Situated in the heart of Bavaria and with over half a million inhabitants, Nuremberg is one of Europe’s most beautiful cities, rich in German culture and lined with exquisite architecture. From the Imperial Castle Kaiserburg—used between year 1050 to 1571 by every emperor of the Holy Roman Empire—to the breath-taking 17th-century churches and monuments. Traditional German restuarants boast the city’s prized mini bratwurst sauages, which are a delight to any palate.
It’s a beautiful 3rd day in May 2011, and the annual SMT Hybrid Packaging show has officially begun. As the Palomar Technoloiges team leaves the historic old town for Nuremberg’s famous expo center—just a few kilometers outside the city center—they find quickly that it is definitely the “place to be” to see the latest in electronic manufacturing materials, equipment and packaging. They are greeted by German hospitality-“willkommen” (welcome)-as they join the other industry leaders into the expo center. It’s a “thumbs up” by the show participants as they see and hear about the lastest equipment, process methodologies, materials and services available today.
The Palomar Technologies team consisted of Josef Schmidl (Managing Director in Europe), Tim Hughes (Customer Services & Programs Manager), Julie Adams (Director of Worldwide Sales, Assembly Services) and Norbert Schwindl (Service Engineer in Europe).
For the first time in Europe, the new ultra-versatile 3800 Die Bonder made its debut. The fully automatic 3800 Die Bonder provides the ultimate in flexibility, precision and repeatability. With a placement accuracy of +/- 7 microns and repeatability of 3.5 micron at 3 sigma, the system can’t be beat. The 3800 Die Bonder was recently awarded the 2011 New Product Introduction (NPI) Award for Electronics Assembly Equipment.
The high-speed 8000 Wire Bonder/Ball (Stud) Bumper—which provides high accuracy, precision and customization—was also performing live demonstrations on the show floor. The fully automatic 8000 Wire Bonder provides deep access of 11.10 to 19.05mm and tall mulit-level bonding (>12.7mm) in addition to the large work area of 304 x 152mm. The system has a cycle time of 0.125/wire and 0.077 sec/bump. Both the new 3800 Die Bonder and the 8000 Wire Bonder gained great attention and praise from the SMT Hybrid Packaging show participants as the Palomar Technologies team proudly demonstrated both systems' impressive versitile qualtities. There were some excellent discussions on specific customer applications and assembly requirements.
Customers without the need to invest in capital equipment this year were delighted to learn about Palomar Technologies Assembly Services. The contract assembly solutions offered by Assembly Services provide the customer the advantage of Palomar Technologies' expertise of precision microelectronic packaging solutions. With the ability to provide prototypes to mid-volume production, Assembly Services provides the high-accuracy of precision die bonding and wire bonding for an array of applications including large complex hybrids, HB/HP LEDs and MEMS device packaging. Once the customer’s product is ready for high-volume production, Palomar Technologies team of experts transfer the production-ready processes and equipment set to one of our qualified contract manufacturers, a customer’s internal manufacturing or a preferred supplier. It’s a win-win solution for all who wish to release new qualified products to market quickly without the delay of capital expediture.
The three days of the SMT Hybrid Packaging 2011 show were filled with thousands of visitors and events. Excellent presentations were given on the status of the electronics industry, the lastest technology advancements and solutions for application development. Europe is finally recovered from the recession and recently experienced the highest sales for semiconductor equipment and chip sets this past April 2011, since the "dot-com boom" of 2000. The growth of the industry will still experience a steady climb, which was excellent news for all.
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Julie Adams
Director of WW Sales, Assembly Services
Palomar Technologies