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www.globalsmtindia.in 

South East Asia 

Covering India, Thailand, Malaysia, 

Singapore, The Philippines and Hong Kong 

Lighting the way: LeDs in sMt proDuction 

pec (printeD eLectronic circuit) process for 

LeD interconnection 

LeD bin vaLiDation anD traceabiLity 

printeD eLectronics for fLexibLe soLiD state 

Lighting 

Volume 1 Number 4 Winter 2010 

N Chandramohan 

Interview Inside 

NEW PRODUCTS 

INDUSTRY NEWS 

INTERNATIONAL DIARY


Global SMT & Packaging 

is published monthly 

by Trafalgar Publications 

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ISSN No. 1474-0893 

© Trafalgar Publications Ltd 

Designed and Published by 

Trafalgar Publications Ltd, 

Bournemouth, United Kingdom 

With demand growing for LEDs 

in electronics, companies in the 

SMT industry are expanding their 

manufacturing capabilities to meet it. 


Contents 

2 You’ll be seeing more of us next year 

Debasish P. Choudhury 

TechNology Focus 

10 PEC (printed electronic circuit) process for LED 

interconnection 

Mike DuBois, Caledon Controls Ltd 

14 Printed electronics for flexible solid-state lighting 

Marc Chason, Marc Chason and Associates, Inc. 

20 LED BIN validation & traceability 

Dan Hodgman, Methode Electronics 

34 Lighting the way: LEDs in SMT production 

Zachery Shook, Count On Tools, Inc. 

BusINess Focus 

28 What’s the future of the Indian electronics manufacturing 

industry? 

Pradeep Chakraborty & Usha Prasad 

specIal FeaTures 

32 Interview—N Chandramohan, Juki India Pvt. Ltd 

38 electronica India & productronica India 2010: 

Undoubtedly the numero uno business platform in 


39 10th edition of GlobalTRONICS hosted over 50% 

new exhibitors 

REgULAR COLUMNS 

24 Holiday wishes for a “normal” 2011 

Walt Custer and Jon Custer-Topai 

10 

14 

32 

Contents 

Volume 1, No. 4 

OTHER REgULAR 

FEATURES 

Winter 2010 

4 Industry News 

40 New Products 

46 Association News 

48 International Diary 

Global SMT & Packaging Southeast Asia – Winter 2010 – 1

Editorial 

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Editor 

You’ll be seeing more of 

us next year 

Frankly, “astounding” is the word that best 

describes India’s LCD TV sales in October 

2010. The total LCD TV shipments 

during this one month, which coincided 

with the great Indian festival of Diwali, 

almost matched up with the total LCD 

TV shipments of 2008, when 745,000 

LCD TVs were shipped in the entire year. 

It seems everyone wanted to erase the 

memories of the slowdown days. 

As the year draws to a close, we can 

feel the excitement in the air. Christmas 

parties, vacations and the impending New 

Year bashes are the central points of our 

discussions now-a-days. Christmas sales, 

which a couple of years back were alien 

to Indian retail industry, have gained 

acceptance due to aggressive consumerism 

riding on India’s near 9% GDP growth this 

fiscal. 

But in this hour of celebration the 

biggest shock was the postponement of the 

COMPONEX NEPCON India 2010 show, 

originally scheduled during mid December 

in New Delhi. COMPONEX NEPCON, 

which was till 2009 considered to be a 

must-attend electronics manufacturing 

supply chain show in India, lost its clout 

due to Reed Exhibitions’ failure to organise 

the show in February 2010. Now, it will 

be co-located with the maiden EFY Expo 

scheduled in February 2011 in New Delhi. 

The interesting aspect of this handshake 

is the launch of a brand new trade show 

in February 2012 in New Delhi. We will 

keenly watch its evolution in the Indian 

electronic landscape. 

At the same time, it is heartening to 

see LED Expo, the only dedicated trade 

show for the LED industry in India, to be 

held during 3rd week of December in New 

Delhi, receive an overwhelming response 

from the global LED eco-system. The LED 

show will now cover all the standalone 

halls in Hall 7 at Pragati Maidan. It once 

again shows how favourable government 

policies influence businesses around the 

world. 

At present, all LED chips are imported 

from countries such as Japan, Korea, 

Germany and the US, and the prices are 

high due to low consumption, thereby 

prohibiting widespread usage. If we take 

into account the current consumer LED 

demand projections, the industry estimates 

the local manufacturing capacities in India 

wouldn’t come up before 2016. But the 

real action in the LED industry will come 

when the domestic manufacturing scenario 

heats up. 

Let me share with you an interesting 

fact! In 2009, the world produced an 

estimated US$ 1,620 billion of electronic 

equipment. After the painful recession 

of 2009, growth resumed significantly in 

2010, with SE Asia driving the electronic 

equipment rebound, which includes China 

& Taiwan. We, at Trafalgar Publications 

Ltd. are also buoyed by this feel-good factor 

and have decided to increase the frequency 

of our magazine next year. In 2011, Global 

SMT & Packaging SE Asia edition will be 

a bi-monthly, with more news, reviews, 

interviews, technical articles, columns, etc., 

to increment your desire for manufacturing 

technology excellence. 

I expect 2011 will be a brilliant year for 

Indian electronics industry, and SE Asia 

will continue to drive the growth of the 

global electronic equipment production. 

Before I conclude, a heartiest ‘Thank 

You’ to all our readers, advertisers, 

columnists and subscribers for a success 

launch of the SE Asia edition of Global 

SMT & Packaging magazine. 

I wish you all Merry Christmas, and a 

fantastic New Year 2011! 

—Debasish P. Choudhury 

2 – Global SMT & Packaging Southeast Asia – Winter 2010 www.globalsmtindia.in

Title Industry News 

Industry News 

Frontline electronics of pune invests in 

cyberoptics’ inspection systems 

CyberOptics Corporation, a leading SMT 

inspection solutions provider, announces that 

Frontline Electronics Ltd has purchased its 

QX500 and SE350. The systems are scheduled 

to be delivered to Frontline’s plant in India in 

September 2010. 

“We are so pleased to have received this 

order from a local leading EMS facility with a 

strong commitment to the growth of the Indian 

electronics market. This marks a significant 

milestone for CyberOptics in India and we are confident that this is the start of a long 

relationship with Frontline Electronics,” said Sean Lee, CyberOptics’ South Asia Sales 

Manager. www.frontlineelectronics.com, www.cyberoptics.com 

Broadcom engineer receives 

prestigious Ieee alexander graham 

Bell Medal 

Dr. Arogyaswami Paulraj, who recently 

joined Broadcom Corporation from 

Beceem Communications, has been 

named the recipient of the Institute of 

Electrical and Electronics Engineers’ 

(IEEE) Alexander Graham Bell Medal, the 

organization’s most prestigious honor. 

In its award citation, the IEEE’s Board 

of Directors said that in its efforts to 

recognize “exceptional achievements in our 

profession,” Dr. Paulraj was selected “for 

pioneering contributions to the application 

of multiantenna technology to wireless 

communications systems.” 

www.broadcom.com 

element14 offers latest ac/Dc leD 

solutions from recoM 

element14, formerly known as Farnell 

Electronics India (P) Limited, the 

industry’s first fusion of commerce and 

online community supporting millions of 

engineers and purchasing professionals 

worldwide, announced the latest addition 

of RECOM power solutions, a new range 

of high-efficiency constant current LED 

drivers in the power range of 12 and 20 

Watt to its extensive product portfolio. 

With this enhanced offering of cuttingedge 

power solutions in the form of a new 

range of constant current LED drivers 

in the power range of 12 and 20 Watt, 

element14 has taken its partnership 

with RECOM Asia even further to offer 

the latest and most innovative solutions 

to meet the needs of electronic design 

engineers and maintenance and repair 

professionals across the Asia Pacific. 

www.element14.com 

syrma Technology expands 

presence in India 

Syrma Technology, a Chennai-based 

electronics manufacturing services (EMS) 

partner, has added a new facility in the 

Krishnagiri District of Tamil Nadu, 

approximately 110 kilometers from 

Bengaluru, India, to accommodate strong 

demand for the company’s custom RFID 

tag solutions and its telecommunications 

infrastructure services. Syrma is the 

manufacturing arm of The Tandon 

Group, a leader in helping global OEMs 

successfully bring products and services to 

the fast-growing Indian market. Syrma will 

be adding a total of 20,000 square feet of 

space and will add approximately 200 jobs 

by December. The company established 

the Chennai site in 2006 to provide endto-end 

electronics manufacturing services 

for the industrial, medical, defense and 

telecommunications industries. 

www.syrmatech.com, www.tandongroup.com 

MIrTec europe appoints accurex as 

its exclusive distributor for India 

MIRTEC appointed Accurex Solutions 

Pvt Limited as its exclusive distributor 

for India. Accurex brings with them 

more than fifteen years’ experience in 

sales and service of automatic optical 

systems. Accurex is headquartered in 

Bangalore and has branches in New Delhi, 

Hyderabad, Chennai and Mumbai with 

a reputation as one of the best after-sales 

service organizations in the Indian market. 

With a team of well-trained service and 

sales professionals of Accurex and the 

unmatched systems of MIRTEC, this 

partnership will certainly be a force to 

watch. www.mirteceurope.com, 

www.accurexsolutions.com. 

cTs incorporates in India to pursue 

opportunities in a rapidly growing 

eMs market 

US-based EMS provider CTS Corporation 

has formally incorporated as a business 

in India. The new subsidiary, CTS India 

Private Limited, located in Haryana, India, 

near New Delhi, will allow CTS to operate 

with full manufacturing, sales and service 

capabilities within India. 

CTS has also captured new business for 

a customized small engine throttle position 

sensor (SETPS) from one of India’s leading 

and diversified engine and construction 

equipment manufacturers. Production is 

expected to begin in the fourth quarter 

of 2010 with sales of approximately $2.5 

million over its multi-year program life. 

www.ctscorp.com 

lg electronics India’s managing 

director felicitated with Man of 

electronics award 

Moon B Shin, managing director, LG 

Electronics India, received the “Man 

of Electronics” Award during the 31st 

annual Consumer Electronics and 

Appliances Manufacturers Association 

(CEAMA) function. Mr. Shin received 

“Man of Electronics” prestigious award 

for an outstanding performance and 

extraordinary contribution made in the 

promotion and development of Indian 

Consumer Electronics Industry. LG, which 

is the market leader in durable industry, 

is today a $2.9 billion company and is 

targeting to achieve $ 10 billion sales by 

2015. LG reported year-on-year growth of 

30% this year and is confident that the 

high demand will last till the remaining 

year attributing factors such as rising 

incomes, positive economic forecasts, 

bright job prospects and hence, high 

consumer confidence. At the occasion 

were present eminent dignitaries including 

Dr. Y.V. Verma, president, CEAMA; Mr. 

Rajiv Bajaj, hony. secretary, CEAMA; Mr. 

Ravinder Zutshi, immediate past 



Title 


Industry News 

president CEAMA, and P N Dhoot, past 

president CEAMA to highlight the recent 

developments and observations related to 

the industry. 

elcoteq Bangalore rewarded in 

elcINa-eFy Business excellence 

award 2010 

Elcoteq’s Bangalore factory has received 

the second prize in the “ELCINA-EFY 

Business Excellence Award 2010.” The 

competition is initiated and organized 

by ELCINA (Electronics Industries 

Association of India) and EFY (Electronics 

for You) to encourage and boost the 

innovation culture in the electronics 

industry in India. 

Elcoteq Bangalore applied for the 

Business Excellence -category in the 

competition for years 2009-2010, where the 

criterion is built on the EFQM model. 

India’s mobile phone penetration 

to reach 97 percent in 2014, says 

isuppli 

Cell phone ownership has become 

near ubiquitous in India, with wireless 

subscriptions in 2014 expected to amount 

to more than 97 percent of the country’s 

population of 1.26 billion, according to 

the market research firm iSuppli Corp. 

By the end of this year, total wireless 

subscriptions are projected to reach 766.0 

million—45.9 percent higher than the 

525.1 million subscribers counted at the 

end of 2009, iSuppli mobile industry 

forecasts show. 

The pace of growth for the future 

shows little sign of slackening. Subscriber 

numbers will continue to increase 

during the next four years, topping the 

1 billion mark by 2012. By 2014, mobile 

teledensity—a measure of cell phone 

availability—likely will reach 97.4 percent 

per 100 persons. www.isuppli.com 

DeK continues to partner with 

Maxim sMT to capture Indian 

market 

DEK is extending its partnership with 

Maxim SMT in India. Under the 

franchise agreement, Maxim SMT will 

continue to distribute DEK’s equipment 

and manufacture the cutting-edge 

VectorGuard® stencils under licence from 

DEK, incorporating electroformed foils, 

laser-cut nickel foils and plastic stencils, 

to meet growing market demands across 

India. 

Headquartered at New Delhi and 

supported by branch offices at Chennai, 

Bangalore and Pune, Maxim SMT is 

one of the largest SMT companies in the 

country and is well positioned to help 

manufacturers throughout India gain a 

distinct competitive advantage through the 

use of DEK’s pioneering stencil system. 

In addition, Maxim SMT is well equipped 

to support many of DEK’s customers who 

have already moved their manufacturing 

plants to India. www.dek.com 

asys Technology Days smashes 

previous records 

Expectations were exceeded as 180 

customers and channel partners from 

all over the world attended the two-day 

program at ASYS Global Headquarters in 

Dornstadt, Germany. Visitors were treated 

to presentations on new technologies 

interwoven with workshops and machine 

demonstrations. The highlights include the 

launch of a new “INSIGNUM” family of 

laser markers, which utilizes the company’s 

research in the area of lasers and includes 

four machines types from basic to 

advanced flexible high speed units. 

Additionally, new Laser Depaneling 

machines were introduced coupled with 

new flexible options for mechanical 

routers. In the area of new technologies, 

the company unveiled its plans for 

the LED market segment with a new 

Singulation System that replaces the 

traditional sawing process. www.asys-group. 

com 

Koh young’ ceo, Dr. Kwangill Koh, 

receives south Korean government 

award 

Dr. Kwangill Koh, founder and CEO and 

president of 3D inspection technology 

leader Koh Young, was recently honored 

by the government of South Korea, 

and Korean industry leaders, for his 

achievements in making his company 

a dominant force among technology 

companies both domestically and globally. 

Awarded by the government of South 

Korea, the Tin Tower Order of Industrial 

Service Merit—The Best Venture Company, 

recognized Dr. Koh for his outstanding 

contribution to the government’s 

industrial development and contributions 

to the Korean economy. The medal was 

presented to Dr. Koh in ceremonies on 

October 19, 2010. The award recognized 

that “Kwangill Koh, the CEO of Koh 

Young Technology, Inc., highly contributed 

to increased competitive advantages of 

Korea by providing the first high-speed 

3D inline solder paste inspection systems 

to worldwide electronics manufacturers.” 

www.kohyoung.com 

Bridgestone, Delta electronics to 

develop next-generation electronic 

paper products 

Bridgestone Corporation and Delta 

Electronics of Taiwan entered into 

a joint agreement to develop and 

manufacture the next generation 

of electronic paper products and 

applications. The development will 

provide valuable synergies between 

Bridgestone’s Quick Response Liquid 

Powder Display (QR-LPD) technology 

and Delta’s core competencies in the 

areas of energy solutions and imaging 

technology. QR-LPD is a bistable, reflective 

display technology that uses airborne, 

electronically switchable powder particles 

of extremely high fluidity. The results are 

paper-like visibility, wide viewing angles, 

fast response times and ultra-low power 

consumption. www.deltaww.com 

Test advantage hardware 

announces new director of sales for 

the asia pacific region 

Test Advantage Hardware, LLC, a newly 

acquired subsidiary of Boston Semi 

Equipment, LLC (BSE Group), has hired 

Richard Huang as director of sales for 

the Asia Pacific region. Huang will focus 

on expanding the Arizona, U.S.-based 

company’s leasing portfolio and supporting 

the growth of its hardware sales business 

throughout Asia. 

“The Asia Pacific region continues to 

experience strong growth across a broad 

spectrum of equipment requirements,” 

said Colin Scholefield, executive vice 

president of the BSE Group. 

www.testadvantage.com, www.bsegroup.com 

Nexray of singapore wins the B.I.D. 

International star award for Quality 

in geneva 

Nexray Pte Ltd, a leading electronics 

manufacturing technology solutions 

company based in Singapore, received the 

B.I.D International Star Award for Quality 

at the 35th International Star Award for 

Quality (ISAQ) Convention in Geneva on 

6th September 2010. B.I.D. International 

Star Award for Quality includes a trophy 

that B.I.D. presents to those companies 

from around the world that best adhere 

to excellence and innovation in their 

practices, putting quality first. 

The companies awarded at the 

gathering in Geneva were distinguished 

not only for their business success, 

but for their dedication to continuous 

improvement, abiding by the principles of 

the B.I.D.-created QC100 model of Total 

Quality Management. www.nexray.biz 



Title 


Industry News 



Title 


PEC (printed electronic circuit) process for LED interconnection 

PEC (printed electronic 

circuit) process for LED 


Mike DuBois, Caledon Controls Ltd., Mississauga, Ontario, Canada 

PCB mounting of LEDs 

has to date been limited to 

mechanical interconnection 

or the use of printed circuits 

boards built on thermally 

conductive copper clad 

aluminum substrates. This 

paper discusses the use of 

enhanced thermally conductive 

inks for LED interconnection. 

Keywords: Adhesives, Packaging, 

Modified Polycarbamin Acid 

Derivates, mCD 

Higher wattage LEDs/power components 

or their placement in higher densities 

requires a larger dissipation of heat in a 

more effective way. 

The following is quoted from Canadian 

Electronics magazine: 

“With rapid advancements in power 

reduction, and minimizing and 

controlling LED heat, it is expected 

that future applications will use 

less-expensive, rigid aluminum-backed 

printed circuit boards for proper heat 

dissipation and move towards more 

cost-effective flexible circuits. This is 

also being driven by signal and display 

applications, where most of the future 

LED growth is expected.” 

