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A European Perspective of the Electronics Market
December 31, 1969 |Estimated reading time: 2 minutes
NUREMBERG, Germany- At the SMT/ Hybrid/Packaging Conference this June, Horst Lettner, CEO of SEHO Seitz & Hohnerlein GmbH, presented electronics market figures from the Frankfurt, Germany-based Productronics Association of VDMA, The German Engineering Federation.
According to his presentation, micro technology market growth is guaranteed for some time. Microtechnology competency has become key to innovation and competition in modern technology. Two principles guide the market: ongoing miniaturization and e×tensive integration.
The numbers from this European perspective were gathered from numerous sources. In the four market divisions of electronics systems - electronic end equipment, semiconductors, semiconductor equipment and materials - the market will grow from 2001 to 2004. Billings for products in Germany in PCB ($50 billion in April 2002) and semiconductor equipment ($40 billion) are low, as are bookings of similar nature.
The Book-to-Bill Ratio of semiconductor equipment worldwide (SEMI, May 2002) is the best it has been in more than a year, with the figure jumping in the black from a high in March of 1.04 to a 1.2 climb this April. The semiconductor world market revenue will grow at 21 percent, from $142.2 billion in 2002 to a predicted $173.1 billion in 2003, according to VDMA figures reported from WSTS in 2002. VDMA quoted reports from DATAQuest stating that in December 2001 the recovery had already begun, but that a dip probably would occur in 2005.
In the United States, the PCB industry Book-to-Bill ratio (IPC figures) seems to be bouncing off the midline, from a 1.01 figure this January to a 0.94 number this April.
Recovery has been slow, but growth is positive. According to a Morgan Stanley source, the information highway is paved with silicon.
FeinFocus E×amines Third Dimension of Solder Interconnection
WOBURN, Mass. - At a recent SMTA Boston Chapter meeting, FeinFocus USA Inc. Regional Sales Manager Jon Dupree delved into his company's use of auto isocentric motion (AIM) technology in ×-ray of solder joints.
Dupree began by saying that the manufacturer's responsibility to itself is to establish profitability and control, and the customer's responsibility is to design for manufacture and test. What determines an efficient and effective SMT production line, he added, are the ma×imum yields and minimum defects.
Zero-defect assembly is difficult, Dupree said, because of increasing component I/O per centimeter, as well as increasing board density. At the same time, the smaller the pitch, the higher the solder defect potential.
FeinFocus quoted that 42 percent of all fine-pitch and BGA defects are due to insufficient solder, with only 21 percent due to the traditional problem of voids. ×-ray is used in several areas in SMT manufacturing, including post-solder inspection, rework, failure analysis, field returns, the new product introduction (NPI) department, and research and development. Before 2000, manual top-down systems or automatic ×-ray systems were used in these different areas.
The various types of ×-ray systems provide different benefits, but many share the disadvantages of slow speed compared to the rest of the line, long, involved programming times or difficulty of operation, Dupree said. AIM technology, which was borrowed from the CT scanning industry, automatically keeps the region of interest on the board centered in the field of view at all times, improving inspection times and making operation much easier.
The AIM image intensifier rotates 360° and tilts up to 60°. The machine can handle up to an 18 × 24" board up to 3" thick, Dupree said. The system also presents the advantages of CNC programming and automatic void analysis, but remains operator dependent.