(2) Technology development trends
Development trends in equipment productivity.
Regarding the placement speed of the placement machine, at the 2014 NEPCONCHINA exhibition, the SIPLACE X4iS exhibited by ASMPT, which represents the advanced level of global placement machines, has a placement speed of 150,000CPH and an actual placement cycle of 0.024 seconds/point.
The JEITA Electronic Assembly Technology Committee predicts in the "2013 Assembly Technology Roadmap" that with the explosive growth of consumer demand for mid- to low-end electronic products, the requirements for ultra-mass production are expected to increase the placement speed of placement machines by 2016. Reaching 160,000CPH (0.0225 seconds/point) and 240,000CPH (0.015 seconds/point) in 2022. The placement speed of chip-scale packaging devices will increase from 3600CPH in 2012 to 3800CPH in 2016 and 4000CPH in 2022.
By then, the placement of placement heads of placement machines will undergo fundamental changes. At the same time, the parts supply department will also form a "feeding department system without parts supply and interchange." A new generation of high-performance and continuous supply methods will Come into people's sight.
High-density placement accuracy.
At present, the chip components used in electronic products tend to be smaller and thinner, and the chip wiring spacing and solder ball diameter have been reduced, which puts forward higher requirements for the alignment and positioning accuracy of placement equipment.
At present, high-end multi-function placement machines have begun to mount a large number of 0402 components. The SIPLACEX4iS exhibited by ASM can already mount 03015 components. However, AV electronic products and automotive electronic products are still dominated by 1005 components. Japan's JEITA Electronics Assembly Technical Committee predicts that 0201 size will appear in mounted parts by 2020.
For chip placement machine manufacturers, the challenges brought by high-density placement accuracy are: first, improving the parts supply department of the placement machine, including improving the position accuracy of the parts supply, the taping accuracy, and the packaging accuracy of the parts themselves; second, The high rigidity of the shaft that determines the suction position of the part and the high precision of the drive system improve the high ability of the position identification system before component placement; third, the placement machine does not produce unnecessary vibration during the placement process, which affects the external environment. It has strong adaptability to vibration and temperature changes; fourth, it strengthens the automatic calibration function of the placement machine. Most modern placement machines are developing in the direction of combining high-speed and high-precision motion control with visual correction systems.
Since 75% of the defect rate of SMT production lines lies in printing equipment, high-density placement accuracy will bring greater challenges to printing and testing equipment manufacturers: First, ensuring the process requirements (0.66 demoulding rate) will affect the thickness of the steel mesh and The amount of solder paste brings huge challenges. At the same time, solder paste with a smaller powder diameter is required. On the one hand, it increases the cost. On the other hand, the viscosity of the solder paste changes due to environmental influences, making printing difficult. Second, the dust-free environment requires drafts. The cost of systems, air filtration systems, auxiliary materials, anti-static floors, etc. increases; third, the balance between accuracy and speed of SPI and AOI equipment will face challenges.
In response to the development trend of SMT technology, taking into account factors such as joint materials, printing, placement, and reflow during flexible assembly and assembly of very small parts, assembly equipment will face challenges in assembly quality, production efficiency, and assembly process.
3. The localization process of SMT equipment
Since the introduction of SMT production lines to mass-produce color TV tuners in 1985, China's electronics manufacturing industry has been applying SMT technology for nearly 30 years. According to incomplete statistics, there are currently about 50,000 SMT production lines in my country, and the total number of placement machines exceeds 100,000. The automatic placement machine market accounts for 40% of the world, becoming the world's largest and most important SMT market.
Welding, testing and printing equipment are close to the international advanced level.
Since 2005, domestic SMT equipment companies have basically achieved localization in printing machines, welding, testing and other SMT equipment, and have occupied 70% to 80% of the domestic market share by virtue of market price advantages.
In terms of solder paste printing machines, Nitto was the first to successfully develop it in China. In recent years, many private enterprises have participated in research and development, and many varieties have been launched, reaching the world's upper-middle level. In 2006, Dongguan Kaige Precision Machinery Co., Ltd. launched a fully automatic printing machine, which soon became the number one brand in China.
