From the inside: STI Electronics
Figure 2. A.J. Orames, manufacturing lab supervisor. Figure 3. David and Jim Raby with David Heller—STI’s reflow partner.
Figure 4. David and Jim Raby in front of one of their new FX-3 machines. Figure 5. An SMT operator in the Engineering Services division.
wetting to J-Standard compliance and their own FA equipment but send their the need to coat the samples.
examines the joints for the presence of tin- products to STI for concurrent verification.
oxide, humidity, etc. In the accelerated life cycle testing eMs manufacturing
The analytical department is run by the department, products are exposed to The assembly hall at STI is 24,000 sq. ft
very capable Marietta Lemieux. Marietta controlled thermal shock from -75˚C to and appears vast. It is currently populated
claims the industry is moving towards a 200˚C. The humidity tests typically range by four lines with room for six to eight
standard for ion chromatography, as a lot from -85% to +95% humidity. more. The latest line to be installed can
of cleaning is designed for flux residues Over in the Wet Laboratory compo- assemble 0201 components and consists
and not plating residues. “The move nents are subjected to fuming nitric acid of a Speedline Momentum printer with
towards polymer fluxes also increased the and fuming sulphuric acid tests to remove 2D inspection, Camalot Xyflex dispenser,
need for ion chromatography,” she said. overmolds and check components and de- JUKI FX-3 placement machine, fitted with
Over 60% of the work undertaken in vices against known good samples. Coun- four gantries of six heads, each offering
the analytical division is failure analysis, terfeit components are a huge problem and 60,000cph, a JUKI 2080 single gantry
and the remaining 30% is materials analy- to assist in this work, the analytical division placement machine for odd-form compo-
sis. The failure analysis projects come to will add a Cobalt 57 XRF gun in March to nent mounting and a 12-zone Heller reflow
STI from all over the world. Class III medi- enable non-destructive testing below the oven. A YesTech x-ray system completes the
cal is one of the biggest drivers. If a class III surface of the devices. line.
medical product is returned, the manufac- The SEM room is equipped with two The second line is designed to handle
turers need to know why it failed. Class scanning electron microscopes. The larger multiple small lot jobs, requiring fast
II medical covers less critical components system accommodates samples up to 5” by changeover and the ability to assemble
but higher volumes. Therefore it is equally 8” in the chamber. The smaller system uses 01005 components, or in one case, 4,400
important to analyze failures to limit the a high power microscope to examine high 0201 components. The line is equipped
number of returns. Many customers have vacuum and low vacuum samples without with a customized Heller wave soldering
30 – Global SMT & Packaging – June 2009
www.globalsmt.net
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