Profiler wins in Solar Category for first time!
I try not to make too many explicit endorsements of KIC products on my blog, but I cannot contain my excitement. KIC stole the show in the category of Solar products at the New Munich Trade Fair (Productronica) in Munich, Germany, tying itself for first place! Both the Eclipse (wafer holding fixture) and Spectrum (Navigator for Solar) win top prize. To learn more click here to open in a new window.
Tips on Cooking Both a Perfect Thanksgiving Turkey and a PCB
Why does it take half a day to cook a Thanksgiving turkey? The answer is simple ― you have 20 lb of bird that simply cannot just be nuked in a microwave like last night’s dinner. If not properly thawed, prepared and monitored, you either have an overcooked, dried-out bird or worse: Salmonella. Strangely enough, as you will see in a moment, PCBs are not that much different. Let’s say you skip the thawing process and in your haste stick a frozen bird in the oven. What happens? The bird may look properly cooked on the outside, but as soon as ...
Thermocouple Attachment Results are in!
The Rochester Institute of Technology under the guidance of Dr. S. Manian Ramkumar Ph.D. just conducted (October 2009) the most comprehensive study to date on thermocouple attachment methods. Part I of II was to determine the most accurate and reliable method of thermocouple attachment. Part II that has yet to be released is to determine the best attachment methods for BGAs, with the goal of seeing if there are reliable non-destructive methodologies, so stay tuned. Results in a nutshell: Aluminum Tape out performed all materials even Kapton! In an ideal word, the best attachment method of a thermocouple to a component is ...
Increasing Silicon Solar Efficiency Manufacturing
Global Solar Technology printed an article on Sept 16, 2009 highlighting an exciting ground breaking study that shows by optimizing the profile during the wafer firing process, a significant gain of .51% is achievable. .51% is HUGE, which can easily translate into hundreds of thousands of dollars in increased revenues per solar manufacturing line. That's even in today's depressed silicon market. (Click here to view full article) The thermal process of the wafer is one of the keys to achieving improved efficiencies. Drying steps are expected to remove most of the solvent used in the pastes before entering the firing zones. ...
What is Reflow Process Inspection?
Reflow Process Inspection is catching on as the next advancement in-line inspection systems for SMT Reflow. I have pulled together the various aspects of RPI to better explain how it works and what are its benefits. How does RPI fit into the inspection processes in the SMT factory? Unlike SPI and AOI that are defect inspection systems specifically designed for viewing solder deposition and component assembly respectively, RPI complements these systems by inspecting the performance of the thermal process IN-LINE. RPI inspects the thermal process for any joint, including those that are not visible to the AOI system such as BGA components. ...
Soldering and Profiling Discussion Panel at Apex 2009
Panelists at APEX discuss misconceptions about the reflow process and how to Minimize Delta Ts, etc. Mike Buetow of Circuits Assembly magazine moderates a discussion panel on soldering and thermal profiling at APEX 2009. Panelists include Keith Howell of Nihon Superior, Fred Dimock of BTU and Michael Limberg from KIC. Much of the 30 min discussion hits upon how customers often confuse an oven's recipe with a PCB's profile/recipe. Factors such as density, delta Ts, belt speed, different components and extraction are used as examples as to why the oven's set points don't always match the temperatures on the PCB. ...
How to Establish the “First” Profile for a New Product
Clever profiling software will calculate a profile based on the size of your PCB or from dummy profiles already loaded on the Reflow oven. It is part of the prediction utility of your profiling software or pre-installed on your reflow oven. This software mines prior work, including your own profiles developed from other products or, in the case of profiles that come pre-installed on the oven, known profiling outcomes based on the oven's characteristics. It looks at known sizes of PCBs and their respected weights (i.e. mass), and how they interact with a known process environment (i.e. your specific reflow ...
2009 Profiling Guide
