TUCSON, AZ – Dave Ryder, President of Prototron Circuits of Tucson Arizona, has announced the signing of Jack Lorber of Sourcing Specialist to represent his company in the Northeast.
“We are very glad to have Jack Lorber join the Prototron sales team. His knowledge and experience in sales and sourcing will go a long way towards helping us expand our business in that corner of the country,” said Mr. Ryder when making the announcement.
“Prototron Circuits’ approach to customer care and service is perfectly aligned with the way I do business. I am excited to be working with a company that’s so focused on putting their customers’ needs first. I look forward to working with Dave and Russ and the rest of the team at Prototron Circuits,” added Mr. Lorber.
HERTFORDSHIRE, UK – In a first of its kind for the sector, the International Tin Association (ITA) has launched its strategic report – TIN2030: A Vision for Tin. This thought-leading initiative has been compiled in collaboration with a broad range of stakeholders from across the sector. Identifying both opportunities and challenges, it highlights the crucial role of tin as a resource to enable the global energy transition and digitalisation. There will be new opportunities to work together on ESG issues to underpin supply.
“Looking into the next decade, the tin industry faces dramatic new market dynamics and ESG demands. It is important for us in the sector to understand what lies ahead so we can take advantage of the unprecedented opportunities and challenges”, said Helen Prins, CEO of ITA. “We foresee that the next decade will see a wakeup to tin with a new wave of efforts to secure a sustainably sourced supply.”
The report highlights the impact of global changes on the sector. Changes such as rising geopolitical tensions, climate change urgency and macroeconomic shocks. According to the ITA research, this will lead to increased competition for vital resources including tin. Tin supply chains will need to adapt rapidly to meet these challenges while also working together to manage increased ESG expectations and demonstrate how the tin sector is building a better future for everyone.
The report highlights the importance of tin to everyday life and its growing role as an essential enabler for the energy transition and digitalisation. As the glue that holds together almost all electronic and electrical infrastructure, its significance will increase. Another strong indication that the demand for tin will surge. ITA estimates that $1.4 billion is needed to deliver 50,000 tpa more tin by 2030.
Better communication and collaboration on ESG will be needed to develop a holistic understanding of risks and meaningful standards. Increased engagement with ASM will increase business opportunities and rewards. The market will differentiate companies who strive beyond minimum requirements, including those achieving UN 2030 SDG’s.
TIN2030 represents a landmark effort in terms of bringing the industry together to think about the future of the sector. A pioneering effort led by ITA in its unique position at the heart of the industry. Through this holistic approach, ITA has been able to integrate perspectives from across the sector to best understand what the future is likely to hold for this vital metal.
WASHINGTON DC – The recent partnership announced by the U.S. and Canada is a welcome acknowledgement of the urgent need to support the American printed circuit board industry. The Presidential determination of printed circuit boards as essential to national defense under section 303 of the Defense Production Act is welcome news, and achieves a 2023 goal of the Printed Circuit Board Association of America (PCBAA).
The $50 million identified is a downpayment on what must be a larger and sustained effort by the U.S. government to rebuild this critical manufacturing sector. The American printed circuit board industry was decimated by offshoring over the past 20 years, dropping from almost 30 percent of the world’s supply to only 4 percent today. The U.S. depends on other nations -- primarily in Asia, and more than half from China.
“We are eager to work with the Administration to make the best use of this and advocate for subsequent funding for this long-overlooked industry”, said Travis Kelly, Chairman of the Printed Circuit Board Association of America and President and CEO of the Isola Group. “The costs of creating new facilities or upgrading existing printed circuit board facilities can run into hundreds of millions. Just as legislation and policies were created to support semiconductors, the U.S. government needs to invest in our nation’s future by providing support for printed circuit boards.”
WALTHAM, MA – Nano Dimension Ltd. (Nasdaq: NNDM, “Nano Dimension” or the “Company”), a leading supplier of Additively Manufactured Electronics (“AME”) and multi-dimensional polymer, metal & ceramic Additive Manufacturing (“AM”) 3D printers, announced today that it received a purchase order for its newest AME system, the DragonFly® IV, from the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft, a leading German research institution.
The sale is the result of a strategic relationship between Nano Dimension and the Fraunhofer Research Institution for Individualized and Cell-Based Medical Engineering (“Fraunhofer IMTE”) (www.imte.fraunhofer.de), which is one of the many groups in Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft. This sale will send the Company’s most advanced AME system to the Fraunhofer IMTE, which intends to use it for research and development projects in the field of medical electronics and instrumentation.
The Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft, based in Germany, is the world’s leading applied research organization. Prioritizing key future-relevant technologies and commercializing its findings for business and industry, it plays a major role in the innovation process. Founded in 1949, the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft currently operates 76 institutes and research units throughout Germany. Over 30,000 employees, predominantly scientists and engineers, work with an annual research budget of €2.9 billion (approximately $3.1 billion).
The DragonFly® IV system is the ideal technology for Fraunhofer IMTE use cases. It enables specialty applications for High-Performance-Electronic-Devices (Hi-PEDs®) by simultaneously depositing proprietary conductive and dielectric substances, while integrating in-situ capacitors, antennas, coils, transformers, and electromechanical components. Such Hi-PEDs® are critical enablers for a range of applications, including autonomous intelligent drones, cars, satellites, smartphones, and in vivo medical devices. In addition, these products enable iterative development, IP safety, fast time-to-market, and device performance gains.
