OTHER ELECTRONICS & NANOTECHNOLOGY
UPDATE
November 2010
McIlvaine Company
TABLE OF CONTENTS
New Plant in China for Printed Circuit Boards
Power Integrations Invests in SemiSouth Laboratories
Nemotek Technologie has Class 10 Cleanroom
Moog to Build Aircraft Controls Operation Facility with Cleanrooms
Xaar Awards Cleanroom Contract to Holland Contracts
SSTL Invests in Cleanrooms in Guildford, UK
Dow Electronic Materials Breaks Ground in Korea
Dow Electronic Materials to Build in Eastern China
Plexus to Build in Romanian City
Quintiles Opens Global IT Center
The mark of confidence shown by Unimicron, strategic investor in RUWEL, could not have been more impressive. One year after joining forces with RUWEL International, the world's largest PCB manufacturer is building on the technological know-how, the quality and the sound market expertise of the German PCB pioneer with its many years of experience and tradition. Unimicron has therefore established a new division, the High Reliability Business Unit, for products that have to satisfy maximum reliability requirements and is additionally building a completely new plant in Kunshan, China, to expand capacities for such boards. This plant, "Kunshan 3" - or as it is called internally "KS 3" - will be part of the new Business Unit, just like the existing capacities dedicated to RUWEL and its customers in the plant "Kunshan 1" and the entire RUWEL International GmbH itself. It is remarkable that Unimicron is placing the entire Business Unit, including the new plant in China, under the leadership of the RUWEL management in Geldern. The value Unimicron attaches to this new division is reflected in its direct attachment to Chairman of the Board T. J. Tseng and President David Lee.
The new Business Unit is to become the "family silver", the most valuable asset of the Unimicron family, above all as regards quality. It will be responsible for producing and selling printed circuit boards that have to satisfy particularly high demands made of reliability. These may be for instance safety-relevant boards exposed to strong temperature fluctuations, employed in harsh environments, or with exceptionally long guarantee times. The High Reliability Business Unit will also be responsible for production whenever field failures of a product can lead to critical situations that in the worst case could even endanger human life.
The Business Unit supplies products and services predominantly to the automotive industry (for example ESP, Airbag, ABS, distance control, engine management etc.), for industrial engineering (for instance controls for hoists, conveying systems, crane systems, machine controls etc.) and to the suppliers of medical technology, on which human lives and our health depend daily.
The demands we make of ourselves and the goals set for the "quality elite in printed circuit boards" are high. With particularly qualified staff we want to sharpen our profile for customers and our partners in supply through exceptional reliability and innovative thrust addressing all facets of the circuit board. The plant in Geldern will continue to boost its flexibility as regards quantity, capacity, technology and delivery times. The growth-oriented production in Kunshan will set the Asian benchmark as regards quality and efficiency.
The German and Chinese sites work hand-in-hand. Geldern develops the processes and technologies together with the customers at the early stage, conducts tests and preliminary production. The process is then stabilized in Geldern. The new projects are prepared in parallel in Kunshan. After trial runs in Geldern, the process is then started full-scale in Asia.
For completely new products the test and production start-up phase will be initiated in Geldern and then transferred. During series production Geldern will act as back-up and be able to join in as required, for instance in cases of high demand. Kunshan will take on classic series production and offer competitive prices from Asia. Customers generally require a complete range of batch sizes. Smaller batch sizes can therefore be produced more flexibly in Geldern.
RUWEL will be the primary contact partner of the High Reliability Business Unit for customers worldwide, regardless of where they are based. This ensures a uniform communications channel.
RUWEL has been supplying customers from the KS 1 plant in Kunshan already since mid-2010. Customer interest has been enormously high and series have already been in production since this summer, following a successful qualification phase. Unimicron has chiefly supplied major Japanese groups of high repute who specify high quality standards from this plant. It possesses all the standard certifications, for the automotive industry too. RUWEL has a capacity of around 250,000 m² (2,690,000 sq. ft.) for its customers in this factory. However the positive customer reactions soon made it clear that capacities would have to be expanded. This is now being done with the erection of KS 3.
