Lucent Technologies' Electroplating Chemicals & Services Venture Develops High-Performance Material for Connector Contacts.MURRAY HILL Murray Hill may refer to one of the following places:
palladium [Gr. Pallas, goddess of wisdom], metallic chemical element; symbol Pd; at. no. 46; at. wt. 106.42; m.p. 1,554°C;; b.p. 2,970°C;; sp. gr. 12.02 at 20°C;; valence +2, +3, or +4. and cobalt (PdCo). The first customer for the new material is AMP Incorporated, of Harrisburg, Pa., the world's largest manufacturer of electrical connectors. AMP has been working with the Lucent venture for about two years to refine the process for applying EC&S's PallaTech(R) PdCo electroplating electroplating: see plating. electroplating Process of coating with metal by means of an electric current. Plating metal may be transferred to conductive surfaces (e.g., metals) or to nonconductive surfaces (e.g. solutions to AMP's products. AMP has already begun producing connectors with PdCo-plated contacts in its U.S. and European plants. "Our tests prove that palladium cobalt offers both performance and processing advantages over palladium/nickel, which has been the cost-effective finish of choice for about 20 years," said Dr. James Sykes James Sykes may refer to:
"Our objective is to use Bell Labs-developed technology to provide customers in the connector industry with leading-edge products and processes that helps them lower costs and improve quality control," said Joe Abys, president of EC&S. "We have received a number of patents covering palladium/cobalt technology, and we regard AMP's endorsement as a vote of confidence for this new material." Abys said that the PallaTech PdCo electroplating material is more durable than palladium nickel (PdNi) or hardened gold, which are commonly used for connector contacts. The new material also helps connector manufacturers to better control thickness, a significant quality improvement. "The net result is a higher-performance, more cost-effective product," Abys said. Sykes said that he expects most AMP customers to switch from PdNi to the PdCo finish as they have a chance to evaluate its benefits. "The new finish offers more performance for about the same dollars," he asserted. "That makes palladium cobalt an obvious choice." Headquartered in Harrisburg, PA, AMP (http://www.amp.com) is the world's leading manufacturer of electrical, electronic, fiber-optic and wireless interconnection devices and systems. The Company has 48,300 employees in 53 countries serving customers in the automotive, computer, communications, consumer, industrial and power industries. AMP sales reached $5.75 billion in 1997. EC&S (http://www.lucent.com/ecs) is the world's leading supplier of palladium plating products. Additional product lines include plating processes using gold and gold alloys, tin and tin alloys; nickel, and rhodium rhodium (rō`dēəm), metallic chemical element; symbol Rh; at. no. 45; at. wt. 102.9055; m.p. about 1,966°C;; b.p. 3,727±100°C;; sp. gr. 12.41 at 20°C;; valence +2, +3, +4, +5, or +6. ; as well as the PallaTech MLS See multilevel security. system for semiconductor packaging applications. The team includes developmental scientists, technical service engineers, and technical field representatives with experience in electrochemistry electrochemistry, science dealing with the relationship between electricity and chemical changes. Of principal interest are the reactions that take place between electrodes and the electrolytes in electric and electrolytic cells (see electrolysis), as well as the , analytical chemistry analytical chemistry: see under chemistry. , chemical engineering and electroplating. The venture business has a worldwide distribution network, with representatives in Japan, Singapore, Korea, Hong Kong Hong Kong (hŏng kŏng), Mandarin Xianggang, special administrative region of China, formerly a British crown colony (2005 est. pop. 6,899,000), land area 422 sq mi (1,092 sq km), adjacent to Guangdong prov. , Taiwan, the United Kingdom, India, France and Canada. Lucent Technologies, headquartered in Murray Hill, N. J., designs, builds and delivers a wide range of public and private networks, communications systems In telecommunication, a communications system is a collection of individual communications networks, transmission systems, relay stations, tributary stations, and data terminal equipment (DTE) usually capable of interconnection and interoperation to form an integrated whole. and software, data networking systems, business telephone systems and microelectronic components. Bell Labs is the research and development arm for the company. For more information on Lucent Technologies, visit the web site at http://www.lucent.com |
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