Global Technology Awards 2008 Winners
The third annual Global Technology Awards were held at SMTAI in Orlando, Florida, and were once again a great success. A team of international judges presided over the contest to select the best new product innovations introduced between July 2007 and July 2008.
The result was a celebration of some extremely innovative technology that deserves the description “the best in the world”. Below is a brief description of each category winner and the products submitted.
Adhesives/Coatings/Encapsulents
SonoTek—SonoFlux 2000 FP
SonoFlux spray fluxing systems, with a stationary, non-clogging ultrasonic nozzle and spray dispensing mechanism have been proven in thousands of industrial PCB fluxing applications worldwide. The SonoFlux 2000FP system is designed with a high transfer efficiency spray assembly and a closed spray chamber, to capture any flux vapor in the environment. The system is also equipped with a high velocity flux transfer system, to help with PCBs that have difficulty with topside fill, such as those with thick back planes, tight lead-to-hole ratios or contaminated components. www.sono-tek.com
Assembly Tools
FCT Assembly—Slic-Blade Squeegee Blades
The surface fo the Slic-Blade squeegee blades is very smooth and slick, eliminating the issue of solder paste sticking to the blade. There is less bridging, reduced paste shear breakdown and faster print speeds when using this product.The Slic-Blade is solid nickel and will not chip or flake as coated blades do. This allows the Slic-Blade to be re-sharpened when it becomes dull, lowering cost of ownership. Only periodic sharpening is needed to keep the Slic-Blade operating at its maximum efficiency. www.fctassembly.com
Bonding Equipment
Hesse & Knipps—PiQC (Proces integrated Quality Control)
In response to the need for more accurate bond quality control, Hesse & Knipps has developed the Process Integrated Quality Control system (PiQC), a multi-dimensional control system that monitors the most significant bonding process values for judging bond quality. These measures can include mechanical deviation, transducer current, wire deformation, resonance frequency and the scrub behavior during the welding process. It acquires data in parallel to the bond process to avoid impact on machine throughput, offering a neutral 100% quality control. www.hesse-knipps.com
Cleaning Equipment
Aqueous Technologies—Trident Automatic Defluxing and Cleanliness Testing System
The Trident batch-format acqueous defluxing system is capable of removing all flux residues including rosin, no-clean, and water soluble. Both leaded and lead-free flux residues may be removed using Trident. This is the only machine on the market capable of doing this. Trident is equipped with an automatic chemical injection system that automatically adds a programmable volume of defluxing chemical to the wash water. It dries and tests all in one unit, making it the most innovative cleaner in the marketplace. www.aqueoustech.com
Cleaning Materials
Kyzen Corp—AQUANOX A4241 Aqueous Cleaning Solution
AQUANOX® A4241 is a new aqueous cleaning solution designed with a revolutionary inhibition technology to be effective on the toughest soils while protecting even the most sensitive parts from etch or darkening. Using this solution, manufacturers can clean their stencils and misprinted boards in the same machine. A4241 cleans even the toughest lead-free beautifully the first time, providing amazing time savings. AQUANOX® A4241 can easily be used in a multi-process environment, for use in spray batch, spray in-line and stencil cleaning processes. www.kyzen.com
Contract Services
NBS Design—Manufacturing Test Services
At NBS, manufacturing test engineers are highly experienced in the use of leading-edge automated inspection tools. Their services identify manufacturing defects and directly improve manufacturing process methodologies. NBS ensures only the highest quality products reach the market, ruling out the potential for product failure and repair-related downtime. Using the very latest assembly technologies and processes, advanced manufacturing solutions are built to be right first time, every time, resulting in little to no maintenance. NBS guarantees a perfect board 100% of the time. www.nbscorp.com
Dispensing Equipment
Asymtek—Spectrum S-920N Dispensing System
Asymtek’s Spectrum S-920N is a scalable dispensing system for high volume microelectronics manufacturing and circuit board assembly. It can be configured with single or dual lanes, and one to six heat stations. The scalable design allows customers to buy only the capability needed now, and upgrade later as requirements change for a lower cost of ownership and maximum ROI. Its narrow footprint – 600 to 1100-mm wide x 1321-mm deep—occupies the same amount of floor space as one operator. www.asymtek.com
Flux Materials
Cobar—XF3 Solder Paste
The perfect combination of the unique SN100C-alloy and the advanced polymer XF3 paste-flux technology eliminate voids dramatically. SN100C-XF3 solder paste provides shiny solder joints similar to SnPb. The alloy is eutectic. The Ni addition eliminates the micro cracks and rearranges the Sn dendrites on the solder surface into a more refined granular structure. XF3 provides superb print definitions, even with the smallest apertures such as the 01005 configuration, with cost-saving IPC class 3 powder. www.cobar.com
Hand Soldering/Rework/Repair
R & D Technical Services—Vapor Works 24 Rework Station