New Plant
The first phase of the new plant KS 3 will have a capacity of 220,000 m² (2,367,200 sq. ft.). Production is set to start at the beginning of 2012. The existing capacities in KS 1 will remain additionally available to RUWEL, so that customers already established there will not necessarily have to change the plant. A second expansion stage with a further capacity of 220,000 m² (2,367,200) is already being prepared, lifting RUWEL's production capacity in China to altogether 600,000 m² (6,456,000 sq. ft.). Staff from KS 1 who have already been trained by RUWEL will flank the start-up of the new KS 3 plant. Qualified "expats" (expatriates), in other words experienced RUWEL staff from Germany, will also be working actively in China. The quality system on site will also expressly be headed by a RUWEL quality management officer.
In parallel with the measures in Asia, notable investments have been and are being carried out in the Geldern plant to eliminate bottlenecks, implement technical innovations and advance process engineering.
RUWEL International as a member of the Unimicron Technology Group has become a global player in the world of printed circuit boards.
Power Integrations, the leader in high-voltage integrated circuits for energy-efficient power conversion, announced a strategic investment in SemiSouth Laboratories, Inc., a Starkville, Mississippi-based manufacturer of high-voltage silicon-carbide (SiC) semiconductor devices. Power Integrations' commitment of $30 million, which includes an equity investment in SemiSouth, a technology license and other financial commitments, will help drive the continued expansion of SemiSouth's SiC fabrication facility and spur continued growth of clean-tech jobs in Mississippi. The companies will collaborate to drive adoption of SemiSouth's SiC technology, which enables ultra-efficient power conversion for solar and wind inverters, hybrid/electric vehicles and other applications that benefit from exceptionally high energy efficiency.
The new relationship was formally announced at SemiSouth's Starkville headquarters, located in the Thad Cochran Technology Park. A number of notable public officials were on hand for the announcement, including Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour, U.S. Representative Gregg Harper, and Dr. Mark Keenum, president of Mississippi State University.
"SemiSouth has made impressive breakthroughs in the development of silicon-carbide technology, attaining exceptionally high levels of efficiency and establishing SiC as an enabler of clean technologies such as solar energy and hybrid/electric vehicles," stated Balu Balakrishnan, president and CEO of Power Integrations. "With a mutual focus on energy-efficient high-voltage semiconductor technology, Power Integrations and SemiSouth are natural strategic partners. We are particularly enthusiastic about investing in Mississippi's emerging high-tech sector, where strong support from government and the academic community has created an environment highly conducive to innovation and private-sector investment."
Added Kenney Roberts, president and CEO of SemiSouth, "SemiSouth has recently been recognized by its customers for having world-record, cost-effective, energy-efficient power, semiconductor, electronic products based on SiC technology. In response to unprecedented global demand for our products in energy-sensitive markets such as solar inverters, server power supplies, wind inverters, and electric vehicle development, we needed to find the right investor willing to share our vision of expansion. We welcome Power Integrations' investment in SemiSouth's future, to allow us to quickly expand and serve our customers on a much broader scale."
Founded in 2000 as a spin-out from Mississippi State University, SemiSouth is a privately held, venture-backed semiconductor company with more than 20 U.S. patents in the emerging field of high-efficiency silicon-carbide power devices. The company's products, which include 1200 V and 1700 V transistors as well as high-voltage diodes and power modules, enable ultra-efficient power conversion and power management in applications ranging from three kilowatts to 100 kilowatts today, with products in development to serve applications up to one megawatt. The company operates a 10,000-square-foot cleanroom facility at its Starkville headquarters, where it employs more than 70 people.
Power Integrations, based in San Jose, CA, pioneered the market for high-voltage integrated circuits used in AC-DC power supplies. The company's EcoSmart(TM) energy-efficiency technology drastically cuts standby energy consumption, the power wasted by electronic products that are plugged in but not in use. The company has sold nearly four billion EcoSmart chips since 1998, saving an estimated $4.4 billion of standby power and preventing millions of tons of carbon emissions. The company's chips can be found in all manner of electronic products including computers, appliances, mobile-phone chargers, consumer electronics and LED lights.
