Issue link: https://iconnect007.uberflip.com/i/1526114
SEPTEMBER 2024 I SMT007 MAGAZINE 31 Correct. We are doing this today. You cannot mix different paste suppliers, but we are in touch with many of our paste suppliers. ey even have it in their datasheet where they say, "You can mix this paste together with this paste on one pad, no problem. If you stay within the same paste manufacturer, there's no issue. If you mix suppliers, that's probably not a good idea." We did as well our own test together with the Fraunhofer Institute, showing that this is working perfectly fine. At this point, is the jetting technology— the printheads—stable, or is there still development that needs to be done? e technology is stable. We have a lot of development still, and if I look back, we have developed new capabilities, including pin-and- paste, printing into cavities, printing on warped boards, package-on-package, low-tempera- ture and water-soluble paste, and fine-pitch components. We can compensate for stretched panels, and we have improved the speed. But we always listen to our customers' demands for smaller dots and higher speed. Faster inspec- tion is a regular request and, recently, we have significantly accelerated the speed of our inte- grated 2D solder paste inspection feature. Jet printing is a very soware-driven technol- ogy. As you can imagine, there's a lot of inno- vation. It is a stable process in that it's work- ing perfectly fine for many customers around the globe, but there's always development and improvement. Some of the features you mentioned relate to the printhead, but many would be handled on the software or servo side: Stretch correction and alignments involve coordination between the vision systems and the linear motors. Production is getting more complex. You have this wider range of components, a mix of large and small, plus what I mentioned about EV automotive. e pads are getting closer to each other. I was talking to some customers who told me they would love to continue to build on 0603 components or 0805, but it's so much more expensive. eir purchasing department is asking them to move to 0201 or smaller com- ponents, pushing everyone to miniaturization.