September, 2019
www.us-
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Page 63
ASM SmartStencil: Monitor the Service Life of Stencils with RFID
By Jens Katschke, Senior Process Solutions Manager, ASM A
SM SmartStencil is a comprehensive RFID- based hardware and software solution for monitoring and managing the service life of
stencils. Electronics manufacturers benefit from gaining total transparency regarding the operating time of their printing stencils without the need for manual scanning, because the system automatical- ly writes each printing cycle to each stencil’s RFID tag. With this innovation, ASM moves its printing solutions for the integrated smart factory another step forward. The solder paste printing process is one of the
most error-prone steps in SMT assembly opera- tions. More than 40 percent of all printing process errors can be attributed to the stencil’s condition or design. Among the most important factors: as the stencil’s printing cycles and service life increase, its tension and surface quality decline markedly. As a result, the stencil separates unevenly from the circuit board, which leads to deformed solder pads and “dog ears” as the stencil becomes more and more contaminated. Both aging effects reduce the quality, yield and reliability of the printing process. To prevent these flaws, it is important to mon-
itor each stencil’s service life. In the past it was impossible or very cumbersome and expensive to verify and track the service life or the number of printing cycles performed by each individual stencil.
All-in-One Solution ASM has finally addressed this challenge
with its ASM SmartStencil system. The central component of this innovative hardware and soft- ware solution is an RFID tag that gets attached to each stencil and records the number of printing cycles. This enables the seamless and transparent
monitoring of each stencil’s usage, even if they are deployed on different lines and in different print- ers. The system records much more than the num- ber of printing cycles. Like a stencil ID, the RFID tag can hold information about the stencil’s origin, its storage locations and process steps to support ordering and logistics processes.
SmartStencil modules. By combining reading and writing capabilities in a single device, it enables the user to read and write SmartStencil RFID tags offline in order to retrofit stencils and add data to a tag. It can also be used to identify stencils in the warehouse or on the line and to write detailed com- ments into the free-form data field of the RFID record. In addition, the RFID handheld scanner
makes it possible to manually record the number of printing cycles in printers that are not equipped with SmartStencil readers and store this informa- tion in the tag, for example if a line is equipped with non-DEK printers.
Warning and Stop Thresholds The scanner is also used to store important
Users can read and write to RFID tags with the ASM SmartStencil handheld scanner.
Another important feature for electronics
manufacturers is the ability to order RFID tags to retrofit their existing stencils or attach them to new stencils if their stencil supplier cannot or should not perform this step. The data being recorded on each Smart -
Stencil RFID tag can be read at any time with RFID readers installed in DEK printers or manu- ally with the ASM RFID handheld scanner.
Portable RFID Scanner The handheld scanner is another central com-
ponent that supplements the printer-mounted
warning thresholds and stop thresholds in each tag. If the printing process reaches the stencil’s warning threshold, the printer issues a message and may even trigger the ordering process for a new stencil. If the number of printing cycles reach- es the stop threshold, the printer stops. To ensure process stability, such a machine
stop cannot be superseded by a regular operator. Only process engineers or other employees with the proper authorization are permitted to super- sede the stop with an RFID handheld scanner. This may make sense, for example, if only a few more print cycles need to be executed to complete a particular order. The combination of printer-mounted readers
and handheld scanners for offline reading and writing makes the SmartStencil system an extremely flexible solution that is highly automat- ed, yet open to the integration of printers from
Continued on page 74
See at SMTAI, Booth 915
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