An Interview with Me (Mike Konrad) on the Pick-Place Podcast with Chris Denney and Melissa Hough

Episode 68:

I was privileged to be a guest on the Pick-Place Podcast with Chris Denney (Worthington Assembly) and Melissa Hough (CircuitHub). This is the first of a two-part interview.

In this episode we are joined by Mike Konrad to chat about board cleaning. Mike founded Aqueous Technologies in 1992 in response to the Montreal Protocol and the resulting international treaty banning most popular cleaning/defluxing solvents. Their board cleaning equipment assists manufacturers with increasing product reliability while saving both water and energy, reducing the industry’s environmental impact.

In addition to being the President of Aqueous Technologies, he is also a fellow podcaster and runs the Reliability Matters Podcast, which discusses reliability of circuit assemblies, reliability “best practices” and success stories.

In the first part of this conversation we delve into the history of board cleaning, the electronics the industry’s transition to primarily using no-clean flux, and why more and more companies are reintroducing board cleaning back into their assembly process.

If you want to listen to us get into the nitty gritty details of how to implement a proper circuit board cleaning process, make sure to listen to the second half of this episode.

Chris Denney may be reached here:
cdenney@worthingtonassembly.com

Melissa Hough may be reached here:
melissa@circuithub.com

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A Conversation with Rework/Repair Expert Norman Mier of Best Inc.

Episode 67: A Conversation with Rework/Repair Expert Norman Mier of Best Inc.

Norman Mier is a U.S. Marine Corp. retired veteran with over 20 years of experience in the electronics rework and repair industry. He received his training through the Navy’s Micro Miniature (2M) Electronic Repair Program. He has progressed through every level of rework and repair recognized in the industry. Norman has also earned the highest certifications awarded by IPC in electronics training, being certified as a Master Instructor in IPC A-610, IPC J-STD-001D, IPC/WHMA-A-620 and IPC 7711/7721.

He has worked through BEST for several electronics industry leaders and created tailored courses for their equipment. This also includes providing training to technicians and engineers in surface mount and advanced surface mount technology. The knowledge Norm has brought to these companies has been invaluable to their process improvement efforts. His skill has also been a major factor in keeping BEST training at the forefront in the electronics-training field.

Norman may be contacted here:
nmier@solder.net

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A Conservation with Dr. Ron Lasky and His Students Annaka Balch, Nadia Clement, and Raaga Kannan

Dr. Ron Lasky (Professor at Dartmouth College) and three of his students talk about the papers they wrote which were presented at SMTA’s Pan Pacific Microelectronics Symposium in Hawaii in 2020 as well as a new paper to be presented at the same conference in 2022.

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Part 2 of our Conversation with Tim O’Neill and Fred Dimock on Oven Profiling

Welcome to episode 65 of the Reliability Matters podcast. This is part 2 of our conservation with Aim Solder’s Tim O’Neill and BTU’s Fred Dimock. On this episode, we’ll dive into oven profiling best practices.

Timothy O’Neill is the Technical Marketing Manager for AIM Solder. Operating out of AIM’s U.S. Headquarters, Tim is responsible for developing and optimizing product and technical information, collaborating with complimentary suppliers and equipment manufacturers and ensuring AIM’s products exceed expectations and meet market requirements.
Tim is also a technical writer and presenter for industry trade publications and events. He has co-authored several papers on PCB assembly subjects.

Tim is also an IPC-A-610 Certified IPC Specialist.

Fred Dimock is the Manager of Process Technology at BTU International and recently started a consulting business, FCD-Global services.

Fred holds an Associate Degree in Mechanical Design from Wentworth in Boston and a Bachelors Degree in Ceramic Engineering from the State University of New York.

Fred has authored numerous articles on lead free solder, process control, and the operation of continuous furnaces. His papers have been published in English, Chinese, and German.

He has taught numerous SMTA solder reflow classes and participated in the 5-45 Subcommittee for the development of IPC-7801 Reflow Oven Process Control Standard.
Additionally, he wrote the chapter on solder reflow for the Handbook of Electronic Assembly and A Guide to SMTA Certification by Dr Lasky and Jim Hall.

