Circuits Assembly articles from April 2004

Circuits Assembly archives from April 2004

The show must go on.(Editorial)
April 1, 2004... At press time, the staff of UP Media Group has just returned from the combined IPC APEX/EXPO conference and exhibition held in Anaheim in late February. And, from the indications on the show floor and in the conference sessions, the electronics...

www.jpsalaser.com.(Web Sites Worth Mentioning)
April 1, 2004... www.jpsalaser.com JPSA Laser's expanded site offers information about the company's UV laser technology products for the microelectronics and semiconductor industries. It includes more pages, information resources and product and application...

http://forums.ate.agilent.com/pciexpressate.(Web Sites Worth Mentioning)
April 1, 2004... http://forums.ate.agilent.com/pciexpressate Agilent's online "PCI-Express Automated Test (ATE) Forum" will be available 24 hours day at this Web site. The forum allows manufacturers to discuss and share PCI Express information, communicate...

www.gsilumonics.com.(Web Sites Worth Mentioning)
April 1, 2004... www.gsilumonics.com The redesigned Web site for GSI Lumonics Inc. emphasizes improved navigation, context-sensitive menus and enhanced abilities for visitors to contact the company for assistance. The investor relations section has been...

www.cybertechnologiesUSA.com.(Web Sites Worth Mentioning)
April 1, 2004... www.cybertechnologiesUSA.com Cyber Technologies, a manufacturer of high-resolution measurement systems, has launched its new Web site in conjunction with its introduction of a non-contact laser sensor system to the U.S. market. The site offers...

www.pcdandm.com/pcdman/resource/pcb_basics.shtml.(Industry Resources)
April 1, 2004... www.pcdandm.com/pcdman/resource/pcb_basics.shtml The fourth edition of Printed Circuit Board Basics is now available. This edition contains an updated primer on single-, double-sided and multilayer PCB manufacturing processes; a review of new...

www.circuitsassembly.com/bg_intro.(Surveys and Guides)
April 1, 2004... www.circuitsassembly.com/bg_intro Visit our recently updated Online Buyers Guide, a comprehensive source of supplier information. You can search for specific products, supplier contact information or industry services. If you are a supplier, be...

Kester sold to American Capital.(Industry News)
April 1, 2004... Kester (Des Plaines, IL, www.kester.com), a business unit of Northrop Grumman Corp., has been sold to American Capital Strategies Ltd. (Bethesda, MD, www.americancapital.com) for an undisclosed amount. The acquisition, announced during a press...

Universal, Hitachi extend high-speed placement collaboration.(Industry News)
April 1, 2004... Universal Instruments (Binghamton, NY, www.uic.com) and Hitachi High Technologies (HHT, Schaumburg, IL, www.hitachi-hta.com) have renewed their original equipment manufacturer (OEM) agreement for a further five years. HHT acquired Sanyo High...

TFS acquires customers, employees of Integrex.(Industry News)
April 1, 2004... Three-Five Systems Inc. (TFS, Tempe, AZ, www.tfsc.com) has hired key employees and acquired the customer base of Integrex Inc. (Bothell, WA, www.integrex.com), a privately-held electronics manufacturing services (EMS) company. TFS will...

Dek (San Jose, CA) has announced representative changes in the Pacific Northwest and Southern California regions.(In Brief)
April 1, 2004... Dek (San Jose, CA) has announced representative changes in the Pacific Northwest and Southern California regions. The company will now be represented by Systems Specialists Inc. in Washington, Oregon and Idaho. Competitive Edge Manufacturing...

ESSEMTEC.(In Brief)
April 1, 2004... ESSEMTEC (Aesch, Switzerland) has opened its first U.S. sales and service organization in Glassboro, NJ. ESSEMTEC USA can be reached at: 816 N. Delsea Dr. #308, Glassboro, NJ 08028; (856) 218-1131; email: sales@essemtec-usa.com.

Lista International Corp.(In Brief)
April 1, 2004... Lista International Corp. (Holliston, MA), a manufacturer of technical, industrial and office workspace furniture and equipment, has purchased the assets of the Ergomation product line of adjustable height workbenches and accessory systems from...

Qual-Pro Corp.(In Brief)
April 1, 2004... Qual-Pro Corp. (Carson, CA) has installed its third MYDATA machine. The addition of the machine allows the company to handle even larger board assemblies and components as small as 0201s.

Aqueous Technologies Corp. (Rancho Cucamonga, CA) has appointed Technical Resources Corp. as a manufacturer's representative serving Florida and Puerto Rico.(In Brief)
April 1, 2004... Aqueous Technologies Corp. (Rancho Cucamonga, CA) has appointed Technical Resources Corp. as a manufacturer's representative serving Florida and Puerto Rico. The company will represent Aqueous' full line of cleaning equipment for surface-mount...

