Powering the Future: Why True Ceramic Circuits Are Not Just ‘Better PCBs’
Global Sourcing Spotlight: The Global Quality Gap—Why Consistency Wins the Contract
Knocking Down the Bone Pile: Precision Milling of Underfilled SMT Components
Overseas production in Asia and technical topics highlighted SMTA’s recent Oregon Expo & Tech Forum, which featured over 20 exhibitors and a robust audience for the exhibits and classes. The event took place in Wilsonville, Oregon, home to several tech companies, including Siemens, Xerox, Rockwell Collins, and FLIR.
The technical session kicked off with a brilliant keynote address, “Advanced Technologies for Printed Circuit Board Fabrication and Raw Materials,” delivered by Darren Hitchcock of Panasonic Electronic Materials. Darren’s remarks started with global market trends, noting that even with the ongoing shift in PCB fabrication from China to other areas (currently favoring Taiwan and Vietnam, followed by India and Thailand), that China will still be the dominant producer for years to come.
The presentation also covered current technology trends, pointing out that PCB density is driven by packaging I/O, pitch, and signal integrity. Darren then covered how the PCB requirements are driving raw material needs and what the industry must be prepared for, including IPC standards.
Following the keynote, Sam Lytwynec, technical support engineer at Indium Corporation, provided the audience with a technical presentation, “Surface Finish 101.” This presentation gave a great overview of the primary purpose of surface finish, as he noted, it is applied for two basic reasons: to ensure solderability and protect exposed circuitry. He also covered the considerations for surface finish and the various options available.
To wrap up the technical program there was a panel discussion titled, “SMT Defects: Description, Cause and Mitigation.” On the panel was Ray Prasad of Ray Prasad Consultancy Services, Rob Rowland of Axiom Electronics, Dudi Amir of Intel Corp, and Sam Lytwynec of Indium Corp. Each gave a brief presentation followed by a Q&A session.
Between the sessions, attendees had plenty of time to meet with the exhibitors to learn more about their latest offerings. The exhibitor list included Aven, Inc.; ECD, Fuji America Corporation; Hanwha Techwin Automation; I-Connect007; Indium Corporation; JBC Tools, Inc.; JH Technologies; Kyzen Corporation; MacDermid Alpha Electronics Solutions; MaRC Technologies; Nikon Metrology, Inc.; NW Test Solutions; Omron Inspection Systems; Out of the Box Manufacturing; Panasonic; PFC Flexible Circuits; SEHO North America, Inc.; Specialized Coating Services; Technica, USA; Trans Tec America; UltraTape; VJ Electronix, Inc.; and Zero Defects International.
This event is part of the regional Expo Series produced by SMTA. Hosting the registration was event planner, Madison Soliday, along with SMTA Executive Director Tanya Martin. Supporting the event was technical advisor Raiyo Aspandiar Ph.D., Intel Corporation along with Jeff Deering, Indium Corporation.
For more information on SMTA events, be sure to visit SMTA.org.