He received Distinguished Speaker status at SMTA Guadalajara Mexico and is a key presenter for the SMTA Jump Start program for new engineers.

Tim O’Neill may be contacted here:
toneill@aimsolder.com

Fred Dimock may be contacted here:
fdimock@btu.com

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A Conservation with Tim O’Neill and Fred Dimock

Welcome to episode 64 of the Reliability Matters podcast. On this episode, we’ll have a conversation with two industry experts on the subject of solder voiding mitigation and oven profiling, two subjects which influence solder voiding. This will be a two part episode. Today, we’ll dive into void mitigation and how vacuum reflow technology can help reduce or eliminate voiding. Part two, on episode 65 (in two weeks), we’ll discuss profiling best practices.

My guests today, and one the next episode are Tim O’Neill from AIM Solder and Fred Dimock of BTU. Tim will discuss voiding mitigation from a materials standpoint while Fred will bring cover equipment and profiling stragities.

Timothy O’Neill is the Technical Marketing Manager for AIM Solder. Operating out of AIM’s U.S. Headquarters, Tim is responsible for developing and optimizing product and technical information, collaborating with complimentary suppliers and equipment manufacturers and ensuring AIM’s products exceed expectations and meet market requirements.
Tim is also a technical writer and presenter for industry trade publications and events. He has co-authored several papers on PCB assembly subjects.

Tim is also an IPC-A-610 Certified IPC Specialist.

Fred Dimock is the Manager of Process Technology at BTU International and recently started a consulting business, FCD-Global services.

Fred holds an Associate Degree in Mechanical Design from Wentworth in Boston and a Bachelors Degree in Ceramic Engineering from the State University of New York.

Fred has authored numerous articles on lead free solder, process control, and the operation of continuous furnaces. His papers have been published in English, Chinese, and German.

He has taught numerous SMTA solder reflow classes and participated in the 5-45 Subcommittee for the development of IPC-7801 Reflow Oven Process Control Standard.
Additionally, he wrote the chapter on solder reflow for the Handbook of Electronic Assembly and A Guide to SMTA Certification by Dr Lasky and Jim Hall.

He received Distinguished Speaker status at SMTA Guadalajara Mexico and is a key presenter for the SMTA Jump Start program for new engineers.

Tim O’Neill may be contacted here:
toneill@aimsolder.com

Fred Dimock may be contacted here:
fdimock@btu.com

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A Conversation with and a Presentation by Reliability Expert Dock Brown

Welcome to episode 63 of the Reliability Matters Podcast. Today, I’ll be speaking with Dock Brown.

Dock Brown brings his more than 30 years of electronics reliability experience to clients of Ansys. Prior to joining Ansys, he spent 20 years at Medtronic where he most recently concentrated on cross business unit implementation of reliability initiatives for Class III medical devices. He was also responsible for supplier assessment and approval, on-going supplier audits, failure analysis, corrective actions, MRB, sampling, and ultimately full accountability for quality and reliability of commercial off-the-shelf and custom parts and assemblies from a worldwide supplier base. Earlier in his career, Mr. Brown also spent time at Sundstrand Data Control where he led the implementation of Boeing’s Advanced Quality System program and with Olin Aerospace.

As a volunteer, he has been involved with ASQ, IEEE, IPC, and SMTA. He was the keynote speaker at the SMTA Cleaning Conference and won the best paper award at the SMTA Microelectronics Conference. He has taught on the subjects of design for reliability, tin whiskers, statistics, design of experiments, and contributed to standards development.

Today’s episode is a little different than others. Dock will be sharing a very interesting presentation on the subject of reliability. If you’re listening to the audio-only version of this episode, you may want to view the video version so you can see Dock’s slide-deck. The video version of this episode, and several others are available on the Reliability Matters YouTube channel.

Dock Brown may be reached here:
dock.brown@ansys.com

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A Conversation with Cogiscan’s Co-Founder François Monette

Welcome to the Reliability Matters Podcast. This is episode number 62. By now, most of us have heard of Industry 4.0, or the Industrial Internet of Things (IIOT), or Smart Factory, or Factory of the Future. The key all of these acronyms is Connectivity, Data Management, Material and Process Control, Traceability, and Analytics. It’s not as simple as collecting data. The data much be understood, useful, and contextual. 

