Printed Circuit Design & Manufacture articles from August 2004

Printed Circuit Design & Manufacture archives from August 2004

Fabs fail to accept help.(Letters)(Letter to the Editor)
August 1, 2004... DAN BEAULIEU HITS the nail on the head most of the time. I do not agree with much of his June column ("Why I Like the USPCA," p. 16). In particular, I do not agree that IPC has abdicated the board fabricator. IPC has not turned over the...

Who will pay suppliers for R&D?(Letters)(Letter to the Editor)
August 1, 2004... WHERE HAVE FAB shops been during the Capitol Hill meetings to lobby for bills for accelerated depreciation, or to have China comply with WTO? Only a fraction of the nation's fabricators have participated in IPC events designed to help them. ...

IPC data not compromised.(Letters)(Letter to the Editor)
August 1, 2004... IN HIS JUNE column (Our Line, p. 48) Mike Buetow reported that "almost all" the fabricators at IPC's PCB President's Meeting last February were brokering foreign-made boards. In fact, only half of the 30 North American fabricators present said...

U.S., be warned.(Letters)(Letter to the Editor)
August 1, 2004... Data are open to interpretation that in turn provides information. The problem is, currently there is no constant to which any of us can subscribe. The answer, of course, lies with the fabricators and OEMs because only they can tell us about...

Correction.(Correction Notice)
August 1, 2004... On p. 44 of our July issue, the URL for Taconic should have read: taconic-add.com. We regret the error.

On the defense.(Market Watch)
August 1, 2004... ON THE DEFENSE Trends in the U.S. electronics equipment market (shipments only). % CHANGE MARCH APRIL MAY * YTD Computers/electronics products ...

Inventories, backlogs climbed in June.(Market Watch)
August 1, 2004... TEMPE, AZ -- Inventories rose and backlogs declined at manufacturers in June as summer kicked in and consumers headed out of the stores. Overall, manufacturing grew for the 13th consecutive month, said the Institute for Supply Management...

PCBs: on vacation, or headed for a fall?(Market Watch)
August 1, 2004... SAN FRANCISCO -- Wall Street analysts are taking aim at the PCB industry, knocking down forecasts through summer's end. On July 1 Morgan Stanley cut earnings estimates for Sanmina-SCI, claiming weakness in the company's PCB and enclosures...

Industry market snapshot.(Market Watch)
August 1, 2004... INDUSTRY MARKET SNAPSHOT Book-to-bills of various components/equipment. FEB. MARCH APRIL MAY Semiconductor equipment (1) 1.15 1.09 1.13 1.11 Semiconductors (2) 30.8% 32.3%...

VAR breathes new life into OrCad Line.(EMA Renews Investment, Demand)
August 1, 2004... ROCHESTER, NY -- It's been a little over two years since Cadence Design Systems starting speaking with one of its leading VARs about taking over sales of the OrCad product line on a much larger scale. Since January 2003, when the deal was...

Altium betas latest P-CAD tool.(Around The World/Design)
August 1, 2004... SYDNEY -- Altium Ltd. has released to beta testing a new version of its P-CAD PCB design software. New in P-CAD 2004: a schematic editor that supports multichannel and hierarchical design; a topological autorouter; an interactive routing...

New Allegro tool handles multi-GHz designs.(Also Blended With PLM)
August 1, 2004... SAN JOSE - Cadence Design Systems in June announced a new tool for multi-gigahertz design, part of its Allegro PCB series. Allegro PCB SI 630 is optimized for S-parameter-based interconnect characterization and performs high-capacity simulation...

PCB East 2004 conference brochure available.(Around The World/Design)
August 1, 2004... ATLANTA -- The conference program and event schedule is available for PCB Design Conference East 2004 - the premier East Coast conference and exhibition for printed circuit board engineering, design and manufacture professionals. The ninth...

EP OK.
August 1, 2004... 3M is offering limited indemnification to PCB fabricators who use its embedded capacitor material. This is being done specifically to address con cerns over intellectual property and freedom to practice. The protections could extend through to...

Epoxy resins pricing.
August 1, 2004... A leading supplier of epoxy resins used in laminates says pricing pressure remains "intense" as supply tightens due to rising global demand and soaring raw material and energy costs. Dow Chemical Co. has already raised prices three times this...

Buy or sell.
August 1, 2004... A firm focusing on mergers and acquisitions of small fabricators has formed. Paul Emello, former president and CEO of Capitol Circuits, and Dan Beaulieu, cofounder of D.B. Management Group, launched Capitol Technologies LLC (cappcb.com).

'Brand new.
August 1, 2004... Saying it wants its look to reflect the "leading edge" image of its GerbTool line, Wise Software (wssi.com) rolled out a new look for its Web sites. The CAM supplier will use the shortened version of its legal name--Wise Software Solutions...

Merix gets class ... Action.
August 1, 2004... A number of class-action suits claiming Merix violated federal law by overestimating future sales were filed in federal court on behalf of buyers of common stock between July 1, 2003, and May 13, 2004. The complaints allege the company, its...

