IPC HONORS BEST PAPERS AT IPC APEX EXPO 2010

BANNOCKBURN, Ill., USA, — IPC – Association Connecting Electronics Industries® has announced the winners of this year's Best U.S. and International Papers at IPC APEX EXPO™, held April 6–8, 2010 in Las Vegas. The event's Technical Program Committee selected the winners through a ballot process.

"Copper Tin Intermetallic Crystals and Their Role in the Formation of Microbridges between the Leads of Hand Reworked Fine-Pitch Components," by Jeffrey Kukelhan, BAE Systems Electronics, Intelligence & Support, took the U.S. Best Paper honor.

Two International Best Papers tied for first place honors. Polina Snugovsky, Ph.D., and Jason Bragg of Celestica International Inc. won for "Drop Test Performance of a Medium Complexity Lead-Free Board after Assembly and Rework." Coauthors were: Russell Brush, Eva Kosiba, Billy Lee, Marianne Romansky, Suthakaran Subramaniam and Michel Thomson, all from Celestica International Inc.; Andrew Ganster, Crane Division NSWC; William Russell, Raytheon; Dennis Fritz, SAIC; and Carol Handwerker, Sc.D., and Jonathan Tucker from Purdue University.

The other winning International Paper award went to Arnaud Grivon of Thales Corporate Services, for authoring "Industrial PCB Development Using Embedded Passive & Active Discrete Chips Focused on Process and DfR." His co-authors were Michel Brizoux, Dr. W.C. Maia Filho and E. Monier-Vinard, all from Thales Corporate Services, along with Johannes Stahr and Mike Morianz of AT&S Austria Technologie Systemtechnik AG.

Russell Nowland, Alcatel-Lucent, was presented the U.S. Honorable Mention award for "Telecommunication Case Studies Address Head-in-Pillow (HnP) Defects and Mitigation through Assembly Process Modifications and Control." Richard Coyle and Peter Read, both from Alcatel-Lucent, and George Wenger, from the Andrew Division of Commscope, co-authored the prize-winning paper with Nowland.

Nearly 100 papers were submitted for consideration as Best Paper. Papers were evaluated on their technical content, originality, test procedures and data used to deduce conclusions, quality of illustrations and the clarity and professionalism of writing.

Copies of the winning papers are included in the 2010 Technical Conference Proceedings. The Proceedings CD will be available for purchase through the IPC Online Store. All winning papers will be published in IPC Review, a bimonthly publication distributed exclusively to IPC members. Members may also access the winning papers in the Members-Only section of the IPC Web site.

About IPC

IPC (www.IPC.org) is a global trade association based in Bannockburn, Ill., dedicated to the competitive excellence and financial success of its 2,700 member companies which represent all facets of the electronics industry, including design, printed board manufacturing, electronics assembly and test. As a member-driven organization and leading source for industry standards, training, market research and public policy advocacy, IPC supports programs to meet the needs of an estimated $1.7 trillion global electronics industry. IPC maintains additional offices in Taos, N.M.; Arlington, Va.; Garden Grove, Calif.; Moscow, Russia; Stockholm, Sweden; and Shanghai and Shenzhen, China.