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Publisher's Executive Council Interview
December 31, 1969 |Estimated reading time: 7 minutes
SMT Magazine's Publisher's Executive Council consists of 38 electronics industry executives hand-picked by publisher Jim Collins. They share their expertise and insights with our editorial staff and act as a sounding board for new editorial concepts and projects. These individuals also contribute much to the industry in general, working as leaders within their companies. This month's Publisher's Executive Council Interview features one of the industry's leading innovators: CR Technology's Richard Amtower.
SMT: Please review your company's position in the surface mount industry.
Amtower: CR Technology is a leading supplier of X-ray and automated optical inspection (AOI) systems. Our equipment is used to control the quality and improve the yield of populated printed circuit boards (PCB), and has become an integral part of the testing strategy for major OEMs and contract manufacturers (CM). Because of the importance of ball grid arrays (BGA), chip scale packages (CSP) and other hidden-solder-joint components in the surface mount industry, we have taken the leadership in integration of X-ray and AOI to provide complete inspection solutions for our customers.
SMT: What is CR Technology's fundamental business strategy?
Amtower: Our strategy is to offer the most cost-effective inspection solutions on the market today, including not only the original purchase, but also the cost of setup/programming, operation, maintenance, service and support. We also strive to enhance the value of the inspection data our systems generate by collecting, organizing and formatting the data using our Web browser-based Rework Data Server (RDS). Users anywhere in the enterprise or around the world can access important production data, yields, defects, etc., in real time.
SMT: How has the globalization of surface mount markets affected your technology and business strategies?
Amtower: The globalization of the SMT market was a primary reason behind our decision to look for a strong partner like Photon Dynamics that enjoys a very strong market position in the Pacific Rim with its flat panel display (FPD) equipment. Photon just opened its Taiwan office, which also will be the headquarters for our regional sales and support. From a technology standpoint, the effect has been less dramatic. The many competitors in the AOI market for some time have spanned the gamut of technical approaches to inspection, and what we are seeing now basically is just repackaging various approaches.
SMT: Update our readers on the state of inspection systems today.
Amtower: AOI now is accepted as an essential component of test and inspection strategies for PCB manufacturers. Likewise, BGA, CSP and other hidden-joint components have driven X-ray systems into the SMT assembly mainstream. The explosion of competitive systems in the last three years reflects a major change in the status of inspection systems with both customers and suppliers, driven by customer requirements and improved equipment capability.
SMT: How has inspection equipment capability changed over the past five years?
Amtower: The fundamental driver for inspection equipment has been the astonishing growth in computer processing power per dollar. Computing power is now one of the cheapest pieces in assembling an inspection system, and has enabled new inspection technologies, algorithms, etc., that would have been impracticable five years ago. So today you see a mix of older systems based on Unix and non-PC technologies, and newer systems running on Windows and high-speed Pentium-class processors.
The trend therefore has been toward lower selling prices, more familiar and simpler user interfaces, and higher throughputs. One factor that has not changed is the sheer necessity of online production experience to have a fully capable system. The sheer volume and complexity of the SMT production process has defeated vendor after vendor that thinks it has come up with the ultimate answer, only to break its pick on the rock of real-world production. Vendors that make it through this process (and not all do) can make real contributions to the industry.
SMT: What has been the impact of widespread adoption of BGAs, CSPs and flip chip technologies?
Amtower: Where inspection is concerned, the impact can be summarized in one word: X-ray. SMT manufacturers have become major customers for industrial high-resolution X-ray systems, driven by their need to verify the integrity of solder joints that cannot be viewed visually. Most users meet their needs with off-line sampled verification using nonautomated X-ray systems, but automated in-line X-ray inspection use is growing steadily as customers demand full verification.
SMT: Where is the primary bottleneck in surface mount lines? How might this be overcome to improve yields without compromising PCB quality and reliability?
