Feb 23, 2012 
IPC - Association Connecting Electronics Industries® has announced the winners of the Best U.S. and International Papers of IPC APEX EXPO® 2012. Selected through a ballot process by the event’s Technical Program Committee, the papers will be presented at IPC APEX EXPO, February 28–March 1, at the San Diego Convention Center.
Taking top honors in the International category, the winning paper is, “Lead-Free Selective Wave Solder Guidelines for Thermally Challenging PCBs,” by Ramon Mendez, DFM/process development engineer, Celestica, in Monterrey, Mexico. His co-authors are: Ismael Marin, also with Celestica in Mexico, and Helen Lowe, Celestica Toronto, Canada. Mendez’s paper will be presented on Wednesday, February 29 in S17 Solder Assembly.
“Investigation of Pad Cratering in Large Flip-Chip BGA Using Acoustic Emission,” by Anurag Bansal, Ph.D., reliability engineer, Cisco Systems Inc., San Jose, Calif. was selected as the best paper in the U.S. category. Dr. Bansal’s co-authors, also with Cisco Systems, are Cherif Guirguis and Kuo-Chuan Liu. Dr. Bansal will present his paper during the S31 Pad Cratering technical session on Thursday, March 1.
The Technical Program Committee also awarded three honorable mentions in the International category and one in the U.S. category. Those papers are: “Elemental Compositions of Over Two Dozen Cell Phones,” by Beverley Christian, Ph.D., Research in Motion Limited, Ontario, Canada, in session S01 Environmental Compliance; “A Plasma Deposited Surface Finish for Printed Circuit Boards,” by Tim Von Werne, Ph.D., Semblant Limited, Cambridgeshire, United Kingdom, in session S34 Surface Finishes II; “Warpage Issues and Assembly Challenges Using Coreless Packaging Substrate,” by Jinho Kim, Samsung Electro-Mechanics Co., Ltd., Suwon Gyunggi-Do, South Korea, in session S33 PCB Warpage; and “PCB Trace Impedance Impact of Localized PCB Copper Density,” by Gary Brist, Intel Corporation, Hillsboro, Ore., in session S07 Signal Integrity I.
More than 100 papers were submitted for consideration as Best Paper. Papers were evaluated on their technical content, originality, test procedures and data used to deduce conclusions, quality of illustrations and the clarity and professionalism of writing.
Respected as the most selective in the electronics manufacturing industry, the IPC APEX EXPO technical conference provides a venue for the dissemination of practical, ground-breaking research. Over three days, 38 technical sessions will impart the latest advances in areas including lead-free alloys, reliability; high temperature laminates; halogen-free; counterfeit components and large BGA reliability.
To register for the IPC APEX EXPO Technical Conference or for more information on all the activities taking place, including standards development meetings, professional development courses, executive management meetings and the largest exhibition in North America for printed board design and manufacturing, electronics assembly and test, visit www.IPCAPEXEXPO.org.
IPC (www.IPC.org) is a global trade association based in Bannockburn, Ill., dedicated to the competitive excellence and financial success of its 3,100 member companies which represent all facets of the electronics industry, including design, printed board manufacturing, electronics assembly and test. As a member-driven organization and leading source for industry standards, training, market research and public policy advocacy, IPC supports programs to meet the needs of an estimated $2.02 trillion global electronics industry. IPC maintains additional offices in Taos, N.M.; Arlington, Va.; Stockholm, Sweden; Moscow, Russia; Bangalore, India; and Shanghai, Shenzhen and Beijing, China.
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