Productronica 2007

Citation

(2008), "Productronica 2007", Circuit World, Vol. 34 No. 1. https://doi.org/10.1108/cw.2008.21734aac.001

Productronica 2007

Productronica 2007

A review

It could be argued that a review of an exhibition such as Productronica is a contradiction in terms, like military intelligence. No one person can visit 1,400 exhibitors in six halls in four days and write anything intelligible. So what we have done is have a look at the familiar and the faithful, the companies who are at the front door of the industries, and hopefully by reporting on them a picture may emerge of how things are.

There were some commentators who remarked that the numbers of exhibitors in the PCB section had diminished, which was given the present size of the industry in Europe and the USA, unsurprising. Notable perhaps was MacDermid, but the main contenders were all there, many in great strength.

Sun Chemical had a very busy stand over the four days, they enjoy the position of being No. 1 in Europe for LPISM, and the North American market is picking up for them, too. UL approval for thin halogen free laminates pushes the boundaries for LPISM, and Tony Searle had a word of advice for those inkjet companies who had their own resists – do not go it alone, there is no short cut to experience.

Lloyd Doyle were also going from strength to strength, IBIS is a brand new development, it is a production-volume inspection system designed to inspect and report on the position, height, and shape of solder bumps on the die-attach side of chip carriers. IBIS provides: 2D and 3D inspection, and has suitability for coined and non-coined bumps, with a typical throughput of 3,000 devices per hour. The system reports on bump height, position, volume, circularity, co- planarity missing or additional bumps IBIS uses massively parallel digital signal processing technology coupled with true white light interferometry to offer a 20/30 times improvement over existing interferometry systems hereto. Lloyd Doyle proprietary enhancements give IBIS the edge for solder bump height measurement; this enabling technology will be transportable to wafer and chip solder bump measurement in the future. This system is aimed at the semiconductor industry, and the secret is in the speed of operation, not just the white light interferometry. Taiwan, Korea, and Japan continue to be very good markets for them.

Siemens held a press conference, which was probably just as well as trying to find anyone free to talk to on their stand was an impossibility. The new Siplace X4i (Figure 1) was attracting great interest. Nothing wrong with that, they were looking after their customers! They see a 7.1 per cent long-term growth trend in SMT globally, and this will place greater demands upon their services and software. So a critical analysis of their performance was regarded as essential, being one of only three major place in the pick and place arena. They have enjoyed a 65 per cent growth in market share, and 8 per cent just in Germany. Sitting in on their press conference takes performance analysis seriously, and their analysis of the market was interesting. Customer loyalty is paramount, and they had evidence to show that this is being suitably nurtured. The market shift from Europe and the USA to Asia has stopped; business in Asia is driving world growth; China represents major volume, and the emerging Indian market with increase in demand bore out much of what was being said at the Executive Round Table.

Figure 1 The new Siplace X4i from Siemens

Not that Universal Instruments have been standing still. Their Genesis GC- 120Q won the prestigious SMT Vision Award at APEX this year, and the industry's fastest quad-gantry placement machine provides worthy competition in the race for speed with accuracy. They are moving their German office from Bad Vilbel to Isenburg which will put them closer to Frankfurt airport, logistically advantageous.

They have also linked up with Valor Computerised Systems to provide an excellent NPI, advanced process preparation capabilities for UIC users.

Another stand that was difficult to get onto was Automa-Tech, whose new, versatile Acura automatic double-sided exposing system was fascinating. Inner layers, outer layers. Solder mask, all on the one machine, meaning maximum usage and maximum accuracy. About 25/25 m lines and spaces are well down the path on the PCB technology roadmap, probably seven years ahead of its time. Good to see a truly global French company that continues inexorably up a steady technical curve.

Gebr. Schmid had an innovative stand, and it was enormous. One admires their statement of confidence, but they had much to be confident about in terms of innovation. This included a Touch free horizontal inline processor operating in the mm range and which processes ultra-thin materials down to 25 mm with lines and spaces of 15 mm and smaller. This was not a prototype but a technically mature system which has already been well tried and tested in everyday operations. The new line is integrated into an innovative, fully automatic loading and unloading concept. With the new Schmid TouchFree Technology a remarkable high yields can be attained despite the extreme fineness of materials and structures.

The Schmid Plater

The Schmid Plater is designed with a completely new transport concept. The number of contacts has been multiplied so that even ultra-thin copper laminations can be processed safely. In its design, great importance was placed on economic efficiency and service friendliness.