Professor Matthias Gräser, Department Head Diagnostics at Fraunhofer IMTE, shared, “We are pleased to work with Nano Dimension, given how their 3D printer for electronics, the DragonFly® IV, will enable us to design and manufacture electrical components that will complete our platform for Medical 3D-Printing and drive our research and development work forward. With a system such as Nano Dimension’s we can overcome design limitations and optimize development processes in terms of time and costs.”
ST. LOUIS, MO – The ECM Group, a leading global procurement and supply chain management firm in the electronics industry, is proud to announce that it has facilitated over $1.3 billion in purchases from its Asia-based Printed Circuit Board (PCB) Manufacturing Partners since its inception in 2002. This significant milestone demonstrates the company's unwavering commitment to providing exceptional service and fostering long-term relationships with its partners across the globe.
The ECM Group's ability to facilitate such a substantial volume of purchases underscores its position as a vital intermediary between its clients and PCB manufacturers in Asia. The company's comprehensive understanding of the market, combined with its dedication to quality, innovation, and customer satisfaction, has been instrumental in achieving this remarkable milestone.
"We are incredibly proud of reaching this significant milestone, which reflects our team's hard work and dedication to delivering unparalleled service to our clients and partners," said Robert Mills, CEO of The ECM Group. "This achievement further solidifies our position as a trusted partner for PCB procurement and showcases the value we bring to the global electronics industry."
The ECM Group's success can be attributed to its robust network of established manufacturing partners, its expert team of industry professionals, and its unyielding focus on meeting the evolving needs of its clients. The company has consistently excelled in managing complex supply chains and providing tailored solutions, enabling it to maintain its status as an industry leader.
OSAKA, JAPAN – The Electronic Materials Business Division of Panasonic Industry Co.,Ltd. (Panasonic) is a premier supplier of electronic materials like printed circuit boards laminates, semiconductor packaging materials, display films and other leading-edge products. Leveraging our core expertise in high-performance thermosetting polymer chemistry, we developed BEYOLEX™, a fully cross-linked, non-silicone, thermosetting stretchable film. BEYOLEX™ is specifically designed as a soft, stretchable, and durable substrate for reliable printed electronics. BEYOLEX™ exhibits superior performance when compared to existing stretchable films like Thermoplastic Polyurethane (TPU) and Polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) and is under evaluation and qualification for a wide variety of demanding applications. In collaboration with our innovative partners, Panasonic introduces our latest case studies on soft circuit development which is one of the promising applications of BEYOLEX™.
Case Study 1: Pliable PCB made with copper sintering ink
InnovationLab and Panasonic developed a pliable PCB demonstrator. This device was designed and manufactured by InnovationLab using BEYOLEX™ and sintered copper ink. Generally, the copper inks require a high sintering temperature (>160 °C), which is extremely challenging for TPU. The BEYOLEX™ substrate had no difficulty tolerating the sintering temperature and exhibited no damage from the process. Furthermore, the combination of the high temperature tolerance of BEYOLEX™ and the solderability of the sintered copper ink enabled component mounting with standard solders such as Sn-Bi or SAC305: resulting in reliable and high density assemblies and delivering a functional PCB with more pliability and softness than typical flexible printed circuits (FPCs.)
Case Study 2: Stretchable hybrid PCB made using copper ink and stretchable silver paste
Kelenn Technology, a leading manufacturer of printing equipment, also makes functional inks that are customized for their printing systems. Using their proprietary Direct Material Deposition (DMD) technology, Kelenn Technology printed land pads with copper ink and circuit traces with stretchable silver-based paste onto BEYOLEX™ film. This hybrid circuit produced a solderable, stretchable PCB configuration that would be difficult to achieve with copper circuitry alone. Definitely, BEYOLEX™ is the only substrate solution for this design.
Subsequently, Panasonic engineers reflowed solder paste onto test vehicles prepared by Kelenn Technology. We printed an industry standard SAC305 solder paste and reflowed the part in a Vapor Solder Oven with a temperature of 230°C. We confirmed both the solderability of the copper ink pads provided by Kelenn Technology as well as the mechanical integrity of BEYOLEX™ after soldering. As a result of this test, we believe BEYOLEX™, with sintered copper ink, is a promising solution for solderable, pliable or even stretchable PCB constructions.
Case study 3: Tackling the challenges of truly stretchable electronics
Stretchable silver pastes are an attractive conductor solution for new form factor devices. However, these polymer composite pastes have inherent limitations for forming truly stretchable electronics; typically, the resistance increases significantly with each elongation cycle and these increases are cumulative, climbing with each stretch cycle. A printable Liquid Metal Based Composite developed by University of Coimbra (UoC) is a promising solution to this issue. UoC’s ink exhibits metallic conductivity and much lower resistance change during stretch cycles compared to silver-polymer pastes. Thanks to the lack of plastic deformation of BEYOLEX™, UoC’s ink printed on BEYOLEX™ looks to be a promising combination for truly stretchable electronics requiring repeated stretching.
The soft-circuit solutions made with BEYOLEX™ introduced in this article are made by additive printing processes which are generally more environmentally friendly than the conventional subtractive PCB fabrication process. Panasonic’s Electronic Materials Business Division keeps contributing to create value and to society through innovative materials.
To learn more about BEYOLEX™, please visit https://industry.panasonic.eu/products/devices/electronic-materials/beyolextm-thermosetting-stretchable-film
