Printed Circuit Design & Manufacture articles from April 2005

Printed Circuit Design & Manufacture archives from April 2005

No business like show business.(Our Line)
April 1, 2005... BETWEEN APEX/IPC Expo and PCB Design Conference West, PCD&M spent much of February chatting with board shops, laminate suppliers, contract manufacturers, EDA software vendors and test companies. Assistant Editor Tracy Heffner and I spoke...

Buying trends 'on display'.(Market Watch)
April 1, 2005... BUYING TRENDS 'ON DISPLAY' Trends the U.S. electronics equipment market (shipments only). % % CHANGE NOV. DEC. (1) JAN. *...

February manufacturing slower but strong.(Market Watch)
April 1, 2005... TEMPE, AZ -- The manufacturing sector grew in February for the 21st consecutive month, although at a slower rate. New orders and production slowed, while backlogs remained steady, said the Institute for Supply Management (www.ism.ws). ...

IT spending outlook modest.(Market Watch)
April 1, 2005... SAN FRANCISCO -- Despite a modest improvement over January, CIO spending expectations are dropping from last year, according to the latest poll of the nation's tech leaders. For the third straight month, large enterprises reduced spending...

Q4 server sales up 5.1%.(Market Watch)
April 1, 2005... FRAMINGHAM, MA -- Worldwide factory sales of servers grew 5.1% to $14.4 billion in the fourth quarter, the seventh consecutive quarter of growth, according to research firm IDC. Unit shipments slowed 15.7% year-on-year. For the year, worldwide...

EMS, ODM to reach $300b by 2008. (Market Watch.
April 1, 2005... EL SEGUNDO, CA -- Worldwide contract manufacturing revenues will reach nearly $300 billion by 2008, iSuppli Corp. said in March, as ODMs push toward branding their own products. Global EMS revenue is expected to reach $164.4 billion by...

Industry market snapshot.(Market Watch)
April 1, 2005... INDUSTRY MARKET SNAPSHOT Book-to-bills of various components/equipments OCT. NOV. DEC. JAN. Semiconductor equipment (1) 0.96 1.0 0.99 0.8 Semiconductors (2) ...

Cadence rolls out tools, technology.(Around The World)
April 1, 2005... PCB WEST -- Cadence Design Systems (www.cadence.com) launched OrCAD Signal Explorer, a tool that features new PCB-level topology exploration and signal integrity analysis technology. Signal Explorer is said to enable easy scalability to all...

Zentech takes Inc. 500 honors.(Around The World)
April 1, 2005... BALTIMORE, MD -- Contract manufacturer Zentech Manufacturing (www.zentechman.com) made it onto Inc. Magazine's Inc. 500 list of the top privately held companies of 2004. The B'more company came in at No. 255 on the list, which years ago honored...

UP Media Group, PCB007 launch PBR seminars.(The Education Station)
April 1, 2005... ATLANTA -- UP Media Group (www.upmediagroup.com) and PCB007 (www.pcb007.com) announced the formation and launch of PBR Seminars (www.pbrseminars.com). The new company will produce and market Web-based seminars (Webinars) for the global...

Tesch is new DDi C00.(Now Make Us Profitable)
April 1, 2005... ANAHEIM, CA -- DDi Corp. has appointed Brad Tesch COO. Tesch replaces Michael Moisan, who resigned effective March 11. Moisan was responsible for DDi's printed circuit board manufacturing operations since 2002. Tesch has been with DDi Corp....

Plasma Etch: beware of Asian counterfeit machines.(Around The World)
April 1, 2005... CARSON CITY, NV -- Plasma Etch Inc. (www.plasmaetch.com) said that counterfeit plasma machines bearing the name "Plasma Etch Asia Pacific" are being marketed and sold throughout China, Taiwan, Malaysia and various locations throughout the...

Events.(Happenings)(Calendar)
April 1, 2005... 4-5 Opto Ireland Dublin, Ireland Contact: www.spie.org/events/ireland 12 Circuit Simulation with Protel 2004 Ware, Herts, UK Contact: www.eda.co.uldtrainProtel_2004_SIM.html 12-15 NEPCON China/SMTA High-Level Conference Everbright...

