.

This new standard provides, for the first time, a user-friendly test procedure that may be conducted in less than one hour. Simple ceramic or copper clad FR4 type coupons are employed and the solder paste is applied using special stencils applicable to the test in question. To carry out the tests, the user will require some items that, whilst readily available, are not necessarily “in-house” items. They include: • Force gauge • Hot plate • Microscope x10 to x30 • Camera • Stencils and printer • Coupons (ceramic and FR4 type) There are, of course, commercially available systems that can be used to conduct all

of these tests. Some of these are also able to provide image capture and comparator software that make the testing even easier and more useful.

The new standard is available in the members area of SMART Group web site: www.smartgroup.org. The document reference is SGPCT01.

Three New Training Products from SMART Group SMART Group is delighted to release three new training products: two CD-ROMs and a Poster Guide. All cover conformal coating.

Conformal Coating Inspection and Defect Guide Price £99 plus VAT The CD-ROM provides a simple guide to the use of coatings, their application and process, product benefits, inspection and quality control. A practical defect guide session will also allow delegates to examine coated boards using different materials and inspect the coating application. A unique feature of the CD is a number of engineers answering questions on coating processes, process defects and quality control in manufacture.

Conformal Coating Inspection and Defect Guide Posters Price £45 plus VAT A separate 24 page colour poster guide is available. The photographic guide is ideal as a reference source for operators, inspection and training departments and is provided as an Acrobat pdf file. The individual sheets can be printed as A4 for bench top reference or as A3 colour posters for reference in manufacture. Alternatively they can be viewed on a PC with each page featuring three images illustrating points to examine or steps in the inspection process. Currently the guide features over 20 individual pages for on site printing and display.

Conformal Coating Photo Album Price £99 plus VAT A photo CD-ROM album featuring over 290 colour images available to allow engineers to create their own training material, PowerPoint files, process documents and standards. The photo CD covers many defects listed and is one of over 15 of CDROMs available. The photographs can also be used in marketing and advertising material or in technical articles provided the source is credited. They can be simply pasted into any Word or PowerPoint document

54 – Global SMT & Packaging – Celebrating 10 Years – March 2010

for in-house company use. Photographs are provided in either Tiff or jpg file format.

The images are not all one resolution but a mixture of high and low resolution.

For more information contact: Tony Gordon, SMART Group Secretary, email: info@smartgroup.org, Tel: +44(0)1494 465217 IMAPS-UK APMMicroTech 2010 Event Preview IMAPS-UK (The International Microelectronics And Packaging Society) is pleased to announce details of the forthcoming MicroTech-2010 Conference featuring “Disruptive Technologies” & APM featuring “Advanced Polymer, Organic & Inorganic Materials” being held at the Cambridge University Møller Centre.

The conference, the major spring 2010 event on electronics packaging, interconnection and integration in Europe, is being held 28th February-2nd March 2010.

The event has also attracted worldwide interest and features an exceptional technical programme, with speakers providing Keynotes and contributions from USA, Korea, China and across mainland Europe.

Keynote presentations for MicroTech include “Disruptive Technologies” by Mark Christensen of Prismark Partners, USA; “MEMS packaging and assembly in Harsh Environments” by Sean Neylon of Colibrys, Switzerland. APM Keynote presentations include “Reliability study for high temperature stable conductive adhesives” by Johan Liu of EMIT Centre, Gothenburg, Sweden; “Wafer Level CSP & FlipChip Production Technology” by Elke Zakel of PacTech, Berlin, Germany and “Single Sided Substrates and Packages Based on Laminate Materials” by Bernd Appelt of ASE, USA. Further details of the full Technical Programme can be downloaded off the IMAPS-UK website.

A free to visit table-top exhibition will also span both conference events. The exhibition provides an excellent opportunity to view the latest products and services from leading companies involved in the microelectronics field and for exhibitors to market their products and services to a wide-ranging audience. www.imaps.org.uk

www.globalsmt.net

Light a fire under your sales in the hottest market in South America GEM Expo Brazil offers you a unique opportunity to display your equipment and/or materials to a highly-focused audience of production engineers, managers and decision makers from contract manufacturers and other EMS companies throughout Brazil, Argentina and Chile.

If you are a provider of equipment or materials to the PCB, EMS or Advanced Packaging communities, then this show is an essential forum where you will meet new and existing customers and network with your peers.

The majority of electronics products are manufactured in Brazil for the Latin American market. This world-class event will attract exhibitors from Europe, Asia and the Americas to

display the latest equipment and materials that can enhance yield, improve reliability and save cost in todayâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s manufacturing environment.

