Indium Corporation Blogs

最近有一个客户向我们展示了他们公司新采用的“自动售卖机”库存管理系统（industrial vending machine）,真是大开眼界。在此和大家分享一下。 请看下面的图片。

这个自动售卖机和我们平时看见卖零食的机器表面上没什么大区别，最多是可以在机器旁边衍生多些大格子储存更多的货品。客户的采购员自豪的向我们介绍了采用这套系统后带来的好处（当然，所有好处都是围绕降低成本和容易系统管理）

• 免费机器，一年6%的rebate
• 拿到物品开始算钱: 员工凭自己的门卡在机器上取到需要的货品后，供应商才开始计算物品单价。月结。换言之，在机器上的所有物品，只要客户没有从机器中取出，供应商都不收客户钱。
• 网络监控管理：
  • 采购人员可以在机器上设置好，对所有物品的取出，谁取出，每次、每天取出多少，都可以通过机器变好程序，设置好。这样管理，知道谁拿了什么，减少浪费。一个很简单的例子：几种擦拭机器的不同牌子的纸，表面上看都一模一样，其实有一种是5分钱一张，有一种是1.5元一张。 1.5元一张的确实特别好用，某些特殊机器就是要用这种贵纸才能擦干净。采购员买了两种都放在车间。但是车间人员不知道差别，大家都随便取用，有时候用贵的纸什么都擦，甚至擦鼻子：-） 现在有了vending machine, 就可以控制只有擦贵机器的人才可以限量取到贵的纸。
  • 采购人员可以在网上实时监控，知道每种货品每个时间段的用量，谁用了、用了多少，机器中还剩下多少等。以前，很多公司的采购人员只能通过预算购买下一次的货品，但是他们对现存货品剩下量的多少，没有实时资讯，所以造成了很多取货现象。
  • 通过网络在线订货购买

看到介绍后我们都很感慨，觉得做这个vending machine的公司十分有创新性。而且那么优惠的条件（免费机器，“0”库存，年底的rebate）, 这些都是等于把现金都压在了客户那里。这个公司一定要有雄厚的实力和足够多和大的客户，才能利用规模相应(economic scales),不然毛利这么低，怎么赚钱……

我们还谈到了焊接产品(soldering materials)。目前，客户准备把焊锡棒（solder bars）和锡线 (solder wires)放在vending machine中管理，但是焊锡膏、焊锡球、助焊剂等（solder paste, solder spheres, wave fluxs）不能放, 因为solder paste 要特别的冷冻储存条件；spheres不易过多的人工操作，让小球们在瓶子里碰撞；wave flux的容器比较大，难放入vending machine……

Cheers！

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March 13th is the 78th anniversary of the founding of Indium Corporation.  Dr. William S. Murray, J. Robert Dyer JR, and Daniel Gray combined to create a company that was, in 1934, on the cutting edge of technology at the time - and that still is today.

Although some of the initial attempts to utilize indium were decidedly low-tech (plating of silverware and use in gold dental alloys), the first real breakthrough came when Mr. Dyer developed the process to indium-plate aircraft engine bearings to make them last longer.  Today our indium metal is in thermal interface materials, batteries, medical devices, aerospace devices, solar panels, flat panel displays. Of course, the full range of Indium Corporation products (including materials that contain no indium at all) can be found in a myriad of electronic devices.  We hold a wide variety of patents and have conducted endless tests and experiments including some aboard the space shuttle.

In between we have been featured in the Wall Street Journal, Business Week and many other technology journals and received awards for our technical expertise and our customer service.

Our original founders were very "hands on" in their approach to developing their company and we still follow that approach today.  Our sales and technical staff, locally located around the world, are as comfortable in a lab or on a production floor as they are presenting a technical paper.

Contact us at AskUs@indium.com to utilize our expertise and let us help you with your challenge.

Shown here is an original bottle of indium solder preforms with a hand written label.  Today we have a variety of packaging options with printed labels and bar codes to fit your product and application.

Carol Gowans cgowans@indium.com

 

Folks,

Patty is getting ready for her meeting on "Copy Exactly" with Mike Madigan.......

