ASSEMBLÉON CONVERTS A-SERIES INTO IC SHOOTER, SHOWS AT NEPCON

Veldhoven (Netherlands), 30 March 2010

Assembléon is announcing another industry first at Nepcon China in Shanghai (Booth 1C02, April 20 to 22), with the company’s A-Series pick & place machines now placing ICs at the same speed and accuracy as chip components using its new Twin Placement Robot (TPR). The TPR eliminates the need for the extra line balancers that are needed by other pick & place machine manufacturers, making the A-Series with TPR an all –in-one solution, especially for DRAM module placements. The breakthrough is the latest of Assembléon’s ‘Smart Solutions’, which includes the MCP screen printer – the first to deliver the exact amount of solder paste needed by each component – which is also on show at Nepcon.

Twin placement robot turns IC placer into IC shooter

Thanks to the new TPR, Assembléon's A-Series can handle high speed chip and IC shooting on a single platform. It does this at high speeds (up to 111,000 components/hour to IPC 9850) and excellent accuracy (as good as 35 µm). Components can be picked from a front side tape and/or tray feeder. That makes A-Series machines a perfect single solution when placing DRAM memory modules and other ICs.
 
“The extra IC placement speed brings important savings to equipment manufacturers” remarked Burkhardt Frick, Assembléon’s General Manager for the Asia-Pacific region. “It means you just need one machine – so eliminating the need for separate line balancers – to place both ICs and chips. That saves on operating and maintenance costs, as well as valuable factory floor space. The TPR is unique in the industry, and will bring real benefits for IC-oriented industries like the booming DRAM market”.
 
“The TPR is joined at Nepcon by our MCP screen printer” continued Frick, “which is a perfect match for the A-Series. Both have the industry’s lowest dpm (defects per million) figures: around 10 dpm for the MCP and below 10 dpm for the A-Series. Since around 75% of all production defects are caused by faulty screen printing, reducing defect rates can bring huge savings. The MCP alone reduces PCB rework by 50%, saving around US$ 10,000 per machine per year in materials and repair costs.”

 
Screen printer reduces rework costs

Besides dramatically reducing defect rates, Assembléon’s MCP screen printer is the first to match the high throughput of today’s pick & place machines. Board cycle time is as low as 11 seconds – even for boards populated with 01005 chips and having component interspacings down to 50 µm. Boards can mix large and small components, and the screen printer also accepts Flexible Printed Circuits.
 
A single swing squeegee head uniquely uses variable attack angle printing. That delivers the exact amount of solder paste needed by each component to ensure consistently flat and uniform solder deposits. An optional inspection camera searches for known printing defects and can automatically adjust printing parameters and start stencil cleaning when needed.

Continual improvements to industry’s best performing machines

The A-Series continues to be improved. Assembléon’s True Capacity on Demand, for example, allows customers to rent extra pick & place robot heads temporarily to meet peaks in demand. There is no change to the equipment footprint, and calibration-free robot heads are quickly and easily fitted to the machines on the line – without changing vulnerable internal hardware. That can save equipment assemblers 20% on initial capital costs, with the A-Series also saving on running costs by halving the energy consumption of competing machines. The machines also now take extra-long and extra-wide (800 mm by 457 mm) boards, essential for many industrial applications. And on the AX-201 end-of-line machine, a new tray trolley doubles the tray feeding speed.