PC

China's Employment Crisis, p. 18

B
/

W .1
PRINTED CIRCUIT

es 7
p
t2
01
0
DESIGN & FAB
pcdandf.com
circuitsassembly.com
JULY 2010

Optimizing Vias
Using Circuit
Modeling

01005 Placement

Preparing PCB Data

IC ESD Levels
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Quick-Turn
Production
Offshore Manufacturing Door to Door
CAM USA Delivery
Imagineering, Inc. enjoys the
reputation of being one of the
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 JULY 2010 • VOL. 27 • NO. 7

/
FIRST PERSON
PRINTED CIRCUIT
DESIGN & FAB
6 Caveat Lector
Apple’s rotten core.
Mike Buetow

20 Talking Heads
iNEMI’s Bill Bader.
Mike Buetow
FEATURES China's Employment Crisis, p. 18

money matters
PRINTED CIRCUIT
DESIGN & FAB
pcdandf.com
circuitsassembly.com
JULY 2010
/
25 COVER STORY
16 sherman’s market Practical Design of Differential Vias
A scalable, topology-based equivalent circuit model
Migrational shifts. Optimizing Vias
can accurately match via behavior to a bandwidth
Randall Sherman Using Circuit
well above the application bandwidth, typically above
Modeling
10 GHz. A look at a very simple way of modeling a
18 Global Sourcing differential via and translating its geometry into an
China’s labor shortage. equivalent circuit model. 01005 Placement

Tom Coghlan by Eric Bogatin, Bert Simonovich and Yazi Cao

Preparing PCB Data

IC ESD Levels

22 ROI 29 DfF ON THE COVER:

Hello? Anyone there?
Peter Bigelow
tech talk
23 On the Forefront
Packaging over chips.
E. Jan Vardaman
24 designer’s notebook
Modules with castellated mounting
holes.
Duane Benson
38 Better Manufacturing
The missing link.
James Fuller
39 selective soldering
The iconic (and ionic) residual flux.
Al Cable
40 Tech tips
Can DoD crack RoHS plating armor?
ACI Technologies Inc.
For multi-gigabit links,
Are Your PCB Data Unprepared? vias can often represent
It is great to have a fabricator that can provide its the largest discontinuity
“secret sauce” to make the design work, but be ready and set the maximum
to get locked into that supplier, because another bit rate that can be
fabricator’s recipe will be different. As a designer, is transmitted in a link.
that a risk you want to take?
by Jeff Champa
31 ESD
Why it is Necessary to Change the IC ESD Target Specification Levels
Since the mid 1980s, it has been industry practice to supply ICs with ESD
protection, where possible, to meet 2kV HBM ESD. While IC suppliers make every
effort to meet these established levels, customers tend to expect these same levels
without exception for product qualification. However, numerous products have
been shipped with ESD protection on some pins at lower levels to achieve desired
performance. Despite this, field returns have not been observed to be different
from the products shipped at, or exceeding, the normal target ESD levels. These
observations clearly indicate the target ESD levels must be considerably higher
than necessary. After 20 “static” years, more realistic measures are needed.
by Dr. Charvaka Duvvury, Dr. Harald Gossner and Dr. Jeremy Smallwood
33 Component Placement
High Accuracy 01005 Placement
To place 01005 components, the pick process must be very stable. As component
spacing will be very narrow, the pickup point of the nozzle must be in the center of
the component. Using laser alignment and novel placement force control, accuracy
of 50 µm at 4-Sigma is achievable.
by Satoshi Kataoka and Eric Klaver

41 SMT Troubleshooting
A bridge too far.
Paul Lotosky

41 Defects Database Departments

Parylene, under the (UV) light.
Dr. Davide Di Maio 8 around 43 OFF THE SHELF 47 assembly
the world insider
45 marketplace
42 Materials World
14 MARKET WATCH 47 ad index
Phase-change TIM technology.
Jie Bai
POSTMASTER: Send address changes to PRINTED CIRCUIT DESIGN & FAB / CIRCUITS ASSEMBLY,
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CAVEAT LECTOR
Apple’s Rotten Core
A
pple is now the largest tech company in the
world.
Think about that for a moment. The same
company that based its GUI on Xerox’s, that never
topped about 10% market share in its core PC line,
mike that had to take $150 million from a major competi-
buetow, tor just to survive, that was almost taken over by
editor-
Sun Microsystems, and that doesn’t actually build its
in-chief
products, is now bigger than IBM, Sony, Samsung and
even mighty Microsoft.
Technicalities in that statement abound. Apple is
largest in market capitalization, not revenues. In fact,
it is considerably smaller than its primary supplier.
And that increasingly awkward relationship is the
focus of this month’s Caveat Lector.
Time was, Apple built just about everything
in-house. Founders Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak and
Ronald Wayne put together the company’s first PCs
by hand. Later, the company built its computers on
lines in California, Colorado, Ireland and Singapore.
In 1996, that changed. Under then-CEO Gil Amelio,
Apple sold its production plant in Fountain, CO, to
SCI Systems (now Sanmina-SCI), launching a tide
stemmed only temporarily when Steve Jobs returned
to the company.
Apple was hardly first to outsource, and even once
it started, it took the company years to fully shed its
factories. But while H-P, IBM and other major elec-
tronics outsourcers maintain internal lines, Apple has
taken advantage of the concept almost like no other.
Still, like many of its competitors, Apple eventu-
ally moved production to a Taipei-based contractor
named Foxconn. From time to time, that decision
has caused Apple some discomfort. (A dozen or more
workers committing suicide by throwing themselves
off of buildings or through other, equally effective
ways will do that.)
In their wake, everyone from bloggers to, of
course Comedy Central has, naturally, bit into
Apple (John Stewart called Jobs and his minions
“Appholes”). Given the fury, it’s no surprise Jobs has
since come out in favor of editorial “oversight.”
But here’s where things really became, well, weird.
Some suggested the deaths at Foxconn, while tragic,
were actually insignificant when taken in the context
of the overall Chinese suicide rate. Problem is, none
of Foxconn’s electronics manufacturing peers in China
– Huawei, Flextronics, Sanmina, and so on – seem to
have this predicament.
By its own admission, Apple’s suppliers have a
65% compliance rate with the company’s Corporate
Social Responsibility practices. In manufacturing
terms, that’s a pretty lousy yield. So why doesn’t the
company bolt for calmer waters?
Insiders have told me Apple not only sources the
6 PRINTED CIRCUIT DESIGN & FAB / CIRCUITS ASSEMBLY
material, but actually owns at least some of the lines
on which Foxconn builds its products, with the latter
paid only for each good assembly produced. If that’s
the case, Apple is far more tied to the problems at
Foxconn than has been previously disclosed. (Apple
did not respond to requests for comment.) And if it’s
true, it may explain why Apple is so loathe to move
any of its programs to other, shall we say “less con-
troversial” EMS companies, despite the fact its mar-
gins suggest it could easily afford to do so.
Weirder still were reports that Foxconn might move
production back to Taiwan. One commenter went so
far as to suggest a fed-up Terry Guo, Foxconn’s chair-
man, might either replace workers with robots or leave
altogether. Others posed similar notions.
Two fundamental problems exist with this line
of reasoning (three, if you factor in that a scaled-up
lights-out electronics manufacturing operation has
never existed).
First, no other country, save for India, offers the
population China does. Foxconn’s model is built on
having access to hundreds of thousands of workers in
company towns. Where else in the world is that pos-
sible? What other government would even allow it?
Taiwan, for example, has neither the space, the popu-
lation nor the wage rates necessary to pull this off,
even if it wanted to.
Second, Foxconn has established complete supply
chains in or near its campuses. It’s one thing to move
a factory. EMS companies do this all the time, and
(with some notable exceptions) have actually become
fairly good at it. But relocating an entire supply chain
takes time and commitments. Foxconn may be the
largest EMS player in China, but it’s not the only one,
and in just a handful of cities those chains can feed
65% or so of all electronics manufacturing in the
world. Simply put, there are good reasons everyone is
in China right now and not, for example, India.
For better or worse, Foxconn and China are
bound together. And for better or worse, it would
appear Apple is, too.
Friends of Jeff redux. Updating last month’s
column, Juki, Speedline and Asymtek recently have
signed on to Jeff Mogensen’s Let’s Pick a Fight with
Cancer equipment auction. For more information,
visit circuitsassembly.com/cms/component/content/
article/209-electronics-industry-against-cancer/9951-
electronics-industry-against-cancer.
Editor-in-Chief
mbuetow@upmediagroup.com
july 2010
 Higher Efficiency,
Brighter World
Brighter World

