electronics

Systems Integration: More than just a box of tricks

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Box-building is typically used to paraphrase the challenging stage of bringing together the many components within a single, ready-to-go product. This idea of simply connecting up various elements to create a box of tricks remains one of the EMS industry’s most understated descriptions. It remains a highly complex manufacturing process where the expertise and facilities of your EMS partner makes a big difference to your final product. Most importantly, this expertise begins before the box is even designed…

 The term ‘systems integration’ provides a more meaningful description of how Chemigraphic brings together custom PCB assembly with sub-assemblies and modules, enclosure design, fabrication, cabling and wiring. We transform these elements into complex, multi-tier systems – often sophisticated machines – and make ready through testing, software, programming and calibration.

Below are some key considerations regarding the systems integrations process.

PCB assembly should be a core offering

By offering PCB assembly (PCBA) using both Surface Mount Technologies (SMT) alongside conventional Pin-Through-Hole (PTH), it’s possible to check and guarantee the quality of components within the system. We are the only UK EMS to use automated JUKI SMT kitting machines and the automation allows us to build to specification, removing the opportunities for human error and reducing labour costs. We have unrivalled component management systems which allow us to place components in the most detailed configurations, meaning we can assist customers with any project, no matter how complex.

Think about the box build early on

Enclosures and casings are essential components of System Integrations – plastic and metal, or combinations. There are many off-the-shelf choices available, often with the advantage of lower unit prices and small minimum orders, but rarely this is without sacrifice – it won’t be unique, the components may not fit correctly, and there’s always the possibility a supplier might modify or withdraw the product. The need to fit PCBs securely alongside other electronics, modules, wiring and fans often drives our customers towards bespoke enclosures.

Since plastics and polymers are most commonly used it’s critical that an EMS supplier understands the differences between materials and manufacturing techniques. For instance, ABS is only suited to indoor environments as it will be compromised by prolonged exposure to sunlight, whereas ASA+PC resists high temperatures and harsh environments. New techniques such as MS-MMM injection moulding can incorporate soft-touch textures and colour, which avoids the use of different suppliers. It’s the job of an EMS provider to pass on this knowledge as customer benefits in the form of shorter, more reliable supply chains and economies of scale.

Chemigraphic also incorporates any metalwork using only carefully vetted suppliers of precision-fabricated materials. Coatings may be necessary to protect both the casing and components against the weather, corrosion, conductive or toxic dust particles, water and general contamination. In these instances we use automated equipment to apply protective coatings to selected board locations, increasing efficiency and reducing both the opportunity for human error and labour costs.

Don’t get in a tangle with wiring

The complexity of cable and wiring can vary enormously between System Integration projects, from a few wires stripped, twisted and tinned to complex harnesses with more than a 1000 ends and a multitude of terminations. Most projects require customised wiring – lengths, colours, special pin-outs, identification, connectors, etc. Our automated cable ‘cut and strip’ machines can accommodate low-volume complex harnesses through to medium-volume cable assemblies. Via our Shenzhen office, we can source and co-ordinate the entire supply chain with certifiable traceability.

Off-the-shelf still requires customisation

Many customers choose to make use of widely available Commercial Off-The Shelf (COTS) modules – boards and mezzanines, controllers, HMIs and displays, power supplies, etc. Development costs and timelines can be reduced using pre-tested sub-assemblies, but should be balanced against higher unit costs and possible compromises on functionality. We’ve found the most successful system integration projects take a hybrid approach, using both COTS and custom-builds to best fit the customer’s immediate and future requirements. It is rarely true that by purchasing a COTS product, no bespoke work will need to be performed. Chemigraphic has a wealth of experience integrating and combining COTS modules into larger systems. We use our Asian sourcing office to gain attractively-priced components.

Take extra care with moving parts

Electro-mechanical assemblies containing switches, electronic controls, gears, rollers, etc, contain moving parts and are inherently more challenging. Conflict with other parts especially from different manufacturers are routinely discovered. Chemigraphic has knowledgeable, specialised purchasers who are in touch with the global components markets. We use CAD 3D modelling equipment to improve the design process and have a well-equipped inspection area containing microscopes and electrical testing devices.

Honey, we shrunk the circuits: The amazingly small electronic products

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Electronics are shrinking.

Don’t let the rate at which smartphones have grown since the early years of this millennium fool you.

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The future of electronic products is to get smaller and smaller.

And these smaller devices will offer ever greater capabilities while using less power.

Smartphones’ growth in size belies this trend, but it’s a reflection of the fact that they have taken on the role of so many other devices.

It’s the need for a bigger screen that has led to their burgeoning size.

But look how slim they have become as their screen size grows.

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Consumers want smaller gadgets that can do more – and do it quickly.

