Printed Circuit Design & Manufacture articles from December 2003

Printed Circuit Design & Manufacture archives from December 2003

Medical marvel.(Market Watch)
December 1, 2003... MEDICAL MARVEL Trends in the U.S. Electronics equipment market (shipments only). % CHANGE July AUG. Computers and electronics products 0.7...

Manufacturing surged in October.(Market Watch)
December 1, 2003... TEMPE, AZ -- Boosted by a surge in new orders, U.S. manufacturing grew in October for the fourth straight month, according to a monthly survey taken by the Institute for Supply Management (ism.ws). The employment picture improved but remained...

Report: IT spending to rise.(Market Watch)
December 1, 2003... STAMFORD, CT -- "A big turn is coming" in IT spending. So says Michael Fleisher, chairman and chief executive of Gartner Inc., the market research firm, at the company's annual conference in Orlando in October. "2004 will be the year that...

Analysts' consensus: PCB growth in '04.(Market Watch)
December 1, 2003... MINNEAPOLIS -- Economic growth will pick up next year, and the leading indicators point to a recovery in U.S. manufacturing, was the consensus of analysts speaking at an IPC TMRC meeting last October. According to DuPont corporate economist Bob...

Industry market snapshot.(Market Watch)
December 1, 2003... INDUSTRY MARKET SNAPSHOT Book-to-bills of various components/equipment. JUNE JULY AUG. SEPT. Semiconductors equipment (1) 0.93 0.9 0.92 0.95 Semiconductors (2) 3.20%...

Mentor's Q3 sales rise 3%: spending remains 'constrained'.(Around the World / Design)
December 1, 2003... WILSONVlLLE, OR -- Saying customer spending is still "constrained," Mentor Graphics (mentor.com) reported record third-quarter revenues of $157 million, up 3% year-on-year. The company reported income of $4.7 million, beating consensus...

Cadence takes Q3 loss: licensing is bulk of sales.(Around the World
December 1, 2003... SAN JOSE -- Cadence Design Systems (cadence.com) reported a third-quarter net loss of $15 million on total revenue of $269 million. Subscription licenses were approximately 81% of software product bookings. The company posted revenue of...

Out of the woods, slowly: PCB East wrapUp.(Around the World / Design)
December 1, 2003... BOXBOROUGH, MA -- If one phrase could sum up the mood at PCB Design Conference East it is "cautious optimism," and not just because the early snowstorm held off until the day after the exhibits closed. Aisle traffic was solid for the Oct. 21-22...

EE jobless rate up slightly: unemployment rate off Q1 high.(Around the World / Design)
December 1, 2003... WASHINGTON, D.C. -- The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported the unemployment rate for electrical and electronics engineers rose to 6.7% in the third quarter, from 6.4% in the second quarter. The jobless rate for all workers dropped from...

MacDermid on the move.
December 1, 2003... MacDermid (macdermid.com) inked a $2 million deal to buy an 18,000 sq. ft. office complex in Denver and will relocate its top executives there.The company also put its former production plant in Waterbury, CT, on the block.

Enthone gets OSP patent.
December 1, 2003... Ethone (enthone.com) has been issued a U.S. patent for its Entek Plus organic solderability preservative. Patent no. 6,524,644 covers Enlek Plus CU-106A(X) OSP.

Waste not.
December 1, 2003... The U.S. EPA accused American Progressive Circuits, a Chicago-based PCB maker, of violating six counts of federal law governing hazardous waste and used oil. Penalties could total as much as $27,500 per day for most of the alleged violations.

EIT lauded.
December 1, 2003... The EPA granted Endicott Interconnect Technologies (endicottinter connect.com) with membership in an elite group of companies that outpace standard environmental compliance. The National Environmental Performance Track recognizes companies that...

Solution life support.
December 1, 2003... Dr. Joseph Bowers and Roger F. Bernards of Electrochemicals (electrochemicals.com) have been issued a patent for a method of preventing a carbon dispersion from increasing in viscosity during use, a process said to "greatly extend" the useful...

Shared intelligence.
December 1, 2003... Cookson Electronics is launching CE Analytics, a collaboration of innovators, problem-solvers and technological resources for specific applications. "We are sharing intelligence and technology to enable customers to increase yields and...

PCB database opens.
December 1, 2003... Fabfile Online, a database of North American PCB operations, has debuted. Fabfile (fabfile online.com) plans to extend its database approach to other regions.