Electronics manufacturing services provider AeTec (tempe, AZ) has transferred the manufacturing operations of reliability Inc.'s DC/DC and Bias Power's AC/DC Power Sources Converter operations to the company's Costa Rica facility, along with select employees.(In Brief)
April 1, 2004... Electronics manufacturing services provider AeTec (Tempe, AZ) has transferred the manufacturing operations of Reliability Inc.'s DC/DC and Bias Power's AC/DC Power Sources Converter operations to the company's Costa Rica facility, along with...

Sealant Equipment & Engineering Inc.(In Brief)
April 1, 2004... Sealant Equipment & Engineering Inc. (Plymouth, MI)'s certification for Precision Manufacturing of Meter/Mix/Dispense Equipment has been upgraded to ISO 9001:2000. The certification was granted by Chamber Certification Assessment Services Ltd.

Plexus to supply Patientline units in UK.(Industry News)
April 1, 2004... Plexus Corp. (Neenah, WI, www.plexus.com), a provider of electronics manufacturing services (EMS), has secured an exclusive contract with Patientline PLC (Slough, UK, www.patientline.co.uk) to manufacture, supply and install the Patientline...

Sanmina-SCI licenses Nortel Networks' Routing technology.(Industry News)
April 1, 2004... Sanmina-SCI Corp. (San Jose, CA, www.sanmina-sci.com), an electronics contract manufacturer and printed circuit board (PCB) fabricator, has become the first company to enter a worldwide licensing agreement under Nortel Networks' Channel Routing...

Speedline ships 100th dispensing system.(Industry News)
April 1, 2004... Speedline Technologies Inc. (Franklin, MA, www.speedlinetech.com) has manufactured and shipped its 100th CAMALOT XyflexPro dispensing system. The dispenser was purchased by Mektec Manufacturing Corp. of Thailand. Mektec produces flexible...

SMTA International forms 2004 technical committee.(Industry News)
April 1, 2004... The Surface-Mount Technology Association (SMTA, Minneapolis, MN, www.smta.org) has announced the formation of the SMTA International (SMTAI) technical committee for 2004. The SMTA will again co-locate its SMTAI conference on Sept. 26-30 with...

PDA market still evolving.(Market Watch)
April 1, 2004... While shipments declined in 2003, personal digital assistants (PDAs) have continued their evolution into multimedia and business data devices, reports In-Stat/MDR (Scottsdale, AZ, www.instat.com). The high-tech market research firm finds that...

Component orders rise in January.(Market Watch)
April 1, 2004... The monthly order index compiled by the Electronic Components, Assemblies and Materials Association (ECA, Arlington, VA, www.ec-central.org) moved upward in January, confirming industry optimism during the last four months. "The index has...

What electronics manufacturing will remain in North America?(Market Watch)
April 1, 2004... The practice of outsourcing electronics manufacturing gained popularity in the 1970s--largely in the U.S., and, today, most of the world's largest contract manufacturers (CMs) are headquartered in North America. Yet the never-ending search for...

News from SMART Group's Lead-Free Seminar.(Europe Watch)
April 1, 2004... In February, the SMART Group (Bucks, UK, www.smartgroup.org) held its 6th annual Lead-Free Seminar at Wycombe Football Club Conference Centre. Delegate numbers were cut-off at 173 a week before the event (another 50 engineers wanted to attend)....

Aegis launches European subsidiary.(Europe Watch)
April 1, 2004... Aegis Industrial Software Corp. (Horsham, PA, www.aiscorp.com) has formed a wholly owned international subsidiary, Aegis Industrial Software Europe Ltd., headquartered in the UK. With 75 European customers, six value added resellers and 10...

FEINFOCUS, GOEPEL partner for AOI/AXI system.(Europe Watch)
April 1, 2004... FEINFOCUS (Garbsen, Germany, www.feinfocus.com), a manufacturer of x-ray inspection systems and tubes, and GOEPEL electronic (Jena, Germany, www.goepel.com), a vendor of electronic and optical test and inspection systems, have combined their 30...

First functioning 10 Gbps backplane reference design demonstrated.(Europe Watch)
April 1, 2004... At DesignCon 2004, Winchester Electronics (www.winchesterelectronics.com) and Interconnect Technologies (www.littoninterconnect.com)--business units of Northrop Grumman Corp. (Los Angeles, CA)--and Xilinx Inc. (San Jose, CA, www.xilinx.com)...

IMAPS announces new slogan, four-tier technical program.(Europe Watch)
April 1, 2004... The International Microelectronics And Packaging Society (IMAPS, Washington, D.C., www.imaps.org) has adopted the slogan: "Everything in electronics between the chip and the system." The slogan will be used to identify the mission and...

Q & A with Raymond P. Sharpe, CEO, Cookson Electronics.(The Fine Pitch)
April 1, 2004... Circuits Assembly: Briefly describe Cookson Electronics' new "Shared Intelligence" message. Is this plan a response to the theory that customers now expect suppliers to solve their technology problems and R & D issues? Ray Sharpe: Lisa,...