Hot air and IR rework stations may bring issues such as overheating, shadowing, deflection and reflection to rework. These are non-issues in the new V-Works 24 single-component vapor rework station, making it a highly cost efficient system. Components and boards are safe from damage, thus saving thousands, perhaps millions of dollars, depending on the application. www.rdtechnicalservices.com
ID Systems
Polyonics—XF-546 Polyimide Label Material
Polyonics XF-546 is a polyimide label material with a permanent pressure silicone adhesive and a high opacity, medium gloss white topcoat specifically designed for thermal transfer printing. The printed polyimide label resists smearing, so no labels will have to be replaced or reprinted, speeding up the process. Each polyimide label produced can withstand process temperatures up to 1,000°F (538°C), depending on time exposure. The labeling is compatible with all of the leading cleaning chemistries on the market today, so they can be cleaned right along with the board, saving time. www.polyonics.com
Inspection Equipment—AOI
Koh Young—aSPire 3-D Inline Solder Paste Inspection System
Today’s ever-smaller SMT packages require precisely accurate volumetric measurement of deposited solder paste. Reflectivity of materials (specular issues) and shadowing make this accuracy difficult to achieve without true 3D measurement. aSPIre technology, based on a panoramic illumination/collection concept, gives the user true 3D height and volume measurement, unrivalled <<10% GR&R on 01005. Shadow-free 3D measurement ensures a high level of precision and accuracy, and in this automated system, ensures repeatability. www.kohyoung.com
Inspection Equipment—X-ray
VJ Electronix—Vertex Series A X-Ray Inspection System
To meet significant industry challenges, the Vertex Series “A” x-ray inspection system from VJ Electronix has many innovative features that help the customer inspect PCB and component assemblies quickly and accurately. The Vertex Series “A” is designed to be used on the production floor; its small footprint allows x-ray capabilities to be used in a space smaller than or equal to a conventional AOI machine. Yet the Vertex Series “A” can fully inspect PCBs up to 24 x 20", which means that multiple assemblies can be inspected at one time. The Vertex Series “A” is under $100K. www.vjelectronix.com
Pick & Place Equipment—Low to Medium Volume
Europlacer—iineo Placement System
The iineo platform uses the company’s proven core features—turret head, intelligent feeders and powerful software— to reach placement rates up to 26,000 cph. Flexible changeover is a key feature for today’s multiple job processing, and with the iineo, setup for multiple job processing is done automatically, requiring little changeovers. The iineo featureslue dispense with Archimedean screw, electrical test, fixed camera, conveyor auto-width adjustment, special nozzle magazine and more. www.europlacer.com
Pick & Place Equipment—High Volume
Juki—FX3 Placement System
This is the first machine in the marketplace that will do high speed, high quality assembly at a reasonable cost. The price point is about 30% of a comparable machine The FX3’s innovative design allows the machine to still run if one nozzle is broken, on its remaining 5 heads. This machine is extremely versatile and can place parts from 00105 to 0402s to 35mm accuracy. Juki machines are shown to have an excess of fifteen years of useful life, and the FX3 offers the only 3-year full warranty in the marketplace, regardless of hours the machine has run. www.jas-smt.com
Printing Equipment
DEK—Dual Lane Printing Solution
Dual Lane from DEK is an in-line printing solution delivering a 100% increase in throughput, dramatically reduced downtime and extensive process flexibility. Deploying two DEK printers in configuration, Dual Lane doubles throughput without compromising line footprint in a significant advance over conventional single lane operation. DEKs unique technology overcomes the traditional issues associated with dual lane printing concerning space-consuming machine layouts and eliminates the need for installations that stagger printers at the head of the line or complex conveyor systems. www.dek.com
Programming
BPM Microsystems—Flashstream Flash Memory Programmer Family
Nine times faster than its nearest competitor, the innovative Flashstream vector programming system offers the fastest flash programming of NAND and NOR flash memory at speeds as low as 2.5 percent over theoretical programming minimum, meeting a significant industry challenge. An addition of multiple automated handling solutions for electronic manufacturers has bee made to the Flashstream, requiring high volumes flash memory that now are causing production bottlenecks. www.bpmicro.com
Selective Soldering Equipment
ERSA—VERSAFLOW Selective Soldering System
ERSA VERSAFLOW 3/45 revolutionizes in-line selective soldering for high volume, high quality applications with world’s first dual track capability. Highest volume throughput is achieved at minimum floor space requirement due to simultaneous processing of as many as 16 PCBs. Typical mass production wave soldering jobs can now be transferred to the VERSAFLOW tremendously increasing quality with enormous cost savings. www.ersa.de
Software
Juki—OPASS Software
OPASS is the first totally built-in machine solution for correction of assembly on boards that allows for stretch and twist of circuit patterns. All corrections are done in the machine without additional inspection systems, conveyors or software. The OPASS software allows correction by 3 additional vision shots that take less than 1 second per board. This allows the most accurate placement in the business, which will correct problems and allow the line to flow smoothly, without stoppage and produce the best boards in the industry. www.jas-smt.com
