Dominique K. Numakura's Newsletter from Japan - Printable electronics at DKN research

DKN Research distributes a weekly newsletter and industry reports covering the electronics industry. We remain current with the latest business trends and product updates and rely on our vast network to gather information and disseminate it to our readers on a weekly basis.

Many of you perceive our company as a market research group, which is only a small segment of our business. The main business activity at DKN Research LLC is microelectronics engineering and packaging. DKN Research is an industry leader in innovative technologies for the flexible circuit market. Our company strategy is to create innovative technologies without large investments.

DKN Research recently announced its success in developing a series of thick film circuit technologies using screen-printing for printable and flexible electronics. Many large and venture investment companies are allocating a lot of financial and labor resources to develop new electronics using nano ink materials and ink jet printing. In contrast, DKN Research focuses on a more affordable screen printing process to make thick film circuits. Our process was continuously re-evaluated and has evolved to surpass the technology that employs nano and ink jet printers relative to affordability and ease in executing. We are confident that our new technology is capable to generate a broad range of innovative electronics circuits by introducing several new ideas and materials.

Our latest news released explains the fine line capabilities from our advanced screen-printing process. Finer lines than 50 microns can be generated on various substrates through a screen-printing process using some new concepts and new silver pastes. The capability is almost equivalent to that of the chemical etching process with thin copper laminates. One of the advantages of the fine silver traces over the traditional silver paste thick film circuits is the improved conductivity. The volume conductivity of the new silver traces is more than one order lower compared to the traditional thick film circuits. Surprisingly, the silver traces built on polyimide film are capable to apply soldering; this is impossible with traditional thick film circuits. We still have to evaluate the detailed soldering capabilities, but this could prove very valuable to assemblers.

The core business of DKN Research is to provide engineering services for circuit design and manufacturing. We are very happy to share the new thick film circuit technologies with other circuit or device manufacturers. Even if your experience with screen-printing is limited, it is possible to produce fine silver line capabilities without a large investment. If you have no experience at all with screen-printing, DKN Research can walk you through the steps to catch up with this new cutting edge technology. DKN Research welcomes any inquiries or interest in our new technology.

Dominique K. Numakura
DKN Research, www.dknresearch.com  

Headlines of the week

Casio (Major electronics company in Japan) 11/6
Has agreed to have a alliance with Toppan Printing, one of the major printing company in Japan for the FPD business including TFT-LCD and OLED.

Sharp (Major electronics company in Japan) 11/10
Has released the world smallest CMOS camera module "RJ64SC100" with auto focusing functions for mobile products. Volume: 0.36 cc, height: 5.0 mm.

NEC Electronics (Major semiconductor manufacturer in Japan) 11/11
Will close Fukuoka Plant in Yamaguchi Prefecture. Flip Chip BGA production will be transferred to Oita Plant to optimize the manufacturing efficiencies.

Ibiden (Major PWB manufacturer in Japan) 11/11
Will invest 20 to 30 billion yens to build a new substrate manufacturing plant for the next generation IC packaging. The location will be decided in first half of 2010.

Kiyokawa Plating (Plating service shop in Japan) 11/11
Has developed a new plating process for the next generation TSV. The new process fills the high aspect ratio holes of the silicon wafer with high efficiencies.

Nakatani Micro Device (IC assembling firm in Japan) 11/11
Has changed its name to J-Device according to the new business alliance with Toshiba and Amkor. Several processes of Toshiba will be transferred to the new company.

Hitachi Via Mechanics (Major equipment company in Japan) 11/11
Will invest one billion yens to build a new manufacturing plant of NC drilling machines in China by the end of 2010 with a capacity of 1000 units per year.

JUKI (Major equipment company in Japan) 11/11
Has rolled out a new optical monitoring module with CCD cameras for the in-line inspection of SMT mounting machines.

Micronic Laser (Laser equipment company in Sweden) 11/12
Has been developing a new LDI system with fine resolution for the imaging process of the semiconductor substrates.

Sanyo Electric (Major electronics company in Japan) 11/13
Has developed a new lithium ion type secondary battery "DCV-101/EVB-101" with a large capacity (33.6 Ah) and a high voltage (48 V) for electric motor cycles.

SPIL (Major IC packaging firm in Taiwan) 11/13
Has agreed to acquire the DRAM manufacturing plant and equipment from Powerchip Semiconductor by 1.78 billion NT$ cash.