BANNOCKBURN, Ill., USA, April 14, 2011 ― IPC ? Association Connecting Electronics Industries has announced the winners of this years Best U.S. and International Papers at IPC APEX EXPOtrade;, held April 12?14, 2011, in Las Vegas. The events Technical Program Committee selected the winners through a ballot process. A New Approach for Early Detection of PCB Pad Cratering Failures, by Anurag Bansal, Cisco Systems Inc. took the U.S. Best Paper honor. His co-authors were Gnyaneshwar Ramakrishna and Kuo-Chuan Liu, Cisco Systems Inc. In the International Best Paper category, the winning paper was, Mechanical Shock Test Performance of SAC 105 and Tin-3.5% Silver BGA Components with SAC 305 Solder Paste on Nickel-Gold and OSP Board Surface Finishes, by Jasbir Bath, Bath Technical Consultancy.

His 11 co-authors were: Wade Eagar and Chad Bigcraft, Motorola Solutions; Keith Newman and Livia Hu, Oracle America, Inc.; Gregory Henshall, Ph.D., Hewlett-Packard Company; Jennifer Nguyen, Flextronics International; M.J. Lee, Altera Corporation; Ahmer Syed, Amkor Technology Inc.; Weidong Xie, Cisco Systems Inc. and Fubin Song and Ricky Lee, Ph.D., Hong Kong University of Science and Technology. Nearly 100 papers were submitted for consideration as Best Paper. Papers were evaluated on their technical content, originality, test procedures and data used to deduce conclusions, quality of illustrations and the clarity and professionalism of writing. Copies of the winning papers are included in the 2011 IPC APEX EXPO Technical Conference Proceedings. The Proceedings CD will be available for purchase at the end of April through the IPC Online Store. The winning papers will be published in IPC Review, a bimonthly publication distributed exclusively to IPC members. Members may also access the winning papers in the Members-Only section of the IPC website. In addition, a video archive of the U.S. Best Paper is available for purchase as part of the S16 PCB Reliability Test Methods technical conference session.

For more information on the available technical conference video archives, visit www.IPCAPEXEXPO.org/cyber-conference. About IPC IPC (www.IPC.org) is a global trade association based in Bannockburn, Ill., dedicated to the competitive excellence and financial success of its 2,800 member companies which represent all facets of the electronics industry, including design, printed board manufacturing, electronics assembly and test. As a member-driven organization and leading source for industry standards, training, market research and public policy advocacy, IPC supports programs to meet the needs of an estimated $1.85 trillion global electronics industry. IPC maintains additional offices in Taos, N.M.; Arlington, Va.; Garden Grove, Calif.; Stockholm, Sweden; Moscow, Russia; Bangalore, India; and Shanghai, Shenzhen and Beijing, China.