Soldering Equipment
Vitronics Soltec—Delta 3 Wave Soldering System
Vitronics Soltec’s Delta 3 represents a new class of wave system manufactured for global markets, offering high quality and capability yet with a lower initial investment and lower cost of ownership, for faster payback. It is also unusually flexible; it can be configured for mixed production of bare PCBs and pallets allowing for different profiles and solderpot clearance. Its solderpot is built for high-throughput, low maintenance operation. Its unique design and dross management system drastically cuts dross production, for materials, operation, and cost savings. www.vitronics-soltec.com
Soldering Materials
Pfarr Stanztechnik GmbH—BiSn42 Ribbon and Preform
The eutectic composition Bi(58) Sn(42) is insertable for soldering temperature-sensitive electronic components. Due to his low melting point it`s possible to operate at low soldering temperatures. Possible fields of application are special requirements in semiconductor assembly and high frequency technology or as fusible safety devices. PFARR offers this soldering composition for high quality applications in customised dimensions with close tolerances. The special adjusted production process allows manufacturing of accurate preforms, ribbons, foils and spheres. www.pfarr.de
Test Equipment
Mirtec—MV-7L Inline AOI System
The MV-7L offers advanced 4-megapixel digital color camera technology in an in-line AOI system with an optional Side Viewer® camera system that adds four 2-megapixel side view digital color cameras. The available Intelli-Scan® Laser System provides “The Third Dimension in Inspection Capability”—the ability to precisely measure the Z-height of any given region of interest. This revolutionary technology yields absolute detection of lifted leads on gull wing devices and true coplanarity testing of BGA and CSP devices and is NOT available on any other AOI system! www.mirtecusa.com
Wafer-Level Products (tie)
Zygo Vision Systems— AV9000 Advanced IC Packaging Inspection System
The AV9000 Advanced IC Package Inspection System gives customers a platform with a lower cost of ownership and up to 70 percent performance improvement over the proven AV6010 inspection systems. The true 3-D metrology capability on the AV9000 has also been extended to support inspection of solder bump heights as small as 15 micron. www.zygo.com
Milara—TD2929 Automatic Inline Printer
The TD2929 automatic inline printer features the world’s first industrial vibrating squeegee, offering lower squeegee pressures, longer stencil life and consistent paste deposition and eliminates paste scavenging. Higher print speeds and improved print quality, along with absolute solder paste deposition onto the wafer, is achieved with the TD2929's patented technology. www.milarasmt.com
Environmentally Friendly Products/Services
BTU—In-Line Diffusion System
BTU’s integrated In-line Diffusion System combines its proven TFQ Series quartz-lined (conveyor belt) diffusion furnace with new phosphorous doping technology featuring an ultrasonic direct spray phosphorous doper that processes up to 1,500 wafers per hour. The use of in-line processing offers reduced wafer handling and greater throughput than traditional batch processing. Typical processing times are only 20-25 minutes. www.btu.com
Best Product—Asia (tie)
ICON Technologies—i8 Stencil Printer
The Icon i8 fully automatic screen printer represents something of an industry first. Wielding exceptionally high throughput and immense flexibility, Icon i8 has been specifically developed to meet the significant industry challenges of the fast-paced Asian electronics market. Setting the benchmark for assemblers seeking the lowest cost of ownership, Icon i8 delivers superior performance and value, coupled with everything else expected from a high-level printing platform but at a much more cost beneficial price. www.iconprinter.com
Nihon Superior—NS-F850 Rosin-Based Flux
Innovation: NS-F850 offers excellent wettability, through-hole fill, and drainage of solder. The most suitable post flux for Lead-Free soldering onto PCBs with chip and discreet components. Robust. heat resistant no-clean rosin containing eFlux that provides high performance with high preheat temperature profiles resulting in high topside boards temperatures (up to 125˚C) and long dwell times that may be required for thick boards and dense, complex assemblies. www.nihonsuperior.co.jp
Best Product—Europe
Essemtec—Multi-Flexible Production Solution
Essemtec's Multi-Flexible Production Solution includes an FLX-CVU component verification system, the FLX-MIS management information system, the CS4050 component storage system, and an FLX2011, FLX2021 or FLX2031 placement system to manage and verify components, optimize production and reduce costs. www.essemtec.com
Best Product—North America
Cyberoptics—Flex Ultra HR
The Flex Ultra HR is an innovative AOI and test system configurable for post-placement and post-reflow inspection applications. This flexible system meets a significant industry challenge by offering the capability to change configurations to either post-placement or post-reflow. The HR is the latest development for this high performance color AOI platform, capable of inspecting 01005 components. www.cyberoptics.com
Copyright 2005-2007. All Rights Reserved.
Awarded by
GLOBAL SMT
& Packaging
The Global Assembly Journal
for SMT & Advanced Packaging Professionals
2008
awards were
presented at