™ Trademark of The Dow Chemical Company (“Dow”) or an affiliated company of Dow

®
AROUND THE WORLD
PCD&F Briefs
PCB manufacturer HannStar Board
(hannstarboard.com) has named Dow
Electronic Materials (electronics.dupont.
com) as one of its 10 best suppliers, beat-
ing out more than 800 companies for
the honor.
Falcon PCB Group (falconpcbgroup.com)
has acquired flex circuit manufacturer
Flex-Ability for an undisclosed amount.
The company will be renamed Merlin Flex-
Ability Ltd.
Huawei Technologies (huawei.com)
awarded Mentor Graphics (mentor.com)
its Supply Support Award for EDA in 2009.
ISU Petasys’ (isupetasys.com) Korea PWB
plant has earned NADCAP accreditation,
the first in Korea to do so.
Viasystems (viasystems.com) suffered a
fire at its 800,000 sq. ft. Zhongshan, China
plant, temporarily halting production.
PCD&F People
Bare board distributor P.D. Cir-
cuits promoted Joe Helms to
national sales director.
Park Electrochemical named
Greg Westphal vice president
and general manager of its
Neltec business unit.
Circuits Assembly People
Raven Industries announced Daniel
A. Rykhus will succeed Ron Moquist as
president and chief executive when he
retires in August.
Ovation Products named Tony Du sales
manager for North America.
CyberOptics promoted Tim
Skunes to vice president of
technology and business devel-
opment. He has 20 years’ expe-
rience with the company, and
holds 22 US patents.
iNEMI named Masahira Tsuriya as its con-
sultant in Japan.
MicroCare named Carroll Smiley senior
technical manager.
A-Tek LLC promoted Patty Chonis to presi-
dent of sales and marketing.
Electrolube named Randi Gates regional
manager in North America.
8 PRINTED CIRCUIT DESIGN & FAB / CIRCUITS ASSEMBLY
Edited by mike buetow
Altium Designer Now Has Aldec FPGA
Simulation
SYDNEY – Altium (altium.com) has added Aldec’s (aldec.com) FPGA simulation capa-
bilities to its Designer software.
Altium’s NanoBoard FPGA-based development board users will also now be able
to create FPGA-based design prototypes, and use Aldec VHDL or Verilog simulation
technology within Altium Designer to test designs.
“Partnering with Aldec will allow us to provide a high-quality RTL simulation
capability for Altium Designer users, both VHDL and Verilog,” said Nick Martin,
Altium’s CEO.
Aldec’s OEM simulator will be the default VHDL or Verilog FPGA simulation
technology in the next release of Altium Designer, currently scheduled for release
shortly. – CD
CST Announces Simplified Workflow for
3D Simulation in Cadence SiP Flow
DARMSTADT, GERMANY – To address customer demand for integrated layout and
3D full wave analysis, Computer Simulation Technology (cst.com) has undertaken
a major collaborative project to enable layout engineers to stay within the Cadence
(cadence.com) environment, while performing a full wave 3D extraction and EM
analysis in the background.
Results are back-annotated to the Cadence environment. This EDA-centric view-
point is said to simplify the workflow required to achieve design goals.
CST has offered a plug-in to Cadence tools for some years, and more recently, a
direct import has become available that offers component recognition, layer editing
and net and area selection. The latest effort was collaboration to simplify and inte-
grate the workflow. – MB
Circuit Connect Has TLC for TSC
AMESBURY, MA – Circuit Connect (circuit-connect.com) has acquired board fabrica-
tor Time Sensitive Circuits (tscircuits.com) for an undisclosed sum.
TSC employs roughly 25 persons at its plant near the Massachusetts-New Hamp-
shire border. Nashua, NH-based Circuit Connect has been in business since 1990.
According to PCD&F sources, Circuit Connect will move certain equipment from
Amesbury to Nashua and will offer jobs to the TSC staff.
For TSC, Circuit Connect is the fourth owner of the company founded in 1975
as Eastern Manufacturing Corp. It merged with Applied Circuits in 1999. Howard
Doane, Eastern’s owner, then sold it in a deal valued at some $500,000 to  Titan
Global Holdings in March 2003, which renamed it Titan PCB East. At the time, the
company’s sales were $8.8 million.
Titan then sold the company to a group of investors, including some management
in June 2008. – MB
Epec Dials in on FM, Waytec
NEW BEDFORD, MA – Epec Engineered Technologies (epectech.com) has acquired fel-
low printed circuit board fabricators Waytec Electronics and FM Circuits.
No financial or other terms were disclosed. The deals bring to 14 the number of
such acquisitions by Epec’s ownership group. It is unclear whether the two recently
july 2010
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 AROUND THE WORLD
VI Technology named Koen Gutscoven
worldwide sales vice president.
Kester named Michael Fullbrecht European
sales manager. He was global key account
manager at Henkel for 10 years.
Krayden named Gary Buckner to its Dallas-
Fort Worth area sales team and Candace
Bowen mid-Atlantic sales representative.
Circuits Assembly Briefs
AIM named Andy Dolan business develop-
ment manager and Steven Mao to its sales
team in south China.  flow of controversial metal ores from Congolese mines.
Kitron ASA (kitron.com) will open a 23,000
sq. ft. plant in Johnstown, PA, plant by Jan.
1, 2011. The operation initially will focus on
the defense industry.  Republic of the Congo.
Foxconn (foxconn.com) will raise wages
of its China-based workers by 30%, effec-
tive immediately, according to reports.
The ODM/EMS company’s typical salary in
China is about 900 yuan ($130) per month.
Seho Systems (seho.de) has introduced
the Seho Academy, developed to help train
employees in the operation of soldering
systems. Seminars are divided into reflow,
selective and wave, each offering train-
ing on system maintenance and process
optimization.
Alta Manufacturing (altamfg.com) has
acquired fellow electronics contract
manufacturer NRC Manufacturing (nrcmfg.
com) for an undisclosed sum. The deal is
part of Alta’s five-year plan to grow into a
“significant Tier 2 presence.”
Contract Production (contract-production.
co.uk) has acquired EMS firm Micro Forge
for an undisclosed sum. A new compa-
ny, Contract Production reportedly has
retained most of Micro Forge’s staff, and
plans to hire an undisclosed number of
new workers.
DEK (dek.com) named Fuji Do Brasil (fuji-
brasil.br) its manufacturer’s representative
in Brazil.
ASYS Group Americas (asys.de) has
expanded its sales and service structure
in Brazil. This includes sales and service
personnel to be located in Sao Paulo and
Manaus.
Plexus (plexus.com) is building a design
center in Germany, with an expected com-
pletion date in the December quarter. The
EMS firm also will continue to add capacity
in Asia, specifically in Malaysia, China and
possibly Thailand.
EMS provider Suntron (suntron.com) is
10 PRINTED CIRCUIT DESIGN & FAB / CIRCUITS ASSEMBLY
Edited by mike buetow
acquired factories will remain open; although, in most of the transactions, they have
been closed.
Brooklyn, NY-based FM Circuits has fabricated boards for 40 years. Likewise,
Waytec has built boards for more than 30 years.
Waytec’s Lynchburg, VA-based engineering and customer service teams will
remain intact, the companies said. – MB
Solder Council Supports ‘Conflict Metals’ Trade
Barriers
BANNOCKBURN, IL – A group of leading solder manufacturers has issued a position
statement showing its support for government intervention as a means to stop the
Per the IPC Solder Products Value Council’s statement, its members support
“governments, non-governmental organizations and industry groups in their efforts
to eliminate trade of ‘conflict metals,’ especially mined tin from the Democratic
“The IPC SPVC believes that based on solder manufacturers’ position in the value
chain, smelters and mines are in the best position to develop and implement a system
to ensure mineral traceability from the exporter back to the mine site, and to develop
chain of custody data. Furthermore, the IPC SPVC supports ITRI’s (formerly known
as the International Tin Research Institute) efforts to achieve that goal.”
A pair of bills aimed at stopping the flow of conflict metals are under review by
the US Congress. A US House committee has passed the conflict minerals bill (H.R.
4128), which would establish penalties for the import of columbite-tantalite, cassiter-
ite and wolframite, and the Senate has approved S. 3217, a financial bill that includes
those metals plus gold. There are distinct differences in how each bill proposes its
penalties and oversight, however.
Members of the IPC SPVC include AIM; Amtech; Cookson Electronics; Henkel;
Indium; Inventec Performance Chemicals; Kester; Koki; Metallic Resources; Nihon
Superior; Nordson EFD; P. Kay Metal; Qualitek; Redring Solder; Senju, and Sigma
Ming Gao Electronics. – CD
EU Committee Votes to Further Assess
Substances in RoHS Directive
BRUSSELS – Some substances, including halogenated flame retardants and PVC,
should undergo further assessments for safe use in electrical and electronic equip-
ment, said the European Parliament Environment Committee in a June 2 vote.
The list of banned substances in the RoHS Directive should apply to all such
equipment, unless specifically excluded, the committee said, and one such exclusion
could be for renewable energy generation.
The committee approved its legislative report on the proposed recast of the Direc-
tive, and European Parliament Members called for further evaluation of a number of
substances not currently restricted. Assessment criteria should include the substance’s
potential health and environmental impact, they noted. The European Parliament
plenary vote is scheduled for July 5.
MEPs voted in favor of an open scope, meaning all electrical and electronic
material would be covered by the legislation, unless specifically excluded. They rec-
ommended certain areas be excluded from the Directive’s scope, including inter alia,
renewable energy generation, certain large-scale installations and industrial tools, and
material for military purposes and vehicles.
The committee suggested the European Commission propose further exclusions
within 18 months after the recast Directive goes into effect. Exclusions would be
subject to review in 2014.
july 2010
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 AROUND THE WORLD
consolidating its Northeast US operations
in a larger facility at Methuen, MA.
Hunter Technology (hunterpcb.com) pur-
chased an Agilent (agilent.com) i3070
Series 5 ICT.
Elcoteq (elcoteq.com) sold its Russia-based
subsidiary to LED maker Optogan CJSC for
an undisclosed amount.
Teledyne EMS (teledyneems.com) has
installed Aegis’ (aiscorp.com) Manufactur-
ing Operations Software at its Lewisburg,
TN, facility.
Televés (televes.com) has purchased
Siemens (siplace.com) Siplace SX2 and SA
placement lines.
Inovar (inovar-inc.com) has added an
Agilent (agilent.com) 5DX x-ray inspection
system.
IPC (ipc.org) has revised its standard
for power conversion devices, offering
expanded guidance for design qualifica-
tion testing and new coverage of moisture
sensitivity levels and corrosion. IPC-9592A,
Requirements for Power Conversion
Devices for the Computer and Telecom-
munications Industries, covers design for
reliability, design qualification testing,
manufacturing conformance testing and
quality processes. Specifically, revision A
provides more definitive preconditioning
tests for Category 2 printed board surface
mount PCD modules with DC-to-DC con-
verters. The coverage is now expanded on
moisture sensitivity levels and corrosion
of PCDs, providing guidance for industrial,
manufacturing and uncontrolled external
environments where gas phase, acidic
entrainments in the air can quickly ruin any
PCD. The update expands its description
of highly accelerated life testing and the
application of HALT to PCDs. The original
document was released in 2008.
LaBarge (labarge.com) anticipates hiring
more than 100 people at its Tulsa, OK, plant
over the next three years, state officials said.
Bliss Industries (blissindustries.com) has
appointed Etek Europe (etek-europe.com)
as representative throughout Europe.
Jabil (jabil.com) is staying put in Round
Rock, TX, at least until end of 2012, accord-
ing to a deal announced in early June.
FCT Assembly (fctassembly.com) has
appointed Enterprise Electronic Sales
(enterpriseelectronicsales.com) as its rep-
resentative in Ohio, Indiana and Kentucky.
The parent company of top 40 EMS firm
Scanfil (scanfil.fi) has acquired a 40% stake
in Panphonics (scanfil.com), a leading pro-
vider of directional audio speakers.
12 PRINTED CIRCUIT DESIGN & FAB / CIRCUITS ASSEMBLY
Edited by mike buetow
MEPs called for a ban on nanosilver and carbon nanotubes, and said other elec-
trical and electronic material containing nanomaterials should be labeled, and that
the manufacturers should be obliged to provide safety data to the EC.
Parliament is scheduled to vote this month on the committee’s recommendations
for recasting the RoHS Directive.
Some non-governmental organizations supported the decision to extend the scope
of the Directive into an open scope, including categories previously not covered by
RoHS. Further substance evaluation is also welcome. However, some called the
failure to introduce new restrictions on BFRs and PVC plastic a missed opportunity,
while others felt the decision undermined efforts to introduce scientific protocols to
support any new material bans.
IPC (ipc.org) expressed disappointment in the vote to include broad families of
chemicals, such as organobromines, in Annex III for priority assessment. “While an
outright ban of these chemicals has been averted, the committee’s decision falls far
short of supporting a rigorous scientific assessment that would ensure protection of
the environment and human health,” the association said.
The proposed process “lacks a rigorous scientific methodology and could there-
fore lead to additional substance restrictions that provide neither environmental nor
human health benefits,” says Fern Abrams, IPC director of environmental policy and
government relations.
While some organobromines, such as PBBs, have been identified as toxic, restrict-
ed under the RoHS Directive and voluntarily withdrawn from the market, other
organobromines, such as TBBPA, have been found to be safe for human health and
the environment by both the World Health Organization and the European Com-
mission Scientific Committee on Health and Environmental Risks, according to IPC.
But ChemSec (chemsec.org), an NGO that supports banning all BFRs, claimed
that scientific evidence supports the notion that BFRs and PVC are overwhelming
harmful, and derided the committee’s decision not to ban the chemicals. – CD
White Paper Outlines Tests for Pb-Free Alloy
Evaluation
BANNOCKBURN, IL – The IPC Solder Products Value Council has published a free
white paper that provides a set of test protocols for the evaluation of new Pb-free
alloys on the basis of their physical properties.
Analytical Procedures for Portable Lead-Free Alloy Test Data was developed
in cooperation with OEMs and EMS companies to help the electronics assembly
industry reduce the time and effort required to characterize an alloy and improve its
processes without jeopardizing reliability.
The SPVC white paper prescribes general requirements for determining critical
physical and mechanical properties of bulk Pb-free solder alloys used to make high-
quality electronic interconnections. It describes material tests that generate portable
data for direct comparison of different alloys; aiding in alloy acceptability determina-
tion for various applications; development of reliability models, and other uses.
To download the white paper, visit ipc.org/spvc-lat1. – CD
Foxconn to Move Most Shenzhen Programs
SHENZHEN – Foxconn Technology Group (foxconn.com), which just weeks ago said
it would substantially raise wages of its workers here, reportedly will relocate much
of its manufacturing to other sites in China.
The China Times, citing unnamed company sources, reported the contract elec-
tronics assembly company's Longhua plant will merge with the Guanlan plant, and
much of the production relocated to other sites inland or to the north. Some research
specialists will move to Tianjin, the China Times reported. The campuses employ a
total of 400,000 workers, 300,000 at Longhau. – MB
july 2010
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MARKET WATCH
Storage Swing
Trends in the U.S. electronics equipment market (shipments only).
% Change
feb marr apr* YTD
Computers/electronics products -3.1 -2.2 8.1 13.2
Computers 1.5 12.3 5.5 12.5
Storage devices -5.8 -17.8 30.5 34.1
Other peripheral equipment -14.4 16.8 -0.2 -1.4
Nondefense
communications equipment
-2.5 3.7 -3.4 4.5
Defense communications equipment 2.5 2.4 23.5 -4.8
A/V equipment -6.9 1.0 2.9 9.7
Semiconductors -14.8 -18.5 NA NA
Components1 0.5 0.5 4.1 13.4
Nondefense search and -0.5 4.3 -9.0 0.9
navigation equipment
Defense search and -3.0 0.4 -2.7 4.9
navigation equipment
Medical, measurement and control 2.3 -5.9 7.1 18.5
rRevised.*Preliminary. 1Includes semiconductors. Seasonally adjusted.
Source: U.S. Department of Commerce Census Bureau, June 3, 2010
ISM: May Sees Component Shortages
TEMPE, AZ – Economic activity in the manufacturing sector
expanded in May for the 10th consecutive month, says the
Institute for Supply Management (ism.ws). The PMI for May
was 59.7%, a drop of 70 basis points from April, but still well
above the 50% reading indicating the manufacturing economy
is generally expanding.
New orders were flat at 65.7%, and production was down
30 basis points to 66.6%. Inventories dropped 3.8 percentage
points to 45.6%, while customer inventories dropped 1 per-
centage point to 32%.
Backlogs were up 2 percentage points to 59.5%. Employ-
ment grew as manufacturers added to their payrolls for the
sixth consecutive month.
“The recovery continues to broaden, as 16 of 18 industries
report growth,” said ISM spokesperson Norbert J. Ore, in a
statement. “There are a number of reports, particularly in the
tech sector, of shortages of components; this is the result of
excessive inventory de-stocking during the downturn.”
The overall economy grew for the 13th consecutive month.
jan feb. mar. apr. may
PMI 58.4 56.5 59.6 60.4 59.7
New orders 65.9 59.5 61.5 65.7 65.7
Production 66.2 58.4 61.1 66.9 66.6
Inventories 46.5 47.3 55.3 49.4 45.6
Customer inventories 32.0 37.0 39.0 33.0 32.0
Backlogs 56.0 61.0 58.0 57.5 59.5
Source: Institute for Supply Management, June 1, 2010
14 PRINTED CIRCUIT DESIGN & FAB / CIRCUITS ASSEMBLY
Metals Index
Date 6/1/09 3/1/10 4/12/10 5/3/10 5/31/10
LME Cash Seller and
Settlement for Tin $6.69 $7.63 $8.43 $8.35 $8.03
LME Cash Seller and
Settlement for Lead $0.74 $0.97 $1.01 $1.01 $0.81
Handy and Harman
Silver (COMEX Silver) $229.98 $241.25 $269.05 $272.70 $268.75
LME Cash Seller and
Settlement for Copper $2.24 $3.20 $3.54 $3.35 $3.03
Analyst: EMS Sales Growth
Spiked in Q1
NEW YORK – Contract electronics manufacturers reported
March quarter sales rose 14% on average quarter-over-
quarter, observed Sherri Scribner of Deutsche Bank Equi-
ty Research (db.com). EMS revenue from the networking
and telecom segments grew during the period, rising 6%
sequentially on average. Industrial also was strong, while
server and storage revenue fell 13% on average.
Inventories are rising faster than sales, in part
because component shortages are increasing work-
in-process levels at EMS firms. Inventory was up 9%
sequentially on average, while EMS firms are guiding for
4% average sales growth in the second quarter.
Component capacity constraints are expected to
continue through the September quarter, DB said.
Touch Screens Feeling Good
AUSTIN, TX – Touch screen shipments increased 29%
year-over-year in 2009 to 606 million units on rapid
increases in mobile phone, PMP/MP3, portable naviga-
tion, and other applications. Similar gains are forecast
for large-size applications, such as all-in-one PCs, Mini-
note/slate PCs, and education/training,” DisplaySearch
(displaysearch.com) reports.
Gartner Raises Semi Outlook
STAMFORD, CT – The worldwide semiconductor market
will rise 27% to $290 billion this year, Gartner (gartner.
com) said in early June. The research firm raised its
forecast from 20% growth, citing a strong recovery in
PC and cellphone sales.
Industry Market Snapshot
Book-to-bills of various components/equipment.
DEC. jan. feb. mar. apr.
Semiconductor equipment1 1.07 1.23 1.23 1.21r 1.13p
Semiconductors2 2.89% 46.0% 56.2% 58.4%r 50.3%p
Rigid PCBs3 (North America) 1.05 1.06 1.09 1.10 1.11
Flexible PCBs3 (North America) 0.95 1.03 0.92 0.98 0.98
Computers/electronic products4 5.41 5.04 4.99 4.97r 4.81p
Sources: 1SEMI, 2SIA (3-month moving average growth), 3IPC, 4Census Bureau, pPreliminary, rRevised
July 2010
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 SHERMAN’S MARKET

Migrational Shifts
ODMs remain better positioned to grow than their EMS cousins.

The worldwide EMS industry growth rate declined Yet, the shift in production to low-cost regions is
approximately 8.3% in 2009, yet if first-quarter results starting to wane (Figure 3). Today, we are seeing OEMs
are indicative, growth has already returned. Contract requiring EMS partners to manufacture products near
manufacturers experienced the strongest decline – the point of consumption. For certain high-volume prod-
almost 15% – while ODMs actually saw revenue grow ucts like mobile phones and PCs, OEMs need to leverage
5.6%. Similarly, CMs lost money in 2009 (led mainly the lowest cost in manufacturing. For other products,
by Flextronics, down over $6 billion), while ODMs col- however, the labor cost differentials are becoming less
lectively made more than $2 billion. It seems the strategy significant when weighed against the total cost of pro-
of focusing on high-volume, low-mix products such as duction (including transportation and logistical chal-
PCs, motherboards and notebooks permitted ODMs lenges). Offshore product migration will take place,
to survive the downturn, whereas CMs saw dramatic according to our forecasts, but at a more moderate pace.
declines in orders in the capital equipment (semiconduc- CMs and ODMs will experience the strongest
tor), automotive and mobile phone markets. In the com- growth from production in the consumer, communica-
ing years, ODMs should fare better than CMs, albeit tions, and medical equipment markets. Specifically,
slightly, as the former has the ability to maintain stronger CMs will find very strong growth in personal navi-
profit margins as a result of branded products (Table 1). gation, digital television, and cellular infrastructure,
The EMS market is driven by the electronics assem- while ODMs are projected to experience very strong
bly market, of which it is a subsegment (Table 2). The growth in enterprise storage systems, personal navi-
overall market for electronics components (semiconduc- gation systems, and set-top boxes. In general, CMs
tors, passives, connectors, etc.) is projected to recover will tend to excel in the technology-intensive product
throughout the forecast period, as a result of a recovery areas and complex board assemblies. ODMs excel in
in demand for electronics manufactured products. manufacturing commodity/high-volume products such
Consumer, communications and computer prod- as motherboards, monitors, handhelds, and consumer
ucts will continue to be the segments driving the larg- electronics. Table 4 compares the worldwide EMS
est growth. In 2014, the total industry is expected to market by market segment for 2009 and 2014.
exceed $1.4 trillion in annual assembly value (COGS), Foxconn continued its extraordinary dominance,
on a mixture of replacement buys and new products. outdistancing its closest contender by almost 2.5 times.
Outsourcing has become a critical element in industry Flextronics remained steadfastly in the No. 2 position,
expansion and cost reduction – a leading attribute in as did Jabil Circuit, Celestica and Sanmina-SCI in sub-
stimulating continuous consumer demand. The trend to sequent positions (Table 5).
move price-sensitive manufacturing to low-cost regions Although a simple ranking of EMS companies by
will impact the manufacturing footprint for all suppliers. revenue is informative, there are many other meaningful
financial measures of EMS per-
formance. These are covered
Table 1. Worldwide EMS Market, 2009-2014 in detail in our annual report,
Revenue ($M) 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 CAGR The Worldwide Electronic
Manufacturing Services Mar-
EMS 169,560 192,246 213,248 238,963 268,775 298,975 12.0%
Randall ket, 2010 Edition. To summa-
Sherman is ODM 100,133 111,370 124,419 139,974 158,961 179,890 12.4% rize these measures, the report
president and CEO Total 269,693 303,617 337,667 378,937 427,736 478,865 12.2% uses a total performance rating
of New Venture Source: New Venture Research based on a weighting of these
Research Corp. other measures. The EMS
(newventureresearch. companies having the highest
com); rsherman@ Table 2. Worldwide Market for Electronics Assembly, 2009-2014 total scores were deemed best-
newventureresearch. Total Assembly ($M) 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 CAGR performing; conversely, those
com. His column companies having the lowest
Communications 197,023 213,447 235,179 259,155 280,006 301,344 8.9%
runs bimonthly. total scores were viewed as
Computer 265,606 293,217 322,192 356,005 385,480 417,710 9.5%
worst-performing (Table 6).
Consumer 225,542 250,464 283,629 314,963 344,505 370,978 10.5% In 2009, Delta emerged as
Industrial/Medical 93,355 100,013 109,686 120,461 129,448 139,423 8.4% the winning EMS company,
Transportation 109,812 118,731 130,522 142,866 152,493 165,006 8.5% with the highest total score
Total 891,339 975,871 1,081,207 1,193,450 1,291,931 1,394,460 9.4%
by a wide margin for the sec-
ond year in a row, according
Source: New Venture Research
(continued on p. 48)