GEM Expo Brazil is fully supported by Brazilian and South American publications and trade associations. It will also contain an extensive conference and workshop program to meet the huge demand for training and process knowledge in Latin America.

Book now to take advantage of our early-bird rates! Raw space from $315 per sq. metre. Shell scheme from $87 per sq. metre.

Learn more exhibiting at or sponsoring GEM Expo Brazil at www.gemexpobrazil.com.

October 5-7, 2010â&#x20AC;&#x201D;EXPO CENTER NORTE, SĂŁo PAULO, BRAZIL Venue Organizer

Sponsors GSP9.11

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Global SMT & Packaging â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Celebrating 10 Years â&#x20AC;&#x201C; March 2010 â&#x20AC;&#x201C; 55

Title

The not so obvious costs of ESD protection (and ways to mitigate them)

Joe Fjelstad

The not so obvious costs of ESD protection (and ways to mitigate them) The topic of ESD (electrostatic discharge) control has been discussed in this column in the past ; however, it remains an important issue and opportunity, both technologically and economically and it is thus a topic worth revisiting.

As a starting point, one will find the simple fact is that as “Moore’s Myrmidons” continue to press to find the lower limits of semiconductor feature size below which the laws of physics finally win out, the

feature size and switching voltages on the semiconductor integrated circuit chip, and thus the threshold for prospective damage is also lowered. And when that threshold is crossed, it can get expensive.

Based on estimates made by experts in recent years , the total cost of ESD events today could possibly exceed 90 billion dollars annually. That is not small change.

The damage from unmitigated ESD events is often manifested as the destruction of

Based on estimates made by experts in recent years, the total cost of ESD events today could possibly exceed 90 billion dollars annually.

matter of ESD increases in importance.

While efforts of the faithful followers of Moore’s Law have made possible much of the advance and growth of the electronics industry, there is a price to pay for that goal driven pursuit. This is because, with each reduction in feature size, there has been a corresponding increase in the prospective impact of a number of other factors including ESD protection. Thus the importance of controlling static electricity is now on the rise; this due, at least in part, to the fact that there is an inverse relationship between the reduction in

some to many of the miniscule circuits and transistors that populate semiconductor devices. Considering the fact that semiconductor switching voltages are now shrinking below the 1.5 volt range and that the human body can store many thousands of volts of static charge, the risk of ESD is as clear. Clear also is the need for protection against it.

While protection against ESD can be provided at many different places in a system, the first and most important protection is provided at the level of the integrated circuit itself. This is typically

56 – Global SMT & Packaging – Celebrating 10 Years – March 2010

Figure 1: ESD protection diodes consume nearly 15% of illustrated die area. This is a high price to pay for a function which, while it protects the die, actually limits performance and increases power requirements.

provided at or near the I/O terminals as seen in Figure 1. As pointed out in the earlier discussion of ESD, one downside of on-chip protection against ESD is that it has a parasitic effect on the signal, resulting in a need to increase power beyond what might be otherwise required. The amount of energy can be significant,

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Global SMT & Packaging – Celebrating 10 Years – March 2010 – 57

The not so obvious costs of ESD protection (and ways to mitigate them)

for as I/O power rises, the core power must be increased to keep the voltage swing between the two in a reasonably close range for best performance. Thus, lowering I/O power can result in much lower overall power requirements and the related costs of thermal management.

Another down side is that ESD protection on the IC uses up significant amounts of chip real estate. In Figure 1 it can be seen that approximately 15% of the area us used for ESD protection. ESD protection is important but it is also a rather mundane use of such expensive real estate. Moreover, future chips designs are likely to find themselves “ESD limited” as illustrated in Figure 2.

So clearly, there are both technical and economic advantages to the possibility of identifying ways of mitigating ESD risk that do not cause need for increased parasitic effects at the I/O and which will also reduce the amount of chip area required for ESD and unfetter the shrinking of die. One way to do this is to remove most of the ESD protection from the die and handle it using a separate, off chip, ESD protection structure. Figure 3 shows an example of how this can be

accomplished using a novel proprietary method . The method offers all of the benefits of on-die ESD protection; that is, efficient, fast protection, along with die design flexibility, without any of the associated disadvantages.

By placing a strip containing an array of ESD diodes or circuits onto, adjacent or beneath the primary IC die,

chip designers and Figure 2. In the figure a) shows a chip with ESD while b) shows how little benefit manufacturers is gained in area savings if the designer wishes to shrink the chip while maintaining can remove the the same level of ESD. Moreover as seen in the c) and d) images, if the designer majority of ESD needs to increase ESD protection for more ESD sensitive future generation devices, protection from the savings actually disappear as diode real estate use is increased. their die, allowing them to freely designer could also keep the existing ESD design smaller chips and saving significant protection on their IC and increase their amounts of die space. Alternatively, a level of protection by utilizing the ESD

APEX booth 725

58 – Global SMT & Packaging – Celebrating 10 Years – March 2010

www.globalsmt.net

The not so obvious costs of ESD protection (and ways to mitigate them)

strip, without having to take up more die or PCB real estate. In practice, the ESD protection devices can be processed using more suitable materials, with better characteristics, so that circuit performance is not compromised.