It was after 6:30 PM and Patty was just arriving home.  Since Patty was working late, Rob had agreed to make his signature dish, crispy macaroni and cheese.  Patty and Pete had just finished their project to develop a copy exactly strategy for ACME.  They would present it tomorrow to CEO Mike Madigan.  The local GM, Sam Watkins, would be there too.  Technically Mike was her boss in her Senior VP position, but since she had an office at the ACME facility in Exeter, NH, she reported to Sam - “dotted line.”  Patty had been working late for weeks on this project and was glad that the greatest portion of the work was over.

As she opened the door to her house, her twin 2 year old boys ran up to her in their excitement to see their mom and nearly knocked her over.  She tussled with them for a few minutes and then went to give Rob a hug.  He had the dinner on the table and they all quickly sat down.  Rob and Patty had a "no technology" rule at meals…..no mobile phones, iPads etc.  Meal time was family time.  After discussing the events of the day, Rob’s face lit up.

“I found out today that there is something we look at more than anything else,” Rob stated.

“OK, OK, let me guess,” Patty replied.

After a number of tries, she hadn’t gotten it.

Alright, I give up, Patty said with playful exasperation.

“Indium, or really Indium Tin Oxide (ITO), it is a transparent conductor of electricity.  We look through it when we look at our computer, tablet or mobile phone screens.  Think about it, for most of us we probably look through ITO for 8 to 10 hours a day.  It’s like we have a love affair with the stuff,” Rob explained.

Patty almost choked on some of the mac and cheese on the last comment.

“Why have you become such an expert on this stuff?” Patty asked.

“Well, you remember that ACME may go into component assembly? Sam asked me to look into indium thermal interface material (TIM)  for some of the component packages that need to dissipate a lot of heat,” Rob answered.

Patty knew a little bit about TIMs, but not about ITO.

“But why did you learn about ITO?” she asked.

“Sam is worried that Indium supplies may not be enough to satisfy TIM requirements, so he asked me to look into it,” Rob answered.

“What is the conclusion? Patty asked.

“Well, Indium is about as common in the earth’s crust as silver, but a little more difficult to extract.  This probably gives it the reputation of being rare.  Fortunately for me a recent analysis was performed that showed that the indium supply will be more than adequate for the next 75 years ,” Rob said.

Rob went on, “Indium is a very interesting material, it is one of the few materials that wets glass, so it enables metal sealing to glass.  It was only discovered in 1863 and it wasn’t until the 1930s that the first practical use for indium was discovered: aircraft bearing lubrication.  In a sense, it could be argued that it is one of the materials of the future, as we are just now learning about its potential.”

While he was talking, Rob reached into his backpack and took something out.

“Look at this, or rather listen,” Rob said.

With that, he took a thin bar of metal and bent it. A crackling sound came from the metal.  Patty was fascinated.

“What was that?" she asked.

“When a thin bar of indium is bent, it gives off a sound.  It is called “Indium Cry.”  The salesman for the TIMs we are using let me borrow it for a presentation I am giving to Sam Watkins next week,” Rob answered.

Dinner was soon finished and Patty had to get the boys to bed after playing with them for awhile.  Today was Spanish day and all of their discussions were in that language.  Another day was Mandarin Chinese day.  The boys already understood the three languages spoken at home.

A few hours later, Patty lay in bed - energized by the thought of her meeting tomorrow.

When she woke up the next day, she exercised at home, ate breakfast, and took the boys to day care.  See arrived at the office 30 minutes before the big meeting.  After checking emails, she went to the conference room where the meeting would be held, to set up her computer.  At precisely 8AM, Mike Madigan and Sam Watkins arrived.

“OK Coleman, let’s get this show on the road,” Madigan commanded.

“Since our last meeting we have analyzed assembly equipment and materials to determine which ones would be best for a copy exactly strategy,” Patty began.

She then showed her third slide and spoke to it.

“The winner for component placement equipment is Optoplace, as are their stencil printer and reflow ovens.  Exactotest makes the winning testers and ElectoMaterials the best solder paste and solder preforms,” Patty went on.

“Can you explain your methodology?” Sam asked.

“We looked at what The Professor calls ‘Profit Potential,’ simply the equipment and material that gives the most profit, assuming you are running a well tuned organization.  Fortunately, since ACME has 80 assembly lines we were able to get real process performance data on all of the major machines available, ” Patty answered.

“You answer seems a little evasive, why didn’t you use ‘Cost of Ownership?’” Madigan challenged.