In terms of welding equipment, domestic R&D and manufacturing started very early. Lead-free welding equipment has reached the international advanced level and has become the most competitive product in my country's surface mount equipment market. At present, the low-end market is occupied by domestic brands, and the high-end market is still monopolized by foreign brands (in terms of stability, there is a certain gap with foreign advanced levels. For example, the lateral temperature difference of a foreign reflow oven manufacturer is only 0.5 degrees, while the domestic highest level up to 2 degrees).
In terms of AOI equipment, before 2010, the domestic AOI market was almost monopolized by more than 20 foreign brands of equipment. Dongguan Shenzhou Vision took the lead in successfully developing the first domestic AOI equipment Aleader series. It has sold more than 4,000 units so far, with annual sales reaching 600~700 units. s level.
In terms of X-Ray testing equipment, China started late. Since entering this field in 2006, UFJ Technology has achieved independent research and development of core components in 2008, reaching the world's leading level. Currently, the company's annual product shipments reach more than 400 units.
SMT machines are still 100% dependent on imports, of which more than 60% come from Japan.
The placement machine is the most critical equipment in the SMT production line, with the highest technology and stability requirements. For more than ten years, Chinese companies are still in the exploratory stage and prototype trial production stage, and have not launched mature products that have passed pilot trials. They rely almost 100% on imports (except for small LED placement machines); foreign companies in China have used core placement machines to The production is placed abroad, and the factory in China is mainly responsible for peripheral equipment production and patch machine maintenance, debugging and other services.
In 2013, the import value of domestic automatic patch machines reached US$1.301 billion. The main source of imports was Japan, accounting for 65.2%; imports from South Korea, Germany, Singapore, the United States, and the Netherlands accounted for 17.9%, 6.1%, and 3.7% respectively. %, 1.3%, 0.8%.
4. Difficulties and bottlenecks in localization of placement machines
SMT machines have a wide range of applications and high technical content, and can drive related basic industries such as precision machinery manufacturing, high-precision sensing, high-performance motor manufacturing, image processing, X-Y servo control systems, and software. Since the early 1990s, there have been dozens of enterprises and institutions in China including the Second Institute of the former Electronics Ministry, the Second Institute of 715 Factory, the 43rd Institute, the 4506 Factory, Panda Electronics, Fenghua Hi-Tech, Shanghai Hyundai, Shanghai Microelectronics, Yangcheng Technology, etc. Attempts have been made to localize the placement machine, but so far no domestic placement machine has entered the market.
For example, in 1994, Shanghai Radio Special Equipment Factory jointly assembled a patch machine with Japan, but it was later terminated due to changes by the Japanese side; in 2002, Shanghai Microelectronics Equipment Company cooperated with Shanghai Jiaotong University to build a prototype patch machine, which has not yet been Follow-up news on commercialization; in recent years, South China University of Technology and Zhaoqing Xinbaohua Electronics Co., Ltd. have also cooperated in the development of chip placement machines.
Through research, the main reasons for SMT equipment experts at the NEPCON exhibition can be summarized as follows:
First, the placement machine has a complex structure and high technical content, and the domestic basic industry accumulation is insufficient.
The SMT machine is a high-tech precision equipment that integrates multiple disciplines such as electromechanics and optics. There are 10,000 to 20,000 components alone. Foreign SMT companies generally purchase 70% of them, and the other 30% are customized by the company, and it is precisely Domestic companies that lack basic technical personnel are unable to produce these 30% components.
Second, the development cost of chip placement machines is high and the investment risks are high. Private enterprises cannot guarantee continuous capital investment.
At present, the production of placement machines has not received enough attention from the government. In the past, when state-owned enterprises developed chip placement machines, the government usually allocated special funds to establish projects to tackle key problems. The enterprises produced prototypes and organized appraisals, and then the projects were ended, lacking the motivation for continuous innovation.
Private enterprises have strong innovation vitality and are currently the main force in developing SMT machines (there are hundreds of manufacturers engaged in SMT equipment manufacturing in China, almost all of which are private enterprises). However, they are small in scale, have limited strength, and lack further development and improvement after production prototypes. of capital investment.