Reflow profiling for fun and profit: save time and gain accuracy by tweaking your profiling process.(On the Forefront)
April 1, 2004... Profiling is the process by which we determine the proper time/temperature durations a printed circuit board assembly (PCBA) must sustain throughout the reflow cycle. It is dictated by such solder paste characteristics as solder alloy, solder...

It's been one of those (good) times ... IPC has stayed busy, releasing 21 standards and documents in the past three months.(Standard Features)
April 1, 2004... In 2003, I reported on 15 new document releases by IPC. However, we have released nine standards and 12 test methods in the three months since my last report. Committee involvement by your industry peers is increasing, a positive sign for...

NEMI's lead-free alloy: still applicable to today's commercially available alloys.(Cover Article)
April 1, 2004... [TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII] Electronics assembly is moving to lead-free solder worldwide, but concerns still exist about processability, reliability and the choice of available alloys. The National Electronics Manufacturing Initiative...

Assembly insider.(Special Advertising Section)(Advertisement)
April 1, 2004... #1 -- WITNESS the DIFFERENCE [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Leading the x-ray inspection field of competitors, Dage announces the XiDAT a groundbreaking Digital X-Ray System with outstanding image resolution, grayscale analysis and ease of...

AOI testing positions in comparison: an extensive study compares AOI following printing, placement and reflow, with surprising results.(Test and Inspection)
April 1, 2004... [TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII] When automated optical inspection (AOI) systems are used in the production process for electronic components, the question arises: At which point in the line does AOI make the most sense--following the...

Kester--changing to meet the future of electronics.(Advertorial)(Advertisement)
April 1, 2004... For over a century, Kester, a Chicago solder company has been delivering superior products and technology to customers worldwide. Before the latest 90 nm wafer technology hit, before the electronics boom, before the industrial age, there was...

Total process control and management, part I: from reliability, stability and traceability to predictability.(Process Control)
April 1, 2004... [TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII] To achieve total process control and management, a reliability, stability, traceability and predictability (RSTP) model was proposed and implemented. This methodology enables product developers to perform...

Thermal repeatability in lead-free array rework: a recent study on thermal repeatability shows how even small changes in process variables can have a significant impact on the end result in lead-free array rework.(Rework and Repair)
April 1, 2004... [TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII] The introduction of lead-free soldering technology into electronics manufacturing has raised many questions and generated much debate in the global industry. Many manufacturers are still deciding how best to...

Solder preforms in Circuits Assembly: new solutions for old problems.(Materials)
April 1, 2004... [TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII] Surface-mount technology has become synonymous with the use of solder paste. Paste was developed to provide a high throughput and yields to increasingly complex printed circuit board (PCB) assemblies....

Flip chip soldering fluxes.(Product Spotlight)
April 1, 2004... PK-001 and PK-002 flip chip epoxy fluxes are designed for use with Sn62 and Sn63 eutectic solders. The fast curing, halide-free, no-clean fluxes can be used for flip chip or chip-scale package (CSP) soldering processes. The fluxes have a stable...

Temperature indicating paper.(Product Spotlight)
April 1, 2004... Thermex is a temperature indicating sensor paper (TISP) that reveals temperature distribution between any two heated contacting surfaces. It can assess heat distribution between heat-sealing bars, welding heads, clutch and brake assemblies and...

Screen printer.(Product Spotlight)
April 1, 2004... The SP60 is a large screen printer designed for both the high- and low-volume manufacturer who requires ultra printing accuracy. The screen printer's benefits include speed--6.0 sec.; accuracy--625 [micro]m (1 mil), with repeatability of 7.5...

Split vision rework station.(Product Spotlight)
April 1, 2004... The Marksman Intruder offers placement and reflow for all types of boards and components, including ball grid array (BGA) and lead-free applications. The station features a convection panel preheat system available in 900w, 1600w and 2400w...

Ionizer controller.(Product Spotlight)
April 1, 2004... The Equilibrion model CTC037 maintains the balance of an ionizer within [+ or -]1V or better, even in the presence of static charges, and integrates with almost all available one- or multiplefan DC ionizers equipped with a BNC or RJ11 control...

Non-contact measurement system.(Product Spotlight)
April 1, 2004... Pinnacle is a large format, non-contact dimensional measurement system featuring a granite base and column, passive vibration isolation system and non-contact stage encoders. The system is useful for product design/development and near-line...

Benchtop dispensing system.(Product Spotlight)
April 1, 2004... The DispenseMate 550 series benchtop dispensing unit is ideal for many batch dispensing operations including potting, gasketing, solder paste and adhesive dispensing. The system features a precision motion system with closed-loop brushless DC...

Board support system.(Product Spotlight)
April 1, 2004... The newest product in the Board-Lok tooling family is the Flex-Kit board support system. The product supports bare surface-mount boards when they are passed through the printing machine. The system gives support over a range of board sizes from...

Suface-mount reflow oven.(Product Spotlight)
April 1, 2004... Pyramax 150 X5 solder reflow oven for surface-mount processing features a closed loop convection control for process control and repeatability. The 10-zone air or nitrogen capability, combined with 350[degrees]C maximum temperature and 24-in....