Indirect Material Cost Reduction by Eliminating Manual Derailing Process through Process Simplification

This paper will discuss how to reduce (IDM) Indirect Material consumption for derailing process by eliminating the manual derailing method as part of cost saving project. It involves the removal of cutter blade used for derail.Cost improvement was one of organizational goals of the company for 2019. This drive can be supported by analyzing Indirect Material spending and process simplification at assembly plant. At assembly End-Of-Line processes, derail cutter blade was one of the top Indirect Material spending at singulation and there is an opportunity to reduce if not eliminated the cost consumption of derail cutter blades through process simplification. Increasing volume in Quad-Flat-No lead (QFN) packages and new banner products being develop by New Product Integration NPI, Q1’20 means increase in IDM consumption per process. The challenge is to drive a process simplification that will reduce IDM to save cost by start of Q2’20. DMAIC methodology was used to improve the process of derailing process.

Intensification of Processes for the Production of Ethyl Levulinate Using AlCl3·6H2O

A process for obtaining ethyl levulinate through the direct esterification of levulinic acid and ethanol using AlCl3·6H2O as a catalyst was investigated. AlCl3·6H2O was very active in promoting the reaction and, the correspondent kinetic and thermodynamic data were determined. The reaction followed a homogeneous second-order reversible reaction model: in the temperature range of 318–348 K, Ea was 56.3 kJ·K−1·mol−1, whereas Keq was in the field 2.37–3.31. The activity of AlCl3·6H2O was comparable to that of conventional mineral acids. Besides, AlCl3·6H2O also induced a separation of phases in which ethyl levulinate resulted mainly (>98 wt%) dissolved into the organic upper layer, well separated by most of the co-formed water, which decanted in the bottom. The catalyst resulted wholly dissolved into the aqueous phase (>95 wt%), allowing at the end of a reaction cycle, complete recovery, and possible reuse for several runs. With the increase of the AlCl3·6H2O content (from 1 to 5 mol%), the reaction proceeded fast, and the phases’ separation improved. Such a behavior eventually results in an intensification of processes of reaction and separation of products and catalyst in a single step. The use of AlCl3·6H2O leads to a significant reduction of energy consumed for the final achievement of ethyl levulinate, and a simplification of line-processes can be achieved.

Feminist (and/as) Alternative Media Practices in Women’s Underground Comix in the 1970s

The American underground comix scene in general, and women’s comix that flourished as a part of that scene in the 1970s in particular, grew out of and in response to the mainstream American comics scene, which, from its “Golden Age” to the 1970s, had been ruled and construed in accordance with commercial business practices and “assembly-line” processes. This article discusses underground comix created by women in the 1970s in the wider context of alternative and second-wave feminist media practices. I explain how women’s comix used “activist aesthetics” and parodic poetics, combining a radical political and social message with independent publishing and distributive networks.

An Approach to Predict 4H-SiC Wafer Bending after Back Side Thinning by Substrate Resistivity Analysis

It is commonly thought that, in the development of SiC power devices with low on-state resistance (Ron), several critical processes in the device fabrication line can strongly impact the final warpage of wafers. High warpage would lead to bad definition of masks, preventing uniform deposition of resist materials and disturbing the normal handling procedures. All these factors would then result in a potential decrease of the electrical yield of the devices, especially for MOSFETs. This study reveals the lack of correlation between critical line processes such as epitaxial growth, oxidations, ion implantations, annealing processes with the final bending of wafers. Conversely, a strong dependence with the resistivity of the substrates is observed. A new parameter defined as RMR (Resistivity Modulation Rate) is taken proposed and, together with the starting value of ingot resistivity, this parameter shows a strong relationship with the final warpage after wafer thinning. A safe region having warpage low enough to allow the workability of the wafers is found.