Best technical papers at IPC APEX EXPO 2023 selected

Voted on through a ballot process by members of the IPC APEX EXPO Technical Program Committee (TPC), the paper authors will be recognised during show opening remarks on Tuesday, January 24.

“All of the papers making up the 2023 IPC APEX EXPO Technical Conference represent the highest quality technical content from authors around the world,” said Stan Rak, Co-Chair of the TPC. “The diversity of the presenting authors is also impressive: 18 countries are represented by presenting authors. Fifteen authors are next generation -- five years or less in the industry -- and 27 presenting authors hold doctoral degrees. The commitment to quality is reflected in this year's selection of Best of Conference, NextGen, and Best Student Research papers. We extend our congratulations to all the award winners."

Taking top honours in the Best of Conference category, the winning papers are:

• “Risk Prediction of Electrochemical Migration on Electronic Control Units – A Practical Approach” by Lothar Henneken, Ph.D., Robert Bosch GmbH. This paper will be presented during Technical Conference Session S25: QRTI-Assembly Risk Prediction and Failure Analysis, on Wednesday, January 25.

• “Root Cause Analysis and Risk Assessment of Multilayer Ceramic Capacitor Flexural Crack Propagating Fault” by Eric Campbell, IBM Corporation. His co-authors are Jennifer Bennett, Jim Bielick, Mehdi Hamid, and Kevin O’Connell, IBM Corporation This paper will be presented during Technical Conference Session S13: QRTI -- Printed Board Reliability, on Wednesday, January 25.

• “High-Resolution Physical Analyses of Microvia-Target Pad Interfaces” by Dr. Martin Leung, Ph.D, The Aerospace Corporation. His co-authors are Scott Sitzman, Eric Frasco, Zachary Lingley, Ph.D., Gary Stupian, Ph.D., James Parke, and Shawn Ashley, The Aerospace Corporation. This paper will be presented during Technical Conference Session S11: HDI1 -- Microvia Analysis and Modeling, on Tuesday, January 24.

The NextGen best paper is awarded to:

• “Temperature Behavior of FR4 Substrates when Processing during Laser Depaneling” by Patrick Stockbruegger, LPKF Laser & Electronics AG. His co-author is Stephan Schmidt, LPKF Laser & Electronics Inc. This paper will be presented during Technical Conference Session S09: A-LASER Assembly Laser Processing, on Tuesday, January 24.

Selected for the Student Research award, the best paper is:

• “Solvent Free Copper Extraction” by Derek Lovejoy, University of Massachusetts/GreenSource Fabrication LLC. This paper will be presented during Technical Conference Session S08: BF-MAT-2 Printed Board Platings and Finishes 2, on Tuesday, January 24.

All technical conference papers were evaluated using a stringent peer review process examining their technical content, originality, test procedures and data used to deduce conclusions, quality of illustrations and the clarity and professionalism of writing as well as value to the industry.

To register for the IPC APEX EXPO technical conference or for more information on all the activities taking place, including professional development courses, exhibition, keynote presentations, networking activities and more, visit www.IPCAPEXEXPO.org.