Nordic Semiconductor drives Noca’s investment

Noca has invested in a brand new pick-and-place machine – ASM Siplace SX – which can handle the complexity of surface mounting at micro-levels.

Øyvind Pettersen © Noca

“This investment in new machinery is a direct consequence of Nordic Semiconductor’s need for higher complexity and handling smaller components. Following the needs of leading manufacturers such as Nordic Semiconductor keeps us in front of market trends – what Nordic requires today we know others will require in the future”, says Account Manager Øyvind Pettersen at Noca. The form factors that Nordic Semiconductor require are already small, but they are continually pushing limits for how small electronics can go, Noca writes in a press release. “Noca has acquired machinery for pick-and-place so accurate that it can do smaller form factors than we have yet required,” says Pierre Chênes, Chief System Architect for Wireless Home at Nordic Semiconductor. He is confident that Noca now has capacity for manufacturing even smaller solutions than currently offered. Although Nordic Semiconductor has made small integrated circuits with high quality transmitting for quite some time; things are continuing to evolve in our industry and miniaturisation is still an ongoing thing. Noca says that this new machine will help solve the challenge which many manufacturers are facing. And in the near future, when components are become smaller and smaller, the margin of error when soldering the even tinier contact points becomes so infinitesimal that very special equipment is needed.

Pierre Chênes © Nordic Semiconductor

Noca’s move gives Nordic Semiconductor access to machinery of this exact type within 10 minutes of travel from their Trondheim, Norway, office. In addition to the new pick-and-place machine ASM Siplace SX, Noca has already invested in new machines for quality assurance and inspection. “X-ray technology is needed to verify the quality of work done on such tiny surfaces – and we’ve made sure that we are well equipped for verification as well as production,” Pettersen comments. Chênes concludes that the trend towards miniaturisation of technology is a fact, saying “It is something that is happening now and will continue into the future, regardless of situation or market – all manufacturers should be equipped for this trend.”