Best Papers from SMTA International Announced

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The SMTA is pleased to announce the Best Papers from SMTA International 2024.  The winners were selected by members of the conference technical committee. Awards are given for "Best of Proceedings" as well as "Best Practical and Applications-Based Knowledge" categories. A plaque is given to primary authors of all winning papers for these exceptional achievements.

The following three papers were selected for the “Best of Proceedings” award:

• "A Comparison of Thermal Cycling and Thermal Shock for Evaluating Solder Joint Reliability" Richard Coyle, Ph.D., Nokia Bell Labs, accepts the award on behalf of the Collaborative iNEMI and HDP Consortia Teams.
• "Potted Assembly Interfacial Reliability and Predictive Models Under Inclined 25000g Mechanical Shock" by Pradeep Lall, Ph.D., Aathi Pandurangan, Padmanava Choudhury, Auburn University; Ken Blecker, US Army CCDC-AC.
• "A New Efficient Thermomechanical Reliability Model for Lead-Free Solder Joints" by Jean-Baptiste Libot, Ph.D., Philippe Milesi, Hooke Electronics.

The following three papers received honorable mention in this category:

• "Panel Level Package (PLP) – Scaling up Fan-Out Packaging" by Burton Carpenter, Mollie Flick, Kuan Hsiang Mao, Cliff Kuo, Vanessa Tan, Anita Chou, Dominic Koey, NXP Semiconductors.
• "Thermal Shock Testing of High-Reliability Mixed BGA Solder Joints" by Jayse McLean, John Deere Intelligent Solutions Group.
• "Thermal Cycling Hybrid, Homogeneous, and Resin Reinforced Low Temperature Solder Ball Grid Array Interconnects at a High Homologous Temperature." Richard Coyle, Ph.D., Nokia Bell Labs, accepts the award on behalf of the iNEMI Low Temperature Solder Process and Reliability (LTSPR) Project Team.

The following paper was selected for the “Best Practical and Applications-Based Knowledge” award:

• "Additive Manufactured Electronics for Next Generation Microelectronics" by Sam LeBlanc, Lance Sookdeo, Bryce Gray, Casey Perkowski, Paul Deffenbaugh, Ph.D., Kenneth Church, Ph.D., Sciperio, Inc.; Eduardo Rojas, Ph.D., Embry Riddle Aeronautics University; Joseph S. Riendeau, Ph.D., NASA JPL.

The following two papers received honorable mention in this category:

• "Sensors and Process-Performance Interactions for Additive In-Mold Electronics in Automotive Applications" by Pradeep Lall, Ph.D., Hyesoo Jang, Ved Soni, Fatahi Musa, Md Golam Sarwar, Auburn University; Scott Miller, NextFlex National Manufacturing Institute.
• "Thermocouple Tactics: A Comparative Study of Attachment Methods" by Miles Moreau, KIC; Martin Anslem, Ph.D., Alex Brunhuber, Rochester Institute of Technology; Chrys Shea, Shea Engineering; David Dworak, Dymax.

The authors will receive their awards during a ceremony at SMTA International 2025.  The SMTA International Conference and Exhibition (SMTAI) 2025 will be held October 19 - 23, 2025 at the Donald E. Stephens Convention Center in Rosemont, IL, USA. Details on participating in the 2025 SMTA International Conference are posted on the event website:www.smtai.org/call-for-abstracts.

Abstracts of all papers can be browsed directly in the online Knowledge Base. Featuring thousands of full-length technical articles, the SMTA Knowledge Base is searchable to all visitors, but free PDF downloads are available only to SMTA members. Non-members can easily join SMTA for real-time access to the Knowledge Base.