Electrolube, a supplier of formulated chemical products to the global electronic, industrial and domestic devices manufacturing sectors, will be launching a versatile new silver conductive adhesive at APEX Expo 2014 in Las Vegas (March 25-27). The product will be of particular interest to designers and manufacturers of liquid crystal displays (LCDs) and liquid crystal monitors (LCMs) who seek to improve the efficiency of their manufacturing processes.

Dubbed SCPH, this new silver conductive adhesive is suitable for the assembly of cellphone display modules, tablets and similar products that incorporate flat screen displays. It offers excellent electrical conductivity and good adhesion to most substrates, especially indium tin oxide and colour filter substrates.

Significantly, SCPH is not dissolved by Tuffy conformal coatings, which are frequently applied to the electrodes of flat panel displays. This means that it can be coated with Tuffy alternately, which greatly simplifies the assembly process and results in marked improvements to production efficiency.

SCPH is suitable for use with fast-action, automatic dispensing equipment and will cure at ambient temperatures within ten minutes. It is halogen and antimony free, and requires no special storage conditions.

Recently launched in China, where it has met with considerable success among manufacturers of touchscreen products, SCPH silver conductive adhesive will be unveiled next to US audiences at APEX Expo (booth 2119), Las Vegas, March 25-27 2014 and the Design-2-Part show on May 7-8 in Schaumburg, Illinois.

Park Systems, a manufacturer of Atomic Force Microscopy systems since 1997 announced PinPoint Conductive AFM, an extremely accurate conductive measurement technology at nano-scale resolution for failure analysis (FA) in the semiconductor industry. The newly designed and innovative Park Systems PinPoint iAFM effectively solves the issues of traditional AFM thereby providing the most optimum solution to the FA engineers’ needs available in the nanotechnology industry today.

“Conductive AFM is an important tool for device research and failure analysis and with the introduction of PinPoint Conductive technology, Park Systems has succeeded in solving all of the shortcomings of conventional conductivity AFM such as quick tip wear, degradation of resolution, low signal to noise ratio, no tip pressure control, and poor reproducibility of data.  The conventional conductive AFM prevalent in the industry has to sacrifice the spatial resolution as the tip wears out in contact mode or the current level due to short and limited contact time,” explains Ryan Yoo, Vice President of Global Sales and Marketing.  “The newly developed PinPoint Conductive AFM provides the best of both higher spatial resolution and optimized current measurement.”

The advantages offered by PinPoint iAFM are of utmost importance because they can overcome and often eliminate the respective difficulties that are present in the conventional Conductive AFM and solve the respective FA problems faced by engineers with respect to SRAM (static random access memory) cells.  The Pinpoint AFM technique offers the lowest current noise level (< 0.1 pA), the maximum current available in the industry (10 mA) and the highest gain selection in the industry (it covers approximately seven orders of magnitude (10⁶ – 10¹²).  Furthermore, the controllable data acquisition time allows for a very high signal-to-noise ratio.Park’s PinPoint AFM is therefore an extremely effective tool for the characterization of electrical defects in SRAM cells for failure analysis.

By using Park Systems PinPoint Conductive AFM, scientists and engineers can acquire contact current measurement at any specific location of a sample at varying tip pressures, and at a much higher accuracy and precision than what has been possible to-date.  Added benefits from this technology are frictionless conductivity scanning, reproducible data from repeated measurements, cost savings from longer lasting AFM probe tips, and sustained super high nano-resolution.  Park’s new PinPoint Conductive technology provides on-location electrical conductivity data at specific points on sample to researchers and failure analysis engineers and offers frictionless conductivity scanning and excellent high spatial resolution and sensitivity with a very high signal-to-noise ratio.

In PinPoint Conductive mode, the AFM probe monitors its feedback signal, approaches towardsthe sample surface until a predefined threshold point, measures the Z scanner’s height, then it rapidly retracts. The XY scanner stops during the electric current acquisition, and the contact time is controlled to assure enoughtime for quality data acquisition. PinPoint Conductive AFM allows higher spatial resolution with optimized current measurement over different sample surface; furthermore, it does not apply any lateral force thanks to the decoupled vertical movement of the Z scanner of the cantilever.

PinPoint Conductive was designed to replace the conventional contact conductive AFMand is an enhanced design that eliminates the problems of the tip wearing out during contact mode topography and diminished contact time.  Park’s PinPoint Conductive AFM enables engineers and research scientists to characterize and confirm electrical designs of semiconductor device structures with much more accuracy, precision and confidence in the data.

Microfluidics International Corporation introduces the new LM10 Microfluidizer, a digitally controlled lab unit for small sample material processing.  The LM10 converts pressure energy more efficiently into shear and impact forces, attaining targeted size reduction at lower peak pressure, which results in less sample temperature rise during processing.  The micro-channel architecture of each interaction chamber enables linear volumetric scale-up for larger capacity processing, guaranteeing process performance at pilot/production scales, and minimizing additional development time.