Zuken.(Faces)
April 1, 2005... Zuken has appointed Tony Battaglia VP of sales for the Americas. Battaglia is an experienced manager of direct and indirect sales channels in high-tech industries, with time spent at GenRAD and Teradyne. He has a BS in business administration...

Dimensional Imprint Technology.(Faces)
April 1, 2005... Dr. Craig Davidson is the new senior vice president and CTO of Dimensional Imprint Technology. The former VP of technology for Multek, Davidson has more than 20 years of experience in high-tech industries, from electronics to aerospace. He...

Excel Precision and Parelec have formed a partnership and opened a printed electronics manufacturing center in West Seneca, NY.(It's A Deal)
April 1, 2005... Excel Precision and Parelec have formed a partnership and opened a printed electronics manufacturing center in West Seneca, NY. Using Parelec's Parmod series of conductive inks, Excel has installed a high-volume process said to be capable of...

German board-maker AT&S will relocate production from its Fohnsdorf works to nearby Leoben-Hinterberg.(It's A Deal)
April 1, 2005... German board-maker AT&S will relocate production from its Fohnsdorf works to nearby Leoben-Hinterberg. The relocation will begin in the spring of 2005 and is scheduled to be completed in December 2005. The move is expected to save the company...

Aspocomp subsidiary ACP Electronics (ACPE) will build a new PCB production unit in Suzhou, China.(It's A Deal)
April 1, 2005... Aspocomp subsidiary ACP Electronics (ACPE) will build a new PCB production unit in Suzhou, China. It is the Suzhou plant's third unit. Production is estimated to start in the summer of 2006 and reach full capacity by the end of 2006. The unit...

Rohm and Haas has selected the site of its China Research and Development Center in Shanghai.(It's A Deal)
April 1, 2005... Rohm and Haas has selected the site of its China Research and Development Center in Shanghai. Located on over eight acres (33,000 [meters.sup.2]) in the Zhangjiang Hi-Tech Park, Pudong New Area District, the new site will anchor the company's...

Hiring a sales manager: first, decide what you need a sales manager to do--build a sales force from scratch or just get out and sell.(Power Selling)
April 1, 2005... IT'S NEVERTOO late to hire a great sales manager. When hiring a sales manager (or anyone in sales, for that matter) remember this simple axiom: Sales people sell for a living. Most of them are very good when it comes to selling their favorite...

It's time to walk the walk: after all, anyone can talk the talk. Get involved, take action, do something!(ROI)
April 1, 2005... AFTER A RECENT conversation with a few industry friends, I could not help thinking how much better off we would all be if everyone really "walked the talk" instead of just "talking the talk." A lot of folks in our industry pay lip service to...

IR DROP in high-speed IC packages and PCBs: Neckdowns, low-weight copper and Swiss cheese effects are conspiring to wreak havoc on your high-speed design. Get the drop on them.(Cover Story)
April 1, 2005... Today's low-voltage, high-current designs require DC IR drop analysis for off-chip power distribution systems in order to optimize end-to-end voltage margins for every device on the distribution. This article will introduce the basics of IR...

The 2005 PCD&M designer salary survey: designers keep on making a decent living, despite their concerns about China, unsympathetic managers and, in one case, artificial intelligence.(Compensation)
April 1, 2005... The results of the 2005 PCD&M Designers Salary Survey are in--the first-ever to target solely PCB design and layout professionals. Since this is the first time we've surveyed designers separately--the design engineer contingent was surveyed...

Spice up your simulations: used together, electronic measurement tools and EDA tools can help create and tune circuit models when SPICE models can't be found.(Design Verification)
April 1, 2005... Ed. For the full article with all figures, please see www.pcdandm.com/pcdmag/mag/0504/0504rae.pdf. Hardware design engineers are increasingly using simulation to test their board designs while still in schematic form. Simulation helps...

