Author Archives: Mike

About Mike

Mike Buetow is president of the Printed Circuit Engineering Association (pcea.net). He previously was editor-in-chief of Circuits Assembly magazine, the leading publication for electronics manufacturing, and PCD&F, the leading publication for printed circuit design and fabrication. He spent 21 years as vice president and editorial director of UP Media Group, for which he oversaw all editorial and production aspects. He has more than 30 years' experience in the electronics industry, including six years at IPC, an electronics trade association, at which he was a technical projects manager and communications director. He has also held editorial positions at SMT Magazine, community newspapers and in book publishing. He is a graduate of the University of Illinois. Follow Mike on Twitter: @mikebuetow

A New Trend in Assembly Shows?

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Years ago, three major events dotted the US electronics assembly trade show landscape. They included Nepcon East, Surface Mount International, and the mother of them all, Nepcon West.

While Nepcon West was the undisputed champ, all three shows were worth attending, and exhibitors often made new product announcements at each one.

Interestingly, and for reasons too detailed to get into here, none of those shows exist today. And for much of the 2000s, the place to roll out new products became IPC’s Apex. Other events were relegated to regional status, and traditionally were staffed as much by distributors as by OEMs.

There’s a few small signs that trend may be shifting again. While IPC Midwest, taking place this week in the Chicago suburbs remains a local show (and honestly, could they make seeing the exhibitor list any more user-unfriendly?), SMTAI is at long-last beginning to fill the niche for a seasonal alternative to Apex. To wit, we’ve received numerous press releases of late reporting new products to be introduced at SMTAI. That’s evidence suppliers see the venue as a viable place to make product launches.

Also at SMTAI, on Oct. 18, I am cochairing (with CIRCUITS ASSEMBLY columnist Sue Mucha) a panel titled “Global Strategies for Lowering EMS Costs” at SMTAI in Ft. Worth, TX. Topics include EMS in Eastern Europe; networking technical trends; improving quality, delivery and cost in high mix manufacturing; and vapor phase technology, and feature speakers from Kimball, Tailyn, Fabrinet and IBL Technologies. We conclude with a panel on building an EMS cost model.

I can’t mention these events without touting our own. Next week marks the 20th annual PCB West conference and exhibition at the Santa Clara (CA) Convention Center. Traditionally the industry’s leading conference for printed circuit board design and fabrication, we have beefed up the electronics assembly side (with a big assist from the Silicon Valley SMTA Chapter). Highlights include papers on low silver solder alloys, advanced packaging, new plasma-based PCB surface finishes, and lead-free electronics risk reduction, presented by such leading companies as Hewlett-Packard and Amkor. Check out the program at pcbwest.com.  We really hope to see you there.

Served Up

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The trend toward “do it yourself” servers among the major Internet and social media companies reinforces the end-customer’s position at the top of the electronics supply chain.

Google, Facebook and other major dot.com companies are migrating away from off-the-shelf equipment in favor of custom-designed and built machines that better meet their specific needs. While the trend — custom-built servers now make up 20% of the US server market, according to a recent report by research firm Gartner — isn’t completely new, it is now affecting the bottom lines of H-P, Dell and other OEMs that live in that space.

Moreover, Google and Facebook are employing large numbers of hardware designers, once again taking the top talent away from the manufacturing floor (the companies then outsource the actual product build). It could also change the services model: Will repair be performed by the major EMS companies, or by local or even internal specialists?

I suspect the major server makers will try to adapt their product lines, but the question remains whether the Googles of the world will let them far enough through the door to get a good feel for the technology needs, or whether the major dot.coms become mini-Apples in which paranoia trumps partnering.

Served Up

Posted on by

The trend toward “do it yourself” servers among the major Internet and social media companies reinforces the end-customer’s position at the top of the electronics supply chain.

Google, Facebook and other major dot.com companies are migrating away from off-the-shelf equipment in favor of custom-designed and built machines that better meet their specific needs. While the trend — custom-built servers now make up 20% of the US server market, according to a recent report by research firm Gartner — isn’t completely new, it is now affecting the bottom lines of H-P, Dell and other OEMs that live in that space.

Moreover, Google and Facebook are employing large numbers of hardware designers, once again taking the top talent away from the manufacturing floor (the companies then outsource the actual product build). It could also change the services model: Will repair be performed by the major EMS companies, or by local or even internal specialists?

I suspect the major server makers will try to adapt their product lines, but the question remains whether the Googles of the world will let them far enough through the door to get a good feel for the technology needs, or whether the major dot.coms become mini-Apples in which paranoia trumps partnering.

SMT’s Echoes of Elcoteq

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In Europe, Elcoteq teeters on bankruptcy. Three of its subsidiaries have already declared, and the corporate parent has seen its access to cash all but dry up.

In Asia, a smaller but still significant restructuring also is taking place, with the outcome just as uncertain. SMT Holdings, ranked 45th in last year’s CIRCUITS ASSEMBLY Top 50, missed a debt repayment in March, and is negotiating with its 11 top lenders to stave off a takeover. While 10 of the 11 have signed on, it’s a slippery slope: falling revenues and massive losses can be explained away in a down market. But the EMS sector has been in recovery mode and the hemorrhaging at SMT Holdings continues. An independent auditor, Deloitte & Touch, this week acknowledged SMT is working on a restructuring plan, but said the assumptions were so great that it couldn’t even issue an opinion on the EMS company’s chances as a “going concern.” Its report is basically accountant speak for, “We don’t like what we see.”