“Some machines cost less to own, but they are down more for assists and when they need repair, we have to wait longer for the repair man.  From what The Professor taught us, uptime is very important. Anything that hurts uptime, like a late repairman or a machine that needs more assist time, will hurt profits.  The same is true for materials like solder paste.  If they cost less, but result in line downtime for response to pause issues or some other fault, they hurt profitability.” Patty responded.

Just then Sam’s administrative assistant, Clare Perkins opened the door.

“As you requested Mr. Madigan, your guest is joining the meeting,” Clare said.

“Well Torant, looks like Coleman said you lost,” Madigan said to the new arrival.

Upon seeing Rex Torant, Patty became a little unsettled and Pete turned his famous crimson red.  Patty and Pete called him “Rex the Torrent” as he spoke so rapidly when trying to sell them something.  Both found this manufacturer’s “rep” annoying.

“Everyone, I invited Rex to the meeting.  We met at the airport last night and started chatting.  He assured me that his Pinnacle equipment line and Ultima solder paste would be the winners today since they have the lowest cost of ownership,” Madigan explained.

Torant saw the slide announce Optoplace, Exactotest and ElectoMaterials as the winners.

“My products are just as reliable and cost 30% a year less to own,” Torant fumed at Patty.

Patty had not anticipated Torant’s attendance at the meeting but had prepared for this type of question.

“Mr. Torant is correct, however Pinnacle’s component placement machines have more downtime for machine assists and, when the equipment does malfunction, it is down for repairs on average for 28 hrs, whereas Optoplace is only down for 14 hrs.  All in all, Optoplace machines are up 6 hrs more a week in a two shift operation,” Patty calmly responded.

Will Patty’s arguments win the day?  Can a 30% more expensive machine really have more “Profit Potential?”  And what about the solder paste and materials?  Stay tuned.

Cheers,

Dr. Ron

 

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Anyone who has used wave soldering to assemble PCBs knows about that chunky layer of metal that collects on the smooth surface of the molten solder. This is solder dross; it is composed of oxidized metals and impurities that collect as the molten solder contacts the air and manufacturing environment. This happens regardless of alloy and is a normal part of the process, often consuming up to 50% of the bar solder added to the solder pot. In the past, this dross was collected as waste and disposed of, but solder dross is more than 90% valuable metal. This value should be recovered.

Nowadays, typically, this dross is collected and returned to a metals supplier for recycling. Indium Corporation now offers two programs for recycling solder dross. The first program involves simply sending back dross waste in return for a portion of the metal value as a credit. The second option involves sending back dross, which is converted to bar solder (within the original spec) and returned, with you paying only a fee for processing. When dross arrives, regardless of which program is chosen, it is electrolytically refined and the pure metals are recovered and converted back into usable bar solder. Often, this reclaimed/recycled metal has a better purity than virgin metal.

Dross is not the only form of solder that can be recycled. For instance, when changing to a different alloy in a wave soldering process, the entire solder pot will need to be emptied. The old alloy can be collected and recycled, lowering the amount of capital necessary to switch alloys. Bar solder and wire that have not been used within the shelf life can also be recycled to get back some of their value.

Contact me if you want to discuss this.

For reasons that I will discuss in a post later this year, a common factor that is emerging in the area of copper-pillar microbump 2.5D and 3D joining, is the adoption of thermocompression (TC) bonding for flip-chip flux/microbump soldering. TC bonding is now being predominantly adopted instead of reflow. Some of you may have the same response as I got at iMAPS 2011 from one well-known expert in packaging technology. He looked askance at me when I mentioned TC bonding for flip-chip and retorted: “That’s for bonding wafers, not soldering flip-chips!”. Even good old Wikipedia (at time of writing) seems to have the same problem – basically that the industry usage of the term has moved into the packaging arena.

I spent a little time talking to people in the industry, and on Google, putting together a buyer’s guide for those of you looking at who-is-doing-what in TC bonding. This is just a prototype guide and necessarily incomplete – if I have missed your company out then I apologize, and will add it in: just give me all the details!

