Steve DeCollibus, Managing Editor, Semiconductor Packaging News

Verdant Technologies Joe Fjelstad has spent the last year developing and promoting their solder less OCCAM process. We caught up with him last week to see how things were going.

Circuitnet: Joe, now that the hoopla around solder less technology seems to have died down a bit, I was curious about what levels of success and implementation the OCCAM process has achieved.

Joe Fjelstad: It has been both a long and a short year. Given the problems and expense of lead-free conversion, initial interest in OCCAM was very high and the enthusiasm of many knowledgeable and top future oriented technologists remains unabated.

Joe Fjelstad, Verdant Technologies

Still the reality of having to overcome the inertia required to alter the long standing electronics manufacturing paradigm is huge and it takes time. "Better the devil you know" as the old saying goes.

So activity to date has largely focused on continuing education of the industry and some developmental activities, including exploration of some of the variations on the OCCAM theme. It is important to note that educational and development activities are global in nature as they must be in a global industry and they are occurring at locations in both of the Americas, Asia and Europe.

There are a couple of reliability investigations underway (some early reports are slated to be made next week). These activities, when complete, will pave the way for the rest of the industry so that they know that the road is safe to travel. Even so most initial products will likely be kept simple for a while until comfort levels rise.

CN: You had anticipated challenges along the road to developing this technology, what have been the initial challenges and were they what you thought they would be?

JF: While there has been a great deal of interest in the concept of solder less assembly, it has (perhaps not unsurprisingly due to its disruptive nature) met with its share of skepticism in certain sectors of the electronics manufacturing equipment and assembly infrastructure.

One of the frustrating things to deal with overcoming is the present and seemingly growing fear of taking any risk along with uncertainty and doubt, they comprise the elements of the infamous FUD trio.

The industry has pulled in its horns significantly in recent times, presumably due to the fiscal instability we are all presently facing. The idea of trying something new when everything seems to be in flux is not for timid or weak willed companies.

In such times, Ashleigh Brilliant's observation "Why not go out on a limb, isn't that where the fruit is?" has always seemed to me to be sound advice.

CN: Any show stoppers?

JF: Perhaps the biggest sticking point is the idea that one does not get to test the assembly until it is complete and, moreover, that rework and repair are not given much attention or respect.

The belief in OCCAM being that if one properly burns in, tests and prepares the components and then conscientiously controls all of the processes used to create the assembly (and does not abuse them by exposure to high temperatures such as are required by lead-free soldering), there is little reason to anticipate a need for repair.

Do it right the first time... Revered quality guru, W. Edwards Deming taught all who would listen to either test 100% or test nothing, but he also noted the burden of test on cost. That said, testing fundamental components 100% is a key concept for OCCAM assembly.

Quality must be built in and the manufacturing process holds the key. The simple truth is that testing is a waste of time if the process can be altered to address and solve potential problems. When the process is overly complex, intrinsically weak or limited by physics, then there will be a lot of problems and rework can be expected to be required post assembly step.

This is where we are today. Stig Oresjo's data collected, while he was with Agilent, showed that nearly 97% of the manufacturing defects found in electronics are related somehow to the solder process. Joint quality and reliability experts teach that the solder joint is the most vulnerable part of the assembly.

Moreover, when an electronic component is good going into solder assembly and bad coming out of assembly, what might be the cause? It will take some time to get comfortable with the idea of eliminating test but I think it is a bridge that can be crossed without too much effort but process control is vital.

CN: Have any of your strategic partners begun to scale up production and have they run into any stone walls regarding the limitations of the equipment they have and the equipment they need?

JF: Production volumes are still in the future for more complex assemblies but some simple products appear to be on their way to preproduction quantities in Asia. Interest in the development of OCCAM specific process equipment has been expressed and there have been some exploratory discussions on the topic but the fact is most of the equipment required is here today.

There have been some recent developments in encapsulating technology in Asia that should drop right into place. What is also interesting, is that there is the potential for resurrecting some older process technologies that were tossed aside in the 1990s due to concerns over their weakness when it came to soldering.

Another bright spot is that there have been unearthed some nascent technologies that were being developed for semiconductor manufacturing that appear to be nearly ideally suited to OCCAM type solder less assembly and circuitization but this will take some time and budget to do secondary targeting.

CN: Have you discovered any new benefits that the process brings to manufacturers.

JF: The initial list of benefits included: lower material use, reduced energy requirements, fewer manufacturing steps, simpler designs with fewer wiring layers, higher performance, improved thermal management, greater design security (in terms of case of BOM determination), better EMI and ESD protection, potential metal jacket hermeticity, reduced operating power, obviation of concerns about finish solder ability, solder joint quality or tin whiskers, the lack of need for stringent post assembly cleaning requirements, greater shock and vibration protection, reduced testing, 3D joining of assemblies and the prospect for improved reliability, are all clearly highly compelling.

Garnering even one of those benefits could be enough in many applications today but the one that will likely drive the success of solder less assembly technology will be low cost. This does not mean that solder will go away.

Products produced with solder terminations will be used for the foreseeable future but when set up head to head against solder less assembly, in many if not most applications, they will not be as competitive in the end. Once the change to a proven solder less assembly method is completed in one location and begins to spread, all new doors of opportunity will begin to open. The future looks bright.