What the facility does
Development of electronic prototypes for medical devices, telecommunications and other applications.
Areas of expertise
The 3IT.Micro platform offers services ranging from electronic circuits design to prototype assembly and encapsulation. A dedicated electronic circuit and telecommunications design team is on hand to mentor, validate and review existing ideas, as well as to design new projects of all kinds, from the simplest to the most complex. Thanks to its experience in surface-mount (0201, fine pitch, flip chip) and through-hole assembly, the team can propose a turnkey project combining design and assembly of prototypes developed in partnership. Gold and aluminium wire microassembly services are also available. Our research background also enables us to develop project-specific assembly processes.
Our services are available to college and university students as well as to any company interested in prototyping as part of an industry-university partnership.
Research services
- Chip assembly (micro-wiring, flip chip, thermocompression)
- Surface-mounted (SMT) and through-hole assembly, on printed circuit boards, single or double-sided, with complete assembly line: manual and automatic screen printing, automatic and manual placement equipment, convection oven, automated fluid deposition system, ultrasonic bath for cleaning, etc.
- Lead-free soldering (RoHS)
- Printed circuit additive manufacturing
- Laser cutting and engraving
- X-ray defect analysis
- 3D inspection
- Retouching (hot air and infrared)
- Plasma surface treatment
- Thermal cycling in an environmental chamber
- Curing of UV adhesives
- Loan of equipment (oscilloscope, EMI/EMC emissions inspection, etc.)
- Training in the use of our lab equipment
- Storage (-40°C freezer)
- Electronic circuit design: multilayer circuits, high-density technologies (micro-vias, blind and buried vias), controlled impedance, trace length harmonization, high-frequency differential signals (FPGA, DDR3 memory, etc.), EMI / EMC constraints, substrates (FR4, polyimide, Rogers, silicon, etc.), flexible / rigid-flex circuits
- Embedded software and FPGA design: Embedded operating system (Linux and real-time (RTOS)), driver design, custom FPGA module (custom IP)
- Telecommunications systems
- Signal processing algorithms
- Simulations and test benches
- FPGA implementation (VHDL/Verilog)
- Hardware-in-the-loop simulation
Sectors of application
- Automotive
- Education
- Information and communication technologies and media
- Life sciences, pharmaceuticals and medical equipment
- Professional and technical services (including legal services, architecture, engineering)
Specialized labs and equipment
| Equipment | Function |
|---|---|
| Nano Dimension DragonFly IV PCB printing system | PCB=printed circuit board. 3D printer capable of printing dielectric and conductive (silver) structures with an accuracy of 50 µm. |
| Tresky T-3002-FC3 series die bonding platform | Manual 3D assembly system with pick-and-place, flip chip and ultrasound modes. |
| Finetech FINEPLACER PICO TB manual thermocompression assembly system | Thermocompression welding unit for prototyping. |
| Kulicke & Soffa 484 Wedge Wire Bonder | Manual micro-welding system (Al, wedge bonder). |
| TPT HB10 Wire Bonder | Semi-automatic fine wire bonding system for electrical connections between chip and substrate using fine wire or ribbon of gold, aluminum or copper (Al/Au/Cu, wedge/ball/bump/ribbon bonding). |
| TPT HB30 Heavy Wire Bonder | Semi-automatic wire bonding system for electrical connections between chip and substrate using large aluminum or copper wire or ribbon for power electronics (Al/Cu, wedge/ribbon bonding). |
| Hesse Mechatronics Fine Wire Bonder Bondjet BJ855 | Automatic micromachining system to make the electrical connections between the chip and the substrate via a gold or aluminum wire or ribbon. |
| Nordson Dage 4000Plus Bondtester | Tensile and shear bond characterization system to perform pull/push and shear tests on wire bonds and flip chips. |
| Nordson ASYMTEK Spectrum S-820 Series Dispensing System | Automated non-contact fluid deposit system for glue and solder paste application. |
| DEK ASM E automatic screen printer | For printed circuit boards. |
| LPKF ProtoPrint S SMT stencil printer | Manual screen printing (squeegee) for printed circuit boards - SMT components. |
| Mycronic MY200LX Series pick and place machine | SMT automatic component insertion machine with an assembly speed of 6500 CPH (component per hour). |
| Heller 1826 MK5 eight-zone Convection Reflow Oven | Convection oven for reflow assembly of SMT-certified components. |
| LPKF ProtoFlow S lead-free reflow oven | Convection oven for reflow assembly of SMT prototype components. |
| Despatch Industries LAC 218 drying oven | The LAC furnace uses a horizontal recirculating air flow to ensure uniform temperatures throughout the furnace. |
| Thermo Scientific Heratherm OMH100 drying oven | Oven equipped with a mechanical convention to ensure uniform temperatures throughout the oven. |
| AAT Aqua ROSE 4.0 CL Batch Cleaner | Automatic PCB cleaning system. |
| Caltrex RX-100-BGA Digital Microscope Inspection System | With its innovative 3D rotation view, plus 90° observation mirror for BGA/QFP (ball grid arrays/quad flat package), this device offers unprecedented BGA inspection capability. Quality control and defect analysis are easily performed using the camera and tools. The system is very easy to use and extremely robust for a production environment. |
| Glenbrook Technologies JewelBox 70T X-ray inspection system | Includes the GTI-5000 Real-Time Image Workstation software suite, for advanced automatic image analysis of BGA chips. The tool automatically detects/measures tin voids in beads, qualifies the sphericity of solder balls (BGA), and detects solder bridges. |
| Keyence Wide-Area 3D Measurement System VR-5000 | Rapidly scans an entire surface for reliable measurement of any point on an object. |
| Finetech FINEPLACER Pico RS BGA Rework Station | Retouching station for BGA beads. Soldering/desoldering system for surface-mounted components, and BGA reflow. |
| LPKF ProtoLaser U3 UV laser system | Automatic 2D/3D UV laser system for laser machining, an engraving and cutting system for cutting, machining, selective delamination or simply heating or local UV exposure of a wide range of materials. |
| KEYSIGHT DSA91304A Infiniium Series High Performance Oscilloscope (13Ghz) | Bandwidth of 13 GHz. |
| EMSCAN EMxpert Near Field Scanner | EMI/EMC (electromagnetic interference/electromagnetic compatibility) emissions inspection. Real-time EMC and EMI testing tool enabling designers to quickly diagnose and resolve EMC, EMI and electromagnetic problems in a single design cycle from the convenience of their own laboratory environment without the need for an anechoic chamber. |
| AES SD-308 Environmental Test Chamber | Climatic chamber to create a temperature-controlled environment, ranging from -65 to +200 degrees Celsius. |
Private and public sector research partners
- MiQro Innovation Collaborative Center (C2MI)
- Excelitas Technologies Corporation
- Imaging Research & Technology (IR&T)
- 1QBit
- SBQuantum
Additional information
| Title | URL |
|---|---|
| Guided tour of 3IT, the Interdisciplinary Institute for Technological Innovation. | https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=483200459943559 |
| 3IT : 15 years of innovation. | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lm0zGHfV0Qo |
| 15 years of innovation: medical imaging (scanner design). | https://www.facebook.com/3IT.USherbrooke/videos/657978399775316?locale=fr_CA |