Indium’s Lasky Outlines History, Applications, and Future of Indium

Estimated reading time: 2 minutes

Indium Corporation Senior Technologist Dr. Ron Lasky delivers an informative overview of the history of, and insight into the future use of, indium metal in a video available here. 

As part of the Electronics Assembly with Phil Zarrow series, this video features Lasky and Zarrow, president and principal consultant for ITM Consulting, discussing historical and unique indium and indium alloy applications. 

“Indium Corporation was the first company to find a practical use for indium in the 1930s, and that was for bearing lubricants in aircraft. It was used in solders and fusible alloys,” Lasky explains. “Today, one of the more interesting applications is that indium can be used as a superconductor, and it has a high nuclear cross-section for neutrons, so it's often used in nuclear control rods.” 

For more information on indium, high-purity indium, and indium alloys, click here.

Dr. Lasky, holder of the prestigious SMTA Founder’s Award, is a world-renowned process expert and a Senior Technologist at Indium Corporation. He is also a Professor of Engineering and the Director of the Cook Engineering Design Center at Dartmouth College. He has more than 30 years of experience in electronics and optoelectronic packaging and assembly. Dr. Lasky has authored six books, and contributed to nine more on science, electronics, and optoelectronics. Additionally, he has served as an adjunct professor at several colleges, teaching more than 20 different courses on topics ranging from electronics packaging, materials science, physics, mechanical engineering and science, and religion.

Dr. Lasky holds numerous patent disclosures and is the developer of several SMT processing software products relating to cost estimating, line balancing, and process optimization. He is the co-creator of engineering certification exams that set standards in the electronics assembly industry, worldwide. Dr. Lasky also authors a technology blog, which can be found at www.indium.com/drlasky. 

Zarrow has been involved with PCB fabrication and assembly for more than 35 years. In addition to his background in automated assembly and cleaning, Zarrow is recognized for his expertise in surface mount reflow soldering technology, and in the design and implementation of SMT placement equipment and reflow soldering systems. His extensive hands-on experience also includes set-up and troubleshooting through-hole, and SMT processes throughout the world.

About Indium Corporation

Indium Corporation is a premier materials manufacturer and supplier to the global electronics, semiconductor, thin-film, thermal management, and solar markets. Products include solders and fluxes; brazes; thermal interface materials; sputtering targets; indium, gallium, germanium, and tin metals and inorganic compounds; and NanoFoil®. Founded in 1934, Indium has global technical support and factories located in China, Malaysia, Singapore, South Korea, the United Kingdom, and the USA.