Equipment Type	Company Name	URL	Bonding tools	What else they make
Die-bonders	ASM (PT)	http://www.asmpacific.com/asmpt /index.htm	Die bonders, flip-chip bonders	Various others
Die-bonders	BESi	http://besi.com/	Die and flip-chip bonders (Datacon)	Meco (plating systems), Fico (molding / trimming), ESEC
Die-bonders	FineTech	http://www.finetech.de/	Die bonders, flip-chip bonders (offline)	SMT/BGA rework, Laser bar-bonder, VCSEL, Photodiodes, Chip-on-glass, RFID
Die-bonders	Hybond	http://www.hybond.com/	Eutectic die bonders (offline/manual)	Wirebonders / Peg and bar lead diode bonders
Die-bonders	Newport	http://www.newport.com/	Die bonders	Optical and alignment instrumentation, spectrometers
Die-bonders	Palomar	http://palomartechnologies.com/	Die bonders	Ballbonders, stud bumpers, manual die bonders
Die-bonders	Panasonic	http://www.panasonicfa.com/?id=MD-P200	Die bonders	Wirebonders etc etc
Die-bonders	SET	http://www.set-sas.fr/en/	Die bonders, flip-chip bonders	Large device bonders and nano-imprint
Die-bonders	Shibaura	http://www.shibaura.co.jp/e/products/	Die bonders, flip-chip bonders	FEOL products (etching, stripping, coating, jetting) and BEOL
Die-bonders	Toray	http://www.toray-eng.com/sitemap/index.html#semicon	Die bonders, flip-chip bonders	[Semi]Inspection, exposure, encapsulation. COG / COF / FOG bonders
Die-bonders	Westbond	http://westbond.com/machines.htm	Die bonders (offline/manual)	Wirebonders
Wafer bonders	EV Group	http://www.evgroup.com/en	Wafer bonders	Lithography tools
Wafer bonders	Suss Microtech	http://www.suss.com/	Wafer bonders	Mask aligners, nanoimprinters, photomasks, lithography tools

Thanks to Brian Schmaltz of Namics kk for one extra addition to the list. 

Cheers! Andy

There seems to be a growing trend to use a low-Ag or Ag-free solder alloy for Surface Mount Technology (SMT) electronics assembly, similar to what is commonly offered for bar solder, used in wave and selective soldering.

For through-hole performance, the strength and stability come from the entire barrel of solder, whereas it is usually the foot and heel fillets that give SMT solder joints their strength.

Lets talk about the other issue with using a eutectic solder alloy in SMT: tombstoning.  One of the benefits of using the SAC (tin-silver-copper) alloy for SMT and solder paste, is that it has a built-in plastic range, similar to that of Sn62 (62Sn 36Pb 2Ag).  It is this plastic range that prevents tombstoning, and takes into account the inconsistent heating of the solder across the part (which is the sole cause of tombstoning).  Switching to a eutectic alloy eliminates the plastic range and opens the door for tombstoning.

Any powder manufacturing issues, such as the inconsistent distribution of dopants throughout the alloy and powder matrix, takes a back seat to the surface mount reliability concerns. 

There are other alternatives, such as SAC0307 (99Sn 0.3Ag 0.7Cu)… But, with the price of Ag finally coming down, and a long history of SAC usage, we don’t think it’s going to be a major player.

Next time, we'll talk about the manufacturing and costs associated with low-Ag and Ag-free alloys. 

I hope this helps. Contact me with any questions.

Folks,

Many people have been infatuated by the price of gold in recent months, but the price of silver has also skyrocketed. In 2000 silver was about $3.00 per troy oz. In the eight years that followed, its price grew to $15/oz. Today it is trading at over $41/oz! This price is almost an all time high, except for the time when the Hunt brothers tried to corner the silver market in 1980. The aberration of their efforts jolted the silver price to just short of $50/oz, but it settled down to $11 or so after the Hunts came under margin call and other pressures.

Unfortunately, the dramatic price increase today, does not appear to be an aberration. Although we may hope that it will soon drop to more historic levels, we may not have reason to expect that it will.

Although not as dramatic, tin and copper have experienced significant prices increases as well. The price of tin has doubled in the last year to $15/pound and copper has increased from about $3/lb to $4.50.  These metals are obviously key ingredients in critical electronic materials such as solder pastes, solder bar, and solder preforms.

In addition, oil, which is used for most organic electronic materials such as PWB resins, flip chip underfill, and epoxy fluxes, has increased to $110/bbl - approaching its all time high of $145/bbl.

All of these price increases have a significant impact on the electronic materials supply chain. Although we are used to price decreases in the cost of our mobile phones and PCs, at this point in time, the price of the materials that go into these devices will be increasing.

