Lead-free becomes the main theme of electronics manufacturing
From the 12th to the 15th, the 15th China International Electronic Production Equipment and Microelectronics Industry Exhibition (NEPCON2005) was held in Shanghai as scheduled. With the participation of 700 exhibitors from 21 countries and regions, this exhibition became China’s electronics. The most influential event in manufacturing.
From the perspective of exhibitors and seminars, lead-free, SMT placement machines and soldering have become the three hot spots of this exhibition. Among them, lead-free throughout the entire exhibition, from the basic solder to the lead-free upgrade of electronic equipment, all indicate that the lead-free wave is approaching, becoming the main theme of the current electronics manufacturing industry.
Welding and lead-free become the biggest highlights in 2006. Europe will enforce the “Regulations on the Prohibition of the Use of Certain Hazardous Substances in Electrical and Electronic Equipment”, so this year will be a very crucial year, which is evident from the reaction at the show. The soldering area and lead-free technology have become the highlights of this exhibition.
Research on lead-free processes has been carried out a few years ago, and the process has matured, so it will not have much impact on the products. Lead-free solders can basically be supported by suppliers. For manufacturers, the biggest concern is cost. In addition to the cost of the solder itself, the use of different materials due to the soldering temperatures that components, connectors, etc. need to withstand, will increase the cost.
During this NEPCON period, Nitto Technology (Holdings) Co., Ltd. demonstrated their N2 series reflow ovens for lead-free soldering and their recently represented German Rim C2 reflow oven equipment. Liang Quan, the company’s marketing director, said that the two directives on waste electrical and electronic equipment and hazardous substances proposed by the European Union provide clear standards for the healthy and stable development of the SMT industry on a global scale, allowing electronic equipment manufacturers to have developed strategies. Higher requirements. At the same time, the ban has brought some pressure on Chinese electronics manufacturers to export, requiring domestic electronic equipment manufacturers to have sufficient flexibility to develop feasible development strategies according to national conditions.
It is believed that many companies such as Electronic Assembly Materials, Kester, Senju Metal (Shanghai) Co., Ltd., Indium Technology (Suzhou) Co., Ltd., and OK Company of the United States have demonstrated their lead-free materials, including solder paste, flux, and solder wire. , preforms, solder balls, and flow sealants.
In addition, the lead-free requirements, in addition to the impact on reflow soldering, the patch device should also be changed accordingly. According to Wang Jiafa, general manager of Universal Instruments China, due to the different temperature and stress of the solder joints, the placement machine has higher requirements for pattern recognition and placement accuracy. In response to this demand, Universal Instruments has improved the performance of the newly introduced placement machine, and the placement accuracy has been doubled from the previous 50 microns to plus or minus 25 micrometers, and the image recognition technology has also been simulated. Processing is turned to digital processing to ensure better placement in lead-free processes.