Boards no more.
December 1, 2003... M-Wave will exit PCB manufacturing and concentrate on distribution services.The company is negotiating the sale or lease of other manufacturing assets in conjunction with the outsourcing of its board production located in West Chicago, and has...

USPCA lobbies congress on trade policy: also meets with Administration officials.(Around the World / Manufacturing)
December 1, 2003... WASHINGTON, DC -- A new trade group for PCB companies in October lobbied congressional and Administration officials for changes to domestic trade policy to aid struggling U.S. manufacturers. On Oct. 16, Doug Bartlett, founding member and a...

Fall up: revenue reports.(Around the World / Manufacturing)
December 1, 2003... FALL UP Revenue Reports REVENUES (1) COMPANY Q3 Q3 Q3 Q2 Aspocomp E48.6 E44.8 Cadence $269 $327 Circuit...

Fuba to exit Vogt; MBO planned for PCB arm.(Around the World / Manufacturing)
December 1, 2003... OBERNZELL, GERMANY -- Vogt Electronic Ag's PCB division will undergo a management buyout, a part of a larger restructuring by its parent company. Financial and other terms were hot disclosed. Vogt Electronic Fuba (vogt electronic.com)...

DownStream adds VARS.
December 1, 2003... Downstream Technologies (downstreamtech.com) added Plano CAD Engineering in Texas, ECADware in southern California and Atlantic EDA Solutions in New Jersey to its channel of value-added resellers of CAM software and services.

Auto audit.
December 1, 2003... Circuit-Wise (circuit-wise.com) passed a biennial audit for QS 9000 certification. The PCB maker has made "significant progress" toward TS 16949:2000 (ISO 9000:2000).

Correction.(Correction Notice)
December 1, 2003... A story in embedded passives materials (November 2003, page 10) mis-stated the material thickness described in John Sisler's patent. The correct thickness is 0.0015".

Patent issued for embedded capacitance using dielectric nanopowders: mixes polymer with slurry.(Around the World / Manufacturing)
December 1, 2003... WASHINGTON, DC -- A novel method using hydrothermally prepared nanopowders to produce integral capacitance components for circuit boards was issued a patent in September. According to the filing, the nanopowders permit the fabrication of very...

Bob Lazzara joins PCD&M edit board.(Around the World / Manufacturing)
December 1, 2003... ATLANTA -- PCD&M announced Robert Lazzara has joined its Editorial Review Board. Lazzara is vice president of marketing and technical support at CCI-CML Worldwide (cci-cml.com), a maker of circuit boards, and has 20 years of design and PCB...

Stuck on you: solder paste sales.(Around the World / Manufacturing)
December 1, 2003... STUCK ON YOU Solder Paste Sales TYPE 2002 SALES % ($millions) No-clean 154.3 61.9 Lead-free 12.0 4.8...

Plating/finishing workshop 'yields' positive results; key suppliers teach process optimization.(Around the World / Manufacturing)
December 1, 2003... ORANGE, CA -- Demonstrating how alliances can solve problems, a trio of leading suppliers in October put on a joint oneday workshop here on process yield optimization. Uyemura USA (uyemura.com), Taiyo America (taiyo america.com) and RBP...

Events.(Happenings)(Calendar)
December 1, 2003... Events DECEMBER 8-9 PCB Design Excellence Stoke-on-Trent, U.K. Contact: eda.co.uk 9 How to Implement Lead-free Assembly at Your Factory workshop Arden Hills, MN Contact: smta.org ...

Aspocomp (aspocomp.com) ordered a HDFTsunami immersion silver system.(Happenings)
December 1, 2003... Aspocomp (aspocomp.com) ordered a HDFTsunami immersion silver system from HMS Hollmuller (hms.ag).

Yantat Circuits Co., Tat Chun Printed Circuit Board Co., Goodboard Electronic Co., Olympic Country Co., and Electech have installed the Paradigm Suite of ERP tools.(Happenings)
December 1, 2003... Yantat Circuits Co.,Tat Chun Printed Circuit Board Co., Goodboard Electronic Co., Olympic Country Co., and Electech have installed the Paradigm Suite of ERP tools from Cimnet System (cim-sys.com).

EIS Circuit Supply will distribute OS-TECH's process chemistries.(Happenings)
December 1, 2003... EIS Circuit Supply will distribute OS-TECH's process chemistries in the upper Midwest, New England, Rocky Mountains and northern California.

