EI will procure materials and fixtures to be used in the flexible substrate fabrication and assembly process. The device manufacturer will be responsible for purchasing minimum quantities of the flexible circuit assembly over a 2-year period totaling US-Dollar 3.9 million. This assembly is comprised of a miniature polyimide flexible substrate featuring extremely fine, 14 micron lines and spaces and specialized plating and metallization features to facilitate assembly and provide the highest levels of interconnect quality and reliability. Assembled to this flexible substrate is a PZT (receiver/transmitter) and multiple flip chip die with 22 micron bumps on 70 micron pitch. These are some of the finest pitched, soldered interconnect flip chips in production anywhere in the world today. This distinctive assembly becomes part of an IVUS catheter device, which provides an ultrasound image from inside a coronary artery and is used to diagnose and assess vascular and structural heart disease.
“This opportunity came solely from our relationship with our innovative neighbors up the street, Unovis-Solutions,” stated James J. McNamara, President and CEO at EI. “Their advanced process lab developed and automated critical manufacturing processes for this cutting edge, medical technology. Unovis-Solutions then recommended EI to the end customer for manufacture of the flip-chip assembly and provided us with complete process and equipment implementation guidelines to build the product in volume,” he continued.
EI in turn purchased a GSMxs flip chip placement system from Unovis-Solutions, because of its capability to place parts with extremely small feature sizes, while maintaining speed and accuracy. This linear motor platform utilizes high resolution cameras and advanced assembly options designed to accommodate the high quality, high yield requirements of this sophisticated manufacturing application.
“We recommended EI to partner with us in this endeavor because of their unique substrate development and manufacturing capabilities and their highly skilled teams’ ability to tackle manufacturing challenges that result in excellent quality, high performance solutions,” said George Westby, Director Advanced Process Laboratory at Unovis-Solutions.
“EI and Universal Instruments Corporation, and now Unovis-Solutions, have collaborated on many programs. We utilize Universal’s GSM, Genesis and AdVantis platform systems in multiple lines throughout the plant and have served as a beta site facility for some of their products as well,” commented Wade Phelan, Vice President and General Manager of Complex Assembly Operations at EI. “Unovis brings expertise in materials and assembly process development that provides innovative solutions needed to address our unique production demands.”
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