With the infusion of $30 million from a California-based clean technology company, Starkville's SemiSouth Laboratories plans to expand and bring more than 70 new jobs to the Golden Triangle.
SemiSouth employs 74 people at its Silicon-Carbide semiconductor facility in the Thad Cochran Technology, Research and Economic Development Park at Mississippi State University. Over the next 18 months, SemiSouth hopes to use the $30 million pledged Friday by Power Integrations, of San Jose, Calif., to double its work force and expand production, SemiSouth President and Chief Executive Officer Kenney Roberts said Friday after the two companies announced the joint business venture.
Nemotek Technologie, a manufacturer of customized wafer-level cameras for portable applications, has announced certification of its Class 10 cleanroom. The facility is the first in Africa located in the Rabat Technopolis Park, a hub for technology development in Morocco. The facility will serve as the center for the design and manufacture of Wafer-Level Packaging (WLP), Wafer-Level Optics (WLO) and Wafer-Level Cameras (WLC) to be used in camera phones and other portable devices. With the Class 10 certification, Nemotek Technologie validates its ability to produce world-class silicon wafers in a high-level sterile environment.
Nemotek Technologie's cleanroom will reside in a 10,000 m2 (107,600 sq. ft.) facility enabling the company to streamline the manufacturing of wafer-level camera modules and significantly reduce the threat of airborne particles that may cause harm to chips. Particle defects such as dirt or dust on the image sensor surface are the largest factor for yield loss during camera module assembly, with particles on the die serving as a cause for assembly failure. The cleanroom will streamline the manufacturing process and produce high quality, low defect wafer-level solutions. As customer demand increases, the cleanroom can be upgraded to Class 1.
"To become the first wafer fabrication company to maintain a Class 10 cleanroom facility in Africa is a major accomplishment for us as well as the industry," said Jacky Perdrigeat, CEO of Nemotek Technologie. "There is a growing demand in the industry for miniaturization without sacrificing quality. We understand this demand from customers to produce quality solutions that are low in defects. With a cleanroom as part of our manufacturing facility, we are producing materials in a sterile environment and advancing the production of miniature wafers without interference of outside elements."
Nemotek's cleanroom was validated and certified by Luseo, an independent certification company based in France. Luseo checked and certified that Nemotek Technologie's cleanroom met the international standards and system qualifications that apply to airflow, power electricity, temperature, pressure and other parameter controls. These certifications are based on the universal standard ISO 14644-1/3/4/5 for cleanrooms and associated controlled environments.
Moog, a worldwide designer and manufacturer of precision control components and systems for aircraft, satellites and medical equipment is to move its UK aircraft operation to a new purpose-built facility in Wolverhampton, West Midlands.
The project will involve building a 190,000 sq. ft. facility – with an additional 50,000 sq. ft. available for future expansion – at the new i54 business park off Wobaston Road. The move will safeguard approximately 400 jobs for the region. Moog will be the first tenant at the site.
The facility will house design, development and manufacturing activities for aircraft controls, as well as cleanroom facilities.
Birmingham developer Stoford has submitted planning permission to build the facility and Dan Gallagher, Stoford director, said plans for the cleanroom facility will go out to tender. The application is due to be considered by South Staffordshire District Council on 9 November.
Stoford said the firm hopes to start work on the facility in January 2011 and is aiming for completion in November 2011.
Joseph Bell, vice president of acquisition integration at Moog, added: ‘This is a key strategic move for Moog, providing the opportunity to build a first class facility, which will allow us to support and build on our market leading position.’
The Cambridge, UK-based inkjet printing technology group Xaar is to double manufacturing capacity at its Huntingdon plant through the addition of a further cleanroom and the purchase of capital production machinery.
Xaar said it would invest in excess of £20m in the expansion to meet growing demand for its Platform 3 1001 printhead.
The new cleanroom facility, the firm’s fourth, will be operational by September 2011 with all new capital equipment operational by the third quarter of 2012, said Xaar’s chief executive Ian Dinwoodie.
The fabrication and test of the printheads will be carried out in the new facility.
Xaar said Holland Contracts, which built the firm’s existing cleanrooms, would be constructing the additional one.