Celerity partners and other private investors purchased Excel Circuits and renamed it Streamline Circuits (streamline circuits.com).(Faces)
December 1, 2003... Celerity Partners and other private investors purchased Excel Circuits and renamed it Streamline Circuits (streamline circuits.com). Cofounders include CEO Chuck Dimick (former DDi chairman); president Greg Halvorson (former VP, operations at...

Electro Scientific Industries.(Faces)
December 1, 2003... Electro Scientific Industries (esi.com) named Dr. Kim Fjeldsted senior research scientist, responsible for technical marketing in emerging fields.

Advanced Interconnect Technologies.(Faces)
December 1, 2003... Advanced Interconnect Technologies (aitsales.com) named Bruno Guilmart president, chief executive and board member. Guilmart was senior vice president for worldwide sales and marketing at Chartered Semiconductor, responsible for global sales,...

P.D. Circuits.(Faces)
December 1, 2003... Steve Kjellman has joined P.D. Circuits (pdcircuits.com) as national sales director. He was with DDi.

Circuit World Corp.(Faces)
December 1, 2003... Circuit World Corp. named Bradley Bourne president. Bourne was president and general manager for Flow Automation and spent 17 years at Spar Aerospace Limited in senior roles, including vice presidential positions for strategic development and...

Strataflex.(Faces)
December 1, 2003... Strataflex (strataflex.com) named Mike Fielding president and CEO.

Milford Manufacturing Services.(Faces)
December 1, 2003... Milford Manufacturing Services (milfordmfg.com) promoted Doug Voiland to vice president and general manager. Voiland has 25 years of experience in finance, business operations and sales management.

Delta Precision Circuits.(Faces)
December 1, 2003... Delta Precision Circuits (deltapcb.com) named Janice Mavridis national sales manager. She was most recently with Amitron Corp.

Electrochemicals Inc. (electrochemicals.com) will market the Glicoat line of OSPs from Shikoku Chemicals Corp.(It's A Deal)
December 1, 2003... Electrochemicals Inc. (electrochemicals.com) will market the Glicoat line of OSPs from Shikoku Chemicals Corp. in Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Bulgaria, Hungary and the Benelux region.

TT Electronics Prestwick Circuits (prestwick.co.uk) bought a Vision-3000AP AOI from Orbotech (orbotech.com).(It's A Deal)
December 1, 2003... TT Elestronics Prestwick Circuits (prestwick.co.uk) bought a Vision-3000AP AOI from Orbotech (orbotech.com). The company also added an electroless plating line.

Sovereign Circuits (sovereign-circuits.com) installed a PTH Speedline horizontal electroless plating line.(It's A Deal)
December 1, 2003... Sovereign Circuits (sovereign-circuits.com) installed a PTH Speedline horizontal electroless plating line from HMS--Hollmuller (hms.ag)

One size doesn't fit all: tired of getting nailed? Buying a new hammer isn't the solution.(Power Selling)
December 1, 2003... AN E-MAIL CONTAINING this story appeared in my in-box the other day. A Japanese company and an American company decided to have a canoe race. Both teams practiced long and hard. On the big day, the Japanese won by a mile. To learn why, a...

Coping with Martha Stewart: the holiday season wreaks havoc on the workplace. It also accents the companies that have their houses in order.(ROI)
December 1, 2003... FRANKLY, I HATE this time of the year. Summer is long over and the calendar says that if I have any hope of making/saving/ improving the year, now is the time. And then begins the holiday season. Not that I don't like holidays, but one of the...

Board stackup's important tool: for a target differential impedance, a 2D field solver, used accurately, can be a time-saver.(No Myths Allowed)
December 1, 2003... THE MOST IMPORTANT tool for designing a circuit board stackup is an accurate 2D field solver. This tool will help design the optimum line widths and dielectric thickness, given the stackup and dielectric constants, for a target characteristic...

Missing the bridge: a host of soldermask problems owe to poor design. How to spot--and avoid--slivers, bridges and trace issues.(Cam Works)
December 1, 2003... THIS MONTH, WE wrap our DfM discussion by looking at a problem area for your fabricator: soldermask layer issues. How could such a simple layer cause so much trouble? Despite its simple appearance, the soldermask layer plays an important role...

Preventing mechanical interference: get those tolerances just right, because a great board that can't be installed into a final product is scrap.(Cover Story)
December 1, 2003... Success stories regarding mechanical fit and interchangeability are easy to relate to. Maybe you've sat patiently, grounded on an airliner full of passengers, waiting for a replacement part to be flown in. You learn to appreciate successful...

