With the advent of lead-free solders, as well as the spike in tin prices, the moderate economic pain of dross generation has become acute. This paper will show the true cost of dross, including metal replacement, loss of efficiency and safety, as well as environmental and quality issues associated with the elimination of dross.

A growing number of trade associations and companies are providing funds and even manpower to help students learn how to solve problems and build products. One example is the IPC APEX Expo Academic Poster Competition.

Electronic components distributor Digi-Key Corporation today announced its website, www.digikey.com, received the award for "best website" May 10 at the EDS Best of the Best awards show in Las Vegas, Nevada.

IPC has released verified attendance figures from IPC APEX Expo, held April 6-9, 2010, in Las Vegas, indicating a 10% increase over last year with 3,702 attendees.

This week's written edition of "The Gold Record" takes a look at our industry's health, new technology (or lack thereof), lingering lead-free problems and punchless PR.

Breathing a sigh of relief, IPC President and CEO Denny McGuirk wraps up APEX Expo 2010. After a scary 2009 show, the vibe of this year's show was pretty positive. The numbers were up for attendance in both the exhibition and conferences and things look good for 2011, which will be the show's last year in Vegas.

Jack Bramel was recognized for extraordinary contributions to IPC and the electronic interconnect industry, countless hours of volunteer service on IPC standards development committees and exceptional lifetime achievement.

Now only a matter of weeks away, National Electronics Week (NEW) 2010 looks set to follow in the success of its South Africa counterpart when it launches at the Birmingham NEC, May 18-19, 2010.

Awards were presented to individuals who made significant contributions to IPC and industry by lending their time and expertise to committees and standards and programs development.

Photo Stencil has expanded capacity and capability at their Malaysian manufacturing facility. In addition, the company has announced presentation of a paper at the upcoming IPC APEX EXPOTM 2010 Conference and Exhibition in Las Vegas, Nevada.

With the advent of lead-free solders, as well as the spike in tin prices, the moderate economic pain of dross generation has become acute. This paper will show the true cost of dross, including metal replacement, loss of efficiency and safety, as well as environmental and quality issues associated with the elimination of dross.

Breathing a sigh of relief, IPC President and CEO Denny McGuirk wraps up APEX Expo 2010. After a scary 2009 show, the vibe of this year's show was pretty positive. The numbers were up for attendance in both the exhibition and conferences and things look good for 2011, which will be the show's last year in Vegas.

With new research now available, lead-free implementation issues and solutions will be featured at the IPC APEX Expo Technical Conference, April 6-8, 2010, in Las Vegas, Nevada.

The European Institute of Printed Circuits (EIPC) will hold the "EIPC-EBFRIP Workshop," to discuss implications and threats of the RoHS recast for the PCB sector, January 21, 2010.

The U.S. Department of Commerce has chosen IPC APEX Expo as one of a select group of U.S. trade shows to participate in its International Buyer Program (IBP) for 2010.

IPC APEX Expo 2010 will feature the industry's premier technical conference, standards development meetings, professional development courses and an exhibition with the industry's top suppliers.

Flat-Wrap Technology provides a solution to Copper Wrap Plate problems. Flat-Wrap allows for copper wrap plate without the build up of surface copper thickness. This aspect of this technology provides the benefit of producing highly reliable PCBs without sacrificing fabrication capability.

Green design derives from the IEC62368 standard, currently being considered as a standard for audio/video and IT equipment. Authored by Dr. Robert D. Hilty of Tyco Electronics and Dr. Tamim P. Sidiki and Joanne Shipe of DSM Engineering Plastics, this paper explains the ramifications of the move to halogen-free green design. The paper was presented at IPC APEX EXPO 2009.

A lot happens behind closed doors in Las Vegas, and IPC APEX EXPO was no exception. Volunteers--people just like you--attended committee meetings focused on IPC standards, management strategies and the electronics manufacturing industry.

Since the implementation of the RoHS Directive in 2006, the focus of attention in electronics soldering has been the development of lead-free materials and processes. However, it is not the case that lead has disappeared from the soldering scene--it is still very much alive.

With the advent of lead-free solders, as well as the spike in tin prices, the moderate economic pain of dross generation has become acute. This paper will show the true cost of dross, including metal replacement, loss of efficiency and safety, as well as environmental and quality issues associated with the elimination of dross.

This week's written edition of "The Gold Record" takes a look at our industry's health, new technology (or lack thereof), lingering lead-free problems and punchless PR.

