This is part four of my observations from the JPCA Show.

Many vendors and manufacturers featured test equipment for flexible circuits. It was worthwhile for me to take a long look at this equipment that evaluates new functional flexible circuits. The first piece of equipment I examined was a flexing endurance tester presented by Yuasa Systems (the company has no relation with the major battery manufacturer).

Previously, circuit manufacture engineers developed specific test equipment for flexing tests because no system was available for testing. Machine manufacturers viewed this segment as a niche, and decided that a limited market was not profitable. This could change. New demands in wearable electronics now include flexing modes such as twisting and stretching. The new test machines are capable in conducting ten kinds of flexing changes.

The second examples of test machines include a migration tester. In a previous newsletter, I wrote about silver migration from thick-film circuits and the headache this causes for the industry. Unfortunately, most circuit manufacturers don’t have suitable test equipment, and thick-film circuit manufacturers do not provide reliable numerical test data for customers. The migration tester provides an insulation tester with moisture chamber, and circuit manufacturers can now provide reliability data for their customers.

The most radical piece of test equipment I viewed at the show was geared toward the furniture industry. This equipment is a large sized pressure sensor array produced for bed and sofa furniture designers. The two kinds of pressure sensors include a piezo type and a static capacitance type. The sensor module consistently measures pressure distribution. The circuits are built on a fabric material, placed between a sheet and mattress, and are required to have moisture permeability and elasticity. The manufacturer of the device is a flex circuit manufacturer, and one of their engineers explained that they did not need to invest in any extra processes, and completed the manufacturing utilizing the current facilities.

Dominique K. Numakura, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

DKN Research, www.dknresearch.com

DKN Research Newsletter #1922, August 5th, 2019 (English Edition)

(Micro Electronics & Packaging) This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., dknresearch.com

To see the newsletter archives, click dknresearchllc.com/DKNRArchive/Newsletter/Newsletter.html.

Headlines of the Week

1. Murata (Major device supplier in Japan) 7/16 started volume production of the world's smallest SAW components series for multi-band mobile equipment. Chip size: 0.9 x 0.7mm.

2. Sony (Major electronics company in Japan) reported Q1 revenue dropped 1.4% y/y to 1,926 billion yen. Net income dropped 33% to 152 billion yen. CMOS sensor business was quite busy.

3. Kyushu University (Japan) developed a new type of organic EL with high quantum yield up to 40%. It will reduce cost because it does not need keep organic layer very thin.

4. TSMC (Major semiconductor manufacturer in Taiwan) will hire another 3,000 employees in Taiwan despite the slow market. It will invest over $11 billion in 2019.

5. Showa Denko (Major chemical company in Japan) developed a high quality 6” SiC Wafer for power semiconductor devices. The defect density is half.

6. Renesas (Major semiconductor manufacture in Japan) released its Q2 performance. Revenue dropped 5.3% y/y to 192.6 billion yen. Production in August will be reduced to cut inventories.

7. Murata (Major device supplier in Japan) decided on an additional investment of 4.71 billion yen to expand manufacturing capacity of MLCC (multilayer ceramic capacitor). A new plant will be built in Iwami.

8. TIT (Technical Institute in Japan) developed a perovskite type LED with halogen molecule. It has a higher brightness at low voltage drive.

9. Tohoku University (Japan) succeeded to measure IQE of perovskite type organic/inorganic hybrid semiconductor, CH3NH3PbBr3. It depends on the amount of CH3NH3.

10. Mitsubishi Electric (Major electric & electronics company in Japan) developed a new thermal diode IR image sensor “MelDIR” with small package (19.5 x 13.5 x 9.5 mm) for security camera. It detects 0.1C changes.

11. Toshiba Memory (Major semiconductor manufacturer in Japan) developed a compact size (14 x 18 x 1.4mm) removable PCle/NVMe memory “XFMEXPRESSS” for ultra mobile devices.