Letdown, or summer vacation?
August 1, 2004... The top exec at the parent company of Nelco said laminate sales slowed in the telecom and networking sectors in June. Park Electrochemical president and CEO Brian Shore said visibility remains poor and demand lessening was probably due to...

M-Flex goes public.
August 1, 2004... Flex circuit maker M-Flex in June went public on the Nasdaq exchange. M-Flex, which has plants in the U.S. and Asia, had revenues of $146 million in 2003, according to N.T. Information.

Is it lead?
August 1, 2004... Cookson Electronics is offering a lead-free process capability validation of laminates, pad finishes, stencils, solder paste and cored wire, and components. Visit cooksonelectronics.com/no-lead.

Sanmina-SCI goes China.(Buys Pentex-Schweizer)
August 1, 2004... SAN JOSE -- Sanmina-SCI Corp. plans to buy Pentex-Schweizer Circuits in an all-cash deal worth about $79 million. The deal is expected to close in Sanmina-SCI's (sanmina-sci.com) fiscal 2004 Q4 or 2005 Q1, pending approval by Pentex-Schweizer...

Congress closer to 'buy America?'.(Making gains: Covall-Pinnix)
August 1, 2004... EVANSTON, IL -- Executives of the US Printed Circuit Alliance reported a warm reception from legislators during their visit to Washington, DC, in late June. In a statement, USPCA executive director Stephanie Covall-Pinnix said the organization...

Crane nabs DoD funds.(USPCA Gains Support For PCB Provisions)
August 1, 2004... WASHINGTON, DC -- The 2005 appropriations bill before the U.S. Congress allocates $10 million to fund PCB industry research through the Crane Naval Surface Warfare Center. Next year's Department of Defense Appropriations Act, currently...

Events.(Calendar)
August 1, 2004... AUGUST 3 Embedded Passives Seminar Series Irvine, CA, "Contact: mentor.com 4 Embedded Passives Seminar Series San Jose Contact: mentor.com 10 Embedded Passives Seminar Series Detroit. Contact: mentor.com 17 Embedded Passives...

Eastern Pacific Circuits (HK) will purchase eight Spiron-8800.(Faces)
August 1, 2004... Eastern Pacific Circuits (HK) will purchase eight Spiron-8800 VIPT systems from Orbotech (orbotech.com).

Simmtech purchased a Compact Plater through-hole plating line.(Faces)
August 1, 2004... Simmtech purchased a Compact Plater through-hole plating line from HMS (hms.ag)

ACD Technologies Inc. named as sales representatives FDR Specialty Products (northeast U.S.).(Faces)
August 1, 2004... ACD Technologies Inc. named as sales representatives FDR Specialty Products (northeast U.S.); ToryonTechnologies (U.S. and western Canada); and Novotron (eastern Canada).

CADint (cadint.se) and Ing.-Buero Friedrich (ibfriedrich.com) signed OEM agreements to market routing tools.(Faces)
August 1, 2004... CADint (cadint.se) and Ing.-Buero Friedrich (ibfriedrich.com) signed OEM agreements to market routing tools from ConnectEDA (connecteda.com) worldwide.

Park Electrochemical Corp. promoted Eddie Mok to Asia Pacific director of OEM marketing and technology and Leena Gulia to senior OEM marketing engineer.(Faces)
August 1, 2004... Park Electrochemical Corp. promoted Eddie Mok to Asia Pacific director of OEM marketing and technology and Leena Gulls to senior OEM marketing engineer. Mok was country service manager in China. Gulia was an R&D chemist at Park's Neltec...

FKI Logistex.(Faces)
August 1, 2004... FKI Logistex North America named Stephen Ackerman (pictured) president, succeeding David Martin, who is leaving the company. Ackerman was vice president of integrated system sales at Alvey. He has a bachelor's in mechanical engineering from the...

Hover-Davis Inc.(Faces)
August 1, 2004... Hover-Davis Inc. named Darrell R.Tullar as marketing manager, responsible for global technical and promotional marketing activities and strategies. He has 24 years of experience at Motorola, Universal Instruments and PMJ Automec.

Lenthor Engineering.(Faces)
August 1, 2004... Lenthor Engineering named John Wiltshire mil-spec program manager, responsible for qualification process and national sales representatives.

March Plasma Systems.(Faces)
August 1, 2004... March Plasma Systems named Terumitsu Tsuji (pictured, left) business manager and Yuji Takai (right) regional sales manager for Japan. Tsuji has six years of sales and service management experience in semiconductors. Takai sold thin-film...

FlexLink Systems Inc.(Faces)
August 1, 2004... FlexLink Systems Inc. named Nino DiPietro vice president, finance, replacing Agneta Pettersson Bell. DiPietro spent eight years as corporate controller at Southco, Inc. and has bachelor's the University of Pennsylvania and an MBA from Villanova...

Charles Shipley.(In Memoriam)
August 1, 2004... Charles Shipley, founder of Shipley Corp., died June 13 at the age of 86.

