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EPTE Newsletter from Japan - INTERNEPCON 2007

Topics of the Week

INTERNEPCON 2007 (Part IV)

This is part four of my observations from the 36th InterNepcon held at Tokyo Big Sight from January 17th through January 19th.  

The predominant items featured at the exhibition were related to the assembling and interconnections for electronic products.  Many new technologies for the materials, equipment and tolling segments were also on display.

Two prominent mounting machine suppliers, YAMAHA and i-Pulse showcased new models aimed at two different sections in the manufacturing process:  machines geared towards faster speed volume production, and the second provides more flexibility during the component mounting process.

The machines geared towards faster speeds use a mounting mechanism that resembles a machine gun. The machines place more than ten tiny chip components per second and replace a taped component system that looks like a ballet belt of a machine gun.  Now, one bulk case can accommodate more than 50 thousand components per plastic case and simultaneously reduce the plastic tape waste common with volume production.

The new flexible mounting system provides faster set up. The middle and small size mounting machines do not have high-speed capabilities, but they are able to manage different types of components including ICs, connectors, switches, optical devices, etc.  Most of the machines are capable to mount the 0402 chip components (0.4 mm long and 0.2 mm wide; 10050 by the US standard) by changing the mounting modules of the machines. The machine manufacturers said the component suppliers have been preparing 0402 components as the standard series; therefore the assembling companies are installing the new machines with the 0402 capabilities for the new lines.

Lead free solder could not be a stand alone topic at the show, and had to be packaged as one component of the whole process.  Three major material suppliers, Senju Metals, Tamura and Almit secured large booths and demonstrated the values a total package that included materials, screen printing and reflow furnaces.  The companies underscored the problems with the current lead-free systems, and claimed their new systems provide the right solution for every thing.

The Automatic Optical Inspection (AOI) system used during and after assembling drew a lot of attention during the show. There were many AOI equipment manufacturers represented, and they displayed their new systems for the screen-printing process for solder paste and soldered components.  The larger companies rented sizable booths and boasted of the great capabilities their AOI systems offered, and even smaller equipment companies were showing the unique features of their systems.

Manufacturing out sourcing was the buzz word in the industry several years ago, and many EMS companies were present at the exhibition. However, there have been significant changes in the Japanese and Asian electronics market since 2001, and most of the major EMS companies did not attend the exhibition. American EMS companies could not secure any substantial business from Japanese and Asian customers and showed declines, while Asian EMS companies experienced growth during the last several years.  UMC, a major EMS company in Japan advertised their flourishing assembly capacities in China and Vietnam. A marketing person at the UMC booth disclosed that the company has doubled its revenue every two years, and next year, it will post a billion dollars in revenue.

Dominique Numakura, DKN Research (dnumakura@dknresearch.com)

Headlines of the week

1.      Taiyo Industrial (Equipment and PWB manufacturer in Japan) 1/22

Has developed a new test equipment for the high resolution LCD panels with a high accuracy alignment system.

2.      Kuraray (Major plastic supplier in Japan) 1/22

Will invest 4 billion yens to double the manufacturing capacity of polarization films of LCD panels by middle of 2008.

3.      Nippon Electric Glass (Major glass material supplier in Japan) 1/22

Has developed a new low cost lens for the optical telecommunication cables. The company targets 300 thousands units per month in the next two years.

4.      Rohm (Major device manufacturer in Japan) 1/22

Has developed the world smallest LED device (1.0 x 0.6 x 0.2 mm) for red, orange, yellow, green, blue and white.

5.      Hitachi (Major electronics company in Japan) 1/22

Has made a prototype model for the new small pressure sensor by a technical combination of MEMS and CMOS.

6.      YAMAHA (Equipment manufacturer in Japan) 1/22

Has rolled out a new AOI machine for the quality of screen-printed solder on a large size circuit board (485 x 410 mm) before reflow.

7.      Nitto Denko (Major electronic material supplier in Japan) 1/23

Will invest 6 billion yens to build a new plant of optical films in Shenzhen China for large size LCD-TVs.

8.      Mitsubishi Cable (Major cable manufacturer in Japan) 1/24

Has developed a new optical wiring technology on a flexible substrate as the next generation optical circuit board system.

9.      National Taiwan University (Taiwan) 1/23

Has developed a wireless power transmission system by ultra sounds targeting in-plant use of the medical devices.

10.  Polymer Vision (Optical device manufacturer in Netherland) 1/25

Will build an RTR line of flexible display products in the plant of a English company, Innos for the volume production.

11.   Senju Metals (Major soldering material supplier in Japan) 1/24

Has unveiled the total solution for the laser soldering system.

12.   Samsung Electronics (Major electronics company in Korea) 1/25

Has unveiled the world thinnest cellular phone (8.4 mm thick) for the third generation phone of Softbank in Japan.

13.  Samsung Electronics (Major electronics company in Korea) 1/29

Has commercialized the N Series of 1.8" disc drive with 60 GB for one disc.

14.  Shinwa (Circuit board manufacturer in Japan) 1/31

Has commercialized thick copper circuit boards (400 micron thick) for large currencies. The new etching process minimize the side etching.

15.  Hitachi (Major electronics company in Japan) 2/3

Has decided to postpone the construction of the third plant of plasma display panel at least half year because of unclear projection.

Interesting literatures about the packaging industry

Articles of DKN Research

1. . New "2006 Global Material Projection for Flex Circuit" DKN Research, October, 2006. http://www.dknresearch.com/Products.html

2. "Introduction for the Printed Circuit Boards of Car Electronics, Flexible Circuits", (Japanese only), Dominique Numakura, Nikkan Kogyo Shinbun, June, 2006, 2400 yens.

3. New "The latest semiconductor package, Part XXI, Teardown Analysis of FDD, CD Drive", Dominique Numakura, Electronics Packaging Technology, January, 2007 

4. "Five Year Projection of the Global Flexible Circuit Market" Robert Turunen, Dominique Numakura and James J. Hickman, The Board Authority, Volume 7, August, 2006

5. "Technical Trends and Market Projection of the Materials for the Flexible Circuits", (Japanese only) Dominique Numakura, Denshi Zairyo, October, 2006

6. "Leading Edge Material and Application of Polyimide (Materials for the Advance Flexible Circuits)", Dominique Numakura, CMC publication, August, 2006

7. New "Business Trends and Technology Trends of the HDI Flexible Circuits -

Roadmap for the Ultra High-Density Advanced Flexible Circuits", Dominique Numakura, KPCA, October 31, 2006

From the Major Industry Magazines

1. "Innovative Solutions for Leading Edge Designs", George Milad and Mario Orduz, CircuiTree, January, 2007.

2. "Finding hidden Placement Problems - Recalibrating equipment improves placement yields", Kary Voegele, Circuits Assembly, December, 2006.

3. "Screen Printing in the Dawn of Fuel Cells", Darren Brown, SMT, December, 2006

4. "Laminate Material Selection for RoHS ASSEMBLY, Part 2", Ed Kelley and Erik Bergum, Printed Circuit Design & Manufacturing, December, 2006.

5. "Innovations in Computer Tomography, 3-D X-ray Inspection has Arrived", David Bernard, Advanced Packaging, November/December, 2006

6. "From Chips to Systems via Packaging - A Comparison of IBM's Mainframe Servers", Hubert Harrer, George A. Katopis and Wiren Becker, IEEE Circuits and Systems Magazine, 4th Quarter, 2006

7. "Under the Hood-Latest DESIGN GEMS Unearthed",  presented by EE Times and techonline, December 2006