As one materials supply chain executive commented at APEX, “It’s not like we can be clever and somehow work around the price increase of silver and these other materials, we have to pass it on to our customer, or go out of business.”

Cheers,

Dr. Ron

最近越来越多的客户提到了选择性焊接Selective Soldering. 我之前对此了解比较少，所以特意问了同事们学习了一下，发现选择性焊接有以下几点：

---和波峰焊焊接(wave soldering)比较相似，通常在SMT贴片回流后。

---和波峰焊焊接的不同点在于，selective soldering不需要整个板子都经过solder wave; 而是有一个固定的nozzle，对需要焊接的那一小部分进行”wave” soldering

---选择性焊接(Selective soldering)是整个板子不用经过第二次温度剧增(thermal excursion)，不单单保护了板子 (reduce CTE mismatch)，而且保护了已经焊接在板子上的对温度变化敏感的原件。

---选择性焊接(Selective soldering) 和波峰焊焊接相比，一般使用较少量的波峰焊助焊剂(wave flux)和锡棒(solder bar)；但是有些选择性焊接的设备需要往pot里放实心锡线(solid solder wires)而不是锡棒。

Cheers!

 

Pic & Video:Youtube

 

PS： 谢谢同事Eric Bastow的分享。虽然用wave flux and solder bar少了点，影响了revenue; 但是实心锡线是比廉价的solder bar利润高出很多的产品，所以还好啦：-）

It was a pleasure interviewing Pat Gallagher, who developed the first automated photovoltaic solar cell tabbing and stringing machine back in 1979. (Before I was even born!) Pat has seen the tabbing industry mature, and he was kind enough to help answer some questions about the process that I’ve grown to love. 

Jim: What were the initial design goals? How have they evolved over the years with customer’s needs?

Pat: Our primary goal was to replace variable hand labor in soldering with a machine and a process. That still holds today. Back then, solar cells were very expensive, thick, brittle, and not very efficient. So the biggest issue was to avoid breaking cells. Our first advice to the cell people was to turn the crystal 45 degrees to the bus bars so that the sides of the cell wouldn't break off along the solder joints. That little trick remains in place today.


Jim: Were the first machines designed to tab and string separately, or in a combined process?

Pat: Our first design was to make strings of cells in one shot. The two-step process, fronts then backs, was a holdover from hand soldering and there was no reason to do that anymore. Surprisingly, however, we ended up accidentally inventing the mechanized tabber on the way to creating a fully automated one-step stringer.

Jim: So that’s where the stand-alone tabber came from! I would have guessed it was the other way around. Have there been any changes to the heating method?

Pat: Oddly, the first thing we tried was induction heating. It was wonderful except that it took 5,000 watts to bring a small solar cell to temperature. It seemed rather wasteful, but that was the smallest industrial RF system available. Then we tried IR light, which also worked well. That's what we used in the first automated system.

Jim: Early tabbing ribbon must have been pretty crude. Have you noted anything that has changed with the copper or solder coating used over the years?

Pat: Basically, it's the same flat conductor that we started with in the 70's. The coating chemistry has changed dramatically. Taking cues from the electronics people, we started with lightly tinned copper and that was it. Solder was introduced on the cell so the ribbon did not need a heavy solder coating as is common now.

No-Lead (Pb-free) has been challenging mostly because the process window is smaller and simply hotter. The cells can be hurt if heat exposure is too long or too fast.

If you’d like to meet Pat (the President of Solar Automation) and learn more, you can email him by clicking here or visit the Solar Automation website.

最近小忙，少讀書了，也少和大家分享了；不過工作之餘，翻看了一下《A Seat at The Table》一書，覺得裏面有些道理也蠻有啓發的。比如説此書中一直圍繞這個主題來展開了論述“Today, the only thing your customer cares about is value.”

