Matsushita develops new surface mounting technology.

Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd. (Osaka, Japan, www.matsushita.co.jp) recently announced the development of a new surface mounting technology that uses conductive adhesives. Called Adhesive Interconnection Technology (AdIT[R]), the technology allows high-density surface mounting possible at significantly lower temperatures than solder, making the process applicable to components with low resistance to heat.

As digital audio/visual (AV) products become more compact and highly functional, the number of components with a low tolerance for heat has increased and the need for high-density surface mounting has grown. However, high-density mounting is difficult to realize at low temperatures when using conventional mounting methods, such as solder or conductive adhesives. Solder mounting can achieve high densities but requires high temperatures (200[degrees]C or more). Thus, any components with a low tolerance for heat need to be mounted separately. On the other hand, conventional conductive adhesives can be used at 170[degrees]C, but have a minimum printing distance between lines of 1.0 mm--not suitable for high-density surface mounting as they cannot be used to print fine patters.

The newly developed conductive adhesive is cured at low temperatures around 150[degrees]C and can be used to mount modules incorporating temperature-sensitive elements, such as the camera lenses employed in some mobile phone handsets. The adhesive is also suitable for highly precise, high-density mounting since the minimum printing distance between lines is 0.2 mm. AdIT[R] may be used in the development of products where small size is essential, such as mobile phone handsets and compact AV equipment.

The adhesive employs no toxic substances, such as lead or volatile organic compounds (VOCs). And, since no flux is used, a separate cleaning process is not required to remove solder residue.