The IPC Expo buzz: where does US PCB production go from here?(Better Phototooling)
April 1, 2005... JUDGING BY THE attendance alone at this year's IPC Expo, our industry appears to be upbeat about the future. Exhibitors and visitors posted strong numbers in relation to previous events. Working our booth for three days, I spoke with current...

Preparing for the WEEE Directive: recycling requirements for equipment sold in the EU go into effect Aug. 13. A primer on getting ready.(Countdown To Lead-Free)
April 1, 2005... THE WASTE FROM ELECTRICAL AND ELECTRONIC EQUIPMENT (WEEE) DIRECTIVE is scheduled to be implemented by EU Member States later this year and will require producers of electrical and electronic equipment (EEE) to set up and fund systems to collect...

Livin' single: this single-sided board shop has expanded into a new facility. Maybe there is money to be made in one-siders after all, and not just in high volumes.(Board Shops)
April 1, 2005... Lightning Circuits has just built a new shop in St. Catherine, Ontario. It may be the only new board shop built in North America in the past two years. Lightning Circuits is making money--double-digit growth during recent years--and growing....

50 [ohm] termination.(off the shelf)
April 1, 2005... The AIN2291 has a welded, not soldered, silver ribbon lead on an aluminum nitride 50 [ohm] termination. The weld termination measures .250" in length, .250" in width and .040" in thickness. Return loss of the device is 25 dB on input and...

PCB plotter.(off the shelf)
April 1, 2005... The ProtoMat S62 circuit board plotter has a maximum milling speed of 6" (150 mm) per second with a system resolution of 0.00001" (0.25 [micro]m) and 62,000 RPM spindle motor. Said to produce extremely fine traces for all types of PCBs,...

Schematic capture software.(off the shelf)
April 1, 2005... Multicap 8 is said to feature enhanced schematic capture functionality that reduces schematic creation time and adds support for more complex designs. Functions include modeless operation, autoconnect passives, graphical feedback and new bus...

Engineering software.(Others Of Notes)
April 1, 2005... InStack, an automatic stackup designer, is a software module that reportedly reduces cycle time and material costs. It applies rules, thickness, impedance and material constraints, and produces solutions sorted by cost and deviation from target...

Epoxy substrate.(Others Of Notes)
April 1, 2005... The N4000-7 EF is a 165[degrees]CTg, environmentally friendly epoxy substrate. Said to offer excellent moisture resistance, electrical values and thermal stability, providing a halogen-free and lead-free option for high-tech applications....

Adhesiveless flex.(Others Of Notes)
April 1, 2005... Two new lines of 2L-FCCL adhesiveless, all-polyimide flexible circuit materials are now available. Rogers R/flex AP 200 material is a single-clad, cast-on type product and Mitsui Chemicals NEOFLEX NFX material is a double-clad, laminated-type...

CCD alignment.(Others Of Notes)
April 1, 2005... The OMA-2 automatic CCD alignment option is available for L&M's LM400.050" universal grid bare board test systems. Developed for ultra-dense, fine-pitch circuit boards, the testers come in grid sizes from 6.4" x 9.6" to 39.2" x 29.6". WHO:...

Halogen-free laminate.(Others Of Notes)
April 1, 2005... IS500, the next-generation high-Tg halogen-free product, addresses the need for lead-free and halogen-free platforms. It has aTg of around 180[degrees]C and the DK/DF closely matches that of Isola's FR406 and DE117 products. Said to have a...

Drilling machine.(Others Of Notes)
April 1, 2005... The Concept 129 Intelli-Drill is the latest in Excellon's Concept 129 series of drilling machines. The Intelli-Drill is said to be a precision drilling machine with advanced vision capabilities to examine and correct for inner-layer...

Skewering skew: weave-induced skew could be a time bomb lurking in your high-speed serial links.(No Myths Allowed)
April 1, 2005... SKEW IS THE 3 difference in arrival time between the signals on two different interconnects. Many highspeed serial links set a limit of, typically, 20 to 60 psec for the maximum allowed skew between the two lines of a differential pair. For...