StrataFLEX Corp. (strataflex.com), PFC Flexible Circuits (pfcflex.com) and Calumet Electronics Corp. (cec-up.com) purchased Paradigm S/ERP software from Cimnet Systems (cimsys.com).(It's A Deal)
August 1, 2004... StrataFLEX Corp. (strataflex.com), PFC Flexible Circuits (pfcflex.com) and Calumet Electronics Corp. (cec-up.com) purchased Paradigm S/ERP software from Cimnet Systems (cimsys.com). Coretec (coretec.com) purchased Paradigm S/ERP and Engenix...

ITC Intercircuit (itcintercircuit.com) sold PS200 power squeegees to Ormat Circuits (ormetcircuits.com) and Saturn Circuits, a PD30 plane raze device to DDI (ddiglobal.com), and aTHP25 hole filler to Sierra Circuits (sierraprotoexpress.com).(It's A Deal)
August 1, 2004... ITC Intercircuit (itcintercircuit.com) sold PS200 power squeegees to Ormat Circuits (ormetcircuits.com) and Saturn Circuits, a PD30 plane raze device to DDI (ddiglobal.com), and aTHP25 hole filler to Sierra Circuits (sierraprotoexpress.com)....

China on my mind: on the way to becoming the world's workshop, China still has some details to work out.(Power Selling)
August 1, 2004... I've BEEN THINKING about China a lot lately. Part of it, no doubt, comes from having been there a couple of times so far this year, but it's more than that. I think it has something to do with how in China we are seeing history made: things...

Why lead-free feels like the end: are we just sitting ducks, awaiting the lead-free bullet? It sure feels that way.(ROI)
August 1, 2004... HERE COMES THE big one! And its hit will spell doom for more electronics companies than any recession. "Lead-free" manufacturing is upon us, and the electronics industry is a sitting duck, waiting to take its bullet. The more I study...

How does return current really return? In 'short,' through the capacitance between the signal and return conductors.(No Myths Allowed)
August 1, 2004... WE KNOW THAT if a current is launched into the signal conductor of a transmission line, it returns on the other conductor--the return path conductor. But how does it get to the other conductor, especially if there is an insulating dielectric...

What designers need to know about testing: higher edge rates and HDI are taking their toll on time-tested testing methods. Now vision and flying probe test are taking off, but is test always necessary?(Testing Basics)
August 1, 2004... Certain traditional testing methods have been used since the early days of the PCB. These include clamshell fixtures for bare-board testing to detect opens/shorts; manufacturing defect analyzer (MDA) and in-circuit test (ICT) for fault...

Avoiding differential pair: routing violations: take these steps to recognize and avoid layout mistakes when routing high-speed differential pairs.(Better Routing)
August 1, 2004... A previous article (1) addressed several layout guidelines for high-speed differential pairs, such as maintaining parallelism and symmetry between two complementary traces. This article focuses on certain mistakes that can occur when routing or...

Baking a pie: a review of a recent embedded passives conference shows the market smells good.(Getting Embedded)
August 1, 2004... THE PRUDENT ADVICE of Dennis Fritz still resonates. During an AEPT (Advanced Embedded Passives Technology) consortium meeting in 2001, the discussion was heating up between material suppliers, fabricators and equipment vendors over who was...

Type 1 ICDs; the causes of most Type 1 ICDs are not obvious. What to book for, and how to be certain of what you see.(The Plating Rack)
August 1, 2004... IN OUR LAST column we began our visit with the dreaded topic of interconnect defects (ICD). This month we discuss the causes of Type 1 ICD: separation of electroless copper from the interconnect (FIGURE 1). [FIGURE 1 OMITTED] Only...

The history of embedded distributed capacitance; embedded distributed capacitance is much older than most think, with the first known U.S. patents being issued in the 1920s. A look at six important--yet overlooked--works.(Embedded Capacitance Patents)
August 1, 2004... Embedded distributed capacitance as a concept has been around since the 1920s, and was not invented in the late 1980s as some believe. In fact, embedded distributed capacitance and thin film nickel alloy resistors have been known in the art for...

Designing flexible circuits; flex gets shoved, crammed and folded into all nooks and crannies. And that's before final assembly.(Cover Story)
August 1, 2004... Flex designs combine elements of mechanical and electrical boards. In a way, they are like origami: folded, twisted and shoved into tiny packages. Characterized as thin, flexible, durable, foldable and capable of fitting into the severest...

Microvia Market dialing up big gains; thanks to insatiable demand for cellphones and other handheld electronics, boards with these small holes are easily outpacing the rest of the market.(Microvia Technology)
August 1, 2004... The total number of cellphones made in 2003 is estimated to have been between 520 and 530 million, up more than 30% from 2002. Nearly all used microvia boards. Since approximately 50% of all microvia boards produced were used in cellphones, the...

End of the line.(Our Line)
August 1, 2004... MY friend and colleague Lisa Hamburg Bastin is leaving Circuits Assembly this month to take a job with the publications branch of the U.S. Coast Guard. Why is that of relevance to PCD&M readers? Because I have been asked to take the reins of...