—Gijs Werner, FCI 

PCB mounting of LEDs has to date been 

limited to mechanical interconnection 

or the use of printed circuits boards built 

on thermally conductive copper clad 

aluminum substrates. 

These laminated substrates which are 

available from several specialty laminate 

manufacturers, typically consist of a copper 

foil that is laminated to the aluminum 

using a glass cloth impregnated with 

heat conducting additive filled epoxies. 

The cloth offers small window openings 

between the weave patterns where the filled 

epoxies can make contact with the both the 

Figure 1. Copper clad aluminum substrate. 

copper foil and the aluminum to transfer 

heat. The glass cloth, which comprises 50 

percent of the prepreg, significantly reduces 

the thermal conductivity. Additionally, 

the existing available thermal prepregs are 

thicker at 100 microns (.004 mils), which 

increases the effective thermal resistance 

limiting the maximum watts per square 

inch dissipation. 

A printed circuit board manufacturer 

would employ this laminate material, 

laminating photo-imageable etch resist, 

exposing with UV light then developing 

to form a circuit image, then etching away 

unwanted copper to produce circuit traces. 

All exposed aluminum must also be well 

masked off, a time- and material-consuming 

task. 

printed electronic inks 

Enhanced thermally conductive inks are 

much more versatile. 

They can be used to make a more 

Figure 2. Etched copper circuit trace on thermal dielectric & actual etched circuit; 60X. 


efficient thermally conductive copper 

clad aluminum laminate substrate by the 

PCB fabricator themselves (Figure 1) or 

could used by selectively printing both the 

dielectric and conductive traces to make 

a thermally conductive circuit by anyone 

with a silk screen printer and a thermal 

oven (See Figure 3). 

Using CCD-120A thermally conductive 

dielectric ink with its nano technology 

enhanced formulation in making 

PCB boards or even making copper clad 

aluminum circuit laminate will deliver 

lower thermal resistance than that of other 

currently available copper clad aluminum 

substrates. 

copper-clad aluminum 

The thermally conductive B-stage ink 

is applied to the surface of either the 

copper foil or the aluminum and is semi 

cured (B-Stage) using a thermal oven. 

Application is typically a silk screening 

operation to deposit a thin film of thermal 

ink approximately .001” thick. The ink is 

then baked at 250˚F for 20-30 minutes, at 

which time the material reaches the desired 

Figure 4. Heat radiating comparison. 


B-stage cure. 

The coated B-stage aluminum is laminated 

with the copper foil of choice using a 

typical vacuum-assist laminating press and 

fully cured under pressure. 

The end result is a thin layer only 

25 microns thick of the thermal material 

sandwiched between the copper and 

aluminum. With this version of a copper 

clad aluminum, the B stage thermal ink 

offers lower thermal resistance, because 

the surface area contact and the thickness 

of the deposit. As well, the pressure 

of the lamination cycle constricts the ink 

allowing a closer contact between thermally 

conductive ceramic particles increasing the 

thermal conductance. A one mil thick layer 

of thermal ink properly applied has a 2500 

volt rating. 

Processing the panel to make a 

simple single-sided circuit is a done by the 

time-honored “print and etch” method 

requiring PCB fabrication equipment and 

wastewater treatment facilities because of 

the copper etching process. 

Figure 2 shows the etched circuit trace 

paths on the Thermally Conductive dielec- 


Figure 3. Silver trace on selective print thermal 

dielectric. 

tric. Adhesion to aluminum with our 2 w/ 

mc ink is excellent; the thermal dielectric 

has a hard surface due to its high ceramic 

content but can accept a coat of soldermask 

before the final cure. A compatible 

solder mask could later be applied. 

print-only circuits 

A selectively deposited thermal conductive 

ink on the aluminum offers the benefit of 

being deposited only where thermal heat 

transfer is needed, reducing consumables 

costs when compared to the currently 

popular copper clad aluminum substrate, 

which has full coverage of the underlying 

surface with the glass cloth impregnated 

with heat conductive material. 

The circuit traces are screened on 



Figure 5. PECs developed LPI dielectric. Figure 6. PEC 4 mil lines/space flush silver. 

using new nano silver solderable inks. The 

net result is that by using a thermal ink 

selectively applied under the silver traces, 

less of the thermal material is used per 

the same overall area yet will deliver better 

heat transfer capability because it is thinly 

applied. 

Building a printed circuit utilizing the 

print-only process can not only simplify the 

manufacturing, but it will reduce its costs. 

Print-only is manufactured with a full additive 

green technology that will in the end 

deliver better heat transmission performance. 

No etching equipment is required. 

print only 

Printing the thermal dielectric ink 

selectively where needed and then printing 

electrically conductive traces on top the 

thermal dielectric with low resistance 

Figure 6. PEC 4 mil lines/space flush silver. 

silver ink reduces costs, as the dielectric is 

applied only where needed (Figure 3). 

Screen printing a slightly wider surface 

area than that of the conductors, then curing 

the dielectric at a temperature of 250˚F 

for 30 minutes establishes a non-tacky but 

yet uncured surface, which is then overprinted 

with the silver conductive traces. 

The silver ink is then cured at 150˚C for 

30 minutes, which fuses the silver trace 

into a solid metal track. A compatible 

solder mask can be applied and tack dried, 

followed by an overall full encompassing a 

cure of 300˚F for 60 minutes, which forms 

the final circuit. Using thermal/silver ink 

combinations offers many more build options 

and cost concession possibilities. 

As there is no requirement to etch 

and therefore no need to mask off the 

aluminum when etching or processing, 

labor is tremendously reduced. 

When utilizing the silver ink trace 

technology, assembling and soldering the 

components requires a lower temperature 

solder which is typically used in assembly 

houses. 

The thermal characteristics are vastly 

improved over that of a normal copperclad 

aluminum etched type circuit. The 

area of the aluminum that is not covered 

by the dielectric material and silver traces 

has a larger thermal conductance (380 w/ 

mc) than the aluminum with a layer of 2 

w/mc thermal material. 

Figure 4 shows a comparison between 

three heat conducting and dissipating 

constructions. Clearly evident is the larger 

amount of exposed aluminum made possible 

with an all printed version of the 

board and the resulting superior heat dis- 


sipation available. 

printed electronics versatility 

Using ink technology, more complex 

circuit boards can be manufactured by 

using the more advanced and “green” PEC 

technologies described below. 

Thermally conductive PEC process 

Silk-screen-coating the aluminum with 

thermally conductive dielectric, a second 

layer of a specially formulated LPI 

dielectric ink is deposited at some 1 to 

1.2 mil thickness depending on screen 

mesh selections. If desired, extra layers 

of the dielectric will provide for thicker 

conductor lines. 

Tack-cured and then exposed using 

ordinary UV exposure units, the LPI is 

spray developed on typical developing 

equipment and chemistry. What remains 

is a coating on the substrate with trenches 

and pad openings (Figure 5). 

A thermally conductive PEC’s third 

component is a nano technology silver conductive 

ink that is applied onto the surface 

of the LPI. Filling of the trenches and pads 

is accomplished and the conductive ink is 

cured. The ink fuses into a solid mass with 

a slight deposit on the surface of the LPI, 

which is easily removed (Figure 6). 

The next step is a repeat of the second, 

except that this interconnection layer will 

be a via formation layer only. Coat, tack, 

expose, develop and silver fill. 

Because the LPI is never stripped off 

and the entrenched silver conductive ink 

is level with the top of the LPI, everything 

conductive is flush to the dielectric. 

The same process is repeated again for 

the second conductive layer. 

The result is that the interconnect 

“vias” are buried, and there is a 100% 

metal connection to the first layer. In the 

end, anything reliability-wise to a PCB 

PTH interconnect has been eliminated. 

The process is repeated for as many 

layers as is required by design. The last top 

layer has pads left exposed for component 

mounting. All circuitry and interconnections 

are buried. 

Versatile, boards can be configured to 

use the PEC full additive process even on 

two sides of the aluminum if desired or 

build multilayer circuits all on one side of 

the aluminum backing. 

Figure 7 shows a typical PEC build 

configuration: A multilayered, single-sided 

thermally conductive PEC technology 

PCB. Designs could be altered a number 

of ways, allowing many new interconnect 

possibilities. 


conclusion 

In summary, using printed electronic ink 

products and processes to manufacture 

high performance thermally conductive 

circuit boards offers clear advantages in 

manufacturing flexibility, performance and 

cost. 

When using these inks in the full additive 

print only process or the PEC method, 

these high performance heat-dissipating 

circuits are also environmentally friendly. 


Mike is an industry veteran going back to 

military board manufacturing using shoe eyelets 

for interconnection of layers. Joining the ranks 

of Caledon Controls, a growing distribution 

firm, Mike is involved in diversification efforts 

and searching for alternative PCB processing 

methods. 


Printed electronics for flexible solid-state lighting 

Printed electronics for flexible 

solid-state lighting 

Marc Chason, Marc Chason and Associates, Inc., Schaumburg, Illinois, USA 

Printed electronics technologies 

are being introduced as 

competitors to crystalline 

semiconductor technologies in 

several applications, including 

logic circuits, photovoltaic 

cells and light emitting diodes 

(LED). Near term solidstate 

lighting (SSL) products 

based on LED technologies 

are entering the general 

illumination market. These 

SSL products use conventional 

SMT processes in a four-level 

assembly hierarchy to fabricate 

light engines for incorporation 

into luminaires. In parallel 

with LED device development, 

printed electronics technologies 

are also moving forward using 

ink-based systems to fabricate 

organic-LEDs (OLED). 

However, the OLED assembly 

hierarchy used to fabricate 

light emitting structures is 

significantly different from 

that for LED-based devices. 

This paper will compare 

LED and printed OLED 

assembly technologies, discuss 

available printing technologies 

and ink systems for OLED 

structures and address OLED 

fabrication and assembly 

issues. 

Keywords: Solid State Lighting, 

SSL, OLED 

This paper was originally presented at 

SMTAI International 2010 in Orlando, 

Florida. 

Introduction 

By various estimates, lighting is one of the 

largest U.S. consumers of electrical power 1 . 

Around the world, significant economic 

and environmental pressures are driving 

major energy saving efforts with respect 

to lighting technology. One area receiving 

a great deal of attention for replacing 

general lighting sources, i.e., incandescent 

lamps, fluorescent lamps and compact 

fluorescent lamps (CFL), is Solid State 

Lighting (SSL). The excitement with SSL 

arises from the rapid performance increase 

demonstrated by crystalline LED-based 

lighting technology. 

Globally, industrial investments 

and government funded activities are 

supporting R&D and manufacturing 

development. The result has been 

SSL lamp performance that in some 

cases is equal to or better than existing 

incandescent and fluorescent lamps. LEDbased 

lamps are now commercially available 

and in many cases is cost competitive with 

incandescent and fluorescent lighting 

systems based on life-cycle assessments. 

Furthermore, the long lived SSL product 

can produce additional cost savings 

through reduction of maintenance costs. 

Following Holonyak’s 2 1962 

announcement of the first light-emitting 

diode, LED efficacy has dramatically 

increased over time, Figure 1 3 . Efficacy, 

the ratio between the amount of light 

that a source generates relative to its 

energy input, is measured in lumens 

per watt, (lm/W). During this time, the 

incumbent incandescent lamp efficacy has 

plateaued at a relatively low level. While 

the various fluorescent technologies have 

demonstrated increased efficacy, their 

growth has not been as rapid as that for the 

LEDs. 

In addition to increased performance, 

LED cost has rapidly decreased. Haitz’s 

Law (Figure 2), analogous to Moore’s Law 

for ICs, demonstrates how the cost of LED 

lighting decreases (cost per lumen) while 

the efficacy increases (lumens per watt) 

over time 4 . Note that the “flux/package” 

trend is increasing faster than the historical 

trend. 

Organic-LED (OLED) is also 

undergoing rapid development, but 

is several years behind the LED-based 

technology. In contrast to point source 

LED luminaires, OLED products are 

dispersed light sources, which promise 

Level Assembly Step Comments 

3 System level assembly Luminaire assembly 

Product is sold to end customer 

2 Package on board Light Engine—SMT assembly processes 

1 LED in package Light Engine—SMT assembly processes 

0 LED Device Light Source—Focuses on LED fabrication at the 

wafer level 

Table 1. LED assembly hierarchy. 

Level Assembly Step Comments 

3 System level assembly Assembly of luminaire 

Product is sold to end customer 

2 Interconnects, leads & packaging 

1 OLED Device Integration with R2R processes 

0 Focuses on printing/vapor deposition of OLED 

Table 2. OLED assembly hierarchy. 


Figure 1. Historical and predicted light source efficacies. Figure 2. 2010 version of Haitz’s Law. 

new lighting paradigms. Developed by 

Kodak 5 in the 1980s, OLED devices were 

initially fabricated using vapor deposition 

processes. The opportunity to use printing 

processes for OLED fabrication opens up 

new opportunities. 

Presently, OLED efficacy is lower 

than that for LED product, but is rapidly 

increasing. It is too soon to know whether 

OLED products will follow Haitz’s Law. 

ssl assembly hierarchies 

LED assembly 

LED-based SSL assembly follows a 4 level 

assembly hierarchy, Table 1. 

LED assembly uses a broad range of 

SMT processes and unique materials. 

Following die singulation and lightemission 

testing, binned die (based on 

light quality) are assembled into a light 

source. A Level 1 LED assembly is depicted 

in Figure 3 6 . Ultimately, the light engine is 

Figure 3. Level 1 LED package assembly. 


placed in a luminaire. 

OLED assembly 

In contrast to LED assembly, OLED 

assembly follows a very different assembly 

process, Table 2. While this is still a 

four-level assembly hierarchy, Levels 0, 1 

and 2 are merged into a comprehensive 

assembly step since OLED fabrication 

intrinsically produces the light source 

(Level 0), and light engine (Level 1 and 2) 

in an interrelated process, not as a series of 

discrete assembly steps, which defines LED 

SSL assembly. 

This OLED assembly hierarchy 

arises from the nature of the OLED 

device, which is different from that for a 

crystalline based LED. A typical OLED 

light source fabricated on a glass substrate, 

shown in Figure 4 7 , is composed of a 

stack of thin films (usual total thickness 

of 100-200 nm) situated between planar 


electrodes, with at least one transparent 

electrode to enable light to exit the OLED 

structure. Descriptions of the various layers 

are described in Table 3. 

Visible light is created when electrons 

and holes, driven by an applied voltage 

across the electrodes, combine in the 

OLED layers. A luminaire is formed when 

the OLED is assembled into a structure 

that protects the OLED from physical and 

environmental damage as well as supplying 

it with electrical energy and control 

functions. 

SSL OLED technology began as 

a display technology. In addition to 

developing the materials and fabrication 

processes to produce displays, lithography 

capable of sub-millimeter resolution was 

also required for forming small pixels with 

the OLED material sets. While requiring 

similar OLED materials and substrates, 

SSL requires lower resolution lithography 

(i.e., the pixels are larger) so that a critical 

display manufacturing step is removed 

from the lighting path. The result is a 

significant fraction of the manufacturing 

cost is reduced for a luminaire relative to 

a display, while concurrently increasing 

manufacturing throughput and yields. 

oleDs for solid-state lighting 

As noted in the OLED assembly hierarchy, 

Levels 0, 1 and 2 are strongly interrelated. 

This interrelation is made more complex 

by multiple options available for producing 

the OLED device. These include: 

• Vapor deposition vs. printed 

processes 

• Flexible substrate vs. rigid substrate 

• Reel-to-reel (R2R) vs. sheet fed 

processing 

While some OLED material systems can be 



Figure 4. Assembly structure for OLED-based device. 

vapor deposited, this paper will generally 

focus on those technologies that use 

printing technologies for fabricating the 

OLED. We will discuss vapor deposited 

processes for comparison purposes. 

OLED materials have a rich 

developmental history which is described 

in other publications 8 . The materials span 

multiple spaces of the OLED fabrication 

process and continue to undergo rapid 

development. This development is 

intimately tied to the chosen deposition 

process and substrate properties. 

Furthermore, these processes are strongly 

correlated with the associated ink 

technology. 

Figure 5. Vertically stacked OLED structures for 

producing white light. 

OLED light emitting material systems 

Printable OLED inks are available from 

a number of commercial suppliers. 

Polymer OLED materials (polymer light 

emitting diode, or PLED) are a class of 

polymers that emit light and are solution 

proccesable. Alternatively, vacuum thermal 

processes are typically used to deposit small 

molecule OLED (SMOLED) materials. 

In addition to the light emitting 

materials that form the OLED PN 

junction, additional materials are used 

to enhance OLED performance. For 

example, inks have been developed for 

Hole Transport and Electron Transport 

functions. 

LED-based solid-state lighting produces 

white light by mixing light from red, green 

and blue LEDs, or by using phosphors 

to convert blue or UV LED light to 

white light. Similar schemes can be used 

with OLED devices. Various OLED 

constructions have been developed to 

realize white light sources. Figure 5 shows a 

vertically stacked “hybrid tandem” OLED 

structure for producing white light 9 , where 

the OLED structures are deposited on top 

of each other. Light is produced in the 

two junction regions and exits the OLED 

through the transparent anode side. An 

alternative structure that spreads the light 

emitting structures along the substrate is 

depicted in Figure 6 10 . 

Figure 6. Horizontally positioned OLED structures 

for producing white light. 

Layer Function 

Metal Cathode Low work function material 

Electron Transport Layer Transport electrons to organic emitters; 

block hole transport 

Organic Emitters Electron/hole recombination and light 

emission 

Hole Injection Layer Transport holes to organic emitters; 

block electron transport 

Anode Transparent conductor 

Glass Substrate 

Table 3. Description of OLED Layers (from Figure 4). 

In the horizontally arranged OLED 

structures, the red, green and blue light 

sources are positioned next to each other 

rather on top of each other. This reduces 

the number of vertical layer depositions. 