16 PRINTED CIRCUIT DESIGN & FAB / CIRCUITS ASSEMBLY july 2010

 AcAe
Accurate Circuit Engineering
American Standard Circuits
Altium Inc.
AT&S Americas
Bare Board Group
Big C-Dino-Lite Scopes
CAD Design Services
Cadence Design Systems, Inc.
Custom Analytical Services
DownStream Technologies
Elite Sales International
EMA Design Automation
Fidus Systems, Inc.
Flex Interconnect Technology
Intercept Technology, Inc.
IPC Designers Council
K&F Electronics
LPKF Laser & Electronics
Mentor Graphics
National Instruments
North Bay Technical
Polar Instruments Inc.
Polliwog Corporation
Rogers Corp.
SEP Co. Ltd.
SFM Technology, Inc.
Sierra Circuits Inc.
Sigrity Inc.
Taconic
T-Tech Inc.
TTM Technologies
Whizz Systems Inc.
Zero Defects Int'l, LLC
GLOBAL SOURCING
China’s Surprising Dilemma
What happens when the “world’s workshop” runs out of workers?
Ask someone in our industry, or any industry, for
a short slogan describing the Chinese manufacturing
juggernaut and you might hear phrases like immense
capacity, unfair monetary practices, government-
supported, environmental concerns, unfair trade
practices, or a host of other admittedly pro-Western
sentiments. But I never thought I would live to hear
the term labor shortage used about China.
How could a land of well over one billion people lack
the workers to fill positions in its manufacturing sector?
Because it appears that is exactly what is happening.
I just returned from Taiwan and China and was
surprised to hear from every customer, vendor and
supplier that the local labor shortage is putting pres-
sure on almost every sector of the Chinese manufac-
turing landscape. At the beginning of my trip, I had
a single purpose for each firm that I visited. But after
hearing about this issue during my first stop, I made
a point of focusing on it with each successive visit to
areas in Hong Kong (or more specifically, Guangdong
Province), Suzhou, Shanghai and other locales.
For the past decade or so, business conditions in
China have closely resembled those of mid 18th cen-
tury America. Most US businesses at that time were
located along the coastal regions of the Northeast.
Close proximity to waterways helped early American
businesses quickly move products from factories to
a wide range of customer locations. It took many
years for sufficient infrastructure to develop so that
business could move into the interior states and still
have economically feasible ways of getting newly cre-
ated product to market. As business moved inward,
population shifts began to occur as people followed
jobs and commerce westward.
In China, commercial development was also a
coastal phenomenon, beginning on a large scale in the
areas between Hong Kong/Kowloon and continuing
up the coast to Shanghai.
A major difference, however, between the early
US and Chinese models is where the labor force origi-
nated. In China, prior to the great move toward capi-
Tom Coghlan talism, most people lived in rural areas. (Hong Kong,
is operations director before it was turned over to China by the British, is
at Bare Board Group the exception.) But then many Chinese people left
Inc. (bareboard.com); their farms and home provinces and moved to urban
tom@bareboard. areas in search of better jobs and a better life. The
com. Chinese businesses in the coastal cities had a plentiful
and ever-growing labor supply.
But whereas in the US, part of the labor force
located on the coast moved inland with businesses
and then established permanent communities there
that spanned generations, many urban Chinese still
considered their traditional rural provinces “home.”
And now that manufacturing is exploding across
18 PRINTED CIRCUIT DESIGN & FAB / CIRCUITS ASSEMBLY
China, thousands of companies are setting up shop
inland, where the infrastructure is in place to permit
efficient movement of product, and province-to-prov-
ince mobility – once restricted by law – is being eased.
With the home provinces now offering a plethora
of employment opportunities, a great exodus of peo-
ple who moved to the coast searching employment
are now looking homeward for a similar position
closer to family and friends.
As with all good ideas, once the word gets out,
many people will try the same thing. The difference is
that in China, the effect is multiplied a thousand-fold.
I have been told the exodus began first in the
Greater Shanghai region, then moved down the coast
to Hong Kong. The Chinese New Year gave many
people a perfect opportunity to make the move as part
of the holiday’s custom of returning to one’s birth-
place. Thus, a labor shortage that no one would have
predicted just a few years ago has suddenly taken hold.
I heard about this problem from those involved
in the PCB industry, but could easily envision this
phenomenon spreading to other industries as well.
The customers and vendors I queried estimated
that between 800,000 and 1.3 million people have
abruptly left their jobs and moved from the coastal
areas. This has created a huge vacuum in some busi-
nesses in the affected areas. Trained workers are now
in short supply, and the hiring pool has shrunk to a
level not seen before.
One might think that replacing workers in China
would be easy. Not so. One of my customers ran a
job ad for workers for a month and received only one
response. This applicant was quickly hired, but left soon
after as another, slightly better position opened up. All
the people I spoke with expect the labor issue to ease
at some point, but because of the enormity of the issue,
none would estimate when things would get better. In
other words, no quick fixes are on the horizon. Work-
ers will need to be hired, trained and paid well enough
to prevent them from moving to competing employers.
One reaction to this problem has been to send
a lot of PCB manufacturing back to Taiwan. This
influx of work has created a logjam in Taiwanese
board houses and is creating a laminate shortage
as everyone scrambles for material to manage the
increased load. This is not a sustainable solution.
I didn’t think much could surprise me in this indus-
try, but a labor shortage in China did come as a shock.
Given the current dismal employment picture in the
US, we may well wish we had China’s problem. But a
labor shortage there is likely to affect a wide range of
Western industries dependent on Asian manufactur-
ing capabilities, just when our own much anticipated
recovery is underway. It’s a trend worth watching. CA
july 2010
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 tALKING HEADS
TALKING HEADS
Globally Engaged
iNEMI’s new leader is charging far and wide to further the consortium’s green
plans.
It’s been a whirlwind debut for Bill Bader. Named
last fall as the second chief executive in the 15-year serious needs for standards to drive technologies and
history of iNEMI (inemi.org), he came from Intel
with an impressive background in packaging, assem-
bly and experience overseeing hundreds of employ-
ees. Since then, he’s traveled the globe, meeting with standards and specs.
members and project leaders and absorbing the
70-member consortium’s somewhat divergent views
on the industry. He spoke with CIRCUITS ASSEM-
BLY’s Mike Buetow in a pair of interviews in April
and May.
CA: How have you been spending your
time of late?
BB: At the end of 2009, 75 to 80% was pro-
gramming, and 20% member updates. In November
we held an environmental meeting in Europe and
were invited to present at a ChemSec meeting on
RoHS in Brussels. [Ed.: The International Chemical
Secretariat, or ChemSec, is a nonprofit organization
whose goal is a toxic-free environment.] Sixty-two
people attended, about 10 from non-government
organizations. It covered halogens, materials, eco-
design, sustainability and recycling.
CA: In your opinion, how up to speed are
the NGOs on the impact of large-scale materi-
als transitions?
BB: Several, including ChemSec are on top of
the materials, very well informed. Some of the others foresee?
know what’s going on, but the methodologies are
sometimes questionable.
CA: What was iNEMI’s role at that confer-
ence?
BB: The game plan was to inform the community
about the technical issues when you rapidly transition mittee made up of some of the highest level compa-
materials content for PCBs, cables, connectors and
what we are doing on that.
Likewise, we participated in a packaging work-
shop in Japan. Fifty people attended. This was to
stimulate discussion on key technical issues in the
packaging field. Japanese companies clas-
sically like to do their own R&D. They
did agree, however, to collaborate on
warpage issues. There is some real work
to be done on this, including developing
appropriate standards and specifications.
CA: Is this an area where iNEMI
would actually write its own stan-
dard?
BB: By definition of our bylaws, we
are not allowed to write standards.
CA: What are some of the other
key programs right now?
BB: We have task forces on alter- iNEMI’s Bader
20 PRINTED CIRCUIT DESIGN & FAB / CIRCUITS ASSEMBLY
native energies and medical electronics. Both have
cost efficiencies. This fits our competencies. What
iNEMI does well is the engineering work required to
define best approaches and methods, and subsequent
CA: You’ve been on the job about nine
months. What do you think so far?
BB: I like it. [Smiles.] The people you interact
with are great. So are the opportunities to make a dif-
ference. We have great things started in packaging and
miniaturization. For example, we’re working on four
new initiatives to address gaps in organic substrate
technologies: warpage factors, warpage qualification
and modeling, wiring density and holistic modeling.
For the last one, we want to develop a design tool
to optimize package design in terms of electrical,
mechanical and thermal performance. We are work-
ing to engage globally in key research priorities with
technical organizations like the Fraunhofer Institute
in Germany and Peking University in China. We
established leadership committees to help us identify
the next focus areas of interest and need. When we
get all these efforts running smoothly and efficiently,
we will really grow our value for our members. All of
these efforts are making excellent progress.
CA: What are the problems you did not
BB: When critical leaders of projects get pulled
away. We have to keep the communication lines open.
CA: How does iNEMI set its goals and
priorities?
BB: We put together a Leadership Steering Com-
nies in the environmental area that could identify
the priorities and identify methodologies to affect
the speed of execution of those priorities. That team
was put into place shortly thereafter. We held some
meetings in April to set out priorities and objectives
for the future, including where we are
going to engage. On that committee,
there are eight member companies: six
OEMs, one academic institution and one
supplier that’s an environmental leader
in its industry. OEMs tend to lead in this
area, and suppliers tend to take their
lead. That’s one example of how goals are
set. There is also strong interaction with
our board.
For entire interview, visit circuitsassembly.com.
july 2010
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 When ‘World-Class’ Doesn’t Work
Rapid supply base changes threaten industry stability.
Is there anybody out there? Maybe it’s a sign
of aging, or possibly paranoia setting in, but I find
myself asking that question more and more.
And anybody is not just anybody. As I look
around the industry, the anybody of yesterday is not
the anybody of today – or tomorrow.
In years past, when I asked the question, the
“anybody” I was referring to was competitors. Over
the past dozen years, so many companies, especially
in North America, have vanished. Many were proud
icons of the industry. Some were fast-moving Tier 1
“players,” and many were the local companies that
quietly made up the industry. Regardless of size, stature
or location, the industry has fewer of those anybodies.
Today, my focus is quite different. Now I am
looking at the shrinking supply base. Many com-
panies are shrinking, if not going away. The risk is
becoming a garden with no water or fertilizer. At
some point, without those things that sustain life,
the plants perish. Yes, companies still can purchase
laminate, mask, chemicals – all the supplies that
keep factories humming. On the surface, the answer
appears to be, “Yes, anybody is out there.”
But look a bit closer and the picture is not quite
so bright.
Many suppliers over the past decade have cut
back on field sales and tech support – cut enough
where, for many, support is nonexistent. The big guys
may not be feeling it, but then again, most in North
America are not big guys. Worse, when a big guy con-
solidates, the supply base tends to make further cuts,
stretching even thinner the scarce customer support
resources. Yes, on the surface, suppliers still offer
“world-class” sales and tech support. But if there
isn’t anybody available to show up when needed,
then “world-class” does not work.
Many suppliers have cut their lines or products.
The rational is if the market is not large enough to
support a specific item, then it no longer makes “eco-
nomic” sense to support that product. However, if
North America has morphed into a geographic mar-
Peter Bigelow ket made up of niche players, then by definition low-
is president and CEO volume consumption of specialty products is what
of IMI (imipcb.com); is needed to support that niche market. Cut those
pbigelow@imipcb. low-volume lines and the niche players perish. Over
com. His column
the past year alone, our company has received several
appears monthly.
“announcements” of discontinued or reformulated
lines due to low volume, putting considerable pres-
sure on finding satisfactory replacements – usually in
days rather than via a controlled phase-out. That pro-
cess is bad enough on a good day, but when suppliers
and potential suppliers have virtually no tech support
to provide needed information, the probability of suc-
cess drops dramatically.
22 PRINTED CIRCUIT DESIGN & FAB / CIRCUITS ASSEMBLY
Some suppliers really have vanished. In some
cases, distributors have abandoned our industry to
focus on larger or more lucrative markets. In some
cases, consolidation has reduced players. For whatever
reasons, however, the number of vendors seems to
have dropped. I say “seems” because, in some cases, it
depends on where you do business. For those outside
Asia, the numbers have dropped. Walk a trade show in
China, however, and you see many companies active
in the Asian markets that do not (and might never) sell
to the West. These companies may (or may not) have
a better product, but most likely do have a better price
point. In many ways those unknown companies are
more mirage than real, especially when they are not
in your country and you don’t speak their language.
So I keep asking myself, “Is anybody out there?”
and wonder, “If not, what is one to do?”
Maybe it’s we, the customer, who needs to go to
them – to remind them we are still in business, still
purchasing and still relying on a solid, committed
supply base. When you can speak with a sales or tech
support person, often you hear some comment like
“headquarters does not think there is a market for
….” In short, the powers that be, too often pencil-
pushers, don’t understand the implications of their
decisions on individual companies or an industry.
I’m not saying they are all that way, and not trying to
paint a picture of “us” vs. “them,” but possibly we,
the customer, are assuming that some suppliers have
lost touch with their customers.
Maybe fabricators should band together and pick
one week to visit their major suppliers’ top executives
and remind them of their importance in supporting
our industry in all geographic regions, large and
small. Maybe senior management needs to under-
stand that dropping a product can have devastating
implications for the fabricator, end-customer and
their own reputation. Maybe we need to remind some
suppliers that when a designer chooses a laminate
– and then finds it is no longer available – the likeli-
hood that that company’s laminate will be chosen the
next time is dramatically reduced.
I do think, however, the burden to remind the
supply base of the needs, requirements and value of
printed circuit board fabricators is now, more than
ever, the responsibility of each individual company,
especially the niche firms. And the message has to be
that while the numbers and relative size of remaining
companies have shrunk in Western markets, their
relative importance has not. That message has to be
communicated continuously to everyone with a stake
in providing materials and supplies.
Is anybody out there? Does anybody care? I’d like to
think that the answer to both questions is “yes.” PCD&F
july 2010