Amtower: The answer to this changes depending on the particular manufacturer, the boards being assembled and the assembly line rate. A primary bottleneck has been in-circuit test (ICT), which typically is not in-line, is difficult to interpret and difficult to program. AOI systems have substantially eliminated the ICT bottleneck in many installations by screening out the majority of defects prior to ICT. Some customers have, in fact, adopted a policy of eliminating ICT by combining AOI, automated X-ray inspection (AXI) or flying probe with functional test.
SMT: How have equipment users' expectations changed over the past five years?
Amtower: In the X-ray field, users require higher resolution and magnification to cope with smaller components featuring finer geometries and tighter pitches. Off-line or in-line automation is more in demand as complex measurements of voiding and other parameters are made part of the users' databases.
For AOI, the expectations have changed as the customers have changed. The market has grown from a few technically advanced pioneers willing to live with many deficiencies in their vendors and equipment to a mainstream group of customers who regard AOI as just another tool that must work simply and reliably in everyday production.
SMT: What is the key consideration in equipment development that sets your company apart from competitors?
Amtower: Our business mission is to add value for our customers through yield improvement. Our inspection systems must contribute to the customer's bottom line by reducing defects, decreasing ramp time and increasing yield. We do this by detecting defects with speed and accuracy, and by quickly and effectively reporting defect information for corrective action.
The requirement to add value means our equipment must be highly cost-effective, from original purchase price to setup and operation cost an essential consideration in our development objectives. We also have developed enterprise-wide data networking via Web browser interfaces to provide instant access to the yield and defect data our products collect online again, with the focus on ease of use and yield management data.
SMT: What is the status of surface mount standards development? Has the Surface Mount Equipment Manufacturers' Association (SMEMA) accomplished its mandate?
Amtower: SMEMA has been extremely helpful in establishing some basic standards for the SMT line, such as conveyor heights and communication protocols. Overall, the status of surface mount standards development still seems to be in its very early days, especially when compared to Semiconductor Equipment and Materials International (SEMI) or IPC Association Connecting Electronics Industries standards. SMEMA probably has been wise to begin in very general areas, given the fractious and competitive nature of the vendor environment.
SMT: What steps has your company implemented to address the environmental issues that affect the global PCB assembly industry?
Amtower: Fortunately, our equipment (and inspection equipment in general) has limited environmental impact. We use no chemicals and produce no environmental wastes. Our compliance with international and industry standards such as CE, SEMI S2-93A and others provides good documentation and third-party evidence of compliance with environmental requirements, and the new generation of green computers and low-power flat-panel liquid crystal displays (LCD) has cut down power requirements.
SMT: How would you characterize business today?
Amtower: Great! Both our semiconductor and SMT markets are strong and growing. The perpetual business drivers of "Smaller! Cheaper! Faster!" are more valid today than ever, and automated inspection serves these drivers well. The new systems we have introduced are doing very well, and our networked RDS yield data management system is tying everything together.
SMT: Where is the surface mount industry headed over the next few years?
Amtower: The growth of the electronics manufacturing services (EMS) industry, which has grown at 25 percent annually overall (and even faster for the top-tier companies), perhaps is the major event in the SMT industry. OEMs will continue seeing the benefits of outsourcing their production, and will increasingly develop partnerships with selected suppliers. We expect to see the smallest EMS providers dwindle in number as the big guys gobble them up.
Increasing EMS provider expertise and new challenges facing their customers are driving a convergence between the semiconductor and SMT industries at the top ends of price and performance. Semiconductor manufacturers producing sophisticated multichip modules (MCM) are using advanced SMT assembly technologies even as SMT assemblers incorporate microvia technology, direct chip attach (DCA) and other semiconductor back-end technologies on their boards. The firewall that used to exist between semiconductor and SMT manufacturers is breaking down, with benefits to both sides in crossover technologies.
Neither last nor least is the advent of lead-free technology. With Japanese manufacturers moving to lead-free consumer products by the end of 2000, pressure will mount on other manufacturers to move forward, if only as a defensive marketing move ("New! Lead-free DVDs!"). While lead-free solder solutions exist, it is clear that lead-free use will introduce more production variables and yield degradation sources, at least in the short term, requiring more and better inspection and yield management data. SMT