Cirexx Brings Hot Air Solder Level Back in House

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Cirexx International announced today that they have acquired and installed an NTO (New Technology Overman) HASL (hot air solder leveling) system. An original printed circuit board fabrication finish, solder had fallen out of favor over the past two decades in favor of RoHS compliance. The DoD, however, continues to require solder as a PCB finish for many legacy, and some new, designs.Defense contracting is a large and growing sector of Cirexx’s business and the company wanted the ability to control the scheduling and quality of this process in-house.

Philipp Menges, President and CEO of Cirexx said, “Our MIL-Spec business continues to grow, and many designs require HASL. So, we thought it was a no-brainer to bring it back in house so we can control it and incorporate it into our quick turn service.” The system integrates a Fluxerline module for applying flux to the boards before soldering and the main vertical solder dip chamber with the hot air knives for leveling. The machine is self-contained and designed to operate efficiently and in a clean manner.

Menges added, “Cirexx has seen significant revenue growth from applying our quick turn core principles to defense contracting. Defense contractors are operating more and more like “dot coms” in order to shore up their bottom line, and big part of that is developing new products quickly. At the same time the US Mil-Spec vendor base has been steadily shrinking. That is a perfect scenario for Cirexx success.”

About Cirexx International

Founded in 1980, Cirexx International, Inc. is an electronic solutions company offering PCB design, PCB fabrication and PCB assembly of high-reliability printed circuit boards, RF/microwave circuit boards, flexible printed circuits and rigid-flex circuit boards. Recognized as a time-technology leader, the company offers a genuine Quick Turn service and provides a one stop shop and all in-house solution known as Seamless Integration. Cirexx has expertise fabricating high layer count Printed Circuit Boards using a variety of substrates including a wide array of high-frequency RF-based materials in mixed (hybrid) constructions. Cirexx delivers unsurpassed quality and support to a large array of customers in the high-reliability markets of defense/aerospace, industrial, and medical instrumentation. For more information, click here.