C2MI Selects ASM Advanced Assembly Line for Turnkey Process Development

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Inaugurated in 2012, the MiQro Innovation Collaborative Center (C2MI) is a R&D facility in Bromont (Québec), Canada whose goal is to reduce the risk associated with product and process development in order to accelerate commercialization of new technology. Recently, the center identified the requirement for an advanced SMT assembly line and selected ASM Assembly Systems’ DEK printing, SIPLACE placement and ASM ProcessLens SPI platforms for its expanded capability.

With funding support from the Canadian government, industrial partners and the Université de Sherbrooke, C2MI began its existence with a heavy emphasis on MEMS, advanced packaging, and characterization and reliability testing of microelectronic parts.Increasingly, the need for turnkey production expertise led the C2MI technical team to source and install a next-generation SMT line.

“We have a very successful history of designing and building prototype parts,” shares Marie-Josée Turgeon, C2MI Vice-President of Operations and Deputy General Manager, who joined the organization after having spent more than 20 years at OEM and EMS manufacturers in Canada. “Not only can we design and produce highly complex microelectronic devices, the newly-acquired capabilities of the ASM line now allow us to provide our customers and partners with a manufacturable process recipe to move their innovations into high-volume manufacturing with a proven solution.”

Because C2MI has relationships with many of the world’s most forward-thinking technology companies, selecting an equipment set that was capable of everything from metric 0201 placement to closed-loop 5D solder paste inspection to Hermes and CFX capability for Industry 4.0 compatibility was essential.The ASM advanced assembly line delivers on these C2MI objectives.A DEK NeoHorizon 03iX printer, ASM ProcessLens 5D SPI system and two SIPLACE TX placement platforms, one with a SIPLACE SpeedStar placement head and the other equipped with a SIPLACE TwinStar and a SIPLACE MultiStar head, form the core of the line and enable assembly flexibility with a wide component range from metric 0201s all the way up to parts as large as 200 mm x 125 mm.In addition, C2MI’s ASM line integrates Hermes and CFX connectivity, streamlining setup and delivering an Industry 4.0 process for customers.

Sylvain Yergeau, C2MI specialist in card assembly and printed electronics, notes the positive experience with the line since its installation last summer.“We are placing metric 0201s, working with flexible circuits and pushing the limits of the line’s changeover capability since we are primarily working with prototypes and short runs.Accuracy and repeatability have been excellent and the performance is exactly what we expected from a state-of-the-art solution,” explains Yergeau.“It is also exciting to have the distinction of being one of the first Hermes-capable lines in North America.With cutting-edge connectivity, setup times are vastly reduced and process variation is essentially eliminated; it’s amazing and extremely efficient.”

C2MI is actively working on several advanced technology projects and counts nearly 300 organizations within its partner ecosystem. “We are closing the gap between innovative ideas, proof of concept and manufacturability,” says Turgeon.“The ASM line is instrumental in helping us bring conceptual technologies to manufacturable reality.”