Rolling the Packaging Dice
No industry trends stayed secret at ECTC in Las Vegas.
In early June, almost 900 people gathered in Las
Vegas at the Electronic Components and Technol-
ogy Conference – not necessarily to seek fortunes
in the casinos, but to roll the dice on the next big
trend in the electronics industry. Bet correctly on the
right packaging and assembly trend, and revenues
will multiply; bet wrong by installing capacity for a
technology not in strong demand, and you could lose
it all. Given ASE COO Dr. Tien Wu’s prediction of
less than double-digit growth on the semiconductor
side, the backend packaging and assembly projects to
where the action will be.
Get med. The World Health Organization pre-
dicts that by 2025 more than 1.2 billion people will
be over 60 years old. Given such projections for an
aging population, medical electronics has tremen-
dous growth potential. In the field of imaging, the
US market is somewhat saturated for equipment
providing CT scans, ultrasounds, x-rays and MRI,
but portable medical devices such as defibrillators
and portable ultrasounds are experiencing strong
growth. Increased demand for implantable devices
is anticipated for infusions, pumps, pacemakers, and
even drug delivery systems. For these systems, minia-
turization is key, and lessons from today’s handhelds
segment may be applicable. One critical difference is
that, when one drops a cellphone and it stops work-
ing, one might be unhappy, but if a pacemaker stops
working, the user could be dead. Here, reliability
cannot be understated. With many components only
available with Pb-free finishes, companies must deter-
mine what strategy will be best to mitigate any issues.
Greater use of conformal coatings, underfill materi-
als, and encapsulants is anticipated.
Mobile architectures. The convergence of com-
puting and communication is clearly seen in the
mobile devices of today and tomorrow. Key themes
discussed in this year’s ECTC plenary session focused
on mobile processing architectures. The demand
for increased mobility, multimedia functions, con-
nectivity, and bandwidth is driving new technology
and infrastructure developments. Companies such
as RIM are increasingly focused on incorporating in
smartphones’ new features such as multimedia, navi-
gation, games, social networking, and productivity
enhancements. While many of today’s smartphones
use package-on-package (PoP), roadmaps include
the possibility of 3D through silicon via for memory
and processors. Cost remains a major focus in the
adoption of any new package architectures. The
introduction of Apple’s iPad calls into question how
future products will be designed – starting not with
the semiconductor and board layout, but instead with
july 2010
FOCUS ON BUSINESS
the user interface, screen, touch pad, and battery life.
Bright lights. With government mandates for the
switch to LED lighting, the market for high brightness
LEDs is expected to grow. Packaging and assembly of
high brightness LEDs is increasingly recognized as
critical in reducing product cost and enabling reliabil-
ity. Packaging has to satisfy requirements for form,
fit and function, but must also provide a conductive
thermal path for the heat and meet requirements for
optics. Improper heat dissipation can degrade materi-
als and impact the performance of the luminaries.
Lighting applications will provide an exciting area as
engineers solve challenges with material interactions.
3D TSV. The industry clearly has moved from
“PowerPoint engineering” to the hard work and chal-
lenges of materials science and real engineering in 3D
through silicon via. More than 50 of the approximate-
ly 323 papers at ECTC discussed 3D TSV, with most
discussing process improvements. Over the next year,
companies and research institutes will be saying less
and doing more to resolve manufacturing issues and
challenges associated with moving from R&D proj-
ects into commercialization. Improving yield is criti-
cal to meeting cost-reduction goals. Reliability data
should be forthcoming if development targets are met.
Assembly trends. With the price of gold hovering
around $1,200 per oz., many companies are riding
the wave of copper wire bonding. While there are still
technical challenges, much progress is being made and
cost is the driver. Examining the cost tradeoffs with
each technology is becoming increasingly important.
An increasing number of devices are transitioning
from wire bond to flip chip. Companies are looking
at finer pitch bumps and Pb-free solutions that will
work with new ultra low-k dielectric materials used
on the device. Many companies are interested in cop-
per pillar as a means to reduce cost. According to
STATS ChipPAC, the use of molded underfills for flip E. Jan
chip in strip format and designs to reduce substrate Vardaman
complexity have gained attention in the past year. is president
Wafer-level packaging remains an exciting topic, of TechSearch
and many ECTC papers examined improved reliabil- International
ity for mobile applications. Small diameter balls are (techsearchinc.com);
in production, and pitches as fine as 0.3 mm are gain- jan@techsearchinc.
ing acceptance. Fan-out WLPs are shipping in volume com. Her column
appears bimonthly.
production for high I/O parts. Capacity expansions
are underway and new developments are expected as
the technology is extended to stacking.
The remainder of the year promises to be exciting
for the backend assembly and packaging companies.
Equipment and materials sales are improving and
new challenges call for closer cooperation between
suppliers and users. CA
PRINTED CIRCUIT DESIGN & FAB / CIRCUITS ASSEMBLY 23
 Castellated/Half-Vias
The new “package of the day” requires modified paste layers.
Modules with castellated mounting holes are
showing up more and more these days. I’ve also
heard it called a “half-via” setup. Both seem to
fit. The copper mounting pads on the bottom of
the module’s little PCB wrap up the side of the
PCB with a half-via. Thus the name “half-via.” If
looked at from the base, the edge does look a bit
like the outline of the top of a castle wall, so that
makes sense too.
Whatever. The name isn’t that important. A
few things are important though, such as the land
pattern and solder deposition. I hadn’t heard any
special requirements for using this type of part
until recently, when I ran across a GPS receiver
module from ublox (u-blox.com). What they say
is that more solder is needed on the outside of
the pad than on the underside of the pad, so it
can properly wet up the half-via. That makes per-
fect sense. There are probably multiple ways of
doing this, but you can see their take on it in their
data sheet (Figure 1).
Obviously, follow the data sheet that comes
with your specific part, but if you don’t have any
official guidance and can’t get word from your part
manufacturer’s applications engineers, this method
might provide a hint. The copper land is just a
standard rectangle, as is the solder mask. The paste
layer, however, is not. It’s wider toward the outside
of the part. This will help create a proper fillet up
the via, while reducing the chance of solder balls
and other messy things that can happen when you
have too much solder under a part.
Duane Benson
is marketing manager
at Screaming Circuits
(screamingcircuits.
com); dbenson@
screamingcircuits.
com. His column
appears bimonthly.
Figure 1. Recommendation for solder deposition for a half-via. (Courtesy u-blox).
24 PRINTED CIRCUIT DESIGN & FAB / CIRCUITS ASSEMBLY
All that said, when did this become the pack-
age of the day? I haven’t seen what IPC has to say
about it yet, but these things are all over the place.
Our engineers and assembly folks are cool with it.
It’s not that tough to build, fortunately. But, as I
saw with the u-blox GPS part, there are new design
issues to contend with.
I can certainly see the advantages of the pack-
age. The half via can permit a good solid fillet,
providing good mechanical connection. They’re
typically a PCB-type substrate, so the coefficient of
expansion and flex strengths should be similar to
the underlying PCB. On the other hand, like with
an LGA (land grid array), the low profile after
soldering will tend to exacerbate an expansion or
flex risks.
If you happen to be in the business of creat-
ing modules that use this form factor, you can do
a few things to help designers and manufacturers
out. First, and most important, make sure to put
a good pickup place centered on the topside of the
module. It can be a metal EMI shield or a big part
with a nice flat surface. Either should work, but
without that pickup point, most manufacturers will
end up hand placing it and that doesn’t bode well
for high-volume use of the part. On the bottom,
put a decent sized pad along with the half-via. I’ve
seen some that just use the via’s annular ring. Don’t
do that. It doesn’t give enough room for a good
solder joint. PCD&F
july 2010
 cover story

Practical Design of Differential Vias

Suggestions for optimizing vias using circuit modeling.
by Eric Bogatin, Bert Simonovich, and Yazi Cao

Vias are a necessary evil in all multilayer circuit board
designs. While even a poorly designed via can be transparent
below 1 Gbps, for multi-gigabit links, vias can often repre-
sent the largest discontinuity and set the maximum bit rate
that can be transmitted in a link.
The process to implement a transparent via in a differen-
tial path is to match its impedance to 100 Ω and eliminate any
residual stub. Unfortunately, due to real-world constraints, it
is not often possible to achieve 100 Ω, and removing stubs
can be expensive. A practical approach is to do everything
that is free, and then simulate to see if the design will work.
If it will not, then it becomes worthwhile to pay for a closer
match to 100 Ω or for shorter stubs.
The first step is do the best possible in the via design.
Then comes the determination whether it is “good enough.”
This requires having an equivalent circuit model of the via
that can be incorporated in a system simulation. While one
approach is to use a 3D EM field solver to generate a behav-
ioral S-parameter model, this is sometimes expensive in time,
cost and expertise required.
An alternative is a scalable, topology-based equivalent
circuit model that accurately matches via behavior to a band-
width well above the application bandwidth, typically above
10 GHz. Here, we look at a very simple way of modeling a
differential via and translating its geometry into an equiva-
lent circuit model.
One approach is to use a 3D full wave field solver. This
approach will handle all arbitrary features of the vias, and
include all ranges of layers, plane separations and clearance
holes, offering the highest bandwidth and most accurate
analysis. But, the resulting answer is not scalable. It is a
behavioral model for the specific geometry selected, and must
be re-simulated for all variations to explore design space. It
also requires a high level of expertise and may sometimes
take a long time to get to the answer.
Another approach is to break each segment of the via
into small discrete inductance and capacitance elements
corresponding to each section of the barrel interacting with
the planes and with each other. It is difficult to achieve an
accurate result because the fields are inherently fringe field
dominated, and matching discrete elements to overlapping
fringe fields is difficult.
A third approach, described here, is to consider each via
segment – the through regions and stub regions – as uniform
differential transmission lines, and use a simple approxima-
tion to extract the differential impedance and time delay of
each section.

A Differential Via
All high-speed serial links route signals as differential pairs.
When the pair transitions from one layer to another, it does
so through a differential via (Figure 1). Of course, it is
always good practice to provide a “return” via adjacent to
each differential via, but this is to provide a low impedance
path for any common currents that might inadvertently be on
the differential pair.
The differential signal will not see the return via; it
will just see the two vias that make up the differential
pair. The challenge is translating the via geometry into an
equivalent circuit model that can then be integrated into a
channel simulation. Figure 1. A differential via.

july 2010 PRINTED CIRCUIT DESIGN & FAB / CIRCUITS ASSEMBLY 25

cover story
Figure 2. Equivalent circuit model of a differential via.
If the cross-section of the via is relatively constant
down its length through the board, the differential imped-
ance of all sections of the via will be the same. It only is
necessary to know the physical length of each segment
and the effective dielectric constant to get the time delay
of each segment.
This equivalent circuit model can be scaled for any
combination of layer transitions and integrated in any
channel simulation (Figure 2). When driven differentially,
the odd-mode parameters of each via are most important.
Since the even-mode parameters have no impact on differ-
ential performance, both odd and even-mode parameters
are set to the same values.
The challenge then is to calculate the differential
impedance of a differential via and the effective dielectric
constant, based on its geometry.
First Order Approximation
In the simplest approximation, a differential via can be
viewed as a pair of twin rods. The differential impedance
of the via barrels due to the loop inductance of the two
rods and the capacitance between them can be expressed as
(Eq. 1)
where
s = center to center separation of the vias
D = via outer diameter
Dk = bulk dielectric constant of the laminate
Anti-pad is the term commonly used for a clearance
hole in a copper layer to prevent shorting the via bar-
rel as it passes through each layer of copper plane in the
PCB. If the anti-pads are very large compared to the drill
diameter, the differential vias behave as a true twin rod
transmission line, and capacitance between the vias is
dominated by the fringe field coupling between the bar-
rels. However, if the anti-pads are small, there will be
extra fringe field coupling to each plane. This additional
distributed capacitance loads the via barrels, thereby
decreasing the differential impedance and increasing the
effective dielectric constant.
In the extreme case, the capacitance between one via
and the planes it passes through, the odd mode capaci-
26 PRINTED CIRCUIT DESIGN & FAB / CIRCUITS ASSEMBLY
tance, and can be roughly approximated by a coax geom-
etry. If the shape of the anti-pad is round, the single via
capacitance per length between the barrel and the planes
is given by
(Eq. 2)
where
D2 = diameter of the clearance hole
Len = length of the via
If the shape of the anti-pad is oval (Figure 3), the odd
mode capacitance of the barrel to the planes is approxi-
mated by
(Eq. 3)
where
a = length of the oval clearance hole
b = width of the oval clearance hole
The differential impedance of the vias will be between
the impedance given by the twin rods and the rods with cou-
pling to the planes, depending on the size of the anti-pads.
Including the capacitive loading from the fringe fields to
the anti-pads, the differential via impedance is approximately
(Eq. 4)
where
Dkavg = average value of Dkxy and Dkz
There is one additional real-world complication. Con-
ventional FR-4 laminates are fabricated with a weave of
fiberglass yarns and resin. While the bulk Dk is a function
of glass-to-resin ratio, it also depends on the direction of
the electric fields. Materials with a Dk that varies with
electric field direction are said to be anisotropic. In typi-
cal glass-resin laminates, the dielectric constant in the z
axis (Dkz), which is what signals on a stripline see, may
be 15-20% lower than the dielectric constant in the x-y
axis (Dkxy), which is what fringe field lines between the
via barrels might see.
As a slight correction for the anisotropic nature of the
glass-weave laminate, the average value of the DKxy and
Dkz should be used for Dkavg. If only the Dkz is known,
as is commonly found in spec sheets, the Dkxy value can
be taken as 1.18 x Dkz.
Effective Dk from Capacitive Loading of Via
Barrels
The differential signal
is slowed slightly as it
passes through via bar-
rels by the excess capaci-
tive loading of the fringe
fields between the via
barrels and planes it pass-
es through. This can be
described with an effec-
tive Dk higher than the
average bulk Dk.
One way of estimating Figure 3. Oval-shaped anti-pad.
july 2010

this effective Dk is to take the ratio of
the odd mode capacitance of the anti-
pad to the odd mode capacitance of the
twin rod geometry and multiplying by
the average Dk
(Eq. 5)
In all cases, the effective Dk will be
larger than the average Dk in the xy
and z directions.
Test Vehicle
A simple 26 layer test structure rep-
resentative of a thick backplane design
was fabricated to compare the mea-
sured impedance with the simulated
impedance. It consisted of two differ-
ential via pairs separated by 6˝ of 100
Ω stripline differential pairs (Figure 4).
To explore the impact of the stub
length and the through path of the via,
three different stripline connections
were fabricated: on layer 2, on layer
10 and on layer 20. This created via
structures with long, intermediate and
short length via stubs. A cross-section
was performed to measure the actual
length of the through and stub portion
of the respective vias (Figure 5).
The differential vias had the fol-
lowing common parameters:
Via drill diameter; D = 0.028˝
Center to center pitch; s = 0.059˝
Anti-pad dimensions = 0.053˝ x 0.073˝
Dkz of the laminate = 3.65
Anisotropy in Dkxy = 18%
The simple model for the differen-
tial impedance and effective Dk pre-
dicts this differential via will have
values of
Zdiff = 63.4 Ω
Dkeff = 6.8
Agilent ADS software was used to
compare the measured and simulated
performance of differential channels
Figure 4. Test vehicle sketch.
july 2010
cover story
Simulate
on this test vehicle. The trace widths,
spacing and dielectric thickness were
actual values as measured through
Better.
cross-sectioning of the test vehicle. The
manufacturer’s published values for
bulk Dk and loss tangent were used to
complete the parameter definition.
The comparison between the mea-
Validate
sured and simulated results of the
insertion loss and TDR response for
the three via stub cases using this
Easier.
simple approximation methodology is
summarized in Figure 6. The agree-
ment is seen as excellent, even up to
12 GHz.
This simple model accounts for
the discontinuity of the long through
section and the long stub section. The
predicted stub resonant frequencies
match the measured frequencies very
well, and the TDR plot shows excellent
impedance matching and delay. This
suggests a simple approximation for
effective dielectric constant and differ-
ential impedance is perfectly adequate
in providing a quick and accurate
model for long differential vias typi-
cally used in backplane applications.
Exploring Design Space
This simple analytic approximation for
differential vias can be used to explore
design space. The design goal for a
transparent via is to match its imped-
ance to 100 Ω for most systems, and 85
NI Multisim 11.0 for Circuit Design
Ω for PCIe gen2 systems.
For a given drilled barrel diameter, n
Enhanced Visualization
and a given pitch for the two vias, we n
Expanded Component Database
can estimate the impact from the anti-
pad clearance hole, and the hole size n
Customizable Simulation
needed for a transparent via. Analyses
The anti-pad size is most often n
Complete Prototype Design with
determined by two factors. First, the NI Ultiboard Layout
industry standard requires the mini-
mum anti-pad diameter to be 0.024
in. larger than the drill diameter, and
second, we want to ensure there is as
much copper on the reference planes as >> Evaluate Multisim 11.0 at
ni.com/multisim
800 263 5552
©2009 National Instruments. All rights reserved. National Instruments, NI,
and ni.com are trademarks of National Instruments. Other product and
Figure 5. Cross-section of through company names listed are trademarks or trade names of their respective
companies. 1Prices subject to change. 0691
and stub portion of the respective vias.
PRINTED CIRCUIT DESIGN & FAB / CIRCUITS ASSEMBLY 27
cover story

Figure 7. Differential via impedance vs. anti-pad diameter.

