SMT - From the Editor:<br>Innovation Still Alive and Well in the U.S.

They say that innovation has dwindled down in the U.S., that technology and manufacturing drifted off to lower-cost providers in distant underdeveloped countries. This undeniably has happened in the contract assembly of surface mounted PCBs. It's almost as if the U.S. needs a challenge at times to get us started along another route. For instance, consider the approach we have taken to the standard 63/37 tin/lead solder paste, eutectic at 183°C, and a known entity that works well.

The European Union (EU) came up with the RoHS Directive, adopted in February 2003. RoHS took effect on July 2006, and was required to be enforced as law in each member state. This directive restricts the use of six hazardous materials in the manufacture of various types of electronic and electrical equipment. This is closely linked with the Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment Directive (WEEE), which sets collection, recycling, and recovery targets for electrical goods and is part of a legislative initiative to solve the problem of huge amounts of toxic waste.

Though RoHS is often referred to as the lead-free directive, it also restricts the use of mercury, cadmium, hexavalent chromium, polybrominated biphenyls, and polybrominated diphenyl ether. Manufacturers in the U.S. didn't want to change from using the well-known tin/lead solder formulae, but in order to do business with Europe, RoHS directives had to be followed. Therefore, we began to regulate, and faced the future head-on. California lead the way with similar restrictions. Then the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) published a life-cycle assessment of the environmental impacts of lead-free and tin/lead solder, as used in electronic products. For bar solders, when only lead-free solders were considered, the tin/copper alternative had the lowest scores. In paste solders, bismuth/tin/silver had the lowest impact scores among the lead-free alternatives. All of the lead-free solder alternatives had a lower life-cycle assessment score in toxicity categories than tin/lead solder due to the toxicity of lead, and the amount of lead that leaches from PCBs as determined by the leachability study.

The industry associations came up with acceptable alternatives to lead-based solder including conductive adhesives. That was the first response: simply replace one interconnect conductive alloy with another without harmful lead.

There have been many alternative solutions that eliminate solder altogether. As an example, Freescale Semiconductor, Motorola's spinoff located in Tempe, Ariz., is in small-scale production of redistributed chip packages (RCP), a substrate-less embedded chip package that offers a low-cost, high performance, integrated alternative to current wire-bond BGA and flip chip BGA packaging. Devices are encapsulated into panels while routing of signals, power, and ground is built directly on the panel. The RCP panel and signal build-up is designed to lower the cost of the package by eliminating wafer bumping and substrates, and thereby enable large-scale assembly in panel form. The build-up provides useful routing capabilities and better integration. Also, by eliminating bumping, the device interconnect is inherently lead-free, and stress on the package is reduced, enabling ultra-low-K device compatibility.

The panel is created by attaching devices active-side-down to a substrate, encapsulating and curing the devices, grinding to desired thickness, and then removing the substrate. Signal, power, and ground planes are created using redistribution-like processing. Two weeks ago, we visited the production site and — garbed in bunny suits — we took a close look at these panels to see what front-end type processes were used to make these embedded advanced packages

Another interesting approach to eliminating solder paste altogether is the Occam Process by San Jose-based Verdant Electronics. This process is an attempt to use the simplest solution to the problem. The Occam process uses conductive adhesive as a solder substitute. It uses reverse order interconnection process, beginning with components. It embodies mature, low-risk, familiar core processing technologies in a novel sequence. Because components are interconnected by means of copper plating after assembly into final positions in an encapsulated module, conventional circuit boards are not required. Prototype assemblies using this new technology currently are being produced. The process has a potential for manufacturing high-density, high-performance, high-reliability, RoHS-compliant solutions for products ranging from consumer to mil/aero applications. Verdant's concept eliminates problems connected with high-temperature exposure, tin whiskers, and vulnerability to mechanical shock and thermal cycle fatigue failure.

I just returned from SEMICON China, where they are quickly going from board assembly, which is fairly easy and automated, to designing and building advanced components. China has its own version of RoHS. Though foundries still are primarily in the U.S., more board assembly now goes on in Asia than anywhere else. Many new designs, medical and military especially, still remain in the U.S. for assembly. Many engineers that we talk to are afraid that — along with television, automotive, and airplane manufacturing — the electronics industry will fade from the U.S. through regulation and the necessity to seek areas where low-cost labor is readily available.

In the news most recently is the announcement that Siemens is looking to sell their electronics assembly plants that make pick-and-place equipment. Electronics has become less profitable, with narrow margins, especially in the U.S. Who else will follow Siemens? Will the U.S. end up being exclusively a service economy? Will only the American drug companies prosper domestically?

Because there are so many independent thinkers in the U.S., so many innovators, we're still surviving in the world economy, not just for music, fashion, travel/communication, cheap food, or vacation spots. We won't become the Disneyland to the rest of the world as long as there's money to invest in innovation and as long as the intellectual property (IP) for patents is protected.

In Tom Friedman's book, The World Is Flat, he talks about the convergence of technology and events that allowed India, China, and many other underdeveloped countries to become part of the global supply chain for services and manufacturing, creating an explosion of wealth in the world's two biggest nations and giving them a huge new stake in the success of globalization, and helping build their middle class.

Friedman claims that good examples lead humans and build global citizenship. One Arab company developed a world-class business strong enough to get itself listed on the Nasdaq: Aramex. Every Jordanian, every native of the region should know and take pride in the Aramex story the way every American knows the Apple, Microsoft, and Dell stories. Where are most inventions done in the U.S.? Garages. I'm not certain where Aramex was started — if a garage was involved — but I'm certain that when 400 Aramex employees with stock options divided $14 million as the stock went public, it changed their lives. It gave them unsurpassed dignity.

This sort of motivation requires us to run faster, be more creative, or suffer the lowering of our middle-class way of life. We always are at our best when challenged. Change is natural. Eventually technology spreads and that's a good thing for developing nations too. Each generation must wake up and imagine that things can be better and act on that imagination daily. The wakeup call is that "we" includes all nations. And that we must adjust the technology we build to reflect environmentally safe alternatives.

After my trip to China, my perspective and my poetry changed focus a bit. Here's the latest:

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