In summary, static electricity is nothing to trifle with, especially as semiconductor features continue to shrink. ESD can severely damage or destroy electronic products, and with ever lower voltage thresholds on the horizon, the risk increases and protection of electronic devices at every level is critical. However ESD protection comes at a cost both in terms of performance and cost and physics will not allow ESD protection to shrink with the chip, so even as ESD protection is increasing in importance for product reliability, it is also fast becoming a design hurdle as ICs reduce in size. Concepts such as what has been described should find increasing use to meet the growing ESD challenge.

Acknowledgements Gratitude is extended to Matthew Anderson of the TPL Group for his analysis and for preparing the graphics used in this month’s column.

Figure 3) Placing a strip containing an array of ESD diodes or circuits onto, adjacent or beneath the primary IC die allows chip designers and manufacturers to remove the majority of ESD protection from their die, allowing them to freely design smaller chips and saving significant amounts of die real estate.

References 1. Global SMT & Packaging magazine issue 7.3 - March 2007 2. http://www.allbusiness.com/ management/641122-1.html 3. US Patent 6,933,610

interconnection technologies. Prior to founding Verdant, Mr. Fjelstad co-founded SiliconPipe a leader in the development of high speed interconnection technologies. He was also formerly with Tessera Technologies, a global leader in chip-scale packaging, where he was appointed to the first corporate fellowship for his innovations.

Verdant Electronics founder and president Joseph (Joe) Fjelstad has more than 35 years of international experience in electronic interconnection and packaging technology in a variety of capacities from chemist to process engineer and from international consultant to CEO. Mr. Fjelstad is also a well known author writing on the subject of electronic

APEX booth 725

www.globalsmt.net

Global SMT & Packaging – Celebrating 10 Years – March 2010 – 59

International Diary Title

International Diary 2-3 March Virtual PCB Online www.virtual-pcb.com

13-14 April Printed Electronics Europe Dresden, Germany idtechex.com

2-4 June Protec JISSO/JPCA Tokyo, Japan www.jpcashow.com

16-18 March productronica China Shanghai, China global-electronics.net/link/ en/16545154

20-22 April Expo Electronica Moscow, Russia www.expoelectronica.ru/eng

8-10 June SMT/Hybrid/Packaging Nuremberg, Germany www.smt-exhibition.com

31 March-April 1 SMT/PCB & NEPCON Korea Seoul, South Korea www.smtpcb.org

20-22 April NEPCON China Shanghai, China www.nepconchina.com

6-8 April IPC APEX Expo Las Vegas, Nevada goipcshows.org

18-19 May National Electronics Week London, UK nationalelectronicsweek.co.uk

APEX booth 1635

Complex components need reliable protection.

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SCS Precisioncoat systems connect seamlessly with SCS thermal and UV cure units, enabling components to move from coating to curing without operator intervention.

Contact SCS to find out more about our innovative solutions for your advanced technologies.

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60 – Global SMT & Packaging – Celebrating 10 Years – March 2010

www.globalsmt.net

APEX booth 2337

Valor Launches Industryâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s First End to End Software Suite Valor now offers a comprehensive Manufacturing Execution System (MES) focusing on discrete manufacturing in the electronics production industry leveraging on the unique ability of intelligent real-time connection with all production processes.

The Valor MES platform incorporates integrated functionality & flexibility through advanced API interfaces and launches a ground-breaking new platform for 3D real-time visibility of manufacturing operations. Standard core features across the Valor MES platform include engineering data management, real-time monitoring,

Valor North America Tel: +1 949 586 5969 sales-us@valor.com

Valor Europe & Middle East Tel: +32 2 401 8500 sales-eu@valor.com

work-order management, routing control, quality & material management and traceability. Specific tools include vPlan for complete engineering data management including multi-vendor line balancing, program optimization and process setup documentation, vManage for SMT/PCB monitoring, material control, verification, traceability, warehouse and shop-floor management, together with vCheck for a complete test solution with repair loop control, AOI/ICT direct interface and a full quality data management and reporting system.

Valor Asia Tel: +86 755 8826 7373 (Shenzhen) +86 21 6249 3418 (Shanghai) sales-fe@valor.com

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