Based in Tamworth, Holland Contracts is a supplier of modular cleanrooms, which use the latest air handling equipment to control and monitor the room environment, ensuring high levels of cleanliness and total control of temperature and humidity. There is the option of air shower entry enclosures and air-lock equipment pass-through hatches.
The equipment to be installed in the cleanroom will cover all Xaar manufacturing operations from front-end actuator manufacture (micro machining and metallization), assembly operations (using a range of manual and automated assembly equipment) and print testing of the final product (using bespoke test equipment to qualify the quality of the final product to specification).
The main applications currently for the 1001 printheads are ceramic tile decoration and narrow-web labels. By 2012, decorative laminating, product decoration and some wide-format graphics applications will be added.
Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd (SSTL), in partnership with the University of Surrey’s Surrey Research Park, is taking a new technical facility opposite its headquarters building in Guildford, UK providing the flexibility to work on a broader range of satellites and the capacity to integrate and test more satellites in parallel.
The 3,700sqm (40,000 sq.ft.) £10 million facility will provide cleanrooms, laboratories and testing facilities for state-of-the-art space engineering. It will house approximately 40 permanent staff and anything up to 100 further project specific staff from across the company at peak test and integration periods.
SSTL CEO, Dr. Matt Perkins, commented; “Our new integration and test facility will play a crucial role in our company’s development. Not only will it enable us to integrate the European GNSS payloads for ESA, but it will make it possible for us to integrate and test satellites directly opposite our headquarters improving time to market with first rate intra-company communications.”
Due for completion in April 2011, the new facility will be operating at full capacity as soon as it is opened when its secure cleanroom facilities will be used for the testing and integration of 14 navigation payloads for the deployment phase of Europe’s future GNSS system.
The new laboratories & cleanrooms will bring the assembly, testing and integration of satellite platforms for SSTL’s global customers into a single location, enabling engineers and project managers to participate in day-to-day decision making and mission reviews without leaving the site. The world-class test halls provide two 125 cubic meter walk-in thermal chambers, a seismic test platform with 16,000kg, 10,000kg & 8,000kg gantry cranes and reinforced floors, providing the greatest possible flexibility for integration and testing of small and larger spacecraft.
Construction is already under way, and the building is on target for opening in April 2011.
Dow Electronic Materials, a business unit of The Dow Chemical Company has broken ground for a new metalorganic precursor manufacturing plant in Cheonan, Korea.
The construction of Dow Electronic Materials’ new Korea plant is part of a multi-phase plan announced in June 2010 to expand TrimethylGallium (TMG) production capacity to meet the surging global demand for the material in the LED and related electronics markets. The facility is expected to be operational in early 2011.
Capacity expansion in the United States at existing facilities is also progressing as planned, with new capacity expected by the end of 2010 and continuing through the first quarter of 2011. Total additional capacity resulting from the multi-phase plan is expected to be 60 metric tons per year.
“Meeting our customers’ near-and long-term needs for high-quality materials continues to be a priority for us,” said Joe Reiser, global business director, Metalorganic Technologies, Dow Electronic Materials. “The construction of our new facility in Korea illustrates our commitment to investing in expansion and having supply capabilities close to our customer base in Asia.”
TMG is a metalorganic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD) precursor material that is critical to the manufacture of LEDs and other compound semiconductor devices. Exceptionally high-quality materials and precise delivery of metalorganic precursors are essential to building reliable LEDs.
The new metalorganic precursor plant in Korea will be located in Cheonan, approximately 85 kilometers south of Seoul. Dow Electronic Materials currently manufactures TMG and other metalorganic precursors in North Andover, MA, while packaging is done in both North Andover, MA, and Taoyuan, Taiwan.
Dow Electronic Materials supplies precursors to the LED market and has patented precursor manufacturing processes and delivery technology.
Dow Electronic Materials, a business unit of The Dow Chemical Company will construct a new manufacturing facility in Eastern China to meet the growing material demand to serve printed circuit board (PCB), electronic and industrial finishing, and photovoltaic (PV) markets in Asia.
The new manufacturing facility will be located at the company's Zhangjiagang site in the province of Jiangsu, approximately 98 kilometers from Shanghai. Construction is expected to begin in late 2010, with production anticipated to beginning in late 2011.