Troubleshooting phototools: vacuum boards, ammonia, exposures and other challenges of phototool fabrication.(Better Phototooling)
December 1, 2003... WHILE VISITING A number of fabricators over the past few months, I've had the chance to work with photo lab personnel in troubleshooting technical and not-so-technical problems they encounter daily. These occasions present the perfect...

Finding the right parts-fast: parts grow in number and pin counts while library resources diminish. The right tools can mean less time searching--and more time designing.(Library Management)
December 1, 2003... Thanks to reorganizations and merger mania, companies are reducing the size of their library support organizations, yet maintaining the same workload. This leaves library support organizations with the monumental task of consolidating data from...

Paying to spend less: why embedding parts can reduce overall systems costs even while bare-board prices rise.(Getting Embedded)
December 1, 2003... COST, PERFORMANCE, FUNCTIONALITY and size: These are the drivers for embedded passive technology that meet with institutional (IPC, IMAPS, NEMI, many large OEMs) consensus. Cost is the driver that attracts the most attention. I have derived...

Hole-wall pullaway and desmearing: further study of the causes of HWPA.(The Plating Rack)
December 1, 2003... IN OUR LAST column, the discussion focused on two principle causes of the defect known as hole-wall pullaway, or HWPA. Here, the focus shifts to less obvious causes. Before those issues are presented, here's a primer on the alkaline...

An open architecture approach to buried passive components: a now expired patent for capacitive power/ground planes in a circuit board could mean that, for thin power ground capacitive layer applications, restrictions are off.(Embedded Technologies)
December 1, 2003... Many applications available to OEM manufacturers for capacitive layer technology, both separately and in combination with resistor technologies, are no longer restricted because the patents that originally described the technology have expired...

Modeling suite.(off the Shelf)
December 1, 2003... Designer v1.1 is a simulation and modeling suite that supports highspeed, RF and microwave applications. Links to HFSS 3-D electro-magnetic physical design tool. New features include multi-variable interpolation for planar EM sub-circuits,...

PCB ICT analyzer.(off the Shelf)
December 1, 2003... Test point analysis tools analyze PCBs for in-circuit testability. Identifies untestable nets based on user-defined test point rules. Can identify opportunities to avoid double-sided test fixtures by adding test points to nets that can only be...

MPP with panel design.(off the Shelf)
December 1, 2003... InPlan v. 1.7 manufacturing process planning tool includes product costing module, bill-of-materials editor, multiple "hold" mechanism and new CAM graphic viewer. Features panel design tools for optimizing automatic and manual design of a panel...

Simulation software.(Others Of Note)
December 1, 2003... Electro 6.1 electrostatic design simulation software is for design and analysis of grounding electrodes, high-voltage shields, power transmission lines and telecommunication cables. Simulates using finite element method or the multi-method...

Packaging toolkit.(Others Of Note)
December 1, 2003... Pulsonix Chip Packaging Toolkit is said to create and annotate dice, bond pads and bond wires, and to permit automatic placing of bond pads around bare die components. Online DRC and batch design rules can be set for minimum and maximum length...

High frequency oscillators.(Others Of Note)
December 1, 2003... This line of voltage-controlled oscillators has a frequency range of 50 MHz to 3.5 GHz in bands. Comes in three standard packages. For digital radio equipment, fixed wireless access, satellite communications, base stations, portable radios and...

10 GHz connectors.(Others Of Note)
December 1, 2003... Q-Strip high-speed interconnects are reportedly rated up to 2.33 GHz and Q-Pairs reach up to 10 GHz. Come in 0.5, 0.635 and 0.8 mm pitches, and are designed to minimize crosstalk. Come in right-angle and edge-mounts. Stackable to 30 mm. ...

PCB design suite.(Others Of Note)
December 1, 2003... CR-5000 rev. 7 integrates System Designer (schematic entry), Board Designer (layout) and Board Producer (panelization). Said to incorporate embedded components, RF design and design reuse within a constrained design process methodology. Offers...

Thermal analysis tool.(Others Of Note)
December 1, 2003... BETAsoft-Board software provides board--level thermal analysis. Outputs board temperature and gradient maps, component and junction temperatures, and notes limits violations. Can perform modeling for conduction, convection and radiation on...

Heads up: prices are rising.(Our Line)
December 1, 2003... Tis December, the season for holiday sales. Just not if you're buying materials for making printed circuit boards. As the fourth quarter got underway, most of the U.S.-based shops we spoke with said they are doing somewhat better than last...