就這個觀點，再對照一下Indium公司的兩個主要系列產品：

²       電路板組裝焊接材料(Solder Materials):  這裡也要分產品而論。對於技術含量較高，工藝使用要求較多的焊錫膏(Solder Paste)材料，重視成品可靠性的客戶們會更多的關注產品帶來的“價值”。 如果只圖便宜的材料，但是用起來“錯漏百出”的，最後還是事倍功半：返工，復修，廢棄率高（特別是浪費貴的不能翻修的板子），產出率低，總體成本也自然高了。 對技術含量較低，工藝已經“模式化”的產品，像錫棒(Solder Bar)，錫綫(Solder Wire),  性价比會更關鍵……在目前日益高漲的金屬原材料市場中，Indium公司考慮到客戶們的成本壓力，也推出了性能可以和SAC305錫棒媲美的有成本優勢的Sn995錫棒。

 

²       半導體封裝材料(Semiconductor Materials):  整個半導體行業應該算是一個高成本，高投資，高回報（運營得好的話）的三高行業。半導體封裝材料也像是其中的經絡血脈吧，連接各個部分，讓整體最後順暢無阻的工作。半導體各個部分的材料都不便宜，設備更是不菲；對材料性能的表現要求和驗證都很嚴格，畢竟都投資那麽多，不能“功虧一簣”嘛。所以客戶們一般會十分重視產品的價值。 Indium 公司目前提供的半導體材料有：Wafer Flux, Wafer Paste, Micro Spheres, Flip-Chip Flux, Substrate Paste, Ball Attach Flux, Die-Attach Paste/Wire, PoP Fluxes, etc. 

 

Indium公司還為大家提供散熱界面材料(Thermal Interface Materials)，工程焊料(Engineering Solders)，薄膜光付太陽能板製造材料&太陽能板組裝焊接材料(PV Solar Materials)，和銦金屬及其化合物等。 這些材料使用在比較領先的應用中，新興行業，或是細分市場中，客戶們都十分重視產品和服務能給自己帶來的價值。

Cheers!  

Pic: Indium Corporation

PS: 前些日子看了中央4台的《第三屆漢語橋在華留學生漢語比賽》，感慨不已！除了感嘆這些留學生們對“那麽難”的漢語的精湛掌握，對中國文化和歷史的了解，甚至對中國的熱愛；更感慨的是，這些活動也説明了祖國的強大！現在越來越多的留學生們來中國學習，想進一步了解中國，和中國人民交流；中國話也在慢慢傳播到全世界！以前中國學子們苦讀英語，考TOFEL, 雅思，GRE什麽的；現在金髮碧眼的學生們也在場上比拼誰更了解我們的“四書五經”了，哈哈！

 

剛剛看見一個關於如何使用AuSn預成型焊片 （金錫，主要是Au80Sn20的共晶材料）來做laser bar bonding的短文和錄像，頗受啓發。在此與大家共享。短文和錄像轉載在Finetech:  http://www.finetech.de/micro-assembly/applications/laser-bar-bonding.html

Laser Bar Bonding
In comparison to single lasers, laser bars consist of several single edge-emitting lasers comprised in a silicon bar. Bundling the light results in significantly increased output power as needed in a wide range of applications.

Laser bars are high power products, applied wherever small and efficient light-emitting units are needed. They mainly serve as pumping sources for optical resonators of high power lasers. Another field of use can be found in medical appliances.

What are the challenges?

• Sensitive components with brittle materials and optically active areas
• Delicate edges and facettes
• Perfect coplanarity required to ensure proper thermal management
• Highest placement accuracy needed to ensure defined overhang
• Stacked mounting (lasers to submount) requires different solder materials with their appropriate profiles
• Void free bonding
• Solder materials are prone to oxidation, process integration required
• High magnification of large components
• Indium bonding under process gas atmosphere

過去我也有一篇blog寫了關於Indium公司的 AuSn 材料的，請分享。

Cheers!

First image & English content source: FineTech; AuSn image from Indium Corporation.

最近的客戶拜訪中，大家都對Indium公司的新焊錫棒(Solder Bar) Sn995十分感興趣。 Sn995是一種無鉛的焊錫材料，不含銀，主要成分是99.5%的Sn, 大約0.5%的Cu, 還有一些微量元素。Sn995的主要微量元素，是Cobalt 鈷 (Co)。

先在市面上的無鉛焊錫棒，除了SAC305， 也有很多SnCu+Ni的材料。在我們各種可靠性試驗中，都發現“Cobalt is a better grain refiner.”

²       Functional Test 整板功能性測試

²       Thermal Cycling Test 熱循環測試

²       Intermetallic Growth Test

²       Wetting Test 潤濕測試

²       Shear Test 剪切力測試 

²       Pull Test 拉力測試

²       Accelerated Aging Test 老化測試

²       Hole Fill test 填孔測試

²       Copper Loading Test

²       Dross Test

在以上的所有測試試驗中，Sn995 都呈現出相同或是更好的性能。進一步的詳細測試信息，歡迎隨時聯係我們: askus@indium.com china@indium.com

Cheers!