So, the smartphone has become a pager, powerful camera, video recording and editing device, media player, sat nav, eBook reader, personal organiser, word processing tool, games machine, credit card, scanner and a lot more besides.

Less is Moore’s Law

The journey towards miniaturisation is being aided by advances in screen and battery technologies, but sitting right there in the driver’s seat are developments in components and circuits.

And it’s not just consumer goods that are getting smaller and smaller – this trend extends to industrial technology too.

Wherever you look less is more, and this is known as Moore’s Law.

Moore’s Law has held true for nearly 40 years now.

In truth, it’s more an observation than a law. It suggests that electronic devices will double in speed and capability about every two years.

What Intel co-founder Gordon Moore actually predicted was that ‘the number of transistors incorporated in a chip will approximately double every 24 months.”

And transistors are the tiny electrical switches that lie at the heart of any electronic gadgets you can think of. As they shrink they also get faster and consume less electricity.

Moore’s Law in effect

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It’s not just transistors that are shrinking, however.

The humble capacitor was once, in the 1970s, made from bulky axial leaded parts. These were replaced by the slimline 1206 ‘surface mount chip package’ which, at the time, appeared to be an impossibly microscopic 3.2 x 1.6 mm. But now we have 01005 packages, offering a further volume reduction of 98.5% and measuring just 0.4 x 0.2 mm!

Similarly, it wasn’t all that long ago that the tiny 60 x 60 mm IC (silicon chip) device, with 160 connection pins around the outer perimeter, was considered cutting-edge. Yet, its equivalent is now the 30 x 30 mm ‘micro-ball grid array’. This sits on a matrix of 900 solder sphere connections – and requires the use of an X-ray to fully inspect.

In recent years many have wondered if Moore’s Law is coming to an end, as components meet the limits of possible shrinkage.

Companies like Intel can mass-produce transistors 14 nanometres across – that’s just 14 times wider than a DNA molecule. They’re made of silicon whose atomic size is about 0.2 nanometers.

With transistors hovering at about 70 silicon atoms wide, the possibility of making them even smaller is starting to shrink.

We’re getting very close to the limit of miniaturisation.

We’ll return to this in a moment – first, let’s take a look at why small is considered so beautiful.

The miniature revolution in electronics

The miniature revolution in electronics is being driven by:

  • Aesthetic demandsWe have come to expect our tech devices to be design-statements and things of exquisite beauty.
  • Portability

    Our wireless devices should be easy to take with us. Light weight devices are enabled by the miniaturisation of components and PCBs, reduction in battery sizes and developments in plastics and metalwork.

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  • Cost savingsWhile cutting-edge miniaturisation can come at a premium, the use of less materials usually provides a reduction in cost in the long-term. Especially when the electronics industry absorbs and adopts innovations and the production costs for increasingly smaller parts shrinks correspondingly.
  • Eco-friendly power consumption reductionsSmaller parts use less power. This reduces running costs, extends battery life and offers greener products.
  • Less heat dissipationAs smaller parts consume less power, they lead to electronic products which generates less heat. When heat dissipation requirements are sufficiently reduced this can avoid the need for bulky heatsinks and mechanical fans. This, in turn, further reduces weight, cost, power consumption and intrusive noise.
What impact have smaller components had on electronic manufacturing?

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From an EMS and product manufacturing perspective, perhaps the most significant impact of this reduction in scale is the increased need for automation and use of robots.

The sophisticated soldering technologies now required to fit components and parts is no longer possible by hand. The precision required can only be carried out using high-tech equipment operated by skilled engineers.

It’s not just production that has become increasingly automated.

With components getting smaller and smaller they become, to the naked eye, identical. Many components no longer have any space to carry distinguishing codes or other markings to aid identification.

It has never been more important that your EMS partner can offer you a fully traceable and trackable supply chain and uses barcodes and sophisticated machines to inspect, select and verify (as well as place) every component used. Robust materials control is essential at every step of the supply and manufacturing process.

Are our shrinking days no Moore?

Many industry commentators have suggested in recent years that the gains we have enjoyed under the rule of Moore’s Law may be coming to an end.

Of course, we all believed things couldn’t get any smaller many times in the past.

But they did.

What’s different today is that we really are reaching the point where physical components are constrained by the demands of matter.

So, what’s next?

Some interesting developments that suggest we haven’t exhausted the potential of further miniaturisation include:

A team led by Robert Wolkow had long-known how to reduce circuitry to an atomic scale, but they have only recently found a way to perfect a technique that allows these circuits to be mass produced.

They suggest that this breakthrough could help manufacture smartphones that operate for months between charges and computers that run a hundred times faster but use a thousand times less power.

It looks like it may still become a smaller world after all.