OLED substrate material systems 

The OLED light emitting structures are 

encased between two electrodes, one of 

which needs to be transparent so that 

the generated light can exit the OLED 

structure. The transparent electrode is 

usually the anode. Rigid OLED devices 

are typically fabricated on glass coated 

with a transparent conductive oxide 

(TCO), usually Indium Tin Oxide (ITO). 

Flexible anodes are fabricated on polymer 

substrates similarly coated on one side with 

ITO. PET (polyethylene terephthalate) and 

PEN (polyethylene naphthalate) polymers 

have been used for substrates. The cathode 

is typically a low work function metal foil, 

for example aluminum or calcium. 

OLED light emitting materials are 

extremely sensitive to water vapor and 

oxygen. For commercial devices 11 , typical 

water vapor transmission rates (WVTR) 

are

emaining following assembly. 

Light extraction from the OLED device 

is a primary concern for increasing OLED 

panel efficiency and luminaire efficacy. In 

conventional OLEDs, it is estimated that 

only 20% of the generated light exits the 

OLED due to refractive index mismatch 12 . 

Films that redirect light between the 

substrate and the electrode can be used to 

enhance light output. Photonic crystals can 

provide improved coupling to enable light 

to exit the OLED. 

OLED printing processes 

SMT assembly makes use of various 

printing and deposition processes in the 

production of electronic products, e.g., 

solder paste screen printing, conformal 

coating, conductive adhesive dispensing, 

etc. Printing technologies for OLED 

technology embrace a number of printing 

technologies that move beyond the typical 

SMT space. The ability to print many of 

the materials that comprise an OLED SSL 

device makes such fabrication a compelling 

value proposition. 

The OLED substrate will determine 

whether R2R or sheet fed processes will 

be feasible. Rigid glass substrate systems 

require sheet fed processes, while flexible 

substrates such as polymer and metal 

foils can be used with either process. 

While R2R printing produces long sheets 

of OLED material the OLED devices 

still need to be excised from the web. 

Depending upon the manufacturing 

flow and subsequent processing steps, 

sheet fed printing that produces near-net 

final shapes may be as cost effective as 

R2R printing with its subsequent slitting 

and excising steps. Engineering analysis 

is required to determine the optimum 

system. 

OLED printing techniques can be 

differentiated by the method they use to 

feed the substrate to the printing process. 

R2R processes print on long continuous 

material films, while sheet fed printing 

uses individual sheets in discrete sizes. 

Relative to sheet fed processes, R2R 

processes minimize the load/un-load time 

between printing stations. However, sheet 

fed processes can be made to mimic R2R 

printing with inline techniques. 

A simplified R2R process flow for 

producing an OLED light source is 

depicted in Figure 7 13 . In this schematic 

diagram, the transparent substrate is 

printed with the anode layer and then 

successive layers of functional inks are 

in-line printed to produce the OLED 

structure. For white light production, 

red, green and blue emissive layers can 


Figure 7. Schematic of a R2R OLED printing 

process. 

Figure 9. Left—Osram ORBEOS product. Right—Philips Lumiblade product. 

be printed, but if a single light color is 

required then only printing that ink would 

be necessary. White light can also be 

produced by printing a blue light emissive 

layer and adding a phosphor layer that 

converts the blue light to white light, 

which is similar to crystalline LED SSL 

practices. Within this basic process flow 

numerous permutations are possible to 

address cost effective manufacturing. The 

encapsulation and completed module steps 

will be discussed in later sections. 

Gravure, flexographic and slot-die 

coating processes can be used to print or 

coat the inks to produce an OLED device. 

An alternative to these printing processes 

are inkjet printing processes. While the 

first three processes require contract 

between dispensing equipment and the 

substrate, inkjet printing is a non-contact 

process. Inkjet printing processes have 

been developed for fabricating OLED 

displays 14 , Figure 8. An OLED suitable 

for SSL applications could be simpler to 

produce since it would not require the 

polysilicon TFT and the pixel sizes could 

be larger. 

Screen-printing technology (which 

is an SMT staple) uses a masked screen 

to determine the location where the ink 

will be deposited. With both flat bed 

and rotary machines available, it has 

wide applicability because it can print 

on many types of surfaces and substrates 


Figure 8. Schematic of an inkjet OLED printing 

process. 

and is compatible with a wide range of 

ink viscosities. It is suitable for printing 

relatively thick layers to produce electrical 

conductors and dielectric layers. These 

are required: a) to produce interconnects 

between the OLED light engine and power 

sources, b) to generate printed bus bars to 

bring electrical power to the OLED pixels, 

c) to provide conductors for control lines 

to offer unique features and d) to provide 

insulating layers where appropriate. Bus 

bars and interconnect conductors can be 

formed from silver or carbon inks. Silver 

inks have higher conductivity while carbon 

is lower cost. Bus bars and interconnect 

lines must be positioned so that they offer 

the lowest shadowing effects. 

OLED encapsulation processes 

In an OLED SSL device, the OLED light 

source generates the light (Assembly Level 

1 and 2) while the light engine (Assembly 

Level 2) enables it to couple to the 

luminaire. Assembly Level 2 must provide 

the light engine environmental protection 

(e.g., humidity resistance, oxygen 

resistance, etc.) and physical protection 

(e.g., abrasion resistance, etc.). Assembly 

Level 2 also provides the opportunity for 

improving light extraction. 

Printed OLEDs are thin structures 

with electrodes on the top and bottom 

surfaces. Since the separation distance 

between the electrodes is small and the 



Figure 10. Cross section of Philips Lumiblade device. Figure 11. Schematic diagram of GE lamination process for OLED fabrication. 

flexible substrate materials tend to be 

soft, care must be taken when cutting 

and excising OLED devices from the web. 

Electrode surfaces cannot come in contact 

with each other (e.g. due to edge smearing) 

since they would generate an electrical 

short and cause device failure. Mechanical 

cutting tools or cutting lasers can be used 

if they don’t leave burrs. 

Encapsulation of OLED light 

engines via hermetic barriers is highly 

advantageous to ensure long product 

lifetime. Most barrier systems follow a 

multilayer approach. Laminate films 

are comprised of thin polymer layers 

interspersed with thin ceramic layers 

to provide hermeticity and maintain 

flexibility. Coating processes also use a 

multilayer approach with the hermetic film 

built up with polymer layers and ceramic 

layers. 

Numerous companies are developing 

barrier films that can be applied via 

printing/coating or film lamination 

processes. In addition to offering 

protection against water vapor and 

oxygen, these encapsulation layers must 

also offer abrasion resistance and provide 

physical protection to the light engine. If 

they can’t supply these attributes within 

one barrier film, then additional layers 

need to be applied that meet the product 

requirements. 

OLED device surfaces have a higher 

Figure 12. Example of printed flexible OLED 

devices. 

refractive index than air, which coupled 

with a planar emitting surface leads to low 

light out-coupling. Techniques are being 

pursued to increase light out-coupling by 

modifying the OLED surface with micro 

lenses, surface roughening and quantum 

optics 15 . 

OLED luminaire 

Connecting power lines to the OLED 

device requires a mechanical/electrical 

connection stable over temperature, that 

is formed at low temperatures or localized 

high temperatures, and is mechanically 

compatible with a flexible substrate. 

The low temperature requirement arises 

because several of the OLED material 

systems cannot take high heat levels, so 

conventional reflow soldering processes 

are precluded. Localized contact soldering 

techniques such as thermodes or hear bars, 

or laser soldering are potential candidates. 

Conductive adhesives (anisotropic 

and isotropic may be useful in these 

circumstances. Mechanical connectors may 

offer an alternative approach. 

Luminaires using vapor deposited 

OLED light engines are available from 

Osram 16 and Philips 17 , Figure 9. 

A cross-section schematic of the Philips 

Lumiblade device 18 is shown in Figure 10. 

This luminaire is fabricated on a rigid glass 

substrate with a vapor deposited OLED 

and a back cover to seal the device. To help 

reduce oxygen and water vapor effects, a 

getter is encapsulated with the OLED. 

The performance of printed OLED 

luminaires lags that for vapor deposited 

ones, but they are rapidly improving. 

A number of companies are working 

to develop printed OLED devices. For 

example, GE is developing a R2R process, 

depicted in Figure 11, for fabricating 

printed OLEDs 19 . They fabricate an OLED 

light engine by laminating together “halfdevices” 

printed on flexible substrates. 

An example of printed OLED devices 

fabricated via a printing process using 

flexible substrates is shown in Figure 12 20 . 

OLED value chain 

Most incandescent and fluorescent 

lamps are commodity products. LED 

and OLED SSL products will be able 

to command premium pricing in their 

initial roll-out, but they will ultimately 

participate in a commodity market. In this 

value chain, cost will be a critical factor 

as they compete against the incumbent 

technologies. Manufacturing technologies 

that drive toward low cost solutions will 

be critical toward ultimate market success. 

OLED printing technologies, based on 

commercial processes and equipment sets, 

can help realize a low manufacturing cost 

structure. 

Also in this value chain, new supply 

chains and distribution channels are 

developing. Printing companies are 

learning how to design and manufacture 

electronic products and test their 

performance. These are skills that the SMT 

manufacturers have in abundance, but 

interestingly are not presently particularly 

active in this new value chain creation. 

Many of the assembly equipment sets, test 

equipment and manufacturing protocols 

that the SMT industry routinely uses could 

be transferred to the SSL industry and 

open up new sources of revenue. 

conclusion 

SSL products based on LED technology 

are beginning to enter the commercial 

marketplace, while OLED technology 

is several years behind for broad market 

entry. The ability to print OLED devices 

on flexible substrates will provide a 

powerful impetus to realize low cost OLED 

luminaires. Numerous printing processes 

are amenable to OLED production, and in 

continued on page 23 



Title 


LED BIN validation & traceability 

LED BIN validation & 

traceability 

Dan Hodgman, Methode Electronics, Automotive Electronic Control Division, Southfield, Michigan, USA 

The increased use of LEDs 

introduces significant new 

challenges for the electronic 

PCB assembler. Separate 

reels containing the same 

part number may each 

have a different brightness 

index number (BIN). The 

potential for aesthetic defects 

is introduced if the BIN 

from one reel to the next is 

incompatible. Traditional 

methods for component 

traceability and line setup 

validation are not sufficient 

to assure quality. This paper 

introduces a new approach 

that Methode Electronics 

deployed for a leading 

automotive OEM. The system 

delivers a higher level of 

process control and traceability 

during PCB assembly and 

integrates with functional test 

to enable automatic product 

calibration. 

Keywords:LED, BIN, TTC, 

Material Tracking, Setup 

Validation, Traceability, 

Process Control, RFID, Lean, 

Manufacturing Software, Poke 

Yoke 

The electronics industry continues to 

experience a prolific increase in the use 

of light emitting diodes (LEDs). Since 

the 1960s, LED efficiency and light 

output have doubled every 1.5 years, 

following a trend similar to Moore’s law. 

Modern LEDs offer many advantages 

over incandescent light sources including 

power efficiency, long life, small size, fast 

switching and robustness. This has resulted 

in the wide scale adoption of LEDs for 

vehicle instrument clusters, warning signs, 

vision systems and other critical lighting 

applications. 

With this trend comes a significant 

new challenge for the PCB assembler. LED 

suppliers package surface mount LEDs 

based on a brightness index number (BIN). 

This is a multi-digit code indicating the 

LED’s brightness and color. The BIN code 

is indicated on the reel label. It is a separate 

data field from the component part 

number (PN). Two reels containing the 

same LED PN do not necessarily feature 

the same BIN. LEDs with the same PN and 

BIN appear identical when illuminated. 

However, if the BIN doesn’t match the 

brightness and/or coloring of the emitted 

light may be noticeably different. Mixing 

different BINs on the same production 

unit is often unacceptable. In other 

cases the product design permits certain 

combinations of different BINs (color or 

brightness), or specifies a pairing between 

the LED BIN and adjacent component 

Figure 1. Surface Mount LEDs commonly used in 

instrument clusters. 

PNs (resistors usually). The rules vary from 

product to product, resulting in a logistical 

nightmare for the PCB assembler. 

Material availability and costs 

If the mixing of BINs introduces such a 

headache on the assembly floor, then why 

not demand LED suppliers to only provide 

a specific BIN for each component PN? 

This is a logical question. The answer is 

related to three factors that have a huge 

impact on any PCB assembler’s bottom 

line: material availability, lead time and 

cost. 

For LED manufacturers the goal is 

to increase end-product consistency, but 

currently it is impossible to economically 

produce any specific BIN with high levels 

of consistency from batch to batch. There 

are several LED manufacturing issues 

that contribute to this dilemma. These 

issues are well documented in industry 

literature, and a detailed explanation is 

beyond the scope of this article. They 

include challenges in controlling both 

the wavelength of the LED die and 

distribution of the phosphor during the 

LED manufacturing process 1 . 

To provide a specific BIN for each 

LED PN, the LED supplier would have 

no alternative other than manual sorting. 

This comes with a surcharge of course. 

Sole sourcing in this manner can result 

in a three to four times increase in LED 

component cost. In one observed example, 

the additional premium to source specific 

LED BINs for an automotive cluster 

assembly was estimated at over $100K per 

year for a single SMT line. Extrapolate 

that to a typical factory with four to six 

SMT lines and the additional material 

costs become staggering. Another factor to 

consider: LED suppliers cannot guarantee 

long term availability of any particular 

BIN in high volume. As a result of these 

constraints, PCB assemblers typically 

cannot afford to source specific BINs. 

Instead they must strive to establish 

effective internal procedures for managing 


Figure 2. LED BIN code included in 1D or 2D barcode on supplier label. 

different BINs on the assembly floor. 

Fortunately there are industry 

standards, such as NEMA SSL 3-2010, that 

establish bin structures while promoting 

continuity amongst suppliers 2 . This helps 

the PCB assembler in that they can at least 

identify the BIN associated with each reel. 

On a reel of SMT LEDs, the BIN code is 

typically included within a barcode or 2D 

matrix on the supplier label, to facilitate 

data acquisition by a material tracking 

system (Figure 2). 

automotive oeM requirements 

To meet automotive OEM traceability and 

quality specifications, Methode sought a 

higher level of SMT line setup validation 

than traditionally available. Instead of 

simple validation based on component 

PN only, Methode specified the additional 

requirement to validate based on the 

LED BIN, to ensure that only compatible 

BINs are placed onto any given PCB in 

accordance with design specifications. 

Traditional validation solutions compare 

the actual line setup to a static recipe 

(i.e. the PNs and assigned feeder slots in 

the placement machine program). The 

additional requirement to validate based 

on BIN introduces a new requirement; 

dynamic setup validation. Why dynamic? 

Because the correct BIN to load into the 

machine at any given time may depend 

on the other BINs presently loaded 

on the machine, or whether there are 

partially populated PCBs in the placement 

machine during reel replenishment. The 

required solution would also include 

control systems for physically preventing 

the machine from placing components 

whenever the risk of a BIN mismatch or 

component PN error is present. 

Methode’s customer also demanded 

Traceability for every component Lot 

Number (LN) for each serialized PCB. 

Again, traditional methods would fall 

short of expectations. To provide proof 

of compliance to the customer’s design 

specifications, Methode specified that the 

traceability data must also include the BIN 

code for every LED placed onto each PCB. 


Their customer’s traceability specifications 

also require data storage and accessibility 

over a 15 year period. 

An additional goal was to eliminate 

variability between individual product 

units. Accomplishing this would require a 

traceability system that could integrate with 

their functional test equipment to enable 

automatic product tuning and calibration. 

After a thorough analysis of potential 

suppliers, Methode Electronics partnered 

with a leading supplier of track-tracecontrol 

(TTC) solutions for the electronics 

manufacturing industry. The partner 

delivered TTC software modules for line 

setup validation (Figure 3) and lot code 

traceability that account for the LED BIN 

codes used during SMT assembly. 

ensuring data integrity 

“Garbage In, Garbage Out” is a catch 

phrase that definitely applies to TTC 

systems. Methode understood it would 

be pointless to implement TTC SW 

without checks and balances to ensure 

100% data capture and accuracy 3 . For this 

reason, sources of data loss and error were 

eliminated wherever possible. 

Figure 3. Line setup validation SW accounts for LED BIN as well as PN. 


When tracking serialized products, 

a common source of data loss comes 

from the need to capture each PCB serial 

number at scan points along the assembly 

line. In such applications, the PCB S/N is 

typically denoted by a barcode or 2D data 

matrix symbol. The PCB S/N can easily 

be missed due to quality issues associated 

with the creation and placement of the 

S/N identifier, or if scanners along the line 

are not properly adjusted during product 

changeover. The risk of data loss is greater 

in higher mix environments with frequent 

product changeovers and a wide variety of 

PCB form factors. 

Product flow controllers (PFCs) were 

implemented to control the SMEMA 

handshake between conveyors and 

placement equipment. The PFC only 

allows product transfer when the TTC SW 

confirms a successful scan of the product 

serial number (Figure 4). Thus, Methode 

can assure their customer a 100% read rate 

of PCB S/N. The PFCs are also used to 

prevent product transfer when the TTC 

system detects a downstream line set-up 

discrepancy, or potential BIN mismatch, 

thereby preventing defects. 

Another typical error stems from 

mistakes made by production operators 

when manually associating feeders 

with feeder locations on the placement 

machine. To poke yoke the setup and 

replenishment processes, Methode 

deployed RFID technology to convert their 

placement equipment into the smart feeder 

variety. A low cost RFID tag was attached 

to each feeder and an RF antenna array 

was installed on each feeder bank, 



Figure 4. Product flow control (PFC) assures data 

integrity while preventing defects. 

to automatically detect and identify the 

feeder at each slot (Figure 5). In addition 

to defect prevention, the smart feeder 

system automatically collects accurate 

traceability data during machine setup 

and replenishment. The deployment of 

smart feeders also increased productivity 

by replacing manual validation of line 

setup. By automating what was previously 

a manual procedure, Methode shaved 12 

minutes off the average line changeover 

time. With three changeovers typical 

over a 21-hour work day, this efficiency 

gain equates to 36 additional minutes of 

productive line runtime per day. 

