-
- News
- Books
Featured Books
- smt007 Magazine
Latest Issues
Current IssueComing to Terms With AI
In this issue, we examine the profound effect artificial intelligence and machine learning are having on manufacturing and business processes. We follow technology, innovation, and money as automation becomes the new key indicator of growth in our industry.
Box Build
One trend is to add box build and final assembly to your product offering. In this issue, we explore the opportunities and risks of adding system assembly to your service portfolio.
IPC APEX EXPO 2024 Pre-show
This month’s issue devotes its pages to a comprehensive preview of the IPC APEX EXPO 2024 event. Whether your role is technical or business, if you're new-to-the-industry or seasoned veteran, you'll find value throughout this program.
- Articles
- Columns
Search Console
- Links
- Events
||| MENU - smt007 Magazine
Nihon Superior’s Keith Sweatman Wins a Coveted SMTA International Best Paper Award
November 13, 2023 | Nihon Superior Co. LtdEstimated reading time: 1 minute
Nihon Superior Co. Ltd., a supplier of advanced joining materials, proudly announces that their Senior Technical Advisor, Keith Sweatman, has been honored with a coveted SMTA International Best Paper Award. This prestigious award was presented during the SMTA International 2023 Recognition Dinner, where Keith Sweatman was acknowledged as one of the four speakers who presented papers at the 2022 conference that were judged by their peers as the best in their respective categories.
Keith Sweatman's award-winning paper, titled "The Effect of Strain Rate on the Ductility of Bismuth-Containing Solders," may seem to be remote from the day-to-day realities of electronics manufacturing. However, it has been acknowledged as making a significant contribution to an issue that is presenting a challenge comparable with that which the industry had to face two decades ago when, driven by the EU RoHS Directive, it had to move to lead-free solders.
Sweatman's paper provides an insight into one of the challenge the electronics manufacturing industry faces as it struggles to respond to the need to reduce the temperature required for soldering processes; the tendency of low temperature solder alloys containing bismuth to brittle failure. He reported the results of a study in which it was found that in tensile testing at a low strain rate even alloys with a high bismuth content could exhibit considerable ductility because of a change in the way the bismuth phase responds to stress. These findings provide a basis for the development solder alloys that will make it possible for the electronics manufacturing industry to move to low temperature soldering without compromising reliability.
The work reported was conducted by a team of researchers working under the guidance of Professor Kazuhiro Nogita at the Nihon Superior Centre for the Manufacture of Electronic Materials, located on the University of Queensland campus in Australia.
Suggested Items
Key Tronic Announces Results for Q3 of Fiscal Year 2024
05/08/2024 | Globe NewswireFor the third quarter of fiscal year 2024, Key Tronic reported total revenue of $140.5 million, compared to $164.6 million in the same period of fiscal year 2023.
Global Sourcing Spotlight: Golf, Friedman, and the Benefits of Global Sourcing
05/08/2024 | Bob Duke -- Column: Global Sourcing SpotlightWhen I started working on global sourcing for American Standard Circuits, a friend sent me a book by the NY Times economist Thomas Friedman called The Lexis and the Olive Tree. Well, not being a fan of the NYT or even economists as a whole, I put the book on a shelf and forgot about it until I got a call from my book-giving friend, and he asked me what I thought of the book. I mumbled something unintelligible and quickly changed the subject.
Fabrinet Announces Q3 Fiscal Year 2024 Financial Results
05/07/2024 | FabrinetFabrinet, a leading provider of advanced optical packaging and precision optical, electro-mechanical and electronic manufacturing services to original equipment manufacturers of complex products, today announced its financial results for its third fiscal quarter ended March 29, 2024.
Nolan’s Notes: Coming to Terms With AI
05/07/2024 | Nolan Johnson -- Column: Nolan's NotesHow fast do things move in the world of data analytics? Here’s an example. We’ve been planning this issue on artificial intelligence for the past few months, and, in fact, I had already written this column about a month ago. Then I went to IPC APEX EXPO and upended it all. I originally had compared AI to drag racing in that (CPU) horsepower and new (data) vehicles have steadily delivered higher performance competition. That seemed pretty accurate given how generative AI models dominated the popular media with amazing results—and sometimes spectacular crashes.
Happy’s Tech Talk #28: The Power Mesh Architecture for PCBs
05/07/2024 | Happy Holden -- Column: Happy’s Tech TalkA significant decrease in HDI substrate production cost can be achieved by reducing the number of substrate layers from conventional through-hole multilayers and microvia multilayers of eight, 10, 12 (and more), down to four. Besides reducing direct processing steps, yield will increase as defect producing operations are eliminated.