The stable pressure and constant volume processing of the LM10 produces narrow particle size distributions that enable a higher yield of active ingredients post-filtration/sterilization.  Combined with a simplified fluid flow path, the LM10 offers the smallest sample size range of its class to reduce losses and experimental costs.

The new and enhanced digital pressure control interface of the LM10 provides a greater degree of repeatability within the design and implementation of experiments.  Additionally, integrated temperature measurement allows for real-time monitoring at different process points to improve   the reliability of experimental results, conclusions, and theories.

The LM10 maintenance reminder helps to keep the equipment in good working order, ensuring consistent size reduction, emulsion creation and cell disruption performance over time.  Operator alerts can also detect potential deviations from target process pressure set points, minimizing the chances of experimental error and possible maintenance issues.

Field upgradable firmware means the machine does not have to be sent back to the factory for software/feature upgrades, enabling future flexibility and adaptable feature enhancement.

Brewer Science today launched inks with the potential to change the way carbon nanotube (CNT) users manufacture microelectronic devices. The company introduced the first aqueous, surfactant-free, ready-to-use semiconducting CNT inks for microelectronics and printed electronics applications. Brewer Science, a leading supplier of specialty materials and integrated solutions for microelectronics device fabrication, is once again delivering a game-changing product that will provide its customers with an advantage in their industry.

“Until now, users of semiconducting CNTs had to use surfactant-containing ink from material suppliers or produce surfactant-based inks themselves from raw semiconductor CNT sources. In either case, the deposited surfactant had to be washed from the film, which generated CNT-contaminated waste and could redistribute the deposited films, leading to performance variation,” said Jim Lamb, Director of Business Development, Carbon Electronics Center. “This point-of-use tinkering was very process intensive and inconsistent, even for laboratory usage of CNTs, and commercial applications could not be targeted with such products. These ready-to-use formulations will give our customers a stable and consistent product for use in large-scale manufacturing of semiconducting devices and many other products.”

The CNTRENE 4010 series of semiconducting inks are stable, water-based materials prepared using a proprietary method developed by Brewer Science. Due to their unique formulation, the inks do not contain additives such as surfactants that require damaging and waste-producing post-deposition treatment (wash) steps. These inks can be deposited easily onto a variety of rigid and flexible substrates with standard coating techniques including spray-coating and Aerosol Jet^® printing. At Brewer Science’s Carbon Electronics Center, arrays of TFT devices have been prepared which have average ON/OFF ratios of >4000 and mobilities of >0.2 cm²/V·s.

Today at the 2013 American Society for Cell Biology Annual Meeting, Bruker introduced the Opterra Multipoint Scanning Confocal Microscope, which sets a new standard for integration of confocal imaging with photoactivation. The new Opterra microscope utilizes a number of features to obtain the speed of wide-field imaging and the resolution of traditional confocal systems while minimizing phototoxicity, making it an ideal solution for gentle and fast confocal imaging of live cell preparations. A seven-position pinhole/slit aperture allows the Opterra to be optimized for varying objective lens magnifications that results in the ability to image deeper into tissue versus conventional disk scanning confocal microscopes.

“The Opterra has proven to be a major advance in terms of rapid, time-based volumetric imaging,” said Dr. Mario De Bono, Medical Research Council Group Leader at the Laboratory of Molecular Biology, Cambridge University, UK. “The speed of the system, coupled with its sensitivity and resolution has significantly enhanced our ability to visualize neural activity in 3D in C. elegans at speeds that were previously not possible. The ability to change pinhole size is great, as it allows us to match the imaging setup with the specimen.”

Infinite Graphics Incorporated, a precision graphics company, produces a wide variety of calibration masks used by manufacturers to calibrate their Coordinate Measuring Machines (CMMs).  These phototools can vary in size from 0.3” x 0.3” all the way up to 32” x 32” depending on the specific requirements.  All calibration masks produced by IGI are guaranteed to be NIST traceable ensuring the customer pinpoint accuracy and total reliability.

IGI offers a wide range of substrates and coatings.  Substrate offerings include: soda lime, fused silica, quartz, borosilicate, BK7, sapphire, opal glass and Mylar.  Coating offerings include: iron oxide, chrome (bright and anti-reflective), aluminum and emulsion.  Easy release coatings include: X-301 and SLP-10.  IGI is even willing to customize substrates as well as work with customer provided substrates, if necessary.

“Our ability to produce a 32” x 32” calibration mask is really worth mentioning because many companies cannot offer that service,” Rob Larsen, Infinite Graphics Incorporated’s Vice-President of Engineering, states directly.  “All of our calibration masks are NIST traceable and we complement these high quality standards with outstanding customer service, delivery time and ongoing customer support.”