Machine monitoring: low level 

alarms 

The TTC system is directly integrated with 

the placement machine’s software. This 

allows critical real-time production data to 

be shared between both systems yielding 

numerous benefits. For example, the 

machine will stop whenever there is a PN 

related setup error. Holding the machine 

in cycle stop until the fault is cleared. 

Figure 7. Automated calibration eliminates product variability. 

Figure 5. RFID smart feeders to poke yoke setup and 

reduce changeover time. 

Integration with the machine’s SW also 

allows the TTC system to accurately track 

component consumption, including all 

miss picks and rejected components, 

enabling proactive material management. 

The system issues an alarm when the 

remaining quantity of components on any 

reel becomes lower than a set threshold. 

When a low quantity alarm is issued 

for an LED, the PFC upstream from the 

placement machine prevents additional 

boards from entering the machine. The 

operator is prompted to choose between 

replacing the low reel immediately, or 

resuming production with the current 

setup: 

• If the operator chooses to resume 

production using the current setup, the 

Figure 6. Detailed traceability report including LED 

BIN code data for every reel. 

system allows one additional PCB to 

enter the machine. 

– This choice makes sense when 

there are enough LEDs remaining 

in the low reel for one more 

PCB, or if the operator has a 

replacement reel in hand that 

contains a compatible BIN to the 

one that is low. 

• The error will come back for each 

subsequent PCB, until the Low LED 

Qty alarm is cleared. 

• The Low LED Qty alarm is cleared 

when the low reel is removed from the 

machine and replaced with a new reel. 

If there are PCBs within the machine 

when a reel of LEDs is replaced, the 

system will confirm that the new reel’s 

BIN code is compatible to the one it 

replaced. If by accident the operator used 

an incompatible BIN, the TTC system will 

issue an error and trigger the machine’s 

cycle stop circuit. This makes it impossible 

for the machine to place any incompatible 

BINs onto partially populated PCBs. 

If there are no PCBs within the 

machine when a reel of LEDs is being 

replaced, the system will permit any 

allowable BIN for that product, provided 

of course that the PN is also correct. 

complete traceability 

For each PCB S/N, a traceability report 

(Figure 6) may be generated that includes 

the following information: 

• Time stamp for start and end of SMT 

placement process. 

• Operator ID 

• PN and LN for each reel used. 

• BIN for each LED reel used 

Conversely, for any given reel, a traceability 

report may be generated that lists all 

affected PCB S/N. 

automatic product calibration 

The system described above ensures that 

any particular product only contains 

correct PNs and compatible LED BINs. 

However, it alone could not make separate 


production units identical in performance. 

For example a unit assembled using BIN 

code “A” will emit a different intensity 

than one assembled using BIN code 

“B”. To maximize customer satisfaction, 

Methode took additional steps to eliminate 

variability between product units. To 

achieve this, the functional test process was 

integrated with the traceability database 

(Figure 7) and equipped with algorithms 

for automatic product calibration based 

on the BIN placed on the serialized PCB 

assembly. When a PCB assembly is placed 

into the tester its S/N is immediately 

scanned. The test SW then harvests 

the traceability data for that specific 

production unit from the traceability 

database. The product is automatically 

calibrated based on the particular LED 

BINs used to assemble it. This results in 

identical lighting characteristics for every 

unit leaving the factory. 

conclusions 

Methode Electronics overcame the 

challenges associated with LED BIN 

validation and traceability on the factory 

floor, through the deployment of a tracktrace-control 

system. Observed benefits 

Printed electronics for flexible solid-state lighting— 

continued from page 18 

this nascent stage, value chains and supply 

chains are undergoing rapid development. 

SMT assembly processes could offer much 

support to this growing industry. 

As distributed light sources, OLEDs 

will open up new lighting paradigms for 

the lighting designer, lighting engineer and 

architect. With widespread installation, 

they should reduce the energy required 

to light our society while providing new 

lighting sources to complement the 

traditional point source devices. 

references 

1. http://www.nglia.org 

2. Holonyak and Bevaqua, Applied 

Physics Letter, Volume 1, 1962, pp 

82-83 

3. US DOE Solid-State Lighting Research 

and Development: Multi-Year Program 

Plan, March 2010, p.23 

4. US DOE Solid-State Lighting Research 

and Development: Multi-Year Program 

Plan, March 2010, p.29 

5. C. W. Tang, S. A. VanSlyke, Organic 

electroluminescent diodes, Appl. Phys. 

Lett. 1987, 51, 913 

6. LUXEON Rebel Board Design and 

Assembly Application Brief AB32 

(10/08) 


include: 

• Optimal pricing and availability of 

LEDs because they can source a wide 

range of BIN intensities for each LED 

PN. 

• Reduced inspection and rework costs 

through assurance that each product 

contains correct PNs and compatible 

LED BIN codes. 

• Error-proof and automated system 

performance through the use of 

RFID smart feeders and product flow 

controllers. 

• Faster set-up times resulting in 32 

additional minutes of productive line 

runtime per day. 

• Traceability data reporting and 

archiving in compliance with 

automotive OEM requirements, and 

including LED BIN data for each 

product serial number. 

• Proactive material management such as 

low level alarms on the factory floor. 

• Elimination of product variability 

through automated calibration. 

The system has exceeded its intended 

purpose and customer satisfaction has 

been enhanced. 

7. https://www.msu.edu/~nobleda3/ 

pages/How%20Oled%20Works.html 

8. “Flexible Solid State Lighting: 

Technology, Manufacturing, and 

Market Assessment”, FlexTech Alliance 

Report, Released May 19, 2009 

9. Eastman Kodak, SID Tech Symp 54-2 

(2008) 

10. Anil Duggal (GE Global Research), 

FlexTech Alliance Conference 2009 

11. http://apps1.eere.energy.gov/ 

buildings/publications/pdfs/ssl/ 

clausen_vancouver09.pdf 

12. Dr Jonathan Halls – “Polymer OLED 

Technology Fundamentals, Status & 

Prospects” CDT SID 2008, http:// 

www.cdtltd.co.uk/resources/279.asp 

13. “Organic Light Emitting Devices 

for Solid-State Lighting”, Franky So, 

Junji Kido, and Paul Burrows, MRS 

Bulletin, July 2008, Vol. 33, No. 7, 

14. http://www.oled-display.net/oledinkjet-printing 

15. Dr Jonathan Halls – “Polymer OLED 

Technology Fundamentals, Status & 

Prospects” CDT SID 2008, http:// 

www.cdtltd.co.uk/resources/279.asp, 

16. http://www.osram-os.com/osram_os/ 

EN/Press/Press_Releases/Organic_ 

LED/ORBEOS-OLED-light-source.jsp 


references 

1. LEDs Magazine (2009, December), 

Industry News: Cree EasyWhite bins 

simplify LED design, improve color 

consistency. 

2. NEMA: National Electrical 

Manufacturers Association (2010, 

April), Standard SSL 3-2010 “High- 

Power White LED Binning for General 

Illumination.” 

3. DeCaire, Mitch (2006, March) 

Traceability Data Integrity – 

Challenges and Solutions, SMT 

Magazine. 

Dan Hodgman is global manager for electronics 

assembly with Methode Electronics, Inc. (www. 

methode.com). Mr. Hodgman has over 17 years 

experience in electronics assembly and a B.S. 

in physics from Central Michigan University. 

He may be contacted at 24585 Evergreen Rd, 

Southfield Mi 48075; 248-603-2105; email: 

Daniel.Hodgman@Methode.com. 

17. http://www.lighting.philips.com/ 

in_en/global_sites/led_lighting/ 

information/oled/index. 

php?main=gb_en&parent=1&id=in_ 

en_led_lighting&lang=en 

18. http://www.lighting.philips.com/ 

in_en/global_sites/led_lighting/ 

information/oled_lumiblade. 

php?main=gb_en&parent=1&id=in_ 

en_led_lighting&lang=en 

19. Anil Duggal (GE Global Research), 

FlexTech Alliance Conference 2009 

20. http://www.grcblog.com/?cat=19 


Crystal Holiday ball: wishes second for a half “normal” 2010 and 2011 

2011 

Walt Custer and Jon Custer-Topai 

Holiday wishes for a 

“normal” 2011 

Electronic equipment revenues rose 

globally about 14% in 3Q’10 vs. 3Q’09 

(Chart 1) based upon “almost complete” 

composite 3Q results of 70 major OEMs 

representing over 50% of the world’s 

sales. The ratio of inventories/sales held 

steady for OEMS, dropped for major EMS 

companies, rose slightly for semiconductor 

producers and jumped significantly for 

electronic component distributors (Chart 

2). 

All tiers of the electronic food chain 

grew in 3Q’10/3Q’09 (Chart 3) with the 

possible exception of medical equipment 

(data still incomplete). 

Although third quarter growth 

was strong, signs of slowing are now 

pervasive—both due to normal seasonality 

and generally softer demand. Europe’s 

electronic equipment sales dipped in 

September (Chart 4) with reports of further 

softness through at least mid-November. 

Taiwan/China (Chart 5) peaked in 

September (normal seasonality) and is now 

headed into a post holiday slow season. 

20101117 

250 

200 

150 

100 

50 

0 

$ Billion 

Electronic Equipment Suppliers 

Composite of 70 Public Companies 

Revenue, Net Income & Inventory 

Preliminary 3Q'10 estimate based upon partial data 

Japanese electronics output remains weak 

and U.S. electronic equipment orders 

eased slightly in September (Chart 6). 

Not surprisingly world semiconductor 

shipment growth (Chart 7) is dropping 

quickly from its +60% peak in March 2010. 

Using the global PMI (Purchasing 

Managers’ Index) as a leading indicator, 

it would appear that the entire world 

electronics “food chain” will reach “zero 

3/12 growth” again in early 2011 (Chart 8). 

Fortunately the global PMI rose again 

in October (Chart 9), suggesting that this 

year’s electronics post-holiday seasonal 

decline will be not too severe and the 

electronics expansion will resume by 

2Q’11. 

After this winter’s slowdown we expect 

“normal” growth in 2011 (Chart 10). 

Happy Holidays! 

end markets 

Electronics equipment growth will 

outpace worldwide GDP by a factor of 

more than two-to-one over the next five 

+14% 

-50 

1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 

00 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 

Revenue 134 138 143 150 128 134 126 135 120 123 124 136 126 132 137 155 148 156 154 173 159 164 166 182 170 178 183 202 187 199 208 231 210 222 220 213 184 194 202 228 211 219 229 

Income 11 11 10 7 -1 -5 -12 -1 2 -12 -1 0 5 4 7 10 10 11 11 14 12 13 13 20 14 10 16 19 17 20 18 18 17 16 15 -5 8 12 15 21 17 20 24 

Inventory 57 59 63 65 66 60 53 48 46 44 43 40 39 40 39 39 41 42 43 42 43 43 44 43 46 48 51 50 50 53 54 54 57 58 59 54 50 49 49 49 50 53 55 

Computer 11, Internet 5, Storage 7, Communication 11, SEMI 13, Medical 6, Instruments 11, Military 6 

Chart 1. Chart 2. 

years, while PWB growth will be even 

higher.—Henderson Ventures 

Worldwide enterprise IT spending is 

forecast to reach $2.5 trillion in 2011, a 

3.1% increase from 2010 spending of $2.4 

trillion.—Gartner 

Computer related: 

• Worldwide PC shipments grew 7.6% 

q/q in 3Q’10 to more than 88.3 million 

units.—Gartner 

• Apple’s iPad adoption rate is fastest 

ever, passing DVD players; current 

sales rate is about 4.5 million units per 

quarter.—Bernstein Research 

• Worldwide tablet sales are expected to 

grow from 19.5 million units in 2010 to 

54.8 million units in 2011.—Gartner 

• Hard drive makers will see 4Q’10 shipments 

flat or drop sequentially on weak 

back-to-school demand 

• Hybrid hard-disk drive market is 

expected to reach 600 million units in 

2016.—Objective Analysis 

Mobile communications: 

• Handset shipments reached 346.2 million 

in 3Q’10 and are on target to hit 

Inventory/Sales Ratio 

Large Component Distributors, Semiconductor, EMS & 

Quarterly Inventory/Sales ($) OEM Companies 

3 4 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4 1 

00 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 

24 – Global SMT & Packaging Southeast Asia – Winter 2010 www.globalsmtindia.in 

20101117 

0.85 

0.80 

0.75 

0.70 

0.65 

0.60 

0.55 

0.50 

0.45 

0.40 

0.35 

0.30 

0.25 

0.20 

CY 

4 Component Distributor, 18 Semiconductor, 12 EMS and 69 OEM Company Composite 

Semiconductor 

EMS 

OEM 

Component Distrib 

Distr 

Chips 

EMS 

OEM

1.34 billion in 2010.—ABI Research 

• Worldwide smart phone unit sales and 

market share in the 2Q10, by operating 

system—Gartner 

• Mobile phone subscribers will reach 

5.3 billion by the end of the year.— 

International Telecommunications 

Union 

Consumer electronics: 

• DSLR-like camera shipments will reach 

4.5 million units in 2011. 

• Global e-book reader sales will reach 

20-25 million units in 2011.—E Ink 

chairman 

• Pico and pocket projectors market grew 

from about 45,000 units in 3Q’09 to 

more than 100,000 units in 3Q’10.—Pacific 

Media Associates 

• Global LCD TV market is growing 

despite weakness in North America; 

LED-backlit set to take lead in 2011.— 

DisplaySearch 

• 3D TV market is expected to represent 

3% of the overall TV shipment in 2010 

with 6.2 million units sold. They will 

20100829 

Global "Electronic Foodchain" Growth 

3Q'10 vs. 3Q'09 

Electronic Equipment 

Military 

Business & Office 

Instruments & Controls 

Medical 

Communication 

Internet 

Computer 

Storage 

SEMI Equip 


-0 

0 

3 

14 

12 

20 

21 

13 

Semiconductors (SIA) 

26 

Passive Components 

16 

Component Distrib 

34 

EMS-Large (w/o Foxconn) 

21 

EMS-Medium 

28 

ODM 

30 

PCB 

13 

PCB Process Equip 

44 

-20 0 20 40 60 80 100 

% Change 

US$ equivalent at fluctuating exchange; based upon industry composites including acquisitions 

30 

become mainstream by 2014 with 90 

million+ shipments.—DisplaySearch 

• Global connected television shipments 

are expected to grow to about 200 

million units in 2015, with strongest 

growth in the North American market.—TrendForce 

• U.S. sales of Xbox 360 Kinect sensors 

and PlayStation 3 move motion 

controllers will surpass 4.5 million this 

holiday season.—IDC 

• Worldwide digital set-top box market 

will grow from 205 million in 2010 to 

226 million in 2015.—ABI Research 

eMs, oDM & related assembly 

activity 

Central and Eastern European market 

is approximately US$85B and growing 

rapidly to $100B as contract manufacturers 

and component companies expand their 

presence—Technology Forecasters 

Artaflex was acquired by team of EMS 

industry veterans led by Paul Walker, the 

76 

Holiday wishes for a “normal” 2011 

founder and former CEO of SMTC. 

Asetronics expanded its LED placement 

capacities with a new SMT line with 

SIPLACE D2 and SIPLACE D1 machines. 

Assembly House purchased a BGA install 

and rework (reballing) machine and 

Scienscope 3D x-ray inspection system. 

AU Optronics: 

• setting up a LCD module and system 

assembly plant in Russia with TPV 

Technology. 

• received a LCD-TV assembly order 

from Sony. 

AWS Group added package on package 

(PoP) assembly capabilities. 

Benchmark Electronics: 

• completed a full quality system inspection 

technique audit at its Thailand 

Facility for Class III medical device 

manufacturing capabilities. 

• spent MYR 50 million (EUR 11.5 million) 

to acquire land & equipment in 

Malaysia from Pentamaster. 

Borisch Manufacturing laid off 130 hourly 

European Computer, Electronic & Optical products 

Production 

20101117 


20101111 

800 

600 

400 

200 

Taiwan/China Electronic Equipment Producers 

Composite of 101 Manufacturers 

0 

NT$ (billions) 

2009/2008 up 3% 

1 3 5 7 9111 3 5 7 9111 3 5 7 9111 3 5 7 9111 3 5 7 9111 3 5 7 9111 3 5 7 9111 3 5 7 9111 3 5 7 911 

02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 

CALENDAR YEAR 

Taiwan listed companies, often with significant manufacturing in China 

Index (2005=100), Seasonally Adjusted 

130 

120 

110 

100 

90 

80 

1 4 7101 4 7101 4 7101 4 7101 4 7101 4 7101 4 7101 4 7101 4 7101 4 7101 4 7101 4 7101 4 710 

98 99 00 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 

Eurostat, C26 category, EU 27 countries 

20101111 


CALENDAR YEAR 

US Electronic Equipment Orders & Shipments 

Communications, Computer, Military, Instruments 

34 

32 

30 

28 

26 

24 

22 

20 

18 

16 

14 

$B (Monthly Orders - Seasonally Adjusted) 

1 4 7101 4 7101 4 7101 4 7101 4 7101 4 7101 4 7101 4 7101 4 7101 4 7101 4 7101 4 7101 4 710 

98 99 00 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 

http://www.census.gov/indicator/www/m3/ 

Shipments 

Orders 

CALENDAR YEAR 



20101112 

1.6 

1.4 

1.2 

1 

0.8 

0.6 

0.4 

3/12 Rate of Change 

1 

2 3 

Global Semiconductor Shipments 

3-Month Growth Rates on $ Basis 

1 5 9 1 5 9 1 5 9 1 5 9 1 5 9 1 5 9 1 5 9 1 5 9 1 5 9 1 5 9 1 5 9 1 5 9 1 5 9 1 5 9 1 5 9 1 5 9 1 5 9 1 5 9 1 5 9 1 5 9 1 5 9 1 5 9 1 5 9 1 5 9 1 5 9 1 5 9 1 5 9 

84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 00 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 

Total $ Shipments from All Countries to an Area 

SIA website: www.sia-online.org/ 

4 

and salaried employees in Kentwood, 

Michigan. 