"The expanding demand for computer, communications and consumer electronic products and the focus on renewable energy has resulted in growth in PCB, electronic and industrial finishing, and PV materials markets, especially in Asia," said Helen Zhang, global general manager, Interconnect Technologies for Dow Electronic Materials. "As a market leader, Dow Electronics Materials is devoted to collaborating with customers to deliver innovative solutions. The new manufacturing facility will enhance our service and technical expertise for customers, as well as our ability to continue to augment our portfolio with high performance products that meet future needs for both electronic and solar cell markets."
"The PCB, electronic and industrial finishing, and PV markets continue to expand in many parts of Asia, with especially strong growth in China," said JR Chen, Asia General Manager, Interconnect Technologies for Dow Electronic Materials. "We are committed to supporting local customers efficiently and quickly in product production, delivery, and technical service. Our existing plant in Dongguan in Guangdong province is well-positioned to serve our customers in Southern and Western China, and this new Zhangjiagang manufacturing facility will enhance our supply chain to serve our customers in Eastern and Northern China."
Dow Electronic Materials is the leading supplier of metallization technologies to the PCB, electronic and industrial finishing, and solar cell markets.
Plexus Corp. announced that it has signed an agreement with a Romanian city to develop a new manufacturing plant in the city's industrial park.
The new building will be located on 22 acres of land in the city of Oradea. Plexus, an electronic manufacturing firm, says it will spend $25 to $30 million on the plant. Construction is expected to begin next year. Plexus has been leasing a facility in Oradea.
Steve Frisch, regional president, said in a statement that, "Our investment in this new manufacturing facility is an important milestone in the evolution of our European regional growth strategy. We are committed to the continued development of our presence in this region and believe it will enable us to deliver on our longer-term growth goals."
Beneq, leading provider of industrial thin film equipment and technology based on atomic layer deposition (ALD) and aerosol coating, is proud to announce significant developments in its U.S. operations.
In order to answer to the growing need for quality ALD equipment in the U.S., and to better address its North-American customers, Beneq, Inc. (USA) has relocated to new facilities in Atlanta, GA. The new quarters offer amenities necessary for a growing business to function seamlessly at the customer interface and cope with the increased demand for Beneq thin film equipment. The new location also offers room for future expansion of Beneq operations in the U.S., including a service network.
Furthermore, Beneq has within the past months received ALD equipment orders from major U.S. governmental bodies: the Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) in Chesapeake Beach, MD, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, MD, the U.S. National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) in Golden, CO, and Argonne National Laboratory (ANL) in Argonne, IL. Beneq is proud to add these distinguished organizations to its list of preferred customers and welcomes them to the prestigious world of Beneq ALD.
Mr. Jukka Kohtala, Director of Sales, Beneq USA, says: "It is truly gratifying to experience the growth of Beneq in America in such a tangible way. The expansion of our business in America, as I see it, is a natural result of the sales and marketing initiatives we have launched, the acclaimed thin film equipment we can provide and the growing amount of demanding customers that know what they really want and who can deliver."
Quintiles opened its new Global Information Technology Service Operations Center in Bangalore, India. The service center provides monitoring, control and triage of system events across the company’s technology platform.
“We are delighted to bring our state-of-the-art global technology operations center online, a first in our industry,” said Richard Thomas, chief information officer, Quintiles. “The center proactively identifies and resolves issues before business operations are ever impacted, anytime, anywhere.”
Naz Haji, senior vice president, Quintiles IT, commented, “Our ability to manage and monitor the comprehensive array of IT systems in the Quintiles cloud – whether they are internal, provided by our customers, or through partners – allows us to support our customers at the critical foundational level mitigating operational risk in the New Health landscape. By keeping the data flowing and systems running without interruption, the Service Operations Center is the invisible guardian behind the work that Quintiles undertakes around the world.”
The company has ISO 20000 service management certification for the Service Operations Center and ISO 27001 security certification for its core data centers.
McIlvaine Company
Northfield, IL 60093-2743
Tel: 847-784-0012; Fax: 847-784-0061
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