Bibliography
Figure 6. Comparison of measured and simulated results 1. L. Simonovich, E. Bogatin and Y. Cao, “Method of Modeling Differen-
of the insertion loss and TDR response for tested via stubs. tial Vias,” white paper, April 2009.
2. E. Bogatin, L. Simonovich, C. Warwick and S. Gupta, “Practical Analy-
sis of Backplane Vias,” DesignCon, February 2009.
possible to maintain good power and signal integrity for the
signal traces on the adjacent layers. Eric Bogatin, Ph.D., is a signal integrity expert and founder
For a given pitch between vias, the round anti-pad diam- of Be The Signal (bethesignal.com); eric@bethesignal.com.
eter can grow to the same dimension as the center-to-center Lambert (Bert) Simonovich is with Lamsim Enterprises
spacing between vias before they overlap. Increasing the anti- (lamsimenterprises.com), and Yazi Cao is a postdoctoral
pad diameter beyond this point starts to impede on routing fellow in the Carleton University Department of Electronics.
real estate. Therefore, the design space to set the anti-pad
size will be bound to Drill + 024˝ minimum to the via pitch
dimension maximum.
Figure 7 shows the predicted differential impedance for
a via pair, with a drill diameter of 0.015˝, and pitch of 0.050˝,
0.075˝ and 0.100˝, as the round anti-pad is increased.
This suggests that for a differential via at 0.050˝ pitch and
maximum anti-pad diameter of 0.050˝; the best this geometry
can do is 90 Ω. It is only after increasing the pitch to 0.075˝
would the same geometry achieve 100 Ω. Increasing the pitch
beyond 0.075˝ requires the anti-pad diameter to decrease to
0.044˝ to reach 100 Ω.
For an 85 Ω system, the 0.050˝ pitch will achieve trans-
parency quite nicely with an anti-pad diameter of 43 mils. At
0.075˝ and 0.100˝, the via geometry cannot reach the target
impedance because the anti-pad diameter has reached the
minimum diameter of 0.039˝ for the 0.015˝ drill size.

Conclusions
Of course this approximation is offered as a rough start-
ing place to quickly estimate the expected performance of
differential vias. If analysis using this model shows the via
plays a dominant role in the channel performance, and the
performance is not “good enough,” it is then worthwhile to
invest the effort in using a 3D full wave model to perform a
more accurate analysis and reduce the design margin needed
for a robust product.
If this approximation shows that the optimized via has
little impact on the channel performance, however, then it
may be of greater value to invest effort in fixing other, more
important problems, which will always arise in multi-gigabit
systems. PCD&F

28 PRINTED CIRCUIT DESIGN & FAB / CIRCUITS ASSEMBLY july 2010


Are Your PCB Data
Unprepared?
Changes to the design by non-designers usually result in
unforeseen failures. by Jeff Champa
A February article by Jack Olson and Mike Tucker titled
“PCB Data Preparation” (http://pcdandf.com/cms/maga-
zine/209/6996) spurred me to elaborate on a few items from
the designer’s perspective.
It is true that often a designer does not want the fabricator
to modify the PCB data file. We have a note similar to the one
mentioned in the article:
DATA MAY NOT BE MODIFIED WITHOUT WRITTEN
APPROVAL
I believe our version is a little more practical. We call it Note
23. We put it on every PCB print, always as Note 23. Note 23 reads
as follows:
MODIFICATION TO COPPER WITHIN THE PCB OUTLINE
IS NOT ALLOWED WITHOUT WRITTEN PERMISSION FROM
MOREY ENGINEERING, EXCEPT WHERE NOTED OTHERWISE
ON PRINT. MANUFACTUER MAY MAKE ADJUSTMENTS TO
COMPENSATE FOR MANUFACTURING PROCESS, BUT THE
FINAL PCB IS REQUIRED TO REFLECT THE ASSOCIATED GER-
BER FILE DESIGN +/-0.001 IN. FOR ETCHED FEATURES WITHIN
THE PCB OUTLINE.
This makes it clear to the fabricator that it can smooth
geometry, perform edge compensation, etc., to make the fabri-
cation process reliable. It is also clear that the designer requires
the copper in the final product to match the Gerber files.
The real motivation behind Note 23 is simple: to send any
given PCB design to more than one fabricator and get the same
result. Most companies probably always fabricate the PCB for
a given project with the same fabricator for consistency, but
what happens if the fabricator goes out of business or is pur-
chased by a competitor, or begins having quality issues? You
may be forced to change your PCB fabricator, a messy business
for many reasons. It’s even worse when boards from a differ-
ent fabricator do not function the same way. If the fabricator
follows the designer’s print and the PCB does not function
properly, the responsibility lies with the designer for not hav-
ing a complete and accurate description of their own design.
How can you verify you actually get what you asked
for? It is true, as Olson and Tucker mention, that a designer
should establish a good relationship with their PCB fabricator,
which includes working to communicate one’s own needs and
july 2010
dff
process, and to understand the fabricator’s needs and process.
Note 23 is another step in the right direction. If the fabricator
finds an error, the last thing you as the designer want them
to do is to fix it without telling you. Given the chance to fix
the problem, the designer will eliminate the possibility that
another fabricator fixes the problem differently (resulting in a
different final PCB) or, worse, fails to identify the problem and
builds nonfunctional PCBs.
Another move is to work with the board fabricator to get it
to provide individual layers of the PCB any time it changes the
fabrication files. What would you do with individual layers?
From experience, I can say that most of the time, if everything
goes well, they will collect dust. If you do need them, however,
you will not be able to get them after the fact.
Individual layers permit observation of differences in the
copper in the PCB from different fabricators or from one design
revision to the next. Let’s say the customer is having field fail-
ures and cannot determine the problem. It will go to its contract
manufacturer for proof of the integrity of every component in
their product. Generally for the PCB, all the EMS firm can do is
provide the first-article inspection (a piece of paper), and cross-
section the PCB and verify the layer stackup, neither of which
can reveal whether the copper on each layer inside the board
was fabricated per the design. From a contract manufacturer’s
perspective, the individual PCB layers can help the customer
determine if the board was fabricated per its design.
Another big tradeoff is controlled impedance versus
designed impedance. Controlled impedance is the practice of
specifying specific traces on a PCB must be a certain imped-
ance, and leaving it to the fabricator to adjust the design as
necessary to get the specified result. (The adjustment typically
includes trace widths and PCB material thicknesses.) Designed
impedance is when the designer specifies the PCB stackup and
trace widths to get the desired impedance.
As an engineer, controlled impedance can be scary. You
have given control of critical PCB parameters to the fabricator.
The fabricator could change the manufacturing parameters
on the fly without notification based on its currently available
material. The advantage is that you (could) receive a lower
price, but at the cost of losing control over the design. This
PRINTED CIRCUIT DESIGN & FAB / CIRCUITS ASSEMBLY 29
 DfF

could be OK, provided the design is simple and can permit this ance as reference only, and include the data on the first-article
variation. Complex designs usually mean less design headroom inspection. The latter permits more design control with the
and lower tolerance for change. same check and balance in place to ensure proper impedance
Let’s say you have a design that incorporates several fine- has been realized.
pitch BGAs connected by an address/data bus that requires The point here is that a good designer will take full respon-
impedance A, and you have a few RF traces that require sibility for the design. No one, for any reason, should alter that
impedance B that route to antennae fabricated right on the design except the designer. The designer knows why every-
PCB. The PCB complexity is now at six to eight layers, and the thing is the way it is. Changing a design without the designer
designer has the option to specify each “important” trace on will usually result in unforeseen failures. Example: The PCB
the PCB and its impedance (controlled impedance), or specify manufacturer removes nonfunctional pads around a via on
the trace widths and PCB stackup (designed impedance). With innerlayers because they are electrically nonfunctional. Result:
The structural integrity of
the via is compromised
when the end-product is
subjected to stress testing.
A fabricator that can provide its “secret sauce” is great,
How would the fabrica-
but be ready to lock into that supplier, because every tor know that the little bit
fabricator’s recipe is different. Is that a risk you want to take? of extra structural integ-
rity of the via is needed
for the product to pass
HALT (highly accelerated
life testing)?
controlled impedance, the fabricator would be responsible for We work on products every day that are successfully sub-
the impedance and would measure it to verify and put the data jected to thermal shock rates of 50°C per minute temperature
on the first-article inspection. With designed impedance PCBs, change, between -40° and +85°C, while experiencing random
the designer could ask the fabricator to measure the imped- vibration levels of 30G. The best solution in this situation
is Note 23. This forces the fabricator to consult with the
designer. Feedback from the fabricator then gets incorporated
directly into the design. This process makes the design better
Better Manufacturing, continued from p. 38 and hopefully minimizes any room for error. The designer
have been reduced to practice in a meaningful way. Employee must be in total control of the design.
development is a long-term investment too often sacrificed It is great to have a fabricator that can provide its “secret
during tough financial times. This is a mistake. sauce” to make the design work, but be ready to get locked
Strong, vibrant leadership is the last key component, into that supplier, because another fabricator’s recipe will be
the glue that holds all this together, as well as a catalyst to different. As a designer, is that a risk you want to take? Is that
make the organization more effective. Great leaders show a risk you want to take with your product? Is that a risk you
their mettle under fire. There is a marked difference between want to take with your business? PCD&F
leading and managing. Managers, by definition, manage, or
react to situations after they arise. In stark contrast, leaders
exercise a more predictive, anticipatory approach to their
responsibilities, which always has the team moving forward
in sync with the overall organizational strategy. All too often, Jeff Champa is department head, development engineering
people are put into leadership positions because they had at Morey Corp. (moreycorp.com); jchampa@moreycorp.com.
historically been a great doer, a great problem-solver. But are
they a great problem avoider? The leader is truly a catalyst,
employing an effective organizational structure that fosters
timely, penalty-free communication and has interlocked and
cascaded SMART goals: specific, measurable, attainable,
realistic and timely. Since people respect what you inspect,
these goals link directly to a handful of bellwether metrics,
from which the pulse of the operation can always be taken.
Many strategies can be incorporated into an organiza-
tion’s operating plan. Execution and the tools to enable
execution are the missing link. The proper balance between
a well-defined strategy and an effective execution plan will
form the foundation for a culture of continuous improvement.
One without the other is counterproductive. Once this culture
takes root, however, and the entire organization’s efforts are
synchronized and catalyzed, the result is unstoppable. CA

30 PRINTED CIRCUIT DESIGN & FAB / CIRCUITS ASSEMBLY July 2010


Why It is Necessary to Change
the IC ESD Target Specification Levels
After 20 “static” years, more realistic measures are needed.
by DR. Charvaka Duvvury, Dr. Harald Gossner and Dr. Jeremy Smallwood
In the late 1970s, with the advent of large-scale integra-
tion (LSI), ESD started to become a problem. Electronics
manufacturing companies soon started to implement ESD
control programs. At first, there was little information
sharing and no ESD control standardization. Early stan-
dards focused on ESD risks from people and on ESD
protective packaging. Standards for ESD control items,
such as wrist straps, work surfaces and flooring followed
as improvements to ESD control materials and equipment
were made. In 1999, the ANSI/ESD S20.20-1999 standard
for ESD process control was published. A third-party cer-
tification program was established to demonstrate compli-
ance with the standard. Eight years later, updated versions
of the ANSI/ESD S20.20-2007 and IEC 61340-5-1:2007
standards were published. Facilities compliant with these
standards expect to be able to handle devices down to
100V for the Human Body Model (HBM) without signifi-
cant problems. In this context, adding ESD protection to
bring device ESD withstand to 2kV HBM seems to be a
case of over-engineering.
In the early days, devices had relatively small numbers
of pins and were assembled largely using manual pro-
cesses in relatively uncontrolled ESD environments. The
likelihood of large amplitude HBM ESD events occurring
to pins was relatively high. Over time, the number of
device pins has increased dramatically, as has the level
of manufacturing automation. Many devices can only
be assembled in automated manufacturing systems, and
ESD control has greatly improved. The likelihood of
large amplitude HBM ESD has significantly reduced in
these manufacturing processes. However, the number of
protection networks required, and chip area they occupy,
has grown along with pin count. Device ESD susceptibil-
ity test time and difficulty has increased correspondingly.
When devices fail to meet the targets, the price of rede-
sign can mean months of delay to product introduction.
The ESD targets are particularly difficult to meet on high
performance (e.g., low leakage or high-speed) pins. ESD
protection networks add capacitance and leakage paths.
At 45 nm and 32 nm technology, 18 Gb/s cannot be met
july 2010
esd
with 2kV ESD protection, but can be with 1kV or less.
The potential benefits of reduced ESD target levels
are clear. These include savings in design time and effort,
faster release of production devices, accelerated and easier
improvements in device performance and reduced chip
area occupied by ESD protection networks.
Since the mid 1980s, it has been industry practice to
supply ICs with ESD protection, where possible, to meet
2kV HBM ESD. While IC suppliers make every effort
to meet these established ESD target levels, customers
tend to expect these same levels without exception for
product qualification. There is really no concern from
either side, as long as these de facto levels are met. How-
ever, many quality and product engineers observe, with
increasing frequency, that the advanced IC products have
been encountering product qualification delays at every
advanced technology node. At the same time, numerous
products have been shipped with ESD protection on some
pins at lower levels (after agreement with customers) to
achieve desired performance. Despite this, field return
rates have not been observed to be different from the
products shipped at, or exceeding, the normal target ESD
levels. These observations clearly indicate the target ESD
levels must be considerably higher than necessary. Even
more important, it leads to the conclusion that these lev-
els could be universally reduced with no outside impact,
while allowing the design freedom necessary to meet the
technology advances.
Consolidated studies. To investigate and establish
the true nature of these initial observations, a consor-
tium of ESD experts known as the Industry Council on
ESD Target Levels was launched in 2006. This council
mainly consists of IC suppliers, consultants, contract
manufacturers, and OEMs. It conducted massive studies
on the existing ESD control methods and their relation
to field return rates of IC products shipped at differ-
ent ESD levels. The main conclusion was that with the
basic mandatory ESD control methods practiced at every
production area, products shipped at 500V HBM design
levels are just as safe as products shipped at 2kV HBM
PRINTED CIRCUIT DESIGN & FAB / CIRCUITS ASSEMBLY 31
ESD

levels. This is a clear confirmation that the current 2kV important subject, but should not be tied to component
HBM target is an over-specification and that reducing ESD levels.
this to 1kV should not have any impact on the customer Without these common goals, IC technology will con-
qualification requirements. tinue to run into roadblocks during ESD qualification.
With the introduction of recommendations on more With a common approach and better communication, a
practical, but still safe ESD protection target levels, some balanced ESD strategy can be achieved. The most impor-
customers naturally show concern that there could be hid- tant initial step is to remove the barriers by recognizing
den impact on the reliability of the whole system itself. That that new ESD level changes are urgently needed.
is, while product yields may be unaffected, systems using
these components might start showing unexpected failures
in operation due to reduced ESD immunity. First, this con- References
cern arises from a misconception that the HBM component 1. JEP155, Recommended Target Levels for HBM/MM
ESD test method represents the stresses that happen in Qualification, esdtargets.blogspot.com.
a system environment where ESD transients are actually 2. JEP157, A Case for Lowering Component Level CDM
remarkably different in nature. Second, the data gathered ESD Specifications and Requirements, esdtargets.blogspot.
com.
by the Industry Council did not show any evidence of
increased return rates from customer applications at 500V
compared to 2kV HBM rated parts. The second fact natu-
rally follows from the arguments from the first. The third,
and most important, point is that electronics systems in
Dr. Charvaka Duvvury of Texas Instruments (ti.com)
operation require special protection strategy independent and Dr. Harald Gossner of Infineon Technologies
of the component-level ESD protection. Component-level (infineon.com) are co-chairs of the ESD Industry Council
protection is driven solely by the need to prevent damage (esdtargets.blogspot.com); c-duvvury@ti.com. Dr. Jeremy
during handling in the production area. So, component- Smallwood is a consultant at Electrostatic Solutions Ltd.
level protection changes should not warrant a concern for (static-sol.com).
system-level protection, provided the proper system protec-
tion is designed and followed. These same arguments also
apply for Electrical Overstress (EOS) failures, which are
independent of component-level ESD protection. All of
these observations have been fully documented in a white
paper published by the Industry Council.1
Epilogue: Since publication of the recommended
HBM target levels, the Industry Council also has con-
ducted detailed studies of charged device model (CDM
levels). As a complement to HBM, CDM represents metal
to metal discharge from the package leads and is an
important ESD specification. For CDM, the industry de
facto standard has been 500V. However, rapid advances
in silicon technologies, high-speed circuit designs and
IC package advances are making it virtually impossible