Cencorp appointed Henrikki Pantsar as 

R&D director. 

Compal Electronics is investing US$500 

million to build a laptop facility in 

Chengdu, China in April 2011. 

Computrol purchased an Essemtec Tucano 

in-line screen printer. 

CTS EMS is adding 30,000 SF in 

Ayutthaya, Thailand, to expand its value 

add services, providing complex box build 

and high level mechanical assembly. 

Datest installed new dual-sided SPEA 4060 

flying probe system in Fremont, California. 

Dell will close its 750,000 SF facility in 

Winston-Salem, North Carolina. 

DSM Computer is expanding its 

production capacity in Munich, Germany. 

Elcoteq: 

• appointed Olli-Pekka Vanhanen VP, 

business control and accounting, and 

member of the management team. 

• received assembly, test and supply chain 

5 

6 

7 

8 

9 

10 

11 12 

13 

processes outsourcing contract from 

Sarantel. 

Elite ES is moving its U.S. headquarters to 

50,000 SF building in the Walter Brown 

II industrial park and is investing $2.5 

million in upgrades. 

EN ElectronicNetwork Hersfeld GmbH 

passed ISO/TS 16949 (automotive) 

and DIN EN ISO 13485 (medical) 

recertification audits. 

Enics added 100 temporary workers in 

Estonia. 

Èolane acquired 85% of Assiopôle. 

Express Manufacturing introduced 

package on package assembly packaging 

technology that vertically stacks a discrete 

controller and memory BGA components. 

Flextronics: 

• will hire 12,000+ engineering and 

manufacturing employees for its new 

Flextronics Computing facility in Wuzhong, 

China. 

• Global Services opened a 240,000 SF 

facility in Milan, Italy, and a 20,000 SF 

World Global PMI, Electronic Equipment, PCB & 

Semiconductor Shipments 

Converted @ Constant 2008 Exchange Rates 

3 6 9123 6 9123 6 9123 6 9123 6 9123 6 9123 6 9123 6 9123 6 9123 6 9123 6 9 

00 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 

CALENDAR YEAR 

facility in Delhi, India. 

• Medical opened a dedicated 180,000 

SF facility in Senai, Johor, Malaysia. 

• opened a 1 million SF computing facility 

in Wuzhong, its fourth in China. 

• partnered with ASSET® InterTech 

to accelerate the adoption of the new 

IEEE P1687 Internal JTAG standard. 

Foxconn: 

• spent NT$825 million to acquire 33 

million shares in Chi Lin Technology. 

• postponed building of a new mobile 

phone plant in Vietnam until 2011. 

• will invest US$261 million to set up 

two new subsidiaries and add investment 

in five existing subsidiaries in 

China. 

• will build a $2 billion LCD plant in 

Chengdu, China. 

• had 500 workers in Tamil Nadu arrested 

for attending a strike. 

Gargnäs Production Link changed its 

name to PanLink AB. 

Hanza recruited Thomas Lindström as 

sales & marketing manager. 

26 – Global SMT & Packaging Southeast Asia – Winter 2010 www.globalsmtindia.in 

20101112 


20101112 

Global "Purchasing Managers" Index 

DIFFUSION INDEX 

58 

56 

54 

52 

50 

48 

46 

44 

42 

40 

38 

36 

34 

32 

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 101112 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 101112 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 101112 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 1011 

07 08 09 10 

JPMorgan 

EXPANSION 

CONTRACTION 

60 

50 

40 

30 

20 

10 

0 

1.5 

1.3 

1.1 

0.9 

0.7 

0.5 

3/12 rate of change 

Source: Custer Consulting Group 

20101117 


PCB "0" Growth SIA 

El Equip Global PMI 

Global "Electronic Foodchain" Outlook 

2011 vs 2010 

Combined GDP 

Electronic Equipment 

Rigid & Flex PCBs 

Semiconductors 

Semi Capital Spending 

-2 

Henderson Ventures 

Custer 

Consulting Group 

3 Henderson Ventures 

SIA 

Gartner 

0 2 4 6 8 10 12 

% Change 

6 

6 

7 

10

Hawk Electronics purchased a Speedprint 

Technology SP210avi stencil printer. 

IBM cut 190 jobs from its server 

manufacturing line in Ireland and moved 

operations to China. 

IEC Electronics appointed Jeffrey 

Schlarbaum president and Donald Doody 

as executive VP. 

IMI acquired PSi Technologies. 

Incap closed its Vuokatti, Finland, factory 

and centralized its European electronics 

manufacturing in Estonia. 

Innocore Gaming was acquired by 

Advantech for £3.3m and re-named 

Advantech-Innocore. 

Jabil expanded its workforce in 

Tiszaújváros, Hungary, to 7,500. 

JJS Electronics received AS9100 

certification for its manufacturing sites in 

Lutterworth, UK, and Chomutov, Czech 

Republic. 

Kingfield Electronics celebrated 25 years 

of contract manufacturing services. 

Kitron Microelectronics: 

• Jönköping, Sweden, received orders 

for complex mechatronics products 

containing motion mechanics and 

electronics valued at NOK 20 million 

per year. 

• secured NOK 34 million (EUR 4.2 million) 

manufacturing order from Saab 

Dynamics for complex control systems 

for missile control. 

Melecs hired 200 workers from Lite-On’s 

closed Gyor, Hungary facility. 

NBS installed Juki Automation Systems 

RFID-based intelligent feeder and 

materials management system in Santa 

Clara, California. 

PartnerTech: 

• split operations into two areas of expertise: 

Systems Integration & Enclosures 

and Electronics. 

• appointed Peter Nilsson executive VP 

of operations for electronics and Dan 

Turecek exectutive VP of operations 

for systems integration and enclosures. 

Plexus 

• named Steve Frisch its EMEA regional 

president. 

• will begin construction on 160,000- 

215,000 SF manufacturing facility in 

Oradea, Romania, in 2011. 

Probe Manufacturing secured $475,000 

medical device manufacturing contract. 

Rimaster AB opened a customer service 

office in Belgium to serve Germany, France 

and the Benelux markets. 

Robat UK appointed Sean Eley sales 

director. 

Saline Lectronics purchased a FX-3 XL 

chip shooter from Juki. 

Sanmina-SCI division Viking Modular 

Solutions’ Foothill Ranch, California, 


facility earned AS9100 Aerospace 

certification. 

Scanfil EMS Group merged with Ojala- 

Yhtyma. 

Selteka invested in Momentum paste 

printer from MPM Speedline. 

Seprolec: 

• moved into the business park ‘Les 

Neuvillières’ in Vire, France. 

• purchased new Viscom AOI inspection 

S3088-II. 

Shinsei Denshi established a PCBA factory 

in Cikarang, West Java. 

SMS (Woburn, MA) ended operations. 

SMT-ASSY Electronique added a desktop 

AOI system from MIRTEC. 

SMTC 

• achieved ISO 13485 certification at its 

San Jose, Toronto and Mexico facilities. 

• added 5DX x-ray, AOI and flexible 

SMD placement equipment in San 

Jose, California. 

Spinner GmbH reorganized and changed 

its name to WiRan Sp. z o. o. and became 

independent. 

Stellar Manufacturing relocated from 

North Andover, Massachusetts, to 

Haverhill, Massachusetts. 

Syrma Technology added 20,000 SF and 

200 jobs in Tamil Nadu, India. 

Uni-source Assembly is building a $1.2 

million plant in Amery, Wisconsin. 

Victron added full suite of services from 

PCBA to system assembly and order 

fulfillment logistics in Rosarito, Mexico. 

Wistron will hire 1,000 workers for 

newly expanded Brno, Czech Republic, 

operations. 

YAMAHA installed an entire SMT 

assembling line from screen printing to 

final inspection at its Hamamatsu plant. 

ZyXEL Communications will spin off its 

ODM business unit as an independent 

company, Mitrastar Technology on January 

1, 2011. 

Materials & process equipment 

Total “cumulative” installations of direct 

imaging (maskless) systems may top 800- 

850 units by year end 2010.—Dr. Hayao 

Nakahara 

Global market for SMT equipment will 

exceed US$5.5 billion by 2015.—Global 

Industry Analysts 

Adeka began mass production of its 

cerium-free etchants. 

APS Novastar introduced SMTrue smart 

feeders for its vision-based automated pick 

& place machines. 

Arlon introduced MultiClad HF halogenfree, 

low-loss multilayerable thermoset 

laminate and prepreg for microwave and 


high-frequency PCBs. 

Corning received a FlexTech Alliance grant 

to develop commercially viable methods 

for continuous production of printed 

electronics on flexible glass substrates. 

DEK and Irisys developed a robust, 

fine-pitch, isotropic conductive adhesive 

interconnection process. 

Dow Chemical chairman and CEO 

Andrew Liveris was named president 

of International Council of Chemical 

Associations. 

Dow Electronic Materials is building a 

new manufacturing site in Zhangjiagang, 

China to expand capacity for its PCB, 

electronic and industrial finishing, and 

photovoltaic markets. 

Endicott Interconnect Technologies 

introduced new LCP laminates. 

Furukawa Electric developed solderable 

aluminum wire. 

GE Healthcare acquired Orbotech’s 

medical solutions business. 

Hary Manufacturing acquired AMI 

Precision’s screen printers and automatic 

printing systems assets. 

Henkel is expanding adhesive production 

in Central and Eastern Europe and 

investing EUR 14.7 million in a new 

production facility in Tatabánya, Hungary. 

Hover-Davis appointed Lance Dumigan 

business development manager. 

Indium named Karthik Vijayamadhavan 

technical manager in Europe and Todd 

Ellenor metallurgical process engineering 

manager. 

IPTE began shipping MaxPan4 PCB 

panelization machines. 

Isola Group celebrated its 50th IPC 

membership anniversary. 

Iteq plans will build new production base 

in Xiantao City in Hubei, China. 

MacDermid implemented a metal 

surcharge on selected products in the 

Greater China Region. 

Maskless Lithography named Hakuto its 

exclusive Asian distributor. 

Milara named Technica, U.S.A., its 

representative for the West Coast and 

Colorado. 

MIRTEC appointed Techmet as its 

exclusive distributor for South Africa. 

MPK Kemmer PCB Tools named Global 

Technology its exclusive representative in 

Italy. 

Nihon Superior merged its existing 

technology center with its newly opened 

R&D center in Osaka, Japan. 

Nordson: 

• acquired Micromedics. 

• promoted Greg Wood to VP of its 

continued on page 44 


Addressing What’s the future package of the advancement Indian electronics challenges manufacturing with innovative industry? contactor probe technology 

What’s the future of 

the Indian electronics 

manufacturing industry? 

Pradeep Chakraborty & Usha Prasad 

Rapid growth and usage of electronic 

applications is ripening the need for 

wide-scale electronics manufacturing. 

This, in turn, will develop the need and 

demand for electronics and semiconductor 

manufacturing in India in the long run. 

As per the ISA-Frost & Sullivan India 

Semiconductor Market Report 2009-11 

update, the India semiconductor market 

grew 15.6 percent in 2009. Telecom 

infrastructure development related 

domestic semiconductor consumption is 

likely to grow by a massive 132.5 percent 

from 2009 to 2011. 

The report states that wireless handsets, 

3G networks, WiMax, notebooks, set-topboxes 

(STBs) and smart cards will primarily 

drive the semiconductor market in India. 

So far so good! 

Now is the time to gaze into the crystal 

ball, so to speak, and try and judge what 

the coming future will look like for the 

Indian electronics manufacturing industry. 

“The real need at the moment 

is to boost the industry by 

incentivizing and developing the 

right policy framework.”—Vivek 

Sharma, STMicroelectronics 

lot more needs to be done! 

A lot more needs to be done to really 

and significantly boost electronics 

manufacturing in India. For instance, 

products have to be designed and produced 

in India, ‘right’ policies must be created, 

export-import procedures need to be eased, 

and so on. 

Vivek Sharma, regional VP, Greater 

China & South Asia region, India 

Operations and director, India Design 

Centre, STMicroelectronics, says, “The 

real need at the moment is to boost the 

industry by incentivizing and developing 

the right policy framework, and by 

promoting products that are specifically 

designed for India.” 

Industry leaders also feel there is a 

need to create right policies and ease the 

“The growth drivers for 

electronics manufacturing in 

India are wireless handsets, 

communications, IT and office 

automation, which together will 

account for almost three-fourths 

of both the semiconductor 

TAM and TM by 2011.”— 

Poornima Shenoy, ISA 

import and export procedures to provide 

the required impetus for electronics 

manufacturing. 

Adds Neeraj Paliwal, managing 

director, NXP Semiconductors: “It still 

takes weeks to get consignments out of the 

clutches of customs, and this is the biggest 

bottleneck. The customs department 

needs to be transparent and modernize 

their systems. To compete with world class 

manufacturing, infrastructure facilities 

like power, roads and ports should be 

upgraded. These issues should be tackled 

on war footing.” 

The cost for electronics manufacturing 

is still quite high as compared to 

China, feels Paliwal. “The technology 

in itself is not as advanced. Electronics 

manufacturing has reached a high level 

of automation, which makes it feasible to 

reduce cost. This is also the reason why 

it may not be economically advantageous 

to have this in India as the process is 

“If we focus on enabling 

the top two applications in 

local manufacturing then we 

can boost local electronics 

manufacturing in a big way.”— 

Sanjeev Keskar, Sierra India 


not labor-intensive. However, low end 

PCB manufacturing and assembly is still 

possible to be done in India.” 

He calls for extending additional 

support to locally manufactured products— 

in terms of tax concessions, faster logistics 

and import of components. 

Key issues that need to be 

addressed 

As per the ISA-Frost & Sullivan update, 

the manufacturing index of three major 

market segments was less than 50 percent 

in 2009. While IT and Office Automation 

is at 32 percent, telecom at 28 percent and 

consumer electronics at 41 percent. These 

three segments contribute to $3.3bn out of 

$5.4bn of the total market (TM) in 2009, 

which is more than 60 percent of the TM. 

“If we focus on enabling the top 

two applications in local manufacturing 

from the above mentioned three market 

segments,” says Sanjeev Keskar, managing 

director, sales, PMC, Sierra India, “then we 

can boost local electronics manufacturing 

in a big way.” 

Poornima Shenoy, ISA president, 

cites establishing a National Electronics 

Mission, promoting existing clusters 

and creating new ones, encouraging 

products specifically designed for India, 

creation of an R&D fund, creation of 

a manufacturing value addition fund, 

rationalization of tax structure and 

promoting skill development as some of 

the key issues that need be looked into 

to boost the electronic manufacturing 

industry in India. 

Shenoy highlights the current growth 

drivers for Indian electronics ecosystem as 

following: 

• Growth in per capita income and 

corporate spend on electronics. 

• Government focus on 

infrastructure. 

• Increasing spend on IT equipment. 

• Need for innovative products at 

low cost. 

• Intellectual property (IP) in India. 

Developing next generation Ip 

When we talk of IP, we should understand 

that the only community that can perhaps 

develop IP for the next generation is the 

academia and institutes. This was stressed 

by Dr Rajat Gupta, managing director, 

Beceem Communications Pvt. Ltd., 

during CDNLive India 2010 University 

Conference in Bangalore. 

India is known to be an attractive 

market. Its 50 million+ middle class 

can well become the preferred target 


India’s 50 million+ 

middle class can well 

become the preferred target 

for all product companies 

in the world. 

for all product companies in the world. 

In this context, what can the academic 

community do to stimulate product 

development in India? How can they 

engage in early technology development? 

Gupta highlighted the need for 

understanding the multiple layers involved 

in IP creation. For instance, he said that, 

in foundation IP, standard cell library and 

I/O library are at the core. “Once you start 

building, people will realize that there are 

lots of interesting things to learn.” 

esDM in India 

Now, there has been a lot of talk 

about electronics system design and 

manufacturing (ESDM) in India over the 

past one year. Instead of being “easier 

to say, but difficult to manage,” the 

ESDM initiative should boldly reflect the 

message—“Electrifying start to dreams 

of many (in India)” with suitable action! 

ESDM’s real test has just begun! A clear 

roadmap needs to be in place to achieve 

sustainable growth ahead. 

Paliwal says: “Competencies and 

expertise are still bifurcated into hardware 

(board), VLSI (IC) and software. System 

design expertise is still extremely rare. 

There is a need to focus on system 

architecture and design competencies in 

academic institutes, and Special Manpower 

Development Programme (SMDP) is the 

need of the hour. The design ecosystem 

is well maturing, while a lot needs to be 

done on the manufacturing ecosystem 

perspective.” 

According to Ernst and Young Strategy 

Report on India “Electronics Systems, 

Design and Manufacturing Ecosystem,” 

currently the demand in the Indian market 

stands at $45 billion and is projected to 

grow to $125 billion by 2014 and $400 

billion by 2020. The report states that 

India currently employs 4.4 million people 

in the electronics industry, which will grow 

to 16.1 million in 2014 and 27.8 million 

in 2020. 

Adds Keskar, “We are already 

doing well, and we are the leader in 

semiconductor VLSI design/embedded 

software and hardware development. The 

What’s the future of the Indian electronics manufacturing industry? 

area for improvement in manufacturing, as 

mentioned above, is that we need to have 

focus initiatives to attract/enable local 

manufacturing of high volume and high 

growth products in India.” 

likely hot areas in Indian 

electronics sector 

Mobile devices, STBs, personalized 

healthcare devices such as glucose meters, 

BP monitors, digital thermometers, and 

audio/video devices like MP3 players, 

identification (RFID smart cards) and 

automobile immobilizer applications are 

some hot areas that will grow significantly 

in the coming year. 

“Consumer products and mobile 

phones—owing to their major consumption 

demand, and industrial products, due to 

scope of local value addition, also add to 

the list,” says Paliwal. 