My guest today is François Monette, is the co-founder and Chief Business Development Officer at Cogiscan, a company specializing in Track Trace Control products for the electronics industry.

François co-founded Cogiscan in 1999 with two other partners in Canada. François earned his mechanical engineering degree from McGill University in Montreal. François started his career at IBM, and worked at contract manufacturers, C-Mac and Solectron, before joining Universal Instruments.

François Monette may be contacted here:
fmonette@cogiscan.com

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A Conversation with IPC’s Chief Technologist Matt Kelly about IPC APEX Expo 2021

Special Edition: A Conversation with IPC’s Chief Technologist Matt Kelly about IPC APEX Expo 2021. This year’s APEX Expo is a virtual event. Matt and I discuss IPC’s new technical conference focus and review a small sample of the upcoming technical presentations and professional development courses.

Register for IPC APEX Expo here:
https://www.ipcapexexpo.org

IPC Factory of the Future:
https://apexfuturefactory.ipc.org/

Matt may be reached at:
mattkelly@ipc.org

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A Conversation with Flex Circuit and Additive Electronics Expert Tara Dunn

Episode 61: A Conversation with Flex Circuit and Additive Expert Tara Dunn
Tara Dunn and I discuss the world of flex and rigid-flex circuits including flex best practices when it comes to design and use of flex technology. We also discuss the new world of additive electronics.

Tara Dunn is a seasoned professional with more than 20 years in the electronics industry exclusively focused on the PCB sector. Her experience spans roles from manufacturing to sales and marketing.

Tara was the founder of Omni PCB, a technical manufacturers representative for the printed circuit board industry which specializes in quick-turn projects | PCB Design, High Density Interconnects, RF/Microwave PCBs

Tara is also the Vice President of Marketing and Business Development for Averatek which develops and licenses advanced manufacturing processes – and the key chemistries that enable them – for a variety of electronic products, including:
• very high density printed circuit boards
• semiconductor packaging
• RF and millimeter wave passive components

Tara writes a regular column for www.pcb007.com and is a regular contributor with Altium. Tara also co-publishes pcbAdvisor.com

And, perhaps most interesting, she was one of the founders of geek-a-poluza. We’ll get into that and so much more.

Tara Dunn many be contacted here:
Tara@averatek.com
www.averatek.com

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A Conversation with Rockwell Collins’ Dave Hillman about Solder Voiding

Episode 60: A Conversation with Rockwell Collins’ Dave Hillman about Solder Voiding

Solder voiding has been with us longer than we know. Modern X-ray inspection technology has allowed assemblers to see and quantify voiding. Metallurgical expert Dave Hillman from Rockwell Collins explains the causes and possible remedies for solder voiding. 

Dave Hillman is a Metallurgical Engineer in the Advanced Operations Engineering Department of Collins Aerospace in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. He serves as a consultant to manufacturing on material and processing problems. He served as a Subject Matter Expert for the Lead-free Manhattan Project in 2009. He has published numerous technical papers and was presented with the 2008 SMTA International Conference on Soldering & Reliability “Best of Conference” award and was the recipient of the SMTA “Member of Technical Distinction” Award. Dave was awarded the Da Vinci medal as a Rockwell Engineer of the Year. He serves as the Chairman of the IPC JSTD-002 Solderability committee. He’s also a member of the SMTA where he serves on the SMTA Journal and Soldering & Surface Mount Technology Journal Technical Paper Review committees. He’s a member of the American Society for Metals, the Minerals, Metals & Materials Society, and IPC.

If you’re in the electronics assembly industry, you’ve probably seen Dave at numerous technical conferences, imparting wisdom with a style unique to Dave.

Dave Hillman may be reached here:
david.hillman@collins.com

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A Conversation with CMOS Inventor Dr. Eric Fossom

Episode 59: My guest, Eric Fossum is best known for the invention of the CMOS image sensor better known as the “camera-on-a-chip” used in billions of cameras, from smart phones to web cameras to ingestible pill cameras to DSLRs. 

