Issue link: https://iconnect007.uberflip.com/i/1526114
48 SMT007 MAGAZINE I SEPTEMBER 2024 at's how you shi the output of your pump. Users can also dispense multiple droplets at the same location for thicker bead requirements. Does dispensing happen across the entire board at one time or is this more of a step or motor function? You can dispense the same board both ways. You can dispense in one go or in multiple passes. If there is an underfill application that requires six passes to dispense across the product, and you need to use flow timers before dispensing another layer to control how it flows on the sub- strate underneath the chip, you can do that. All those multiple passes can be handled by dis- pensing. It's very process- and material-driven. Tell me about using dispensing in production. Dispensing in production uses inline sys- tems with a conveyor system. ere might be requirements to preheat the board before the dispense zone. You preheat the board, making sure it gets to a certain temperature before you dispense. An underfill application is a good example. e board goes to the dispense zone, where the board will be sensed for the correct temperature, then the material will dispense along the sides of the BGA. To ensure that the material has wicked in, a capillary reaction takes place to ensure that material has flown underneath the BGA to the other side for a good fillet formation. e board moves down- stream to a different machine for whatever is next in the process. All this has been handled by the machine itself. ere could be factory communication happening, such as with an MES, which is controlling the machine and sending the commands to the dispenser. is is dispensing in the production environment. It runs almost 24/7 so it has to withstand that kind of product life cycle. Many of our dispens- ers in the field have been running for 20 years, and people are happy with them. What are some of the new developments in dispensing? We have a customer-based innovation model to understand the pain points. We are always keen on improving our dispensing capabilities. For example, right now, we dispense everything from conductive inks to thermal inter- face materials, and we have been chal- lenged with different materials. Today's hot topic is AI and server applications which are high-perfor- mance computing applications involv- ing new materials, like liquid metal and liquid metal paste. We've been making sure we are ready for these new, emerg- ing technologies. We've been talking about using liquid metal in PCB fabrication in processes like additive and semi-additive print- ing. Is this the same material? It could be a different formulation. At IPC APEX EXPO, I attended a pre- sentation on a similar kind of mate- Camalot Prodigy manufacturing line.