New etching concepts

What Schmid has achieved concerning the etching factor comes close to a small revolution – it reaches a value of 5, without compensation. This means: very steep edges, and almost no underetching. The same applies here too: even ultra thin materials up to a minimum thickness of 25 mm can be processed – without forfeiting any repeatability or consistency.

The Schmid CCR system (ContinuousCopperRecycling system)

The Schmid CCR system has been further optimised paying particular attention to continuity and a high rate of copper recovery. The highly efficient Cu recovery in conjunction with the continuous regeneration of the (alkaline) etching solution forms the basis of a fast return on investments even in times of high-raw material prices.

The new Schmid Inkjet System DoD300

The DoD300 meets highest demands in terms of feature placement accuracy and registration tolerances without any compromises on throughput or easy operation. The unique Schmid capabilities and know how in ink formulation and stable chemical dispersions opens the DoD300 for a very broad range of applications. Last but not least: due to its modular and open interface design the Inkjet System DoD300 can easily accommodate to nearly any piezoelectric print head.

When you get into the field of chemicals, then the usual giants, Rohm & Haas, and Atotech, were there. Atotech were promoting APR 88, a new liquid photoimageable etch resist for inner layer applications from the new generation of resists created by Atotech. APR 88 claims to have superior mechanical performance and enhanced chemical resistance and as it was specially formulated for the Asian market, it will be distributed exclusively there from November.

The Inpulse 2HF electrolyte together with the Uniplate Inpulse 2 is ideally suited for blind micro via filling. The process enables “Superfilling” which gives unrivalled productivity and blind micro via filling with half the copper plating thickness in comparison to standard processing (Figure 2). Mediganth XL is Atotech's new medium build EDTA type vertical electroless copper PTH process. Mediganth XL was developed for high-tech/high-aspect ratio, multi-layer build production. The process is compatible with both ionic and PTC activation systems and is equally suitable for both panel and pattern plating.

Figure 2 Atotech's new “Superfilling” process using InPulse products gives unrivalled filling

It was also good to see that Atotech had moved into the future, and with the coming RFID revolution becoming a reality, RFID is already around with many applications. New production ideas and business concepts are on the rise. Atotech's recently developed new UHF Antenna Concept has already been installed with an annual R2R manufacturing capacity of approx. 100 Mio. UHF antennas. Sheet-sized evaluation quantities of customized antenna layouts are available on request.

Isola were pursuing the Heinz School of Choice demonstrating that they have some thing for everyone with no less than 57 varieties of laminate, and this does not include four other new products launched at the show. They have settled down nicely now after some earlier difficulties whilst laminate production centres were relocated, and anyone who has been into a laminate plant knows that this is not just a job for Pickfords.

DEK were habitually crowded out. However, a brief but valued chat with that iridescent personality Karen Moore-Watts showed that their expect more philosophy, through a range of global product launches and exciting live technology demonstrations, was alive and well. Affairs in the Far East continue to go well for them, judging by the stand it seemed that the rest of the world was, too. The result was a highly successful exhibition for the whole DEK team, reinforced by the two trophies the mass imaging leader picked up at the Global Technology Awards.

Much of the interest on the DEK stand was generated by the presence of brand new technologies – the new Instinctive V9 next generation machine user interface. Demonstrated live at the show and available on DEK's Horizon, Europa and Galaxy print platforms, the new Instinctiv V9 delivers significant improvements in machine utilisation and operator control. Also demonstrated on the stand was DEK's new Dual Lane solution, doubling line output by deploying two DEK printers in configuration. Unsurprisingly, visitors to the DEK stand were extremely interested in the profound throughput and productivity advantages represented by these new technologies.

Also being officially unveiled on the stand was DEK's reel-to-reel platform (Figure 3) for continuous flexible substrates such as flexible printed circuits and advanced synthetic materials. A breakthrough system, reel-to-reel combines DEK's proven expertise in precision alignment and versatile clamping with innovative tooling solutions that meet the demands of large, flexible substrates. In addition to the attention it received from show visitors, reel-to-reel was also recognised by the Global Technology Awards where it collected the award for best screen printing equipment. DEK's high-speed understencil cleaning technology cyclone was also honoured by the awards where it won the hotly contested cleaning equipment category.

Figure 3 DEK's new reel-to-reel platform for continuous flexible substrates

Process Automation (Europe) Limited had no difficulties getting people onto their stand; given their huge successes this year with installations at Ramaer and CSI Toulouse, plus Europe's largest line now installed and commissioned at Schweizer, PAL Europe were showing a genuinely exciting new technology – as continuous vertical desmear/ electroless system. Process automation, specialists in plating equipment for the electronics industry, will be featuring their latest innovation in electroless copper equipment – continuous vertical desmear/electroless.

