Evaluation Engineering - 4

Nordson Corporation
acquires Optical Control
GMBH, expanding
test and inspection
capabilities
Nordson Corporation has
acquired Optical Control
GMBH, a designer and developer of high speed, fully
automatic counting systems
utilizing x-ray technology.
This offering will expand
Nordson's Test
and Inspection
capabilities for
electronics customers. The
transaction is not material to
Nordson financial results and
terms of the deal were not disclosed.Based in Nuremberg,
Germany, Optical Control is
a leader in its field for the accurate automatic counting of
components for reels, strips
and trays as well as basic
inspection in printed circuit
board manufacturing. This
technology allows for accurate inventory management
with real-time connectivity to
manufacturing information
systems. The Optical Control
system helps eliminate material shortages, reduces downtime of production lines and
unnecessary handling time,
improves inventory management/purchasing cycles, and
optimizes warehousing/storage space.
Optical Control will become a part of the Nordson
Electronic Solutions product lines within Nordson's
A d v a n c e d Te c h n o l o g y
Systems segment. This acquisition builds on the company's strategic objective to
diversify its test and inspection capabilities. Adding the
component counting capability further enhances and
widens the range of solutions
to our electronics customers.

UK researchers develop
ultrafast semiconductors
UK researchers have developed world-leading compound
semiconductor (CS) technology that can drive future
high-speed data communications. A team from Cardiff
University's Institute for
Compound Semiconductors
(ICS) worked with collaborators to innovate an ultrafast
and highly sensitive 'avalanche photodiode' (APD) that
creates less electronic 'noise'
than its silicon rivals.

iStock.com/Aleksandra Aleshchenko

Japan, South Korea joust
over electronics exports
A new electronics-related trade standoff between Japan and
South Korea has fed new fears of a possible shakeup in the tech
supply chain involving semiconductors and computer displays
that fuel the global technology boom, according to reports by
Bloomberg. This adds to industry tremors surrounding trade
tensions between the U.S. and China, and centering on telecom equipment. Japan and South Korea-engaged in a lingering
dispute that originates from Japan's colonial rule over Korea
between 1910 and 1945-held an officials' meeting in Tokyo on
July 12. Japan's trade restrictions on electronics materials to
South Korea arrive amid reported claims that South Korea has
diverted some imported materials to North Korea-allegations
that South Korea denies. The new curbs in exports to South Korea
are not a ban as of yet, but red tape slows the free flow of necessary components for Korean companies such as Samsung and
LG Display Company. Japan is considering taking South Korea
off its list of trusted export markets. If the dispute between the
two countries is not rectified, South Korea may have to rely on
supplies from China, and Japanese manufacturers will have to
shift their production locations.
Tokyo has contended that South Korea sparked tensions between the two countries last year, when a court decision ruled
that Japanese firms must compensate Koreans forced to work
in Japanese factories and mines during World War II.

EVALUATION ENGINEERING AUGUST 2019

Professor Diana Huffaker, Institute
for Compound Semiconductors,
Cardiff University.
Mike Hall Photography

APDs are highly sensitive
semiconductor devices that
exploit the 'photoelectric effect'-when light hits a material-to convert light to electricity. Faster, supersensitive
APDs are in demand worldwide for use in high-speed
data communications and
light detection and ranging
(LIDAR) systems for autonomous vehicles.
A paper outlining the breakthrough in creating extremely
low excess noise and high sensitivity APDs was published
July 8 in Nature Photonics.

Samsung sees 56%
cut in Q2 profits
Samsung announced on July
5 that its second quarter
profits dropped as much as
56%, according to a report

http://www.iStock.com/Aleksandra

Evaluation Engineering

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