As per ST’s Sharma, the hot areas for 

electronics sector in 2011 include: 

• Communication infrastructure and 

wireless handsets. 

• Computers—desktops, notebooks, 

servers, memory, printers, etc. 

• Consumer electronics—STBs, 

LCD/LED TVs etc. 

• Industrial applications—energy 

metering, power inverters etc. 

• Lighting. 

Top five trends for 2011 

As per NXP’s Paliwal, the top five trends 

will be: 

• More system level design and 

development from IP/block level 

design and development. 

• More designs for local/emerging 

applications rather than for US/ 

Europe. 

• More designs/products towards 

green energy (solar, wind etc.). 

• Big players like Philips/Siemens/ 

GE conceiving and developing 

low cost individual products in 

emerging countries—a move from 

big hospital equipment—leading to 

use of more ICs. 

• Mobile and portable devices 

pushing up usage of ICs in audio, 

video and sensor application 

domains. 

According to Sharma, the top trends in 

2011 will focus on: 

• Growing local markets and rising 

consumption levels. 

• Emerging entrepreneurship activity 

and innovation. 

• ESDM. 


What’s the future of the Indian electronics manufacturing industry? 

• Leapfrogging technologies. 

• Products “Made in India” for 

India. 

According to Keskar, the hot areas and top 

trends in the Indian electronics scenario is 

based on each one of the market segments. 

IT and office automation: Netbooks or 

smart books for Internet access. 

Telecom: This is the fastest growing 

segment with 3G and BWA infrastructure 

deployment. Also, the government’s 

initiative toward broadband penetration 

will drive growth in new applications like 

GPON. 

• Mobile phone: With 3G, demand 

for smartphones will be very high. 

• Consumer: LCD/LED TV will 

be driving growth of consumer 

segment. 

• Automotive: Products/applications 

development for hybrid vehicle 

or electric vehicle will be a large 

opportunity. 

• Industrial: Alternate energy, solar 

and LED lighting will be growth 

drivers. 

outlook for Indian semiconductor/ 

electronics industry for 2011 

The global semiconductor industry has 

recovered after declining by around 9 

percent in 2009 from 2008 levels and is 

growing in 2010. As per industry estimates, 

it can reach close to a level of the $300 

billion mark in 2010. This would result in 

over 25 percent growth in 2010 from a year 

before—surely, a very robust bounce back. 

According to ST’s Sharma, the Indian 

semiconductor industry showed much 

more resilience. In 2009, it grew by around 

15 percent as per ISA-F&S Sullivan report 

and is forecasted to grow by 20 percent in 

2010. The resilience issupported by the 

fact that there is still a large discrepancy in 

local consumption levels as compared to 

world consumption levels. 

For example, electronics consumption 

levels in India are still in the range of 

around 3 percent of world’s consumption, 

whereas it has over 16 percent world’s 

population living here, which ensures that 

the local growth levels remain higher than 

world growth levels. 

“This demand is fuelled by fast 

growing applications in various domains 

such as wireless handsets, consumer goods 

including LCD/LED TVs, STBs, industrial 

applications such as energy efficient 

lighting, automotive, computers and 

peripherals, etc. Also, fast emerging new 

economies and rapidly rising consumption 

levels in countries such as China and 

Electronics consumption 

levels in India are still 

in the range of around 

3 percent of world’s 

consumption, whereas 

it has over 16 percent 

world’s population. 

India have helped in the recovery of this 

segment from the downturn of last year,” 

says Sharma. 

However, Paliwal at NXP says that 

“the focus will be on more design and 

development of IC and embedded 

systems from specs to prototypes. We 

cannot anticipate much change in the 

manufacturing issues and also no major IC 

or solar fab will come up in near future. 

“Semiconductor manufacturing is still 

quite some years away. This is mainly due 

to the fact that infrastructure is not to a 

level that is required for semiconductor 

industry. We lack readily available skilled 

labor in this area. Competency in the TPE 

and failure analysis area is not that strong, 

which is required for any semiconductor 

manufacturing unit. In addition, the 

investment required is very high and 

it is difficult to compete with sites like 

Singapore and Taiwan.” 

ISA’s Shenoy notes that “the growth 

drivers for electronics manufacturing 

in India are wireless handsets, 

communications, IT and office 

automation, which together will account 

for almost three-fourths of both the 

semiconductor TAM and TM by 2011.” 

According to the ISA, the 

semiconductor products that are likely to 

drive revenues are: 

• Memory driven by intelligent 

consumer electronic appliances— 

the need for higher memory 

capacities in telecom infrastructure 

equipment and the usage of higher 

capacity add-on cards in imaging 

products; 

• ASSP (application specific standard 

products) driven by SoC (systemon-chip) 

solutions for handsets 

rapidly growing markets of LCD 

TVs and LCD monitors; and 

• Microprocessors driven by wireless 

handsets and telecom equipment. 

I was looking at a mailer from one of 

the industry consluting groups about an 

upcoming event. Some of the trends to be 

discussed include: 

• Netbooks will sell roughly 35 

million units in 2010. How close to 

zero will tablet computers reduce 

this in 2011? What will happen in 

2012? 

• What effect will new processors 

from Intel and AMD have on the 

PC market? 

• Is FTTC just one more attempt to 

strangle user demands for decent 

bandwidth? How long can the 

Internet backbone take the growth 

in traffic? 

• Where is the server and cloud 

computing going? Welcome to the 

400-pound gorilla that doesn’t care 

what Microsoft or Intel think! 

• With the success of LED backlit 

TVs, are OLED TVs a dying breed? 

How many of these products will be 

actually manufactured in India? Will we 

see Indian giants along the lines of Huawei 

or ZTE? Will some high-end research 

activities get triggered off in India in 2011? 

We will be closely monitoring the 

trends and segments as the New Year 

unfolds. Looks like it will be an interesting 

2011! Happy new year, everyone! 

Pradeep Chakraborty is publisher and 

author of Pradeep Chakraborty’s Blog, and 

Usha Prasad is co-author and associate, Pradeep 

Chakraborty’s Blog. 


Award Winning Products and Service 

2009 Rep & Distributor Review Title 

Award Winning Products and Service 

Our Industry Awards Demonstrate Our Commitment to Excellence and to 

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EXPECT MORE... 

MV-3 Desktop AOI Series MV-7 Inline AOI Series 

India contact: 

Accurex Solutions Pvt. Ltd. 

2nd Floor, Narayan Mansion, 

#3/1, Diwan Madhava Rao Road 

Basvanagudi, Bangalore 560040 

3 MORSE ROAD • OXFORD, CT 06478 

PHONE: (+1) 203-881-5559 • FAX: (+1) 203-881-3322 

www.mirtecusa.com 

Headquarters 

MIRTEC 

Suite 801-3 103 Dong 

SK Ventium 522 

Dangjung Dong 

Karnataka 

Gunpo, South Korea 

Phone: +91 80 41203784/ 26620514 

Fax: +91 80 41203785 

www.mirtec.com 

Email: info@accurexsolutions.com 

Website: www.globalsmtindia.in 

http://www.accurexsolutions.com 

Global SMT & Packaging Southeast Asia – Spring Winter 2010 – 31 37

Addressing Interview package advancement challenges with innovative contactor probe technology 

Interview—N Chandramohan, 

Juki India Pvt. Ltd 

Juki, the surface mount technology (SMT) giant from Japan, is a name to reckon with when it comes to global 

installations of pick and place machines. With more than 180 machines installed in India and 20,000+ 

installations worldwide, Juki is a clear leader. Debasish Choudhury spoke with N Chandramohan, country 

head (SMT Division), Juki India Pvt. Ltd. 

In 2006, Juki started its direct operations 

in the SMT business in India. How has 

your journey been so far? 

The last four years have seen the 

consolidation of our business through 

effective after-sales service and application 

support. We have been building our image 

as one of the major players in India. 

To this effort, we now stock spare parts 

in India worth Rs. 4 million. This enables 

us to give quick responses to customers as 

and when they require. 

Our engineers are sent to Japan 

periodically to upgrade their knowledge 

and improve their service ability and 

quality. It enables us to offer high quality 

service to manufacturers. 

Can you give us an overview of the products 

offered by Juki India? What is the 

installed base of Juki machines in India 

to date? 

We have various models of machines, 

starting from an entry level JX 100 to a 

high-speed chip shooter capable of 74,000 

CPH and the latest models of KE 1080 

AND KE 2080 Flexi mounters. 

As of today, we have an installed base 

of about 180 machines in the market. In 

the last four years, we have added about 

125 new machines to various segments of 

the industry. 

Juki competes very successfully in the 

high-volume and mid-volume market. 

What do you offer customers at entry 

level? 

As I have mentioned earlier, our JX 100 

has caught the imagination of the Indian 

customers, and it is priced very effectively. 

The JX 100 is also sought after in the 

manufacturing of LED, CFL, battery 

chargers and small EMS. This model helps 


us introduce our brand to these customers 

and give them access to the JUKI quality 

and service experience. 

At the productronica India 2010 show 

in Bangalore, JUKI India launched 

the latest award-winning FX-3 pick and 

place machine. What kind of customer 

response you have received so far? 

The response from the show has been 

overwhelming. The FX 3 and our FX2 

attracted a lot of attention. The new FX-3 

modular design places up to 60,000 CPH 

(IPC spec), featuring multi-nozzle laser 

heads for components ranging from 01005 

to 33 mm sq. We have many enquiries for 

these now. Most of the customers of FX3 

are large volume customers where they are 

looking for a high-speed chip shooter that 

also offers flexibility. 

The LED sector has emerged as a potential 

high growth area in the electronics 

industry. Do you have any solutions for 

this segment? 

For LED, we can offer JX 100 at entry 

level and also we can offer FX 3XL for 

high-speed mounting. Recently, 20 FX 3XL 

machines were sold to a single customer in 

Germany who is a large manufacturer in 


the LED business. 

Selective soldering has grown substantially 

in recent years as manufacturers find 

it much more versatile for the high-mix 

environment. What does JUKI offer in 

this area? 

Unfortunately, Juki India does not 

currently offer this product range in India. 

These are available only in Europe and 

USA. 

What technology trends in the placement 

process are you seeing today? 

In the past, speed and CPH were 

important to customers. Now customers 

are looking at yield and accuracy with a 

focus on zero defect and first-time yield. 

We have introduced new software to tackle 

small chips for high accuracy placement. 

It’s called OPASS—Offset Placement After 

Solder Screen Printing. This helps ensure 

accurate placement even if the solder 

printing is misaligned. 

What are the strengths of Juki vis-a-vis its 

competitors in the Indian market? 

Each of the competitors has their own 

strengths. JUKI’s concept of modularity, 

ease of use and its lowest cost of ownership 

• Solder Wires • Solder Sticks 

• Fluxes • Solvents 

Ultra Pure Tin Solder Bar 

• Solder Wire 

RMA Resin Flux Core Solder Wire 

RA Resin Flux Core Solder Wire 

Water Soluble Flux Core Solder Wire 

No Clean Flux Core Solder Wire 

• Lead Free Solders for Health & 

Safety 

Interview 

have made us one of the largest players in 

the world market. 

How do you rate India’s SMT market 

compared to other emerging markets in 

the SE Asia? 

Indian market has shown the potential, 

but is yet to deliver the volumes. There is 

hope that in the next couple of years it will 

grow faster than what is expected. 

• Rosin Fluxes 

Flux Type R 

Flux Type RA 

Flux Type RMA 

• Flux Pastes 

General Purpose Flux Paste 

Electronic Grade Flux Paste 

No Clean Flux Paste 

—Debasish Choudhury 

PREMIER INDUSTRIES 

78, Phase-II, BADLI INDUSTRIAL ESTATE, Delhi-110042 (India) 

Tel: +91-11-27855016, 27854247, Fax: +91-11-27854247 

email: ansol@vsnl.com, Vinod Aneja: +91 9811016242 


Lighting the way: LEDs in SMT production 

Lighting the way: LEDs in 

SMT production 

Zachery Shook, Count On Tools, Inc., Gainesville, GA, USA 

With demand growing for 

LEDs in consumer and 

commercial electronics, 

companies in the surface 

mount technology (SMT) 

industry are expanding their 

manufacturing capabilities 

to meet it. The range of new 

and potential applications 

for LEDs in electronics is 

practically endless. In order 

for electronics manufacturers 

to get these LEDs into their 

products, they must use one of 

two methods: hand assembly 

or automated assembly. This 

article discusses the challenges 

that EMS companies 

face when trying to place 

LED components in SMT 

production. 

Keywords: LEDs, Pick and 

Place, Automating Assembly, 

Component Handling, Scaling 

Production 

Recent growth in LED technology and 

solid state lighting has provided the 

electronics manufacturing industry with 

viable solutions for its addition into today’s 

electronic devices. LEDs have become an 

alternative light source to conventional 

incandescent and fluorescent bulbs. The 

electronics manufacturing industry sees the 

greatest benefits from the small size and 

lower power consumption of today’s LEDs. 

There also is the recent trend to “go 

green” and use “green technology” in 

consumer and commercial electronics. 

LED components offer high brightness 

and power efficiency for electronics 

manufacturers. LEDs also offer lower 

carbon emissions than traditional 

technologies such as incandescent and 

halogen lighting. This aspect has made 

LED lighting popular with government 

organizations, which are now installing 

LED lighting in public places and 

government offices worldwide. 

When used for illumination 

purposes, LEDs are more cost-effective 

than traditional lighting sources. Thus, 

the global LED component market is 

witnessing an increasing demand. As a 

result, companies in the surface mount 

technology (SMT) industry are expanding 

their manufacturing capabilities to meet 

this demand. High brightness LED 


components currently are experiencing 

high growth as the backlighting application 

in TVs is shifting from traditional CCFL 

technology to LED technology. The range 

of new and potential applications for LEDs 

in electronics is practically endless. 

In order for electronics manufacturers 

to get these LEDs into their products, 

they must use one of two methods: hand 

assembly or automated assembly. Hand 

assembly is where skilled technicians 

carefully place individual LED components 

onto circuit boards using specialized 

tooling. This is a long, tedious process 

that can slow the production rates of 

electronic devices and tie up major labor 

resources. On the other hand, automated 

assembly uses the company’s existing SMT 

equipment to quickly and efficiently place 

thousands of LED components every 

hour. Most SMT equipment is capable of 

placing multiple components on a circuit 

board at one time, increasing the overall 

production rates while decreasing labor 

costs. Obviously, the goal of a high-volume 

electronics manufacturing company would 

be to transition assembly into automated 

production. 

No SMT equipment can place 

components accurately or run efficiently 

without quality nozzles and feeders. These 

two factors are the core of the pick-andplace 

process. If the machine is either 

unable to pick parts consistently or hold 

on to the components during the transport 

from feeder to PCB, defects will result. 

An increase in defects means a decrease 

in production, costing the company more 

money over a short period of time. Proper 

feeder and nozzle selection is critical, 

especially with the current market growth 

and technological advancements in SMT 

equipment. 

At first sight, the principle of using 

vacuum pressure and precision nozzles to 

enable component placement are basic 

and straightforward. It is a process that is 

repeated in every type of SMT equipment. 

There are five distinct stages of the pickand-place 

process: 

1. Picking—components are withdrawn 

from a feeder or tray by a vacuum 

nozzle. 

2. Holding—components are steadied for 

rapid movement while the machine 

detects proper alignment. 

3. Transport—components are transferred 

from the picking location to the PCB 

for assembly. 

4. Placement—components are lowered 

to their specific location on the circuit 

board. 


5. Release—components are released by 

the nozzle, which returns to the picking 

area to restart the process. 

Nozzles are the first and last thing to 

touch all components placed, and they 

move tens of thousands of these parts 

every hour. With components sizes 

reaching microscopic proportions, nozzle 

manufacturers must strive to maintain 

precision tolerances and exact dimensions 

in their designs. These nozzles are required 

to hold the part during transport to the 

board while the machine is moving and/ 

or rotating at high speeds. Electronics 

manufacturing service (EMS) providers 

must use this technology to get LED 

components into their customer’s 

products. 

Debron Industrial Electronics, 

Inc., is an EMS provider specializing in 

high-technology electronic assemblies, 

printed circuit board assemblies, 

electronic wiring, cable assemblies and 

box build. The company caters to several 

customers specializing in cutting-edge 

LED technologies, who rely on Debron’s 

expertise to develop, document, implement 

and sustain their manufacturing processes. 

When one of the company’s customers 

needed a product that required the 

placement of LED components in its 

design, Debron decided to move forward 

with the automated assembly process. 

Since making the transition, Debron 

has helped several of its customers to fully 

automate the production of products 

that previously had been assembled by 

hand. The company was able to do this 

by creating custom pick-and-place trays 

for LEDs that were available only in bulk 

for hand assembly. Debron also has been 

working with tooling companies such 

as Count On Tools to develop custom 

pick-and-place nozzles that enable LEDs 

to be picked, vision centered and placed 

with high-speed, automated SMT assembly 

equipment. Streamlining the automated 

placement process has allowed Debron 

to free needed manpower to use in other 

areas of the assembly process. 

As with any new project, there are 

some challenges associated with the 

placement of LED components in the 

SMT production environment. It is the 

goal of the EMS provider to overcome 

each of these obstacles to cut production 

costs and provide quality product to its 

customers and their end users. Some of the 

major challenges that EMS companies face 

when trying to place LED components in 

SMT production include: 


Figure 2. LED nozzle. 

Figure 3. LED nozzle. 

1. Component handling in the feeder. 

During the picking process, LED 

components are withdrawn from 

the feeder by a vacuum nozzle. SMT 

technicians must ensure that the LED 

components are correctly positioned 

in the feeder pocket to guarantee 

that pick-up is achieved and that the 

LED is properly handled during the 

transport stages. Slop in the pocket 

may require nozzle centering during 

the picking process while excessively 

fast advancements of the feeder may 

skew the part in the pocket, preventing 

component pick-up. 