Get
to meet this level for many of the large pin devices with
high-speed serial link designs at the 45 and 32 nm nodes.

your
Similar to HBM for human handling, production area
CDM controls to prevent metal to metal discharges have
progressed far enough to safely recommend lowering this

daily dose
target to 250V.2 Both HBM and CDM requirements have
been documented as JEDEC white papers.
The time has come for ESD target levels to be
changed for the sake of the industry. IC suppliers should
always guarantee the recommended minimum ESD levels
are achieved. Electronics system manufacturers should of PCB industry news and views.
diligently follow ESD control methods, according to
standards such as IEC 61340-5-1 and ANSI/ESD S20.20, Subscribe to PCB UPdate
www.pcbupdate.com
to prevent ESD damage during component handling and
assembly in production areas. A general appeal is made
to IC customers to keep component ESD protection level
requirements at a realistic perspective and adopt the rec- The daily e-mail newsletter filled with
ommended new ESD target levels. news and resources for PCB design,
The Industry Council intends to publish a new white fab and assembly professionals
paper on effective system-level protection. This is an

32 PRINTED CIRCUIT DESIGN & FAB / CIRCUITS ASSEMBLY july 2010

 component placement

High Accuracy 01005 Placement

Using laser alignment and novel placement force control,

accuracy of 50 µm at 4-Sigma is achievable.
by Satoshi Kataoka and Eric Klaver

To place 01005 components, the pick process must be very index motion. By controlling the tape movement using accel-
stable. As component spacing will be very narrow, the pickup eration and deceleration profiles, the component will remain
point of the nozzle must be in the center of the component. stable in its cavity. An additional benefit of handling tapes
Although the component can be picked and aligned successfully with care is to reduce the effects of static electricity and the
when the nozzle is off-center, the nozzle offset (Figure 1) can amount of paper dust when separating the cover tape from
result in placement offsets, or may interfere with an already- its carrier. Static electricity affects the position in the tape
placed neighboring component. (disappearing, tilting, rotating component, etc.). Paper dust
Relatively large 8 mm wide tapes are not suitable for influences the overall quality of the end-product, as it can
01005 components. Today, a 4 mm antistatic embossed tape diminish solderability.
with a 1 mm pitch is quickly becoming standard. To ensure the complete process is under control, the first step
The tape must be accurately positioned for a success- is to pick the component with a controlled force, avoiding pos-
ful 01005 pick, but sible component damage. Advanced algorithms can take mea-
the type of packag- surements and compare them against a measured “blueprint” to
ing is becoming a ensure every pick is performed with controlled low forces.
determining factor Laser alignment can determine whether a 01005 com-
for successful pick- ponent is attached to the nozzle on-edge or tombstoned,
and-placement. particularly important for (flatter) resistors (Figure 2). Non-
Feeders in a parallel contact positional feedback of components determines posi-
pick-and-place sys- tion and dimensions by collecting and analyzing the shadows
tem have a longer (Figure 3). Laser alignment unit also can detect continuous
index time without presence to ensure a component stays in its correct placement
reducing output. position until the nozzle moves down to place it.
The longer index A number of tests checked the capability of the compo-
Figure 1. Nozzle offset while time gives more nent laser alignment unit. A 01005 resistor component was
placing 01005 components. time to control the first measured 100 times using the same setting. The results

Figure 2. A laser alignment unit can determine whether a 01005 component is attached to the nozzle on-edge or is tombstoned.

july 2010 PRINTED CIRCUIT DESIGN & FAB / CIRCUITS ASSEMBLY 33

 component placement
Figure 3. Shadow projections provide noncontact high-
speed positional feedback on components.
Figure 4. The moment of impact is followed by a dwell
placement force.
showed a standard deviation of less than 1 µm. Next, over
500 different 01005 resistors were measured with a length
deviation of 0.0239 mm and width deviation of 0.0243 mm
(both at 3-Sigma over 500 components). Length and width
values are slightly larger than component specification, as
the measurement on the component outline included leads,
which are slightly swelled.
34 PRINTED CIRCUIT DESIGN & FAB / CIRCUITS ASSEMBLY
Placement force definition. There are two parts to
placement force: the moment of impact, followed immediately
by a dwell placement force (Figure 4). For 01005 placement,
low, accurate and stable placement force control is crucial.
The smaller the area of contact between the nozzle tip and
component, the higher the stress on the component. The best
placement force of 01005 chips is 2 N or lower (but check
component vendor specifications).
A typical conventional placement action comprises
the following:
1. The nozzle with component moves downward at the maxi-
mum allowed speed and decelerates when the component
bottom reaches a defined “search” height, which is well
defined above the surface of the boards.
2. The nozzle with the component then moves down at
“search speed” until it has reached a position a little lower
than the PCB surface (“over-travel”), to ensure the compo-
nent is placed.
3. The dwell force is controlled by a mechanical spring, which
is compressed to the defined length (over-travel length).
This is normally defined with reference to the assumed
board height.
Most systems use this method, but it does not guaran-
tee successful 01005 placement. A better method is to have
no impact force, with the force instead built up toward the
required dwell force (also known as static force).
Placement dwell force. On conventional systems, the
length of the mechanical spring determines the placement
dwell force according to:
july 2010

Figure 5. Correct detection of contact with the PCB.
Fplacement = Fpretention + zC
Where C is the spring factor (gr/mm) and z is the over-
travel length (mm). For 01005 components, both the spring
factor and over-travel length should be very small due to the
required placement force and dwell force. The dwell force
can vary considerably because the actual compression of the
spring is influenced by:
■■ PCB height differences.
july 2010
component placement
■■ PCB warp.
■■ PCB stiffness/elasticity (or correct board support).
■■ Transport parallelism.
■■ Condition of the mechanical spring.
Reliable placement and consistent dwell force demand
the decoupling of all these factors from the placement
force control process. Instead of a conventional mechanical
spring, we believe an advanced Z-servo mechanism is supe-
rior. A closed-loop active placement force control process
achieves the required placement dwell and force regardless
of component type, PCB type, or condition of PCB, warp
and transport system.
During the first part of a placement action, the Z-axis of
the placement head moves downward at high speed. When
it arrives at the “search zone,” the speed is reduced to the
search speed (Figure 5). Then the downward motion contin-
ues until contact with the board is detected.
The collision detection mechanism filters out false col-
lision signals, but ensures a component is placed, even if
the board was lower than expected (e.g., negative warp).
Throughout its lifetime, it records all placements and alerts
the operator if behavior may influence placement quality.
The collision detection mechanism records a surface map
of the PCB, permitting all subsequent placements to be
made at higher speed by reducing the search area, even
with 3D mounting.
As mentioned, algorithms measure force using the real-
time and closed-loop placement mechanism, and compare it
against a blueprint value – a placement profile description
PRINTED CIRCUIT DESIGN & FAB / CIRCUITS ASSEMBLY 35
 component placement
Figure 6. Comparing placement
against a blueprint value.
(Figure 6). When the nozzle rises, the
velocity is high enough to break the
contact between nozzle tip and com-
ponent to prevent components from
being retained on the nozzle. Monitor-
ing systems check whether the com-
ponent has detached from the nozzle
tip immediately after placement. This
quality check filters out behavior that
does not meet the blueprint value and
warns the operator.
Placement force control test. To
ensure quality and reliability of the
placement force, measurements were
taken in a “worst case” scenario. Mea-
surements were performed on a rigid
aluminum substrate. A piezoelectric
force sensor was bolted on the board
and components were directly picked
and placed onto the sensor at default
search and collision speed, identical
to real production speed. Components
Figure 8. One batch of 01005 components was placed (left), with a second batch placed between the first, picked from a
different reel and using a different robot (right).
36 PRINTED CIRCUIT DESIGN & FAB / CIRCUITS ASSEMBLY
Figure 7. Shape of nozzle tip new (left) and after 20 million pick-and-place actions.
are not placed on tape or, as in a real
production process, on paste, as these
act as a shock absorber.
One test used the same nozzle on
several placement heads and placement
robots to check for repeatability. The
test confirmed that the A-Series place-
ment force control system achieves
accurate, stable, and repeatable place-
ment force, even after 20 million picks
(Figure 7).
Component pitch is key for 01005
components. For 80 µm component
pitch, for example, the minimum accu-
racy must be 40 µm, even excluding
rotational offset.
Pick-and-place suppliers typically
define accuracy to IPC-9850 stan-
dards, which defines repeatability as
the machine accuracy. However, that
standard does not represent the true
pick-and-place performance in a real
production environment. (Repeatabil-
ity gives the deviation at one location
only). Typically, pick-and-place equip-
ment accuracy is influenced by:
■■ Movement of boards through the
machine.
■■ Measurement of board fiducials or
artwork.
■■ Measurement of the component.
■■ Placement of the component.
Each step introduces a number of
variables that influence accuracy. Each
variable will contribute an error that
affects the mean offset of the varia-
tion from the mean. Per IPC-9850,
the specifications for characterizing
accuracy are:
■■ Repeatability for X, Y and Rz devia-
tions, defined at the center of the
component.
■■ CpK 1.33 specification limits for X,
Y, and Rz.
july 2010

■■This specification limit consists of:
■■ The mean or average value repre-
senting the systematic errors (e.g.,
calibration residues).
■■ Repeatability, related to inciden-
tal errors that occur in the pick-
and-place process, specified at
4-Sigma level.
Based on the criteria above, in
company testing, the A-Series achieved
accuracy of 50 µm @ 4-Sigma and 40
µm @ 3-Sigma, including rotation.
A test placed 72 01005 components
between another 72 previously placed,
with pitches of 50 µm. The board was
thus processed twice by the machine,
with the second batch of components
Figure 9. A 12 x 12 grid of 01005 placements at 50 µm with alternating angles.
july 2010
component 6/15/10
Circuit Assembly-794-0710 placement
9:56 AM Page 1
picked from a different reel and placed
by a different robot. The components
were perfectly placed, with no defects
(Figure 8).
In recent tests on an AX-501 sys-
tem, a large contract manufacturer ran
12 boards with 01005 resistors and
capacitors, totaling 1152 placements
per board. Components were placed in
eight 1 2 x 12 grids, each at 0°, 90°,
180° or 270° and 50 µm or 100 µm
pitch (Figure 9).
After each three boards were
completed, the operator stopped the
machine, unloaded the reels, reloaded
the reels on a different feeder and
started the machine again. After the
full 12 boards, all components were
correctly picked and placed without
any defects. CA
Satoshi Kataoka is production
manager, Assembléon Asia Pacific,
and Eric Klaver is commercial product
manager, Assembléon (assembleon.
com); satoshi.kataoka@philips.com.
800-556-3484
www.nordsonefd.com/ads/ca-0710
PRINTED CIRCUIT DESIGN & FAB / CIRCUITS ASSEMBLY 37
BETTER MANUFACTURING
The Missing Link
Continuous improvement relies on a balance between well-defined strategy and
effective execution.
Pick up any industry trade magazine or attend any
conference and you invariably are exposed to the
current slate of “hot topics”: Consolidation. Merger.
Acquisition. Vertical integration. NADCAP, AS9100,
ISO 13485 certification. New materials, new process-
es, new equipment. Reliability and quality. Low-cost
geography. Quick turn. Intellectual property.
All are valid and valuable strategic elements. Yet,
it has been said that vision – or in this case, strat-
egy – without action is nothing more than dreams.
But when you thoughtfully merge vision and action,
the result is real, meaningful progress. So in today’s
wild and changing environment, how do we turn
these important strategic initiatives into world-class
progress by effectively merging this vision and urgent
action? What is the execution plan?
This author believes there are three key compo-
nents to this vision/action merger: the growth of an
effective Lean Six Sigma methodology forming the
foundation of a culture of continuous improvement,
the embrace of a vital and vibrant employee develop-
ment program, and the presence of an effective lead-
ership structure and system.
The various Lean methods and Six Sigma prob-
lem-solving techniques have been well documented,
and need not be discussed here in great detail. But to
any degreed engineer, a large part of the Six Sigma
toolkit is what was originally taught to us as “The
Scientific Method.” The Scientific Method was the
cornerstone of every science class in high school and
college. So, if these methods are so common and so
well known, what’s the big deal? It is that the meth-
ods are not followed due to a fundamental lack of
problem-solving discipline and the quest to put out
the latest fire. Often, these fires are only superficially
solved, left smoldering, waiting to flare again, since
the true root cause was never identified and subse-
quently extinguished. Human nature is to deal with
what will get you shot today, and a problem that
went away will not get you shot (at least not today).
James Fuller That being the case, the Six Sigma structure and
is vice president, methodology is genuinely valuable because it drives
development at a set of problem-solving methods and disciplines
Endicott Interconnect that value true root cause analysis, and thus prevents
Technologies (eitny. problem recurrence. These tools and techniques foster
com); jfuller@eitny. a data-based decision-making culture via broad use of
com. statistical process control, well designed experiments,
automated statistical analysis tools, and the use of
Ishikawa fishbone diagrams and the “Five Why’s”
for root cause analysis. Once a problem is solved,
the proper controls are put in place, and that specific
problem should never happen again. You never want
to buy the same real estate twice.
Lean methodology is also critical, especially in
38 PRINTED CIRCUIT DESIGN & FAB / CIRCUITS ASSEMBLY
manufacturing settings where a constantly changing
product mix will quickly obsolete run rules aimed
at maximizing efficiency. The variable product mix
issues are amplified by new product introduction and
their aggressive schedules. As such, setup reduction
and lot size optimization are constant challenges
and critically important, perfect applications of the
Lean tools, including manufacturing associate-driven
kaizen events. Lean methods, including 5S and work
cell standardization, will always help improve factory
efficiency, optimize overall throughput, and set the
stage for effective Six Sigma tool use.
One of the beneficial improvements driven by
Lean implementation is cycle time reduction. Cycle
time reduction obviously is desirable to customers;
shorter lead times are regularly used as a competi-
tive tool in the sales force arsenal. But the operations
team loves cycle time reduction too. A shorter build
cycle time means more cycles of learning available
per quarter, which accelerate iterative yield learning.
Similarly, in the event of the unavoidable process
problem, shorter cycle times reduce mean time to
detection, and minimize the amount of work in pro-
cess that may be affected. (Of course, reduced cycle
times also are attractive to the CFO, for cash preser-
vation reasons.)
Many of these initiatives start with a flourish, but
then settle into a business-as-usual approach, espe-
cially if the initiative is treated as a program, rather
than a new way of life. To cement these tools in the
organization, one needs a comprehensive training
system to proliferate these tools, with a situational
delivery method to accommodate different incoming
skill levels. A haphazard education system that results
in a cultural backslide will be exceptionally discour-
aging to those who enthusiastically volunteered a few
short months ago. Manufacturing teammates want
to do a better job and want to be more involved,
and if education and problem-solving participation is
dangled in front of them without a sustainable system
for 100% inclusion, the result will be far worse than
before the start of the initiative. I’ll reiterate: this is
not a program, but a process aimed at sustainable,
continuous improvement. The employee develop-
ment program cannot simply offer single-ended Lean
or Six Sigma training. A truly effective program will
address a wide variety of topics within the three
skill sets: job content skills, transferable skills and
self-management skills. All three must be collectively
addressed with the individual’s personal readiness
taken into account, and the resultant training must
be immediately put to use on the production floor so
that the skills are not merely theoretical in nature, but
(continues on p. 30)
july 2010

