Issue link: https://iconnect007.uberflip.com/i/1243344
70 SMT007 MAGAZINE I MAY 2020 tion. This is an area where our smart engineers spend a lot of their time. There is also a contin- uously increasing trend toward more advanced software. Hardware is under control, and now the question is, "How can we support our cus- tomers with highly intelligent software solu- tions?" Matties: You've mentioned a number of differ- ent types of paste. How many jettable paste compositions are out there? Jargon: First of all, there are a couple of very large and worldwide relevant suppliers, and we work with most of them. But there are also lots of smaller ones when you look at China, for example, which is a very relevant market for us. There are a lot of local Chinese suppli- ers that work in different industry areas. Each of these manufacturers has different pastes for different applications. Sometimes, they even customize their paste for certain applications. When large mobile phone manufacturers develop their next-generation mobile phones, they sometimes have certain applications with very special demands on paste that are not yet available. They work together with paste manufacturers and request, "Can you custom- ize your paste to my requirements?" They find out these applications cannot be done with a stencil printing process; they are forced to use a jetting process. Then, they come to us and share their demand, "We need to custom- ize the paste. Can you make sure that these pastes can be qualified as a jettable paste in your printer?" Matties: You're saying there's a lot of variety of pastes out there, and an assembler will choose the paste based on the technology that they're using at their facility. Is it basically the same jetting technology, or do they need to change any of the heads for different pastes, or how does that work? Jargon: We have a spectrum of different ejec- tors that are set up on more or less the same ejector technology. Sometimes, you have to look into what parameters you can change and how, and if it's reasonable to change, then we do this together with the paste manufacturers. But for the standard pastes, there's rarely a need to adjust the ejector technology. The nec- essary but sometimes incremental changes are happening on the paste side. There is one more aspect: Storing of solder pastes is a bit challenging. You have to store the paste under certain conditions (i.e., spe- cial temperatures). Otherwise, it's aging, and the use expires. We have jointly developed a paste with one of our partners, which can be stored at room temperature. The supplier calls it the game-changer solder paste. They developed the paste explicitly together with us because they wanted to offer a jettable paste that also provides their customers with easier storing capabilities over long periods of time. This is another example of where you have to work together to get a perfect, high-quality solution. Matties: There may be process changes, but once they buy the jet equipment, they deal with the solder paste suppliers. Jargon: Yes. We provide the reference tech- nology from the hardware/jetter perspective, and then they further develop and adjust their paste. Matties: Speed has always been an issue for jet technology. How are you answering the demand for high-volume throughput? Sometimes, you have to look into what parameters you can change and how, and if it's reasonable to change, then we do this together with the paste manufacturers.