2. Component handling on the nozzle 

and proper nozzle selection. Some 

LED technologies, such as CREE® 

LED components, require special 

handling operations to prevent 

damage to the optical lens. They must 

avoid placing mechanical stress on 

the LED lens by not touching the 

optical surface during the component 

picking or placement processes. This 

eliminates the possibility of degraded 

performance from the LED after the 

circuit board is assembled. Proper 

nozzle selection also is important for 

the transport and placement processes. 

Not only does the SMT nozzle have to 

pick the component, it also must move 



Figure 4. CREE LED component. 

it to the board and accurately place it. 

Most LED suppliers work directly with 

nozzle and tooling manufacturers, like 

Count On Tools, to develop nozzle 

designs that meet their individual 

process requirements. 

3. LED sensitivity. The fragile optical 

surface is not the only issue with the 

use of LEDs in SMT production. Early 

LED designs were very temperaturesensitive, 

forcing assembly using 

unconventional methods, such as hand 

assembly. LEDs often were bonded 

to heat dissipative substrates using 

conductive epoxies or low-temperature 

solders. This required special assembly 

processes that lengthened the 

manufacturing process, increasing 

product build costs. 

4. Scaling up to high-volume 

production. As LEDs become more 

robust, assembly via means of more 

conventional assembly processes, such 

as automated SMT equipment, allows 

EMS companies like Debron to focus 

on other challenges, such as repeatable 

part picking and vision centering, 

as well as effectively increasing 

throughput and minimizing defects. 

Repeatable performance is the major 

challenge with scaling up to highvolume 

production. EMS providers 

must strive to maintain a high level of 

performance to keep their production 

on track to meet customer demands. 

This requires fine tuning the assembly 

process. 

As with any problems in a production 

environment, there is always a solution. 

By capitalizing on its current knowledge 

of SMT production and partnerships 

with quality suppliers, Debron was able 

to overcome most of the challenges 

associated with this process. Debron 

developed custom trays for the LED 

components to allow for more accurate 

picking and transport processes while 

eliminating issues with component 

handling in the feeder. It also worked 

with its equipment manufacturers and 

custom tooling manufacturers such as 

Count On Tools, Inc. to develop custom 

SMT pick-and-place nozzles that increase 

LED/nozzle compatibility, allowing for 

greater placement accuracy and increased 

throughput. 

Due to the partnership with Count On 

Tools, Inc., Debron was able to fine tune 

its automated assembly process and scale 

up to high-volume production of LEDs. 

Using the custom nozzle that it purchased 

from Count On Tools, Inc., Debron was 

able to reduce LED fallout to 2.3 percent. 

Defect rates dropped significantly and first 

pass yields increased steadily up to 99.4 

percent. 

The latest LED technology opens 

up wide areas for new applications, 

new technical possibilities and reduced 

costs in both the SMT and electronics 

manufacturing industries. Today, many 

companies are crossing traditional 

business boundaries and streaming into 

the LED lighting market. This, in turn, 

has created a large demand for LED use 

in general markets and not the traditional 

niche applications. By partnering with 

component manufacturers and nozzle/ 

tooling suppliers, EMS companies like 

Debron can guarantee success by lighting 

the way for customers seeking LEDs in 

their SMT production. 



Medical electronics—manufacturing potential, challenges & roadmap 


Show electronica Report India & productronica India 2010: Undoubtedly the numero uno business platform in South East Asia 

electronica India & productronica India 

2010: Undoubtedly the numero uno 

business platform in South East Asia 

electronica India and productronica 

India, held from September 7-10, 2010 

at the Bangalore International Exhibition 

Center (BIEC), witnessed an overwhelming 

response from the Indian and international 

electronic industry. Once again, the fairs 

stamped their authority by being the largest 

trade fairs for electronic components, 

assemblies, materials and production 

equipment in the South East Asia. 

This year, the show attracted 331 

direct exhibitors and, with represented 

companies, totalled 869 exhibitors, which 

showed an increase of 21% participants. 

The total exhibit space covered an area of 

13,000 sqm., with dedicated display space 

for production technologies and electronic 

components in two separate halls in BIEC, 

a significant 30% increase in exhibition 

space over the previous year. The exhibitors 

were mostly satisfied with the quality as 

well as the quantity of visitors. According 

to the organiser, MMI India, the show 

attracted over 12,245 visitors, which means 

an increase of 18% visitor turnout. 

“Bangalore should become the 

electronics hardware capital of India,” said 

Ananth Kumar, Member of Parliament 

and former Union Minister for Urban 

Development, Government of India, 

while speaking at the show’s opening press 

conference. “Bangalore should not only be 

known as the software capital 

and Silicon Valley of India. 

India also needs hardware parks, besides 

software parks.” India needs hardware 

parks that should be more like multiplexes. 

India and specifically, Karnataka, has a 

major role to play in developing a strong 

electronics hardware industry and become 

a key global player. Ananth Kumar cited 

some figures, mentioning that hardware 

production and exports mainly emanated 

from three areas: Bangalore, Delhi and 

Mumbai. Of the $40 billion worth of 

exports of hardware from India, $10 billion 

came from Karnataka, while Mumbai 

and Delhi accounted for $15 billion each. 

Besides inaugurating the show, Ananth 

Kumar also made a tour and expressed his 

satisfaction at the participation of large 

number of international exhibitors in 

electronica India and productronica India 

2010 show. 

This year’s exhibitors came from over 

25 countries, with a strong presence from 

Japan, Switzerland, USA, Italy, Spain, 

Korea, Malaysia and Hong Kong. Germany, 

UK, China, Singapore and Taiwan were 

represented with their own Country 

Pavilions at the show. The Indian Printed 

Circuits Association (IPCA), a strategic 

partner of MMI India, increased its 

exhibition space by 55% at this year’s show. 

The exhibition also witnessed high 

participation from key international 

companies. Among others, Agilent 

Technologies, American Tec, ASYS Group, 

Bergen Associates, Bergen Systems, EMST 

Marketing, EPCOS, iNetest Technologies, 

Infineon technologies, Juki India, 

Leaptech, MAXIM SMT Technologies, 

NMTronics, NXP Semiconductors, RS 

Components, TATA Power, TYCO 

Electronics and SONY displayed their stateof-the-art 

technology 

and products. 

The show 

featured a special 

focus area on LED and solar technologies. 

There were also two high profile 

international conferences conducted 

at electronica India and productronica 

India. The “Conference on Contract 

Manufacturing: The Indian Perspective” 

held on 7th September 2010 saw delegates 

from companies like National Instruments, 

Indium Corporation, Atotech, Firan 

Technology and HCL Technologies, to 

name a few. They discussed various topics 

on trends, new technologies, opportunities 

and requirements of the Indian EMS/ 

contract manufacturing industry. 

The second conference on 8th 

September 2010, the “Symposium on 

the Trends and Future Requirements in 

Automotive Electronics,” had delegates 

from Freescale, Infineon, TYCO, First 

Sensor, Mahindra Satyam, Robert Bosch, 

AUTOSAR, NXP, Atrisys and TATA 

Motors speak at the conference. Over 145 

delegates attended both conferences. 

Already 42% of the exhibitors have 

rebooked themselves for electronica India 

and productronica India 2011, a great 

success on which Norbert H. Bargmann, 

Deputy CEO of Messe München 

International commented: “Having seen 

the response to this year’s edition of 

the exhibition, India is emerging as an 

important port of call for companies from 

around the world. This country has one 

of the fastest growing economies of the 

world and has made its presence felt in the 

international trade fairs and exhibition 

industry.” 

“With the high growth that the 

electronics sector has witnessed, as well 

as the huge opportunity over the past 

few years, platforms such as electronica 

India and productronica India 

will play a vital role in the future 

of this industry,” said Mr Darryl 

Dasilva, CEO Messe München 

International India. “It is an 

absolute pleasure to be able to 

organise one of the biggest events 

in this sector, and I look forward 

to many more successful years in 

the future with the support of our 

participants.” 

The next electronica India and 

productronica India will take place in 

New Delhi from September 13-16, 2011 at 

Pragati Maidan, New Delhi. 


Show Report 

Held from 13-15 September at the all new 

venue of Sands Expo and Convention 

Centre in Singapore, the 10th edition of 

GlobalTRONICS 2010 saw 30% more 

new products on showcase from 50% of 

the exhibiting companies. Long recognised 

as the show not to be missed by the 

industry professionals in Southeast Asia, 

GlobalTRONICS 2010 has reinforced 

as the perfect platform for industry 

professionals to gain first-hand experience 

on more than 81 new products and services 

that were launched in the market, all under 

one roof. 

This year, 53% of the exhibiting 

companies were first-timers at 

GlobalTRONICS. These companies 

were participating alongside repeat 

exhibitors such as BTU, Chip Hua, Dou 

Yee, Fuji Machine, Long Shine, Tamura, 

TransTechnology and Trimech. Also 

on display were green products from 29 

companies, photovoltaic products from 9 

companies and semiconductor products 

from 19 companies at the show. 

“The recovery in the market is evident 

with more new products being introduced 

at GlobalTRONICS this year,” said 

Michelle Lim, managing director of event 

organizer Reed Exhibitions. “We are also 

happy to note that there are 237 companies 

from 22 countries at GlobalTRONICS, 

with international presence from China, 

Germany, India, Japan, Malaysia, 

Singapore, South Korea, United Kingdom, 

United States and Taiwan.” 

The major highlight of the show was 

the Printed Electronics Conference, with 

the theme “Emerging Opportunities in 


Printed Electronics—Product Design and 

Manufacturing,” which was held alongside 

the exhibition on the first day. It was a 

first time collaboration with SIMTech 

and SPRING Singapore. Ten companies 

also showcased their printed electronics 

products and capabilities in the Printed 

Electronics Showcase held alongside the 

conference. 

Another learning platform at 

GlobalTRONICS was the Supply Chain 

Security in Global Logistics Conference 

organized by Singapore Institute of 

Materials Management (SIMM), held 

on the second day. Participants could 

understand more about supply chain 

security issues that global players in 

logistics industry are facing and learn about 

issues faced in supply chain security, supply 

chain security implementation and the 

ISO standards for supply chain security. 

Prominent speakers included Danny Tan 

from Llyod’s Register, Jason Teo from 

Infineon Technologies Asia Pacific Pte 

Ltd, Jerry Tng from Global PTM Pte Ltd, 

Mohamed Feroz from Singapore Customs, 

Roman Luth from Schenker Asia Pacific 

and Seow Aik Meng from IBM Singapore 

10th edition of GlobalTRONICS hosted over 50% new Show exhibitors Report 

10th edition of GlobalTRONICS 

hosted over 50% new exhibitors 

Pte Ltd. 

“GlobalTRONICS is established 

and well-recognised as the electronics 

manufacturing event for the industry,” 

said Wim Van Riet (CEO) from Interflux 

Singapore Pte Ltd & DIMA Group Asia 

Pte Ltd. “We do not want to miss out on 

it, and with the market recovery, it is timely 

for us to participate in this exhibition 

for the first time. GlobalTRONICS is 

a barometer for us to test the Southeast 

Asian market.” 

According to the organisers, 

GlobalTRONICS 2010 attracted over 5000 

attendees over three days. The next edition 

of GlobalTRONICS will be held from 19- 

21 September 2012 at SUNTEC Singapore. 

New trade show for Indian electronic industry to launch in 2012 

Reed Exhibitions India, organiser of 

COMPONEX NEPCON India 2010, and 

the EFY Group announced plans to launch 

of a brand new trades how for the Indian 

electronics industry. The new event, which 

will be held in February 2012, will combine 

the strengths of Componex Nepcon India 

and Electronics For You Expo, trade show 

brands owned by Reed Exhibitions India 

and the EFY Group respectively. 

The new trade show will offer the 

Indian electronics industry the best 

choice of global and local manufacturing 

and technology as well as a number of 

educational and practical opportunities 

including live demo lines, conferences 

and workshops, product and technology 

showcases and roundtable events. 

The new event will be officially 

announced on 17th February 2011 to 

coincide with the start of Electronics For 

You Expo 2011, which will be held from 

17-19 February 2011. “Since we’ve tied up 

with EFY, we’ve decided not to conduct 

our 2010 edition of Componex Nepcon, 

but to move our exhibitors to EFY Expo 

2011.” 


Title New Products 

New products 

seho solder nozzles reduce 

process-related soldering defects 

SEHO Systems GmbH expanded its range 

of nozzle geometries for wave soldering 

machines. 

SEHO’s range of nozzle geometries 

provides the ideal nozzle concept for every 

application, from single solder nozzles to a 

combination of different nozzle geometries. 

The nozzles significantly reduce typical 

soldering defects such as insufficient 

fillings, open solder joints and soldering 

bridges. 

All SEHO solder nozzles are suitable 

for processing lead-free solder alloys. The 

nozzles can be changed quickly via bayonet 

couplings in order to minimize retooling 

and maintenance times. www.seho.de 

BpM Microsystems offers 8th 

generation automated programming 

solution 

BPM Microsystems is releasing its 8th 

generation automated programming 

system, the model 3800. The model 3800 

supports microcontrollers, NAND flash, 

NOR flash, Serial flash, Managed NAND 

flash, E/EPROM, flash EPROM, and other 

technologies with densities up to an 8 Eb 

theoretical limit. 

The model 3800 uses the same design 

as BPM Microsystems’ 3000 series device 

handling system. Integrated into the 

3800 is the LaserAlign sensor from 

CyberOptics®, which assures repeatable 

pick-and-place accuracy and high 

performance during the programming 

process. www.bpmmicro.com 

seika Machinery introduces 

offline programming 

for sayaka saM-cT23Q router 

Seika Machinery, Inc., announced 

that offline programming is 

available for the Sayaka SAM- 

CT23Q tabletop router. The 

SAM-CT23Q offers a fixture– 

based, highly efficient dust vacuum 

system, using a 40,000 rpm spindle 

to separate PCBs from panels. 

The software allows creation and 

editing of position and program 

data, as well as reading of PCB drawing data. Offline programming can save and read 

data files created with the program, and files can be sent, received and edited by PCs 

connected to the router. www.seikausa.com 

MyDaTa boosts performance 

remotely 

MYDATA is offering a new service, 

MYRemote Performance. The service is 

available to all MYDATA equipment users, 

and operates on a twelve-month contract. It 

includes an initial on-site audit of the user’s 

machine lines, feeder inventory, current 

methods of working and jobs. Once this 

audit has been completed, monthly reports 

are electronically sent to MYDATA, where 

they are analyzed by SMT engineers. 

As an additional benefit for users, 

MYDATA provides a quarterly report, 

including historical performance data and 

details of improvements that have been 

gained. www.mydata.com 

scs precisioncoat features new 

potting capabilities 

Specialty Coating Systems announced that 

potting capabilities are now available on 

the SCS Precisioncoat spray coating and 

dispense system. 

The Precisioncoat potting platform 

dispenses potting materials in a wide 

variety of applications to seal, stabilize 

and/or protect applications throughout 

the automotive, electronics, energy, 

lighting, industrial and military/aerospace 

industries. 

The PC-controlled system allows 

users to control the volume of material 

dispensed. The potting platform can be 

configured with one head or multiple 

heads, and can dispense one- or two-part 

materials. www.scscoatings.com 

Manncorp’s new defluxer/ 

evaporator transforms waste water 

into safely disposable material 

The Trident III automatic PCB cleaner by 

Manncorp has been made greener with a 

new zero-discharge evaporator, the Trident 

III-ZD. The evaporator processes waste 

fluid continuously at the rate of 13 gallons 

per hour and converts it into a disposable 

substance, and treats lead-free, watersoluble 

and no-clean pastes. 

System intelligence is provided by a 

Windows® PC with 16-inch touch-screen 

monitor, wireless network capability and 

bar code reader. New software permits 

users to set parameters for wash, rinse and 

dry. www.manncorp.com 

Future-proof and cost-effective: 

sIplace makes dual-track feeders 

01005-capable 

Compared to standard 8 mm feeders 

the SIPLACE dual-track feeders feature 


not only a significantly better priceperformance 

ratio per track, but with the 

introduction of SIPLACE’s new machine 

software, the 2 x 8 mm X-feeders are now 

01005-capable and feature a corresponding 

increase in investment protection. 

In the future, the dual-track versions 

of SIPLACE’s intelligent X-feeders will be 

able to handle the increasing amount of 

01005 components, ensuring secure and 

reliable processing of these components. 

www.siplace.com 

Nordson eFD’s new Backpack 

valve actuator improves dispense 

valve speed and accuracy 

EFD has introduced an new device for 

improving productivity of EFD dispense 

valves, the BackPack Valve Actuator. 

The BackPack mounts onto the solenoid 

used to open and close the valve directly 


on the valve’s air 

cylinder, rather 

than on a separate 

fixture. This makes 

it possible to achieve 

valve actuation 

speeds as short as 

5-6 milliseconds and 

cycle rates as high 

as 800 per minute. 

www.nordsonefd.com 

acculogic 

introduces 

Flying scorpion 

Fls940sxi highperformance 

flying probe test 

system 

Acculogic, Inc. 

introduces the 

new single-sided, 

low-cost version 

of its successful 

Flying Scorpion 

FLS900-series. The 

FLS940Sxi flying 

prober delivers the 

short programming 

times and high 

fault coverage of 

traditional test 

applications. 

The FLS940Sxi adds a lower cost 

solution to the already powerful Scorpion 

Flying Probe Tester line, and offers all 

the test capabilities of the double-sided 

FLS980Dxi in a single-sided configuration. 

The Acculogic FLS940Sxi Flying Prober 

will begin shipping in January 2011. 

Availability is 6-8 weeks ARO. 

www.acculogic.com 

universal leD-feeder for ThT 

Fritsch presents its upgraded LED-feeder 

for feeding and cutting through wired 

LEDs. 

