Knowledge Hub

Your Gateway to Technical Knowledge Exchange for the Global Electronics Community

Explore our database of industry knowledge that fuels innovation, learning, and professional growth. Knowledge Hub is a collection of conference technical papers, webinars, presentations, on-demand video and more. You can search by author, title, keyword and type of content. You can also search for keywords and topics in the Tag field. Access to Knowledge Hub is reserved for members.

Lead-Free Solder Bumping Technologies

Electroplated pure tin and tin alloys such as Sn99.3Cu0.7%,Sn98%Bi2% and Sn96.5%Ag3.5% have been identified as viable drop-in replacements to tin-lead solder. High melting point tin alloys such .. read more

Enhanced Eutectic Solder Bump for Increased Flip Chip Reliability

Applications using flip chips in high temperature and high current designs have increased in recent years,and this trend is expected to continue. Markets utilizing these designs include high pe .. read more

Creep of Sn-(3.5-3.9)wt%Ag-(0.5-0.8)wt%Cu Lead-Free Solder Alloys and Their Solder Joint Reliability

A new set of constitutive equations for a class of lead-free solder alloys,Sn(3.5-3.9)wt%Ag(0.5-0.8)wt%Cu is proposed in this investigation. These equations are applied to a 256PBGA (plastic ba .. read more

An Assessment of the Impact of Lead-Free Assembly Processes on Base Material and PCB Reliability

Environmental regulations are forcing the elimination of lead (Pb) from electronic equipment. Solders containing lead have been the standard in printed circuit assembly processes. Lead-free sol .. read more

Solder Preforms: Increasing Automated Placement Efficiency

Solder preforms are precise shapes of metal,produced by the high-speed stamping or forming of solder wire or ribbon. Preforms provide a highly repeatable volume of solder,with 100% metal conten .. read more

Through-Hole Assembly Options for Mixed Technology Boards

Surface mount assembly has dominated its through-hole predecessor since the early 1990s. The higher density and lower ultimate cost of SMT makes it a preferred assembly technology. However,the .. read more

Wave Solder Process Optimization for Complex Electronic Assemblies: A Design of Experiments Approach

Numerous technical articles have dealt with machine parameters,and their effect on wave soldering of Printed Circuit Boards in the range of 40-93 mils and the typical 6 to 8 layers. This resear .. read more

R/flex® 3000 Advanced Circuit Materials = LCP Stability & Performance from 1GHz to 110 GHz

This paper will discuss how R/flex® 3000 LCP materials from Rogers Corporation are "pushing the envelope" for high - frequency & flex designs by examining: 1. How the material set has now been .. read more

Optimal PCB Test Trace Design for Improved Quality Control

A common industry practice is to confirm the characteristic impedance of critical PCB traces meet specified performance tolerances before any components are attached. A popular technique is to .. read more

Effects of Conductor Surface Condition on High Frequency Loss

Efforts to reduce high frequency signal losses associated with dielectric materials have driven development and commercialization of more cost effective low loss laminate materials. These devel .. read more

Electrical Characteristics of High Speed Materials

This paper will discuss the two primary transmission components that concern designers today. These components affect the signal integrity of all high-speed transmissions in printed circuit boa .. read more

High Speed Interconnects: The Impact of Spatial Electrical Properties of PCB due to Woven Glass Reinforcement Patterns

The impedance and electrical property variation resulting from spatial patterns in woven glass reinforced laminate materials are greatly impacting high speed interconnect designs. As the transf .. read more

Power Consumption and Closed-loop Nitrogen Control Considerations in Lead-free Reflow

When transitioning to lead-free reflow,consideration should be given to the additional costs of operation,above and beyond material costs.1 Impacts to the overall reflow process should be caref .. read more

Optimizing Your Reflow Profile for Maximum Productivity and Profitability

Successful reflow soldering is a key to productivity and profitability,yet many assemblers may be using a nonoptimized reflow profile. Years ago,when IR ovens were the norm and solder pastes we .. read more

Moisture and Reflow Sensitivity Evaluations of SMT Packages as a Function of Reflow Profile at Eutectic and Lead Free Temperatures

Epoxy molding compounds are used extensively in the electronics industry to encapsulate surface mount Integrated Circuits (ICs). The primary purpose of encapsulating the SMT package using these .. read more

Transitioning from a Reactive to a Proactive Manufacturing Culture

We often hear or use the terms “World Class Manufacturing” or “Best in Class Manufacturing” in reference to our manufacturing operation or perhaps a competitor’s or supplier’s manufacturing ope .. read more

Process Capability Studies – The Better Way

To estimate the ability of a process to perform according to the product’s design (i.e.,specification),process capability indices (Cp,Cpk,etc.) are used. What most people fail to realize,howeve .. read more

The “Only Other” Sure Thing in Life

Today,there are only three certainties in a circuit board market that for the last three years has proven anything but certain: death,taxes,and military business. As the overall North American .. read more

Continuous Improvement: Know Thy Customer: Customer Relationship Management Pays

The overall mission and foundation of business today,as it was yesterday and undoubtedly will be tomorrow,is to maximize customer service. Customer Relationship Management (CRM),although a rela .. read more

How to Take Care of Loyal Customers

Loyal customers are customers who will pay premium price for exceptional products and services,refer other customers to buy products and services,buy a whole range of products and services from .. read more

Lean and Continuous Improvement

Lean and Continuous Improvement are distinct performance improvement strategies. Each has its own objective and methodology and is highly inter-woven. Lean Manufacturing uses the strategy of Ka .. read more

Three-dimensional Simulations of Current Density Distributions for Patterned Wafers and PCB's

Mass transfer effects and reactor design play an important role in the plating process of electronic interconnects. To improve the behaviour and performance of the plating reactors used for ele .. read more

Enhancing the Performance of a Graphite Direct Metalization Process

Colloidal graphite direct metalization processes have proven their usefulness as a replacement for electroless copper. This is especially the case in high technology and quick turn applications .. read more

Using Periodic Pulse Reverse (PPR) for Plating Thick Panel Applications

There is increased interest in the printed wiring board (PWB) industry with regards to the use of periodic pulse reverse (PPR) plating to electroplate printed circuit boards. PPR plating offers .. read more

Process for Plugging Low to High Aspect Ratio Through-Holes with Polymer Thick Film Conductive Ink in Production Volumes

With an increasing number of designers specifying conductive material for plugging through-holes,a more robust process to produce 100% fill is needed for the whole range of aspect ratios. With .. read more