Plasma Etch has introduced the PE-100 plasma etching system designed primarily for Universities, small R&D laboratories and pilot production facilities.

The company reports that the PE-100 provides a modestly sized vacuum chamber that accommodates up to 240” of capacity per run cycle and uses an RF power supply, vacuum pumping, a PLC based process vacuum controller and touch screen programming in the claimed “turn-key” package. The company also reports that any process developed on the PE-100 can be scaled up to larger Plasma Etch systems as required by substrate size and throughput demands.

The company reports that all Plasma Etch systems operate using an RF induced ionized plasma process that removes contaminants such as organics, coatings and metal oxides as well as providing a hydrophilic surface for adhesion of parts processed, and that application for the system include medical devices, solar cells, optics, printed circuit boards, connectors, MEMs, wafer level packaging and other related semiconductor processes.

Henkel Corporation’s Hysol FF6000, is a reflow curable material that is formulated to provide flux for lead-free solder joint formation delivering claimed protection against mechanical stress when cured.

With the epoxy flux process, bottom side spheres are immersed into Hysol FF6000 prior to component placement. The device is then placed onto the PCB or substrate and travels through reflow. During the reflow process, the flux is said to provide solder joint formation while the epoxy encapsulates each solder sphere. This streamlined approach claims to eliminate the need for dispensing equipment and the time required for underfill application and cure.

The company states that the product can be used for package-on-package (PoP) devices and very large (typically 23 x23 mm or more) BGAs and CSPs, where traditional underfill processes may be problematic.

"Enabling joint formation and sphere encapsulation with one material not only delivers tremendous throughput and cost-saving advantages, it may also provide more robust protection than other underfill alternatives.” says Henkel’s Robert Chu.

www.henkel.com/electronics

Elpeguard SL 1307 FLZ is a yellowing resistant polyacrylic resin conformal coatings for PCBs. The company claims that the product has a fast drying time, and the cured ink film can be soldered and removed by means of a product-specific thinner.

The colorless fluorescent feature of this series is approved as a permanent coating as per UL 94 and meets the requirements of IPC-CC-830B “Qualification and Performance of Electrical Insulating Compound for Printed Wiring Assemblies.”

The product is also available in spray cans, for service and repair work, and coating of prototype and low-volume work.

The low-viscosity DSL 1600 E-FLZ Elpeguard Twin-Cure thick film lacquer conformal coating offers claimed excellent corrosion protection and mechanical and chemical durability in extreme temperature changes, and meets the requirements of UL 94 and IPC-CC-830B.

The company claims the 1600 E-FLZ product to be ecologically friendly, with reduced VOC emissions, and conforming to EU End-of-Life Vehicle directive 2000/53/EC and WEEE directive 2002/96/EC for finished products.

www.peters.de

Lackwerke Peters has released Elpemer SD 2491 SM-TSW yellowing-stable photoimageable solder resist, and SD 2691 TSW marking ink.

The company claims that the white-opaque photoimageable solder resist and corresponding marking ink meet the requirements of the optoelectronics industry. The products are applied by screen printing and developed in aqueous-alkaline media. The products have a claimed best flame class V-0 acc. to UL 94, meets requirements of IPC-SM-840D and is halogen-free acc. to JPCA-ES01-2003/IEC 61249-2-21. 
 
www.peters.de