The system combines the process quality and production advantages generally associated with horizontal continuous platers, with the advantages of economy and increased uptime of vertical processing. Even greater reliability of yield than either system is gained due to adding the process benefits of vertical mode – easier release of entrapped air and gas, to those associated with a continuous process – uniform, high volume, solution delivery gained by the transport of panels past the fluid delivery spargers. This offers unprecedented advantages – higher reliability end product (compared to either horizontal or conventional vertical); and a much reduced cost of ownership (compared to horizontal);

Another company with a vast stand was KSL-Kuttler, who, in response to demand, moved into the highly competitive field of wet processing but with equipment especially designed to handle flex and flex-rigid boards, with a proven cost/performance ratio. Part of the success at Kuttler can be attributed not only to ingenious design, but also to superb service, and here is another truly global company with a system for every aspect of PCB handling, and to some extend processing as well. Their AOI and LDI lines, working with Orbotech and Lloyd Doyle equipment, have been very popular.

Printar had attracted a constant stream of visitors to their stand upon which their new GreenJete digital solder mask printing system was being demonstrated. It has a simple one-step process using a U/V curing single-pack solder resist, and this is applied by the ink-jet process to the surface of the board, even in tight spaces between copper pads. For prototyping the advantages can be seen, at one panel per minute it is not fast, but the processing steps it eliminates more than compensate. It may be that Printar will want to work with experience solder resists manufacturers, as approvals are key to acceptance. That said, the control of resists over conductors is a real plus.

Teknek had had the designers in and it showed. A re-branded and re- managed company glistened with cleanliness and new equipment. They have a new SMT clean machine that has been specifically designed to remove contamination from bare boards before solder paste or adhesive application, and after laser marking. This equipment is available in three different widths, 300, 400 and 600. Sheila Hamilton, Technical Director at Teknek, has written an excellent paper which examines in detail the process, and the level of cleaning (or should we say the level of dirt!) on an SMT board is frankly amazing. The sources of contamination are myriad, which is where Teknek have the answers.

Schmoll were happy to show off their new versatile modular drilling system, Modul, a 1-station machine that can be linked into as many combinations as may be required, with rear entry auto- feed, and may be routing or drilling at the same time regardless of configuration. They can run in-line, or back-to-back, up to 16 Moduls can be operated by their shuttle feed system. It is cleverly conceived, and meets the demands of prototyping, small series, as well as large runs.

Cemco not only had a strikingly coloured Quicksilver HASL line on their stand, but they were also showing off their new streamline wet processing system, that has many radical improvements not least the unique laminar flow treatment chambers that replace the conventional flood and spray chambers of yore. Using fluid engines, the streamline processes boards faster within a smaller footprint. The immersion chambers have no rollers, and provide laminar solution flow at 100X VPM, resulting in faster, more uniform reactions.

Multiline Technology is owned and run by Paul Waldner, who often says that no one listens to him. Well, for four days in Munich lots of people were, as he extolled the virtues of the new XRT System 7000 which he helped design. XRT System 7000 is a new generation of X-ray drilled tooling and inspection, with a high degree of accuracy and repeatability, for the registration of high-layer count panels to drilling, routing or exposure processes. It has two X-ray cameras to view two or more targets for panel alignment along two opposing edges of a multilayer PCB panel. The makes it possible to view multiple targets, or drill multiple hole, anywhere along the edges of the panels with within 800 of the centre line of the panel.

Holders Technology GmbH is located in the town of Kirchheimbolanden, Germany. It was established in 1977, as CIMATEC GmbH and joined the Holders Technology Group in 2002. The company offers a wide range of consumables and materials to the PCB industry, which include entry and backing materials for drilling and routing applications, solder mask for rigid and flexible applications, lamination accessories, e.g. release film, copper foil for lamination applications, adhesive bonded and adhesiveless, flexible laminates, Coverlays based on Polyimide, PEN or PET, Photo tools, such as diazo film, retouch pens and UV-filter foil and UV- sleeves, and equipment for mechanical marking of flex circuits They are also present in Scotland, Sweden, India, The Netherlands. A versatile company with experienced staff and enlightened management. Future Productronicas will never be quite the same without encountering the beaming countenance of Anna-Marie Czicholl on the Holders Technology stand. She encapsulated the warmth of the company, the ability to communicate with the few and the many on equal terms, and was one of the founding partners. We shall miss her as she retires to the foothills of the Alps, just south of Munich.