At the same time, once domestic companies successfully develop new products, foreign companies will immediately cut prices to suppress domestic companies, causing domestic companies to break their R&D capital chains and unable to survive in the competition in the patch machine market with ever-changing performance.
Third, the SMT industry standard system is imperfect.
Standards systems are key to integrating supply chains. Rapid changes in SMT technology, new materials and new processes, as well as the dual pressures of cost and environmental protection, force frequent changes in product specifications and standards, putting forward new requirements for the formulation of SMT standards. For a long time, my country's SMT industry has relied too much on foreign IPC standards and has not developed a complete standard system based on the actual situation of China's SMT industry. Although domestic standards such as GB19247, GB3131, and QJ165 have been formulated, there are problems such as complicated and unsystematic standards.
In addition, the international standards actively initiated and formulated by domestic SMT have not received strong support and protection. For example, IPC-9853 was the first IPC standard initiated by Chinese SMT companies and took 4 years to develop. However, it was revoked by the IPC in July 2013 without any explanation or explanation, which hurt the competitiveness of Chinese SMT companies.
Fourth, there is a shortage of high-end SMT skilled talents.
SMT equipment involves mechanics, electronics, optics, materials, chemical engineering, computers, automatic control and other disciplines. At present, only a few universities in China focus on the development of process equipment or the field of micro assembly/packaging. The construction of disciplines, majors and teaching systems supporting SMT has just begun, and it is difficult to meet the development needs of the SMT industry. At the same time, the industry has a high demand for electronic manufacturing technology research and development. There is also insufficient influence on personnel training, which restricts the improvement of SMT manufacturing competitiveness.
5. The localization path of SMT equipment
After more than ten years of exploration, the basic technology of placement machines has matured in China. With the widespread application of SMT technology in computers, network communications, consumer electronics, and automotive electronics, the time has come to implement the localization strategy of placement machines.
The first is to combine introduction and cultivation, and encourage domestic companies to acquire foreign second-rate chip placement machine companies through industrial investment funds and other means.
Adopting the Samsung SMT industry development model, it acquires foreign second-rate SMT companies through various methods such as industrial investment funds. On this basis, it implements an independent innovation strategy and concentrates on the research and development of key technologies such as SMT vision technology, motion control, and software. Positioning the medium-low speed, high-precision, and high-flexibility chip placement machine market, under the background of the current economic downturn, through mergers and acquisitions, shareholding, etc., to acquire manufacturers with technical advantages but poor market sales (such as the Netherlands' Ambion, etc.), Comprehensive integration of existing technology foundations reduces R&D costs and greatly shortens the industrialization process.
The second is to pool the country’s superior strengths, jointly establish a special R&D team, and strengthen the connection between technology R&D and the market.
The production of patch machines involves multi-disciplinary fields, which is difficult for a single enterprise to complete. The collaboration and joint development of all upstream and downstream links must be considered. It is recommended that the government take large state-owned enterprises with a high degree of electromechanical automation as the main body, organize domestic dispersed R&D forces, jointly establish specialized R&D institutions, and at the same time support special funds and actively guide the inflow of social funds to ensure continuous R&D capabilities through multiple channels. At the same time, technology research and development and market docking are carried out simultaneously, promoting each other, and accelerating the industrialization process.
The third is to optimize the market environment and accelerate the formulation of China's SMT industry standard system.
On the one hand, we should actively participate in the formulation of IPC's latest SMT-related standards, and strengthen the maintenance of existing Chinese SMT industry standards from the national level. On the other hand, we should comply with the product and technology development trends of China's SMT market, actively guide the formulation of domestic electronic manufacturing assembly process quality technical standards, communicate and share the successful specifications of domestic SMT companies, and promote their development into new industry standards.
The fourth is to establish a national SMT R&D base to strengthen talent training and international cooperation.
The country should combine industrial development strategies and regional development advantages, focus on research institutes, universities, and enterprises with good foundations in SMT-related technologies and processes, and establish electronic manufacturing skills training bases with SMT as the core to cultivate a large number of skilled SMT talents. At the same time, we will strengthen international exchanges and cooperation and actively participate in international academic exchanges and seminars.