In recognition of extraordinary contributions to IPC and the electronic interconnect industry, countless hours of volunteer service on IPC standards development committees and exceptional lifetime achievement, Jack Bramel of Jack Bramel & Associates was awarded the 2009 IPC Raymond E. Pritchard Hall of Fame Award.

Breathing a sigh of relief, IPC President and CEO Denny McGuirk wraps up APEX Expo 2010. After a scary 2009 show, the vibe of this year's show was pretty positive. The numbers were up for attendance in both the exhibition and conferences and things look good for 2011, which will be the show's last year in Vegas.

Small components, current and future form factors, present challenges to the solder paste printing and SMT assembly process. These challenges exist for tools including stencils, squeegee blades, and under board support. They also pose troubles for materials including solder paste and the PCB; and equipment including stencil printing equipment and pick-and-place equipment. William Coleman, Ph.D., Photo Stencil, considers the challenges in two categories: positional accuracy and the solder paste printing process.

This is a sampling of the many technical papers and posters that will be presented during the conference at IPC APEX Expo, April 6 through 9 in Las Vegas. These include cleaning topics, soldermask application, test and inspection, solders, new package types and assembly, and more.

IPC announced the products that will be featured in the Innovative Technology Center (ITC) at IPC APEX EXPO, April 6–8, 2010 in Las Vegas. Assessed by an IPC Review Board of industry experts, the products were selected based on their representation of a new or emerging technology of significant value and relevance to the electronics manufacturing industry. This year’s winners demonstrated innovation in materials, test and assembly technology.

IPC APEX is coming up April 6–9 at the Mandalay Bay Convention Center in Las Vegas. This preview includes test systems from Acculogic, the Sentinel print inspection module from DEK, box build and stencil fab services from ITT, cleaning systems from Aqueous, a range of SMT equipment from Essemtec, halogen-free solder paste from Henkel, convection reflow from BTU, new soldering equipment modules from Pillarhouse, Assembléon’s new assembly line equipment, solder materials from Cobar, and closed-loop stencil cleaners from Smart Sonic. Over the next several weeks, SMT will bring you new product previews and highlights of the exhibit floor.

IPC’s Government Relations (GR) Steering Committee added two members with the recent election of Mark Osborn, president, Colonial Circuits Inc.; and Irene Sterian, manager of advanced process development, Celestica. With upcoming GR committee meetings at IPC APEX EXPO in April and IPC Capitol Hill Day in June, the new members will help address the critical issues currently under consideration by the group.

Registration for IPC APEX EXPO 2010, the flagship tradeshow of IPC ? Association Connecting Electronics Industries in North America, is reaching pre-recession levels, with about 1000 companies pre-registering by mid-February for the show April 6?9 in Las Vegas.

This week's written edition of "The Gold Record" takes a look at our industry's health, new technology (or lack thereof), lingering lead-free problems and punchless PR.

InterNEPCON Japan was established as a trade show dedicated exclusively to manufacturers and vendors associated with circuit board assembly, but has since evolved into one of Asia's largest exhibitions for electronics packaging, including SMT assembly.

Every year for more than 15 years, SMT has celebrated innovative and cost-saving new products for electronics assembly with the SMT VISION awards program.

Light can be seen at the end of the economic tunnel. The consumer electronics industry in Taiwan began to rebound in February and the recovery spread to Korea and China and, finally, to Japan. This spike in business brings a few new problems for manufacturing companies.

Since the implementation of the RoHS Directive in 2006, the focus of attention in electronics soldering has been the development of lead-free materials and processes. However, it is not the case that lead has disappeared from the soldering scene--it is still very much alive.

Tim Jensen, Solder Paste Product Line Manager for Indium Corporation, presented a paper entitled "Challenges in Implementing a Halogen-Free Process" at IPC APEX Expo 2009 in Las Vegas, Nevada. During the show, Jensen stopped by to share his experiences with EMS007 Guest Editor, Bob Neves.

I have to ask for forgiveness for some of my unkind thoughts about IPC/JEDEC J-Std-033. It looks like help is on the way for assemblers who dry-bake wet packages in tapes, tubes and low-temperature trays.

Printed electronics will open doors to markets we have never thought of. This is a tremendous opportunity for fabricators. There's also a real danger here, however. Will you be ready?

Bixenman commented that over the last decade, cleaning of assemblies had followed its own variant of Moore’s Law, with denser assemblies and lower component standoffs presenting a whole new generation of challenges.

Harvey Miller, inspired by a Real Time with IPC video interview with inventor, entrepreneur, author and futurist Ray Kurzweil scours the Internet to compare our current economic situation with depressions of the past.