In 2017, Eric was a co-recipient of the Queen Elizabeth Prize for Engineering, the world’s top engineering prize (and considered by many as equivalent to the Nobel Prize) for the invention of digital imaging sensors. 

Eric was inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame and is member of the National Academy of Engineering. He is a solid-state image sensor device physicist and engineer, and his career has included academic and government research, and entrepreneurial leadership of several startups. He is the John H. Krehbiel Sr. Professor of Emerging Technologies at the Thayer School of Engineering at Dartmouth college. Eric also serves as Associate Provost of Dartmouth College for Entrepreneurship and Technology Transfer, and directs Dartmouth’s PhD Innovation Programs.

Eric recently co-founded another startup with his former students, Gigajot Technology, Inc.

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2020 Round-Up

Episode 58: 2020 Round-Up
On this last episode of 2020 there are no guests, no experts, no best-practice advice. Just a short recap of 2020. 

We just reached more than 10,000 downloads of the podcast! A HUGE thank you to my audience and my guests for making this podcast possible! On this episode I’ll announce the first few guests of the 2021 season of Reliability Matters. This is looking like a terrific season!

We are now producing an audio-only format and a video format. The video format may be viewed on our new YouTube channel at:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC43S4–AIuSqlXvxmdsA7AQ

Please keep your questions and topic suggestions coming! Email me at:
mike@mikekonrad.com

Thanks everyone for making this podcast successful!

Mike Konrad
Reliability Matters

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A Conversation with CAF Expert Graham Naisbitt

Episode 57: A Conversation with CAF Expert Graham Naisbitt 

Conductive Anodic Filament (CAF) is a form of Electrical-Chemical-Migration (ECM). Unlike surface-level ECM, CAF exists beneath the surface of the circuit assembly. Graham and I discuss the causes of CAF and methods to test for and mitigate CAF.

Graham has an extensive history working in the electrical and electronic manufacturing industry. Graham was the IEC 1906 Lord Kelvin Award Winner. IEC TC91 WG2, 3 and 10 MaintenanceLeader of 4 Standards. He is Vice-Chair of the IPC 5-30 Cleaning and Coating Sub-Committee overseeing 15 IPC Standards Development Committees. He has received 14 IPC Standards Awards and is a BSI British Standards Institution (EPL501) Member.

Graham is a Specialist in Insulation Resistance Testing, Ionic Contamination Control, Solderability, Conformal Coating materials and application systems, including Cleaning, Inspection and Test.

Graham may be reached here:
graham.naisbitt@gen3systems.com

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A Conversation about Solder Voiding with Solder Materials, Stencil, and Cleaning Experts

Episode 56: A Conversation about Solder Voiding with Solder Materials, Stencil, and Cleaning Experts

Voiding is the cause of multiple failure mechanisms. I spoke with solder material expert Tim O’Neill of Aim Solder, stencil manufacturer Prakash Gango of StenTech, and cleaning materials manufacturer Kalyan Nukala of Zestron about how solder voiding leads to product failures and methods to reduce voiding.

My guests may be reached here:
Tim O’Neill
Aim Solder 
toneill@aimsolder.com
www.aimsolder.com

Prakash Gango
StenTech
prakash@stentech.com
www.stentech.com

Kalyan Nukala
Kalyan.Nukala@zestronusa.com
www.zestron.com

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A Conversation with SMTA President Dr. Martin Anselm

My guest today is Dr. Martin Anselm. Martin is a professor at Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) and is also the newly elected President of the Surface Mount Technology Association or SMTA.

Martin also worked for Universal Instruments. During his 12 year career at Universal Instruments, Martin was, among other positions, a Process Research Engineer and Manager of Failure Analysis Services.

Martin completed his Ph.D. in Materials Science and Engineering through Binghamton University. His research topic involved Copper Nickel Tin intermetallic formation kinetics on electroless Nickel substrates. Martin also completed a Masters of Science in Mechanical Engineering from Clarkson and an undergraduate degree in Physics from SUNY Geneseo.

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