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Juki Automation Announces New President
December 31, 1969 |Estimated reading time: 5 minutes
Compiled By SMT Staff
MORRISVILLE, N.C. — Juki Automation Systems Inc. and its Board of Directors have appointed Kaz Nomoto as president of the organization.
Nomoto comes to Juki after 23 years with Juki Corp. in Tokyo, Japan. He was instrumental in founding the Electronic Assembly and Test System Div. at Juki and has been working within that division since 1986. He has been the liaison for Juki Automation Systems in Tokyo, and most recently he has been working at the Juki Automation Systems headquarters, coordinating activities with the Board of Directors.
Siemens Dematic Acquires ATI
GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. and BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — Siemens Dematic Rapistan Material Handling Automation Div. acquired Automation Technologies Industries (ATI). The acquisition provides Siemens Dematic additional assembly and manufacturing technologies to strengthen its position as a leader in materials handling automation. ATI's core technologies of pallet handling systems and printed circuit board (PCB) assembly increase Siemens Dematic's ability to develop assembly and manufacturing solutions that enhance production throughput and improve ergonomics. The combined companies have annual sales of $3.2 billion, with approximately 11,500 employees.
EKRA, Fuji Form OEM Agreement
BÖNNINGHEIM, Germany and CHIRYU, Japan — EKRA GmbH and Fuji Machine Mfg. Co. Ltd. entered into an OEM agreement in which Fuji will integrate the complete range of EKRA printers into its SMT production lines. The agreement also includes a mutual exchange of technology.
The agreement was concluded on September 10, 2002, in Chiryu, Japan after final discussions between Ryoyu Asai, president and CEO of Fuji, and Roland Heynen, executive VP of EKRA, who was visiting Fuji for final negotiations.
Fuji will market the integrated SMT solutions worldwide and offer post-sales support to its customers. EKRA's printer family will be fully integrated into Fuji's SMT line configuration, not only through a mechanical hardware interface but also through the Fuji software host interface to guarantee full compatibility. The advantage for customers is that they can configure their production line according to their own requirements — from tabletop printers to high-speed systems, for small- or large-volume production needs.
KIC Opens First European Office
SAN DIEGO — KIC's first European office opened in early September, increasing the company's European presence and further enhancing the support available to customers, partners and distributors of their equipment utilization tools and solutions for the thermal process.
KIC's products help manufacturers increase yields while reducing defect rates and costs by monitoring, controlling and managing thermal process applications such as wave soldering, SMT reflow, curing, high-temperature furnaces and rework.
Miles Moreau was appointed general manager for KIC Europe and will be based at the new office in the United Kingdom. Moreau joined KIC in 1992, and has served as vice president of R&D for the past two-and-a-half years.
Newport, EM4 Align
IRVINE, Calif. and BURLINGTON, Mass. — Newport Corp. and EM4 Photonics signed a letter of intent regarding a strategic agreement to develop and refine photonics device manufacturing equipment and process solutions jointly, as well as establish an equipment supplier relationship between the two parties.
Under the transaction, EM4 will provide Newport an exclusive license to use portions of EM4's proprietary optoelectronic packaging technology as part of Newport's automated manufacturing solutions, and Newport will become a preferred supplier to EM4 for all test and assembly equipment to support their optical manufacturing services (OMS) business.
Universal, Indium Employees Honored by SMTA
BINGHAMTON and UTICA, N.Y. — Arun Gowda, who is working in Universal Instruments' Advanced SMT Laboratory as a graduate research associate with the State University of New York at Binghamton, won the Surface Mount Technology Association's (SMTA) Charles Hutchins Educational Grant.
The award is presented annually at the SMTA Annual Meeting at Assembly Technology Expo in Chicago. It is awarded to a graduate-level student pursuing a degree and working on thesis research in electronics packaging or a related field to support the student's stated research.
The SMTA also presented Ning-Cheng Lee, Ph.D., VP of technology for Indium Corp. of America, with its Member of Distinction Award at its Annual Meeting.
Lee is most well known for his technical expertise in soldering. Since joining the SMTA in 1994, he has served the SMTA as paper presenter, session chair and tutorial instructor. He also is helping the SMTA expand internationally, acting as the liaison for the Taiwan Chapter.
Q & A: solder joint discoloration
Q: Occasionally, our board assemblies exhibit a blue tinted discoloration on the solder joints. What causes this?
A: One of our customers recently submitted a representation of assemblies in which the solder joints were discolored. The interconnections exhibited a bluish coloration and they requested a nondestructive investigation to determine the solder surface composition. Initial analysis on these samples began with visual inspection using a stereo fluorescence microscope, solvent extraction and planned FTIR (Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy). Because nondestructive means of analysis was requested, no solder sectioning or removal was performed.
Visual inspection showed that the discoloration condition was nearly uniform across each board sample. Fluorescence inspection did not aid in detecting the condition. Cleaning some areas of the assemblies with various solvents had no effect on the discoloration. On other assemblies, solvent extraction was performed for further analysis. However, none of the solvents tried resulted in a positive extract. FTIR then was performed to determine the nature of the blue coloration. The resulting data did not provide distinct peaks, concluding that there was no evidence of an organic substance present.
Based on past experiences with solder reflow technology in the electronics industry, similar solder joint discoloration has been witnessed over a wide range of applications over many years. In fact, many different colors of solder joints have been reported from time to time. These "colors" typically are the formation of complex oxides that occur during the reflow cycle. The oxide complex will vary based on many different factors, including board plating materials, board age, flux chemistries, reflow temperatures, heating and cooling rates, and the reflow atmosphere itself. Generally, the discolorization will be present in older boards, where the oxides are formed on the surface only and do not affect solder joint quality per se, nor board cleanliness (as also was evidenced by the lack of a successful solvent extraction in this case).
Based on the results from this particular incident, it was determined that the discoloration of the solder joints was not due to a contaminant, but rather a unique oxide formation resulting from a combination of two or more variables during the reflow process. Destructive analysis would be beneficial in determining further oxide conditions.
Craig Beddingfield is senior technical market manager and Leo Higgins, III is director of technology for Siemens Dematic Electronic Assembly Systems Inc., Norcross, GA.