Picture: Jim Hevel with Indium Corporation

I work for a company that manufactures solder, so I have a pretty keen eye for it. Even so, it’s still hard to tell a Sn/Pb ingot of bar solder from a Pb-free bar at a glance. The best way to keep these solder alloys separate at your facility is to have a good storage/tracking system and to have them made in different shapes. These pictures depict 2 lots of solder ingot, one is Sn/Pb and the other is Pb Free. Notice the physical difference of the two. This is a fail-safe, in case the ingots are misplaced or left untracked at your facility. Of course, this isn’t anything revolutionary – but perhaps an way to easily add an extra measure of safety into your wave solder process.

Many consumer electronics transitioned to Pb-Free 4-5 years ago.  However, there are still a substantial number of electronics being built with Sn/Pb solder.  As some of these products begin to transition to Pb-Free, the decision on a bar solder alloy for the wave soldering process is a challenging one.  There are two widely recognized options to choose from:

• use SAC305 and keep the alloy the same as the SMT process
• choose a low silver (Ag)/Ag-free alloy which is substantially lower in cost

From a cost perspective the Ag-Free alloys are 40-50% cheaper than SAC305.  This is a substantial savings when you consider that solder pots hold around 1,000 lbs of solder.  In this arena, Indium offers our Sn995 which is a cobalt doped Sn/Cu alloy.  In addition to being lower in cost, Sn995 produces shinier solder joints than SAC305.

It would be great if that were the whole story, but there are cases when SAC305 should still be considered as a bar solder for wave soldering processes.  One advantage of SAC305 is that it has a faster wetting speed than any of the Ag-Free alternatives.  This can help when you have a board or process that is challenged with poor hole fill.  The chart below shows the difference between popular Pb-Free alloys for wave.

Another potential advantage of SAC305 is in thermal cycling reliability.  Because the typical wave solder joint is large and very robust, reliability may not be a concern for many consumer products.  However, as the reliability requirements increase for industries such as automotive, aerospace, and military, the stronger SAC305 solder joint may be what is needed to meet more stringent reliability requirements.

Both SAC305 and Ag-Free alloys, such as Sn995, have their place within the electronics manufacturing arena, but it is essential that the correct decision is made based on the product being assembled.

While at the Semicon West 2009 show in July, I had a chance to sit down with Herr Klaus Roemer of Pink GmbH. PINK is most famous in the die-attach and power module manufacturing world for their reflow ovens with vacuum, but are also known in the medical and aerospace industries for manufacturing extremely high precision, one-off, vacuum equipment for applications as diverse as particle-accelerators for ion bombardment, and large-volume chambers for helium leak-detection. I asked him some questions about Pink vacuum soldering technology.

Cheers! Andy

PV interconnect products have a lot of nicknames: tabbing ribbon, interconnect wire, bus bar, stringing ribbon, etc.  I wish I could say the dimensions are only as various as the names we use to describe them.  We look forward to working with you on custom PV interconnect projects though.  To speed the process, just email us at solar@indium.com with your specifications.  Along with copper thickness, width, and solder alloy and thickness, make sure to include all the criteria that are important to you.  That's one of the best reasons to work with us on your project – you can get exactly what you think will work best in your application.

Hello Dr. Lasky,

Could you send me a pdf or word.doc file with more details about your techniques on cost estimating for SMT assembly. I would like to use your methods to calculate the cost of an assembly process that is not automated. This is an area that I have always had a problem with. Hopefully I can learn how to do this.

Thank you,
Will

Will,

When teaching cost estimating I usually require the students to model the cost of manufacturing chocolate bars (even though the main thrust of the course is costing SMT processes.) The reason I do this is to demonstrate that cost estimating is similar no matter what the process is. The elements of cost are the same: labor, materials, equipment amortization, rent and utilities. Although ProfitPro™ (available from SMTA) was designed for SMT assembly the transition to chocolate bar is straight forward. The materials in SMT assembly (PWBs, solder paste and components), become sugar, cocoa and milk, the labor is still labor, the equipment is different but is still amortized and rent and utilities may cost more or less but are still there. There is no mystery in cost estimating, it is similar in all processes.

I will send you some class notes on this in a few days.

Cheers,
Dr. Ron