Echoes of Elcoteq abound. Customers can’t risk product delays because their EMS provider is out of cash, and tend to bolt at the first opportunity. Competitors smell blood in the water. The situation snowballs. As of this writing, the prognosis for SMT Holdings is grim.

Slippery When Wet: Plating High Performance RF/MW PCBs

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Once again, summer has evaporated at record speed. This morning, my two teen daughters trudged sleepily out the door for their first day back to high school; one a sophomore and one a senior. Wow…it seems like the first day of summer was just last week, and my kids were just starting kindergarten!

I suppose this sense of nostalgia is why I am now drawing a rather quirky connection between plating high performance multilayer circuit boards and Slip n’ Slides. I loved Slip ‘n Slides when I was a kid, didn’t you?! Injury almost immediately ensued just after you got the darn thing stretched out and flooded with water—but it was still a blast! It was equally fun watching my daughters slide, belly-down, along the long yellow plastic sheet when they were small. Afterwards, they stood up wide-eyed, dripping and giggling, and glued, head-to-toe, with tiny blades of grass. I also recall my utter humiliation when my kids and their friends looked on, with a mix of horror and pity, when I tried to throw-down some of my “old moves”, thinking I’d be the “cool” mom. (Sorry, girls!)

Memories aside, let me explain how I’ve come to connect Slip ‘n Slides and multilayer high performance boards. Plating is an aqueous (wet) process in which metallic particles are electro-deposited onto the surface of circuit boards. When plating high performance boards, which often employ Teflon laden materials, it gets a bit tricky. Because, well…it’s Teflon! It is very smooth and slick. (Think of Teflon coated cookware and eggs)

So, imagine that the Slip ‘n’ Slide plastic is Teflon substrate, and that your kid is a metal particle afloat in liquid. Now! Quickly and permanently bond the metal particulate (child) to the Teflon material (plastic), as it goes screaming by in a stream of moving water (aqueous bath). Yeah–well, welcome to our world! Plating on Teflon is not as easy as you might imagine. However, if we were plating on FR-4, or a ceramic-loaded substrate, it would be more like your kid attempting to Slip ‘n Slide on indoor-outdoor carpet. (Ouch!) The surface is rougher and more porous, even within an aqueous environment.

Don’t get me wrong, we love Teflon! It has many desirable properties, so we simply take steps to treat the material surface before plating to make it rougher and more receptive to metal deposits. There are effective and ineffective ways to accomplish this task, and only an expert understands the critical difference. So always choose those with expertise in fabricating these boards.

A second concern, in regard to plating high performance multilayer boards, has to do with ensuring a good solid ground connection. Some designers accomplish this by putting a front-to-back connective band of edge plating around the perimeter of the board. Others opt for dense hole patterns around the surface edges of the board. Not all board manufacturers are skilled at edge plating. It comes with a small host of potential problems. So, if you are opting for edge plating, you may want to ask for some edge plating samples and discuss the processes and concerns with a new potential supplier.

The third issue to be mindful of is the challenge of plating successfully when controlled depth, back-drilling, or selective plating are required. From this side of our manufacturing facility door, I often feel Dorothy-like in the presence of Almighty Oz in the face of these processes; I don’t fully understand what they do back there, but it all seems like magic to me! Many steps, and focused attention to multiple processes must be taken to be successful. Make sure any supplier you partner with is well versed in these technologies.

The final concern, as related to plating, applies to all boards—not just high performance PCBs. Features are forever shrinking, particularly holes that require plating. This can be problematic in that smaller holes are prone to trap air bubbles inside the hole barrels, which create voids where the plating is prevented being deposited on the hole walls. Four factors must be present and religiously controlled for even, consistent hole plating: filtering, agitation, aeration and circulation. Filtering prevents contaminants from affecting plating purity and integrity. Tanks and filters must be dutifully monitored. Agitation occurs when the panels are moved, mechanically, sided to side within the tank to help push out any trapped air bubbles and to ensure even plating inside the holes. Circulation and aeration pumps make sure the water moves briskly and continually circulates, also helping to push out tiny air bubbles and aid in even plating.

Here is the gist of what I hope you will take away from my ramblings this week. Plating is an uber critical process when manufacturing High Performance RF/MW Multilayer PCBs. So be sure you engage with skilled and seasoned experts who frequently and successfully produce these types of boards.

Otherwise, you may end up feeling like you’ve been helplessly tossed onto a Slip ‘n Slide….downhill…on asphalt. Yikes!!!

–Judy

NTI-100, Nos. 16 to 20

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We continue our NTI-100 countdown with Nos. 16 to 20.

16. Viasystems (+former Merix)
17. Daeduck Group
18. MFlex
19. Fujikura
20. Compeq

The rough revenue range is $738 million to $806 million.

Tomorrow, Nos. 11 to 15. We’ll publish the complete list, and supporting article, in our September issue.

NTI 100, Nos. 21-25

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And now back to our countdown. Here are Nos. 21 to 25 in the NTI-100:

21. Sumitomo Denko PCB
22. Kinsus (+Piotek)
23. AT&S
24. Wus Group
25. LG Innotek

(Revenue range is $600 million to $700 million.)

Tomorrow, Nos. 16-20.