In an interview with Seth Homer (our Asst. Product Manager for Engineered Solders and NanoFoil®), we discuss how an interested customer can partner with our team to quickly explore how NanoBonding® can work for their application:
Jim: Seth, you have had a very extensive career at Indium Corporation. What type of products have you worked with?
Seth: I have been with Indium for 20 plus years, with the first 15 focused on the manufacturing operations of almost all the products we manufacture today, so my background is quite diverse. Since entering the product management role, I have managed many of our engineered solders and, most recently, NanoFoil.
Jim: From my perspective, you’re taking NanoFoil application to the next level. Could you share with us what markets you find to be particularly well-suited for NanoBonding?
Seth: Indium has always focused on the next generation of materials for electronics assembly. NanoFoil is the perfect example. To say that NanoFoil fits better in to one market or another may not tell the right story. As with most markets , the goal is always to improve upon the design you have today. NanoFoil allows customers to think outside the box to achieve faster processing - due to the instantaneous bond, with higher reliability - because you’re not exposing components to a standard reflow.
Jim: This can be a big step for a customer, since a lot of people are still unfamiliar with the technology. What can a new customer expect when they start a project like this?
Seth: First and foremost, they can expect to be supported by the entire Indium Tech team. NanoFoil has been introduced in numerous applications globally, growing our internal knowledge base on how best to implement NanoFoil in any given application. We offer that as resource. We will support our customer from the design stage straight through to high volume implementation, and beyond.
Jim: Since you have a history of supporting customers with engineered solders applications, how does support for NanoFoil differ?
Seth: NanoFoil is a precise, instantaneous, in situ heat source that drives a bonding or thermal-activation process or reaction. As such, our thinking, and tech support, is much more aligned with the customer’s assembly process. Of course, it is impossible to totally separate materials considerations from process considerations, and vice versa, but NanoFoil encourages us to think differently. Given that NanoFoil has some nuances that solder does not, the support is more in depth and in some cases requires a longer implementation phase. In addition we are much more involved in the design stage. For instance, we, on many occasions, have received components from our customers and bonded them in our lab for concept evaluation.
Jim: For our readers, could you explain the type of time frame we are talking about with a new application if all goes smoothly? Let’s assume the customer has parts ready to send and it requires no special tooling. From the initial call to a prototype in our lab, how long would you expect this to take?
Seth: I would say initial bonding and bond analysis should take no more than 5-7 days, less shipping. Bond analysis could include SEM photography, x-ray and or ultrasonic scan. In some cases shear strength data. The level of bond analysis could skew that lead-time, especially if cross sectioning is required.
Jim: So if this sounds like something a customer is interested in, what is the best way for them to start the process?
Seth: They can contact me directly and I will be happy to assemble the correct team to get the ball rolling on their application.
Jim: Thank you Seth.
Seth: Thank you! Always a pleasure.
Seth can be reached at shomer@indium.com for more information regarding application development.