No Leftovers
Residual flux is still ionically active if it remains on the assembly.
The use of flux is just as necessary for selective solder-
ing as it is for its cousin, wave soldering; in fact, most
of the same flux chemistries are used in both. However,
unlike wave soldering, where the entire assembly is sub-
jected to contact with the solder wave, in selective solder-
ing, only specific areas are contacted by molten solder.
What many don’t recognize is that all the flux applied to
the board may not “see” contact with the solder foun-
tain. This can cause problems later, because that residual
flux is still ionically active if it remains on the assembly.
For this reason, the selective soldering equipment
user has a choice of two types of selective flux applica-
tors: a spray fluxer and/or a dropjet fluxer. The spray
fluxer applies atomized flux to a specific area, while the
dropjet fluxer is more precise, and the choice depends on
the circumstances surrounding the soldering application.
In either wave or selective soldering, if using a water-
based flux, or even an older rosin-based flux, there is
probably going to be a post-soldering cleaning opera-
tion to remove any flux residues. This cleaning step not
only removes residues, but also any potential ionic con-
tamination that might accompany these residues. You’re
cleaning the assembly, overall, at the same time.
No-clean fluxes are an entirely different matter. A
no-clean is used expressly to eliminate the cleaning step.
No-clean fluxes originally were designed to be used
with wave soldering, where the entire board is passed
through the wave, and the solder brings all the flux up
to a mitigating temperature and removes or scrubs off
residues, (hopefully) rendering a post-cleaning operation
unnecessary. Any residue on the board is deemed to be
non-ionic contaminating.
But whenever a spray fluxer is used on a selective
soldering machine, I make it clear that a post-cleaning
operation is needed. Why? In selective soldering, the
solder is only contacting a limited area, or a number of
select areas, and not the entire board. Consequently, if
flux is sprayed outside of the solder contact area, it won’t
be heated to an appropriate temperature needed to ren-
der it inert, or be removed, and thus, it will remain ioni-
cally active if there is no post-cleaning operation (which
there probably would not be if a no-clean flux is used).
There will be overspray that the solder will not reach,
and that leftover flux on the board can cause problems.
Thus, when a no-clean flux is used, we suggest
dropjet fluxing instead of spray fluxing. The dropjet
fluxer puts down a tiny amount of flux in a very closely-
defined location (think ink-jet). It does this through a
displacement, not aerosol, technique, something on the
order of a 1 mm diameter flux droplet on the pad and
the pin, where it’s needed. Dropjet fluxers are program-
mable, permitting a select amount of flux, one droplet
or a multitude as required, or even a continuous line
of flux. The goal is to have the solder engulf that entire
july 2010
SELECTIVE SOLDERING
deposited amount of no-clean flux and wash it off with
the scrubbing action of the flowing molten solder, just
as a solder wave would in a wave soldering machine.
This makes post-cleaning unnecessary and prevents ionic
contamination problems.
As mentioned, the flux chemistries used in selective
soldering are basically the same that are used in wave
soldering; there are no really separate chemistries, at
least not yet. There are, perhaps, 30 to 40 different
fluxes we choose for selective soldering in our inven-
tory. We have proven a number empirically to work
best, and what we look for in the “best” fluxes are the
characteristics of tenacity; i.e., best solids content and
ability to survive the higher operating temperatures of
the selective soldering wave. A typical wave soldering
machine operates at 245° to 260°C, whereas in selective
soldering, the solder temperature is closer to 300°C for
a variety of reasons that include the smaller area and
heat-dissipative characteristics of the board, the type of
component soldered, the need for through-hole filling,
and others. We, therefore, want fluxes that will be wet,
active, do their job, and wash off in the molten wave.
Through experimentation, the user can develop a cor-
relation chart of fluxes to alloys, based on the user’s
products and manufacturing scheme. A great tool –
indispensable, really – is a wetting balance tester. Wetting
balance analysis is a quantitative test; i.e., it measures the
wetting forces imposed by the molten solder on the test
surface as it is dipped into and held in a solder bath as a
function of time and plotted, and does this in accordance
with established industry standards such as military and
IPC/Jedec. A wetting balance tester is a superb tool for
evaluating the suitability of specific fluxes to alloys in the
user’s own individual manufacturing operation.
In the end, the selective soldering user should use the
most effective flux for each specific alloy, in as minimal
quantity as possible for each soldering site. CA
Alan Cable
is president of
A.C.E. Production
Technologies (ace-
protech.com);
acable@ace-protech.
com.
Figure 1. Selective soldering fluxer array.
PRINTED CIRCUIT DESIGN & FAB / CIRCUITS ASSEMBLY 39
 TECH TIPS
Plating’s Effects on Electronics Assembly
In the RoHS world, sharing supply lines has forced a change on defense contractors.
While electroplated SnPb surface finish exhibits good
solderability and is virtually immune to tin whisker
growth, a termination plated with pure tin is very likely
to spawn tin whiskers, usually in months or years after
plating (Figure 1). Tin whiskers, being electrically con-
ductive, have been the cause of short-circuit failures.
Figure 1. Tin whiskers growing on a NASA-owned
Sn-plated relay after 14 years in service.
RoHS has similarly compelled board fabricators to
final finish solder pads with electroless nickel/immer-
sion gold (ENIG), immersion tin, or immersion silver
(since all are Pb-free) instead of the SnPb hot air solder
level (HASL) finish used successfully for some 60 years.
Immersion tin has shown a propensity to permit tin
whisker growth (Figure 2). Immersion silver reacts with
sulfur-bearing atmospheres to form nonconductive silver
sulfate, which then reacts with any exposed copper on
ACI the board to form nonconductive copper sulfate, which
Technologies also causes board failure. The long-used ENIG finish is
Inc. (aciusa.
org) is the National
Center of Excellence
in Electronics
Manufacturing,
specializing in
manufacturing
services, IPC
standards and
manufacturing
training, failure
analysis and other
analytical services.
This column appears
monthly.
Figure 2. Tin whiskers growing from immersion tin
plating on a PTH wall.
40 PRINTED CIRCUIT DESIGN & FAB / CIRCUITS ASSEMBLY
still usable under RoHS, with no major drawbacks.
When selecting components and circuit boards, the
military, in spite of being exempt from RoHS, uses the
same supply lines as non-exempt commercial electronics
firms. It comprises too small an annual volume to influence
the market (e.g., surface finish) for components or boards.
The military would prefer to have all component
terminations (and PWBs) finished with the known reli-
able SnPb alloy rather than pure Sn, because the lead
content in the tin prevents the potential of tin whisker-
induced failures in electronics systems (Figure 3). To
overcome the whisker risk with pure tin-plated (albeit
RoHS-compliant) components (the only ones available),
critical military electronics require expensive and time-
consuming refinishing of component terminals. This
usually is done by dipping the tin-coated component
contacts in molten SnPb solder, one at a time.
Because of RoHS, the military is forced to accommo-
date the added expense and time of refinishing electronics
component terminations. Adding to that turmoil, compo-
nent refinishing adds the risk of thermally damaging the
dipped components due to the hot-dipping procedure,
potentially reducing the reliability of Pb-free electronics.
The US Department of Defense now is challenged to
develop a department-wide policy that will preserve the
reliability of SnPb electronics. This policy will inevitably
include the idea of a Lead-Free Control Plan (LFCP),
documenting methods used by each DoD supplier to
mitigate risks for every item of electronic hardware
acquired by any DoD program. This acquisition policy
would cover any electronics, commercial off-the-shelf
(COTS) or otherwise, for any military use. One uniform
policy across all DoD components (services and agen-
cies) would go a long way toward mitigating confusion
among vendors about the need and techniques to limit
Pb-free electronics risks. CA
Figure 3. Tin whiskers growing from the pure Sn-
plated terminal of a ceramic component after 200 tem-
perature cycles from -40° to 90°C (courtesy NASA).
july 2010
 REFLOW SOLDERING TROUBLESHOOTING

Solder Bridging
Removing solder mask between pads can mitigate this defect.

Bridging is solder connecting or, in most cases,

misconnecting two or more adjacent pads that come
into contact to form a conductive path.
Possible PCB causes include:
Surface mount pads will contribute to coplanar-
ity issue, resulting in poor gasketing during printer
setup.
Recommendations: It is highly recommended to
remove solder mask between adjacent pads, espe-
cially for fine-pitch components.
Possible stencil causes include: Paul Lotosky
■■ Dirty stencil with paste underneath, which will is global director
contaminate the bare board on the next print, - customer technical

attributing a potential bridge. Recommendations support at Cookson

Electronics
include verifying zero print gap setup, ensuring
(cooksonelectronics.
minimum print pressure, increasing wipe frequen-
com); plotosky@
cy, and using different cleaning chemicals.
cooksonelectronics.
■■ Stencil tension. Recommendations include ensur-
com. His column
ing stencil tension is tight. Poor stencil tension
appears monthly.
will make it impossible to have a good setup for
consistent print definition.
■■ Aperture design. For fine-pitch components, it is
highly recommended to have the opening slightly
smaller than landing pad size to improve stencil to Figure 1. Bridging occurs when solder inadvertently
PCB gasketing. connects two pads or joints.

THE DEFECTS DATABASE THE DEFECTS DATABASE

The ‘Missing’ Conformal Coating

Parylene coating is tough to see under UV light.
This month we feature an issue recently submitted easier if a QC label is placed on the surface of the
to the database. It purports to be missing conformal board prior to coating, or if it’s possible to compare
coating, but is it? the solder mask surface with and without coating.
Actually, this is a satisfactory board assembly These are typical defects shown in the National Dr. Davide Di
after coating. This board assembly has a Parylene Physical Laboratory’s interactive assembly and sol- Maio is with the
coating, which is around 15 µm in thickness on all dering defects database. The database (http://defects- National Physical
surfaces of the board and components. Based on the database.npl.co.uk), available to all this publication’s Laboratory Industry
process, coverage and thickness is virtually guaran- readers, allows engineers to search and view countless and Innovation
teed. It is difficult to see the coating due to the process defects and solutions, or to submit defects online. division (npl.co.uk);
and the type of material used, so it’s not a defect. defectsdatabase@
Figure 1. npl.co.uk. His column
Most conformal coatings are fairly easy to inspect Conformal  appears monthly.
visually with UV light; however, one of the best coat- coating isn’t
ings in terms of performance is difficult to see. This actually missing
coating is more expensive than most, and the process from this board;
is normally subcontracted. it’s just hard to
It is sometimes possible to see the coating under see.
higher magnification on the side of the components
close to the board surface, normally when a thicker
coating has been applied. Inspection also can be

july 2010 PRINTED CIRCUIT DESIGN & FAB / CIRCUITS ASSEMBLY 41

 MATERIALS WORLD

相变热界面材料(PCTIM)的新发展满足最新元器件的要求
白洁
随着电子制造业朝着元器件越来越小 就为电子工程师们提供了一个更为宽松的操作空
型化的方向发展，热管理已成为一个日 间。可涂布和可印刷的两种TIM材料的膏体在涂抹
益巨大的挑战。这些微型封装的元器件 时均为液体，一旦干燥后就形成相变衬垫，其可
当然不仅是规格更小，而且功能也高度 靠性和性能与著名的基于薄膜的相变材料相当，
集成，从而会产生更多的热量。另外， 而且因为它们在涂抹时是液体，所以涂布厚度可
尽管象导热脂和衬垫式相变材料这些传 以根据需要进行调整。尽管薄膜材料也可以具有
统的导热材料从热管理的角度而言可以 各种厚度，但超薄的薄膜很难生产，使用起来也
胜任，但它们却并不一定是最用户友好 更困难，常常不能与隔离膜完全脱开。最新的相
或者工艺最简洁的解决方案，无法满足 变导热体系解决了这个问题，材料的涂布厚度和
现代工业对高产出的要求。 形状完全可控。此外，薄膜材料还难以应付元件
导热脂可以说是市场上已知的各种 表面的凸凹不平，往往不能添满所有空隙。但随
导热材料中最有名的一种。它以液体形 着基于膏体的新型相变导热材料的研制成功，这
式涂布，并在封装好的产品中也始终以 些问题就都被最小化了。
液态存在。导热脂的润湿性非常好，这 除了上面提到的生产方面的优势，可涂布和
就是为什么有的制造商会特别偏爱这种 可印刷的相变导热材料的应用还可完全自动化操
材料的原因。然而，这个润湿性上的优 作，从而大幅度提高生产量。该类材料也适用于
势也随之带来一些问题。由于导热脂始 目前现有的设备系统， 大多数情况下制
终处于液态，它们容易把生产环境弄得 造商们无需投资购买新的核心设备。
极脏，而且一般来说也有大量的材料浪 新型相变导热材料还有一个最大的优
费（因而成本增加）。此外，另一个也 势就是它能够保持其优越的性能不会随
许是最重要的考虑因素是导热脂的导热 时间发生变化。不同于热油脂，此类材
效果会随时间的推移而慢慢丧失。导热 料不会出现液体迁移或溢出(pump out)
脂在经过连续的热循环后会发生液体迁 现象，大大提高了元器件的长期热稳定
移，最终只剩下填充材料，从而丧失了 性。总而言之，元器件小型化和功能高
表面润湿性，导致产品在使用／装配过 度集成化的趋势不会减慢，业界必须继
程中失效。又由于界面两边的材料热膨 续努力创新，不断推出如此类新型相变
胀速率不同，造成一种充气(pumping) 导热材料一样的热管理技术上的新进步
效应，导致热阻增加，传热效率降低。 来满足消费者的需求。
为了解决导热脂存在的种种问题，相变热界面 致谢：作者感谢汉高公司Scott Smith博士和
材料（TIM）在20多年前被开发出来，自投放市场 Wilson Ma的宝贵意见。
以来其极为方便的使用性和卓越的产品性能获得
了行业的广泛认可。传统相变TIM材料采用衬垫形
式，在室温下为固态，并且只有当元器件产生的
热量使其达到融点（45 oC）后才会转化为液态。
与导热脂不同的是，相变导热材料不会随时间推
移而出现液体迁移或溢出(pump out)现象。但由
于它是以衬垫形式来安装的，此类相变材料也确
实存在一定的局限性。衬垫的厚度和尺寸都是预
先设定好的，所以制造商在使用时会受到应用厚
度和/或形状的限制。另外，衬垫通常通过手动安
装完成。虽然可选择使用自动化的带式或盘卷式
产品，大多数制造商还是更愿意使用手动操作的
Jie Bai is a 衬垫，而这意味着更多的操作人员干预，并将延
chemist at Henkel 长生产时间。
Electronics Group 最近，一类新型的相变热界面材料被研制成
(henkel.com); jie. 功，可解决导热脂和导热衬垫存在的诸多问题。
bai@us.henkel.com.
这类新相变导热材料在液态时具备与导热脂相同
的使用性和高产出优势, 同时却不存在导热脂的
任何缺陷。可涂布式相变TIM材料是一种快速干
燥的膏体，可通过针管点涂，也可通过手动丝网
印刷。为满足使用自动网印设备的生产商对网印
灵活性的要求，中等干燥和延时干燥的相变导热
材料现已投放市场。延时干燥产品允许至少两个
小时的放置时间，此后仍具有良好的印刷性，这