The feeder isn’t just used for 

New Products 

placement of wired LEDs on its own 

machine line, “placeALL®,” but is also 

compatible with other machine brands, 

such Samsung machines 

The feeder can also be used as a 

standalone variant; an automatic feed 

rate starts after the illuminating diode is 

removed. The feeder controls the direct 

axis and the cross axis of an LED and 

provides the next illuminating diode 

automatically. www.fritsch-smt.com 

Full-featured value boundary-scan 

developers suite 

JTAG Technologies announces a new 

economically-priced software and hardware 

system for board-level and system designers 

looking to benefit from a boundary-scan 

test and programming strategy. 

JTAG Technologies’ ProVision 

Designer Station offers a low entry 


New Products 

New drive system speeds printing for 

electronics manufacturing 

Essemtec introduces its new automatic stencil printer, 

the Tucano. Compared to other printers of its class, 

the Tucano provides reliability and price advantages, 

due to its XY drive system for the vision camera, 2D 

inspection, stencil cleaning, stencil feeding system and 

PCB stopper, while only using one single–drive system. 

User guidance for setting up a new printing process is 

complete and is supported with easy–to–understand 

graphics. www.essemtec.com 

price yet retains key features such as 

automatic test program generation 

for interconnections and in-system 

programming for devices, and is ideal 

for the preparation of all boundary-scan 

tests that might be used in the design 

environment and beyond. www.jtag.com 

leD uV curing system for electronic 

and optical components 

Hamamatsu Photonics introduced the 

new LC-L2 range of UV curing systems. 

The new addition features higher power 

UV LEDs, and are highly durable, with a 

20000 hour LED lifetime. 

When used for UV adhesive curing, 

the LC-L2 allows curing of electronic 

and optical components in seconds. The 

LC-L2 system allows RS-232C computercontrolled 

curing cycles for different 

electronic processes. The LC-L2 is also 

suitable for a variety of spectroscopy and 

general UV applications requiring high 

quality, high brightness UV light sources. 

www.hamamatsu.co.uk 

count on Tools offers Manncorp 

sMT Nozzles 

Count On Tools Inc. now provides custom 

engineered nozzles for the complete line 

of Manncorp MC-Series pick-and-place 

equipment. 

All nozzles are guaranteed to function 

properly with the original equipment. 

Every nozzle manufactured by Count 

On Tools comes standard with a 100% 

satisfaction guarantee. If any customer is 

not 100% satisfied with the performance 

or quality of a product, Count On Tools 

will replace it or offer a full refund. 

www.cotinc.com 

BesT Inc launches New rework 

stencil 

BEST Inc. has released the new 

“StikNPeel” single use flexible rework 

stencils. 

These adhesive-backed stencils offer 

several advantages, such as the improved 

quality of the paste print as the adhesive 

holds the stencil coplanar to the board 

during printing. 

These stencils are made from a 

specialty Mylar material and are available 

in 4, 5 and 6 mil thicknesses. Each stencil 

is cut to order. The maximum size of the 

stencils are 4” x 4,” and are available in 

packages of (20) pieces. www.solder.net 

New MINI hawk imager for direct 

part mark reading 

Microscan announces a new threemegapixel 

resolution configuration in 

the MINI Hawk series of compact direct 

part mark imagers. The MINI Hawk is 

designed for reading 

small 2D direct 

part marks used 

in medical device 

and electronics 

manufacturing 

industries. The 

MINI Hawk 

makes it easy for 

electronics and other manufacturers and 

their suppliers to read these codes. The 

imager can also consistently read symbols 

that are damaged, distorted or otherwise 

challenging. www.microscan.com 

FcT assembly debuts no-clean 

leaded solder paste 

FCT Assembly 

introduces the 

NC676 no-clean, 

halogen-free leaded 

solder paste. The 

paste is compatible 

with 63/37, 

62/36/2 alloys with 

Type 3, 4 and 5 

solder meshes. 

NC676 features 

print volume consistency down to 12 mm 

circles and IPC 7095 Class III resistance 

to voiding using both straight ramp and 

soak reflow profiles. The no-clean paste 

leaves a colorless residue that is penetrable, 

maximizing pin testability and results in 

clear, bright tin/lead solder joints on all 

common pad finishes. www.fctassembly.com 

Dual-monitor option released for 

ace selective soldering systems 

A new dual monitor feature just released 

for ACE selective soldering machines 

gives the operator a large, high resolution 

image of any or all camera functions on 

one monitor, as well as a larger, easy-toread 

display of all machine function or 

programming screens on another adjacent 

flat-screen monitor. The dual monitor 

option provides easier to read process 

monitoring and better, clearer views of 

specific soldering sites and more precise 

setup and alignment. The new feature is 



Title 


New Products 

available standard on all KISS 104 systems, 

and is available as an option on Kiss-102 

and KISS-103 systems. www.ace-protech.com 

ecD responds to increase in vapor 

phase soldering with pTp® Vp-8 

thermal profiling kit 

ECD announced that it has released the 

PTP® VP-8 thermal profiling kit for vapor 

phase soldering. 

The PTP® VP-8 is a complete thermal 

profiling solution, using M.O.L.E.® MAP 

software in combination with the PTP® 

Vapor Phase profiler from globalPoint 

ICS GmbH. This pairing provides all the 

power and analytics needed to characterize 

and verify the key process parameters for 

complex, disparate, or high-mass PCB 

assemblies. www.ecd.com 

DeK proactiv revolutionizes paste 

transfer efficiency 

DEK has launched ProActiv, a process 

technology designed to enable electronics 

manufacturers to increase miniaturization. 

Each ProActiv installation contains a 

control subsystem and a set of squeegees 

featuring embedded electronics. ProActiv 

Holiday wishes for a “normal” 2011— 

continued from page 27 

Advanced Technology Systems segment 

in Asia. 

Orpro Vision named Wolfgang Runte 

regional sales manager for Germany. 

Park Electrochemical appointed George 

Pinzon director of OEM marketing, Paul 

O’Neill aerospace business development 

and program manager and Richard Price 

technical director—aerospace products. 

Polar Instruments appointed Neil 

Chamberlain as signal integrity product 

manager, in addition to his existing role as 

European sales manager. 

SMT International appointed John Snyder 

as VP to assist with business development 

for AMTECH solder paste. 

Taiflex is adding an additional 100,000 

SF/month capacity to its current total 

FCCL capacity of 1.3 million SF. 

Taiyo America named Haruomi 

Yoshimoto as president. 

Technic ‘Advanced Technology Division’ 

released its Technistan W high speed, pure 

tin electroplating process for wire plating. 

Tektronix set up Tektronix Service 

Solutions as single-source for calibration 

and repair services. 

Topoint began trial operations at its 

drilling plant in Qinghuangdao, China. 

University of Delaware researchers 

energizes the paste, causing the paste 

to be more compliant, and improving 

the packing density of solder particles 

into apertures and enhancing the bond 

between those particles. This transforms 

solder paste transfer efficiency to deliver 

incremental improvements in quality, yield 

and throughput. www.dek.com 

christopher associates offers Koki 

surface mount adhesive 

Christopher Associates now carries Koki’s 

surface mount adhesives. The silica-filled 

epoxies are ideal for chip attachment 

during wave solder and double-sided 

developed soy plastics targeted for 

electronic circuit boards. 

Vitronics Soltec appointed Seica France its 

representative and distributor for France. 

ZESTRON hired Sal Sparacino as 

technical marketing manager. 

semiconductor & other components 

Global semiconductor sales are projected 

to grow at a 13.4% CAGR from $300.5 

billion in 2010 to $318.7 billion, followed 

by an increase of 3.4% to $329.7 billion in 

2012.—SIA 

Semiconductor revenues are pointing 

towards 22-24% y/y growth in 2010 and 

showing 8-9% expansion in 2011.—IDC 

Silicon wafer shipments are projected to 

jump 39% in 2010 but will grow only 6% 

in 2011.—SEMI 

Global market for power management 

and driver ICs is expected to grow by 

20% to over US$12 billion in 2010—IMS 

Research 

Global sensors market will reach $74.2 

billion by 2015.—Global Industry Analysts 

Smartphone IC market will grow from 

$20 billion in 2010 $42 billion in 2014.— 

IC Insights 

World connector industry will achieve 

sales of USD 42,956 million in 2010, an 

reflow. The adhesives offer both ease of 

dispense and high bond strength and are 

compatible with Fuji, Asymtek, Panasonic, 

Camelot, Siemens and most other 

machines. A printable version in DEK 

Proflo heads also is available. 

www.christopherweb.com 

Multi-seals offers halogen free 

poly-form flexible adhesive 

preforms 

Multi-Seals Inc. introduced the F08 polyform—a 

flexible preform adhesive that 

meets the International Electrochemical 

Commission’s halogen-free requirements. 

Multi-Seals F08 poly-forms are flexible 

pre-shaped adhesives designed for bonding 

diverse materials, including metals, 

plastics, and glass, and the adhesive 

placement is highly consistent from bond 

to bond. The durability and flexibility 

of F08 poly-forms facilitates manual 

and automated handling and increases 

production rates. F08 can be pre-shaped in 

multiform configurations. 

www.multi-seals.com 

increase of 24.9% over 2009.—Bishop & 

Associates 

Top 10 connector makers in 2009 (Bishop 

& Associates): 

1. Tyco Electronics 

2. Amphenol 

3. Molex 

4. JST 

5. FCI 

6. Yazaki 

7. Foxconn 

8. Hirose 

9. JAE 

10. Sumitomo 

Walt Custer is an independent consultant 

who monitors and offers a daily news service 

and market reports on the PCB and assembly 

automation and semiconductor industries. He 

can be contacted at walt@custerconsulting.com 

or visit www.custerconsulting.com. 

Jon Custer-Topai is vice president of Custer 

Consulting Group and responsible for the 

corporation’s market research and news analysis 

activities. Jon is a member of the IPC and active 

in the Technology Marketing Research Council. 

He can be contacted at 

jon@custerconsulting.com. 


Association Show Preview: News 

electronica and productronica India 2010 

Association News 

elcINa-eFy awards for 2009-10 

presented in New Delhi 

The 35th ELCINA-EFY Awards for 

Excellence in Electronics Hardware 

Manufacturing & Services for 2009-10 

were given away to the winners during the 

annual presentation ceremony at India 

Habitat Centre, New Delhi, on 24th 

September 2010. 

Earlier this year, ELCINA entered into 

a partnership with EFY Group to promote 

India’s oldest and most valued awards for 

the electronics industry. From 2010, the 

ELCINA’s Annual Awards for Excellence 

in Electronics Hardware Manufacturing 

& Services is rechristened as the ELCINA- 

EFY Awards. 

The awards were presented by R 

Chandrashekhar, Secretary, Department of 

Telecom, Ministry of Communications & 

IT, who was the chief guest of the evening. 

This year’s “Electronics Man of the 

Year” award went to Ajay Chowdhry, 

founder—HCL, chairman & CEO of HCL 

Infosystems, for his immense contribution 

to Indian electronics and IT industry 

for over four decades. The other notable 

awardees were Bharat Electronics Ltd., 

Elcoteq Electronics (India) Pvt Ltd, Epcos 

India Pvt Ltd, Jabil Circuits India Pvt Ltd, 

Sahasra Electronics Pvt Ltd, Su-Kam Power 

Systems Ltd and Vishay Components India 

Pvt Ltd. 

ELCINA was the first organisation 

in India to institute annual awards for 

excellence in electronics, 34 years ago. 

www.elcina.com 

robert D. John re-elected president 

of elcINa for 2010-11 

At the 42nd Annual 

general meeting 

and the subsequent 

executive committee 

meeting of the 

association held in 

New Delhi on 24th 

September 2010, 

Robert D. John was 

re-elected as the new ELCINA president 

for the year 2010-11. Mr. John is director & 

CEO of Amphenol Interconnect India Pvt 

Ltd, Pune. Amphenol. www.elcina.com 

Ipc opens India office and 

electronics manufacturing training 

facility 

Extending its training and knowledge-based 

resources and services to Indian electronics 

manufacturing facilities on a local level, 

IPC—Association Connecting Electronics 

Industries® has opened its first office in 

India. Located in South Bangalore, close to 

the well-known Electronics City, IPC India, 

a wholly owned subsidiary of IPC, will be 

under the leadership of managing director 

Mr. Akshinthala Vijayendra. 

The initial focus of Vijayendraís 

activities will be on bringing additional 

training, conferences and services to India. 

For three years, IPC and the Indian Printed 

Circuits Association (IPCA) have worked 

cooperatively on the Industry Association 

Training Center (IATC). 

Over the next few months, Vijayendra 

will be responsible for hiring critical staff 

positions to support IPC initiatives in 

addition to meeting with representatives 

from local industry to determine what 

additional services and resources are 

needed from IPC. He will also continue 

to coordinate and support the IATC and 

will look for opportunities to involve local 

manufacturing operations in IPC global 

standardization activities. 

The IPC India office is located at #728, 

10th Main, 4th Block Jayanagar, Bangalore 

560011. Vijay can be reached at +91 (0)80- 

41570637 or IPCIndia@ipc.org. www.ipc.org 

The leD manufacturers association, 

leDMa, officially launched in New 

Delhi 

The LED Manufacturers 

Association (LEDMA), 

formed in August to 

address the issues of the growing LED 

industry and to make people aware of the 

future lighting technology, was formally 

inaugurated by the Union Minister of State 

for Power Hon’ble Shri Bharatsinh Solanki 

in New Delhi on 22 September 2010. 

LEDMA also seeks to draw the 

Government’s attention towards subsidy 

for LED lighting products and hopes to 

help waive-off of taxes as in the case of 

solar products in the country. 

Addressing the gathering Dr. M V 

Ramanarao, President LEDMA said, 

“I take this opportunity to say that The 

Association will regulate the working of 

the Indian LED industry to ensure its 

quality product delivery, adherence to 

international standards and its success in 

the long run.” 

Along with the inauguration the 

Hon’ble Chief guest launched the LEDMA 

website. www.ledma.org 

ashwini aggarwal appointed 

executive director of MaIT 

MAIT, the apex body representing the 

interest of IT hardware industry in India, 

appointed Mr Ashwini Aggarwal as its 

new executive director. Ashwini comes 

to MAIT with over 27 years of industry 

experience, 18 years in Hewlett-Packard 

in several important and developmental 

roles. More recently, he has worked with 

Omnicom Media Group, in their group 

company CPM India, as vice president, 

strategic initiatives. An M.Sc. in Physics 

and Electronics with distinction from St. 

Stephens College and an MBA from FMS, 

University of Delhi, Mr Aggarwal has rich 

and diverse experience in the IT Industry 

having handled peripherals, personal 

computers, mini and mainframe computers 

across consumer and commercial user 

segments. www.mait.com 

Mukund l. shah is new 

president of Ipca 

Indian Printed 

Circuits Association 

(IPCA) held its 

Annual General 

Body Meeting on 

9th September 2010 

and elected the new 

office bearers for 2010-11. At the meeting, 

Mukund Shah of Genus Electrotech was 

elected as president for the biennium 

2010-12. 

IPCA will host its annual Expo 2011 

- an annual international trade show on 

printed Circuit Board industry, EMS, 

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Global SMT & Packaging Southeast Asia Vol. 1 No. 1 Spring 2010 

Southeast Asia 

Guidelines for establishinG a lead-free wave 

solderinG process for hiGh-reliability 

investiGation and development of tin-lead 

and lead-free solder pastes to reduce headin-pillow 

defects 

process challenGes and solutions for 

embeddinG chip-on-board into mainstream 

smt assembly 

Volume 1 Number 1 Spring 2010 

Mike Konrad 

Interview Inside 

NEW PRODUCTS 

INDUSTRY NEWS 

INTERNATIONAL DIARY

Title 

International Diary 

EPTC Electronics Packaging 

Technology 

December 8-10, 2010 

Singapore 

eptc-ieee.net 

LED Expo India 

December 17-19, 2010 

New Delhi, India 

theledexpo.com 

Electronics Next 

January 7-11, 2011 


electronicsnext.in 

Global LEDS/OLEDS is an exciting 

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for LED luminaires and the emerging 

market for OLED luminaires and 

displays. The magazine will o er 

in-depth technical solutions to 

manufacturing and application 

problems through articles from 

leading engineers and designers in 

the eld and informed comment 

from industry experts. Each issue will 

also contain regular features such 

as Industry News, New Products, 

Association News, CEO Interviews 

and much more.... 

Semicon Korea 

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Seoul, Korea 

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Componex NEPCON 

India/EFY Expo 2011 

February 17-19, 2011 


componex-nepcon.in, efyexpo.com 

Convergence India 

March 24-26 


convergenceindia.org 

www.globalledoled.com 

The Global Assembly Journal for SMT and 

Advanced Packaging Professionals 

Lighting the 

way: LeDs in sMt 

proDuction 

pec (printeD eLectronic 

circuit) process for LeD 


LeD bin vaLiDation anD 

traceabiLity 

printeD eLectronics for 

fLexibLe soLiD state Lighting 

Launching April 2011 

LIGHTFAIR 

International issue 

Volume 1 Number 1 Spring 2011 

ISSN 1474 - 0893 

NEW PRODUCTS 

INDUSTRY NEWS 

INTERNATIONAL DIARY 

Global LEDS/OLEDS is published by 

Trafalgar Publications Ltd 

Unit 18, 2 Lansdowne Crescent • 

Bournemouth • Dorset • BH1 1SA • 

United Kingdom 

NEPCON Korea 

April 6-8, 2011 

Seoul, Korea 

www.smtpcb.org 

NEPCON Malaysia 

June 15-17 

Penang, Malaysia 

www.nepcon.com.my 

FIND OUT MORE 

Editorial 

Marc Chason 

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mchason@ 

globalledoled.com 

Sales – Americas 

sales@globalledoled.com 

Sales – Asia 

Debasish 

Choudhury 

+91 120 6453260 

dchoudhury@globalledoled.com 

Sales – Europe 

Elisangela Dahlke 

+44 7924 554456 

edahlke@ 

globalledoled.com 


Quality that you Can Trust on 

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E-mail.: smt@jukiindia.com 

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