42 PRINTED CIRCUIT DESIGN & FAB / CIRCUITS ASSEMBLY july 2010

MACHINES MATERIALS TOOLS
LCD-PCB Connector
Series 2005 Zebra carbon connector
is a high-density, low-resistance elas-
tomeric interconnect device. Has 500
conductive layers per in.; is for densely
packed boards such as consumer and
hand-held electronics. Exhibits a resis-
tance of 2.37 Ω in. typically, and oper-
ates across a temperature range of -58°
to 257°F.
Fujipoly America
fujipoly.com
Upgraded Schematic Software
Mozaix v4.1 schematic software has an
upgraded user interface, featuring a rede-
signed explorer window with options for
select and edit of parts, nets, components,
and pins with a single click. Can now copy
and paste fully intelligent circuitry from one
session to another using a copy and paste
to/from clipboard operation. Includes the
ability to design at the module level.
Intercept Technology
intercept.com
Multi-Substrate LED Assemblies
LED Printed Circuit Assemblies are custom
lighting solutions that support rigid and
flex circuits in packaging LED products.
Support backlighting applications with
polyester circuits that support lower power
consumption applications and heat-sinked
polyimide and rigid boards to support
high-power consumption applications.
Molex
molex.com/link/ledpca.html
july 2010
SYSTEMS SOFTWARE
Class 100 Cabinet Oven
Series CLD electrically heated cabinet
oven is for Class 100 cleanrooms, for
drying coatings onto PCBs. Maximum
operating temperature is 260°C and
workspace dimensions are 36" x 36" x
39". Includes 20 KW total heat input,
10,000 cfm, 1-1/2 hp recirculating blow-
er, and 4" insulated walls. Stainless
steel interior and door cover; explosion-
venting door hardware.
Grieve Corp.
grievecorp.com
High-Frequency Flex Laminate
Pyralux flexible laminate is for high-speed
digital and high-frequency applications.
Comes in a variety of thicknesses, with a
Dk as low at 2.3 and a dissipation factor
down to 0.002.
DuPont Electronics and Communications
electronics.dupont.com
Ag Halide Phototool Film
Idealine silver halide phototooling plotter
film is for fine line and feature imaging. Is
said to improve dimensional stability.
DuPont Electronics and Communications
electronics.dupont.com
Resin-Based Assembly Sealant
Polyflex FR is a fire-resistant impregna-
tion resin for sealing electronic con-
nectors, wires, and wiring assemblies.
Protects against moisture and cor-
rosion by uniformly filling gaps and
pores. Provides flexibility and heat
resistance; for use in harsh conditions
with prolonged exposure to thermo
cycling and vibration, such as environ-
ments in close proximity to internal
combustion.
IMPCO
impco-inc.com/polyflexfr
OTHERS OF NOTE
Transient/Frequency Domain Solver
Microwave Studio 2011 has sensitivity anal-
ysis and can be used in the transient and
frequency domain solver for yield analy-
sis and fast optimization. Transient solver
works for a variety of microwave and RF
applications. Speeds parameter studies and
optimization of RF components. Computes
broadband s-parameters and field results in
one simulation run. Evaluates s-parameter
dependencies on various model param-
eters on the basis of one simulation.
CST
cst.com
DfM Tool
vSure v. 9. contains enhanced DfM analysis,
verifies more than 700 DfM manufacturing
requirements on a PCB design, and uses
“golden” Valor Parts Library (VPL) to ensure
consistency between the checks performed
at design and manufacturing. Sorts design
problems by various categories, including
severity, board location, padstack types,
package or part numbers and features. Sig-
nificantly simplified user interface.
Polar Instruments
go.mentor.com/vsure
PRINTED CIRCUIT DESIGN & FAB / CIRCUITS ASSEMBLY 43
 MACHINES
2.11 MP Digital Microscopes
DVM5000, DVM3000 and DVM2000
digital microscopes display images
directly on a high-resolution moni-
tor. Streamlined zoom optics reach
difficult-to-access surfaces for nonde-
structive inspection of large station-
ary parts. Feature high-quality optics;
offer a wide variety of quantitative
analysis options, including 2D analysis
or 3D surface measurements. All are
equipped with 2.11 MP digital camera.
Leica Microsystems
leica-microsystems.com
Large-Board AOI
Spectra shares a common platform with
Supra and Ultra series. Uses a tri-linear
stage and comes in two formats. Is capable
of inspecting boards up to 24" x 24". Spec-
tra XL is capable of inspecting up to 24"
x 36".
Machine Vision Products
machinevisionproducts.com
Top-Loading Test Oven
No. 1012 electrically heated, 500ºF top-
loading oven is for testing electronics
equipment. Two zones, each 96" x 12" x
12", can be separated for use as inde-
pendent ovens. 24 KW (12 KW per load)
are installed in Incoloy-sheathed tubular
heating elements. Two 1/3-HP recirculating
blowers provide a total horizontal airflow
of 1200 CFM to the workload. Features 4"
insulated walls and aluminized steel inte-
rior and exterior.
The Grieve Corp.
grievecorp.com
44 PRINTED CIRCUIT DESIGN & FAB / CIRCUITS ASSEMBLY
MATERIALS TOOLS
Placement Utilization Software
Linechart performance-monitoring, multi-
vendor software module provides graphi-
cal feedback for several pick-and-place
equipment performance indicators. Iden-
tifies deficiency when productivity falls
below acceptable levels. Displays data
down to the feeder and nozzle level.
Tracks productivity, efficiency, compo-
nent waste, components-per-hour, and
board counts. Each is graphically dis-
played as a line, bar, or Pareto.
Universal Instruments Corp.
uic.com
Mixer/Defoamer
Uni-Cyclone centrifugal mixer/defoamer is
capable of programming duration, cycle
profile and up to 1500 RPM centrifugal
speed, as well as internal rotational speed.
Can be used for solder paste, semiconduc-
tor materials, solar pastes, epoxies, and
other materials. Mixing of materials and
defoaming reportedly accomplished with
cycle times half of conventional mixers.
Can be controlled from a PC with complete
traceability of every program.
Japan Unix
japanunix.co.jp/ju_en/index.html
OEM Replacement Nozzles
Mydata Hydra replacement nozzles and
consumables are direct replacements for
OEM nozzles. Tool range includes H01
(white), H02 (yellow), H03 (red), H04 (blue),
H05 (brown), and H06 (green). Covers all
components from ultra-small 0201 chips
to midsize ICs, as well as QFPs and BGAs.
Uses impact-resistant plastic. Come in
standard packs of eight or individually.
Count On Tools Inc.
cotinc.com
SYSTEMS SOFTWARE
Fiber Laser Marker
MD-F3000 is for direct part marking.
Delivers 30W of power directly to tar-
get surface; dense, hard metals can
be permanently marked and etched in
milliseconds. Small head permits easy
installation in tight spaces; has a fan-
less design and is sealed from dirt and
dust. Incorporates 3-axis beam control
system that provides marking across a
300 x 300 mm area.
Keyence
keyence.com/prmdf
OTHERS OF NOTE
Halogen-Free LCPs
Vectra G Series halogen-free LCPs have
processing characteristics that avoid issues
commonly encountered when using flame-
retardant, high-temperature nylons to
mold components. Vectra G141 and G441
meet Pb-free soldering and halogen-free
requirements. Vectra G141 is 35% glass-
filled; Vectra G441 is 35% mineral- and
glass-filled. Both are flame-resistant with-
out additives.
Ticona Engineering Polymers
ticona.com
Thermal Management Material
Loctite PowerstrateXtreme Printable (PSX-
P) is print-friendly and can be deposited
using traditional screen and stencil print-
ing. Comes in medium dry and extended
dry versions. Paste format enables mate-
rial thickness to be adjusted as required.
Is applied as a paste; once dry, it yields a
phase-change pad. Abandon time said to
be two hr. minimum. Adapts to deviations
in surface flatness; fills voids of varying
thicknesses.
Henkel
henkel.com/electronics
july 2010
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46 PRINTED CIRCUIT DESIGN & FAB / CIRCUITS ASSEMBLY july 2010

Special Advertising Section Special Advertising Section

Assembly Insider Assembly Insider

Ad Index
To learn about the advertisers in this issue, go to
SEARCHING FOR
pcdandf.com or circuitsassembly.com and select
“Current Issue” to access the digital edition. This
will provide you with direct links to the websites
EMS PROVIDERS?
of each advertiser in this index. NOW IN EXCEL!
Company Page No.
The CirCuits Assembly
Aqueous Technologies, www.aqueoustech.com . . . . . . . . . . . . 34, 35
Directory of
Bare Board Group, www.bareboard.com. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45 EMS Companies
Bare Board Group, www.bareboard.com. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47 lists more than 1,850 EMS

Get
facility listings worldwide,
Cookson Electronics, www.cooksonelectronics.com. . . . . . . . . . . . 13
including detailed info on:
Custom Design Service, www.cdscorp.us. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45 • Facility contact info
Digi-Key Corp., www.digikey.com. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Cover 2
your • Annual sales revenue
• Number of employees

daily dose
Dow, www.dow.us. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 • Number and type of
DownStream Technologies, www.downstreamtech.com. . . . . . . . . . 3 assembly lines
• Size of manufacturing floor
DownStream Technologies, www.downstreamtech.com. . . . . Cover 3
of PCB industry news and views. • Services offered
EMS Directory, www.circuitsassembly.com/dems. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47 • Certifications
EzPCB, www.ezpcb.com. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
Subscribe to circuits
PCB UPdate
FHP Reps, www.fhpreps.com. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47

Fine Circuits, www.finecircuits.com. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46

assembly.
Imagineering, www.PCBnet.com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 www.pcbupdate.com com/dems
Imagineering, www.PCBnet.com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46 The daily e-mail newsletter filled
MACK Technologies, www.macktech.com. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
with news and resources for PCB
design, fab and assembly professionals
Mentor, www.mentor.com. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . C4

MIRTEC, www.mirtecusa.com. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15

FHP Reps
National Instruments, www.ni.com/multisim. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27

Nordson EFD, www.nordsonefd.com. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37

Numerical Innovations, www.numericalinnovations.com. . . . . . . . 45

Online Electronics, www.pcb4less.com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46 Manufacturers, Representatives

Overnite Protos, www.pcborder.com. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
& Distributors
PCB FAB Express, www.pcbfabexpress.com. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46 Full Range of
PCB-Pool, www.pcb-pool.com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
Solder Pastes,
PCB UPdate, www.pcbupdate.com. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47

PCB West, www.pcbwest.com. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . insert, 17, 45

Bar & Wire Solder,
Samtec, www.samtec.com/qrate. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 and Fluxes by
Seika Machinery, www.seikausa.com. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19 Shenmao
Sierra Proto Express, www.protoexpress.com/notouch. . . . . . . . . . 45

Speedline Technologies, www.speedlinetech.com . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

Superior Processing, www.superior-processing.com . . . . . . . . . . . 45

The advertising index is published as an additional service. The publisher
does not assume any liability for errors or omissions.

Advertising Sales
North America/Europe/Asia (except Korea):
UP Media Group, Inc.
PO Box 470, Canton, GA 30169

Circuits Assembly Sales Manager:

Krista Fabian, 302-519-4064, kfabian@upmediagroup.com

Printed Circuit Design & Fab Sales Manager:

Frances Stewart, 678-817-1286, fstewart@upmediagroup.com fhp@fhpreps.com +1 (719) 238 2747
www.fhpreps.com
Korea Sales: Young Media, 82 2 756 4819, ymedia@ymedia.co.kr

july 2010 PRINTED CIRCUIT DESIGN & FAB / CIRCUITS ASSEMBLY 47

 TECHNICAL ABSTRACTS
In Case You Missed It
Component Layout
“PCB Design and Assembly for Flip-Chip and Die
Size CSP”
Author: Vern Solberg; vsolberg123@aol.com.
Abstract: This paper outlines the basic elements
furnished in the newly released IPC-7094, Design
and Assembly Process Implementation for Flip-Chip
and Die Size Components, providing a comparison of
existing and emerging wafer-level and chip-size pack-
age methodologies. The focus is on the effect of PCB
design and assembly of bare die or die-size compo-
nents in an uncased or minimally cased format. (IPC
Apex, April 2010)
Solder Joint Defects
“Telecommunications Case Studies Address Head-
in-Pillow (HnP) Defects and Mitigation through
Assembly Process Modifications and Control”
Authors: Russell Nowland, Richard Coyle,
Peter Read and George Wenger; russell.nowland@
alcatel-lucent.com.
Abstract: This paper discusses several contribut-
ing factors to the head-in-pillow defects and tech-
niques to control them. The case studies presented
show that process control can mitigate HnP defects,
but may not be successful for some severe examples
of HnP defects. The case studies include review-
ing paste printing modifications, solder paste DoE,
shadow moiré scans on several problematic BGA
packages, effectiveness of x-ray inspection, and
cross-section analysis of failed HnP solder joints.
Together, these case studies show that BGA package
warpage is a major contributor, but HnP defects
can occur when almost any of the assembly pro-
cess parameters deviate from acceptable practices.
(IPC Apex, April 2010)
Solder Joint Inspection
“Robust Automated Void Detection in Solder
Balls and Joints”
Authors: Asaad F. Said, Bonnie L. Bennett, Lina J.
Karam and Jeff Pettinato; bonnie.l.bennett@intel.com.
This column provides
Abstract: This paper proposes a robust, accu-
abstracts from
rate, and automatic void detection algorithm. The
recent industry con-
proposed method is able to detect voids with differ-
ferences and com-
pany white papers.
ent sizes inside the solder balls, including the ones
With the amount of
that are occluded by board components and under
information increas- different brightness conditions. The proposed meth-
ing, our goal is to od consists of segmenting individual balls, extract-
provide an added ing occluded balls, and segmenting voids inside
opportunity for read- the solder balls. Segmentation of the individual
ers to keep abreast balls is achieved by using the proposed histogram
of technology and and morphological-based segmentation method.
business trends. (IPC Apex, April 2010) CA
48 PRINTED CIRCUIT DESIGN & FAB / CIRCUITS ASSEMBLY
Sherman's Market, continued from p. 16
Table 3. EMS Market by Region, 2009 vs. 2014
EMS by Region 2009 2014
Americas 47,519 84,424
EMEA 38,105 66,714
APAC 184,069 327,727
Source: New Venture Research
Table 4. Worldwide EMS Market by Industry
Segment, 2009 vs. 2014
EMS ($M) 2009 2014
Automotive 5,768 9,009
Communications 67,346 121,826
Computer 104,517 189,056
Consumer 54,228 96,558
Industrial 14,912 22,722
Medical 13,425 26,243
Commercial Aviation 3,799 5,432
Defense/Other 5,698 8,019
Source: New Venture Research
Table 5. Top 10 EMS Market Share, 2009
Company EMS Rev. ($M) Share (%)
Foxconn (Hon Hai) 59,300 22.0%
Flextronics 23,754 8.8%
Wistron 17,073 6.3%
Jabil Circuit 10,962 4.1%
Quanta Computer 8,728 3.2%
TPV Technology 8,032 3.0%
Compal Electronics 6,874 2.5%
Pegatron 6,669 2.5%
Celestica 6,092 2.3%
Sanmina-SCI 5,237 1.9%
Total 152,701 56.6%
Source: New Venture Research
Table 6. Highest Rated Large EMS Companies
in 2009
Company Total Rating
Delta 10.8
Quanta 7.5
Wistron 7.5
Hana Microelectronics 7.3
Pegatron 6.1
Source: New Venture Research
to NVR’s financial performance metrics. Quanta
moved into second place ahead of Wistron, and Hana
Microelectronics ranked fourth. Pegatron (Asustek),
Alco and HTC also ranked strongly. Note that all these
high-performing EMS companies were Asian. CA
july 2010
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