Printed Circuit Design & Manufacture articles from December 2004

Printed Circuit Design & Manufacture archives from December 2004

Another year older, another year wiser?(Our Line)
December 1, 2004... THE end of the year is the traditional time when editors across the land are at their most reflective. Blame the chestnuts roasting over the open fire, or perhaps the trips over the river and through the woods to Grandmother's house. Every...

Falling in the fall.(Market Watch)
December 1, 2004... FALLING IN THE FALL Trends in the U.S. electronics equipment market (shipments only). % CHANGE JULY AUG. SEPT. * YTD ...

October manufacturing: no seasonality.(Market Watch)
December 1, 2004... TEMPE, AZ -- The rate of growth in the manufacturing sector ignored historical seasonality in October, dropping for the third straight month. New orders upticked, but production dropped sharply. The electronics industry appears to be slowing,...

SIA: flat semi sales in 2005.(Market Watch)
December 1, 2004... SAN JOSE -- Record semiconductor sales of $214 billion in 2004 will be followed by flatness next year, the Semiconductor Industry Association (www.sia-online.org) said Nov. 3. In its annual forecast, SIA projects sales will grow 6.3% in 2006...

Driving ahead.(Market Watch)
December 1, 2004... RENO, NV -- Will automotive drive our future? After outpacing the overall IC market through the recession (the sector fell just 1% in 2002), semiconductors for automotive applications are expected to reach $13 billion and $15 billion next year,...

Strike up the broadband.(Market Watch)
December 1, 2004... CAMBRIDGE, MA -- Broadband Internet access is soaring in the U.S., according to the latest data from Forrester Research (www.forrester.com). The number of households with Internet access is forecast to grow from 68 million in 2003 to 83.7...

I wanna hold your handheld.(Market Watch)
December 1, 2004... FRAMINGHAM, MA -- Intense competition from converged mobile devices that perform basic personal information management tasks are stealing market share from handheld devices, says IDC (www.idc.com). Third quarter sales of handhelds fell 4.6%...

Industry market snapshot.(Market Watch)
December 1, 2004... INDUSTRY MARKET SNAPSHOT Book-to-bills of various components/equipment. JUNE JULY AUG. SEPT. Semiconductor equipment (1) 1.07 1.04 1.01 0.96 Semiconductors (2) ...

Mentor releases simultaneous layout environment.(All Together Now)
December 1, 2004... WILSONVILLE, OR -- Mentor Graphics Corp. (www.mentor.com) released XtremePCB, the first product in a series of PCB design solutions designed to allow multiple members of a PCB design team to work simultaneously on a design from a single...

Q2 EDA tool sales up 4%, PCB tools off.(Good News, Bad News)
December 1, 2004... SAN JOSE -- EDA revenue rose 4% in the June quarter versus one year ago, reaching $993 million, the EDA Consortium (www.edac.org) said today. The rise wasn't enough to convince one chief executive of a leading EDA company that the industry was...

DC members take IPC honors.(In Recognition)
December 1, 2004... BANNOCKBURN, IL -- IPC honored 26 members at IPCWorks 2004, held Oct. 24-28 in Minneapolis, for their contributions to IPC and the electronics interconnect industry. Three Special Recognition Awards were presented to individuals who have...

Book-to-bill rises from August.(Flex Still The One)
December 1, 2004... BANNOCKBURN, IL -- The IPC (www.ipc.org) book-to-bill ratio for September 2004 ticked up to 1.08 from August's 1.04. Taking rigid and flex separately, the book-to-bill ratios in September 2004 were 1.01 for rigid PCBs and 1.38 for flexible...

Bartlett to give keynote at PCB West.(Manufacturing)
December 1, 2004... ATLANTA -- Doug Bartlett, president of Bartlett Manufacturing and founding director of the USPCA, will deliver the keynote address at the 14th annual PCB Design Conference West in March 2005. His speech, "The Future of the North American PCB...

Demand slowdown 'not a big deal,' says Flextronics.(Meeting Expectations)
December 1, 2004... SAN JOSE -- Flextronics, the world's largest EMS company, reported net income of $92.6 million on revenue of $4.14 billion for its second quarter ended Sept. 30. The results beat a year-ago net loss of $100.1 million, including one-time...

Events.(Happenings)(Calendar)
December 1, 2004... DECEMBER 1 Manufacturing: Engineering and Quality for Lead Free NPL, Teddington, UK Contact: www.npl.co.uk/ei/training 1-2 Designer Certification (CID) ...

Charlie Walker.(Faces)
December 1, 2004... Charlie Walker, founder of Univertical Corp., died on October 12 at 89. Univertical has been a supplier to the metal finishing industry for over 65 years. Charlie started Univertical with $500 of borrowed money in 1938. In 1998, he moved the...

Solectron.(Faces)
December 1, 2004... Solectron has appointed Matti Virtanen to the new position of senior vice president and president of Europe, the Middle East and Africa. He will lead all customer-related activities for customers based in that region.

Dover Corp.(Faces)
December 1, 2004... Ronald L. Hoffman, Dover Corp.'s president and COO, will become CEO effective Jan. 1, 2005. Hoffman will succeed Thomas L. Reece, who will remain Dover's chairman. Hoffman has been president and COO of Dover since July 2003. Prior to that, he...

Polytec Inc.(Faces)
December 1, 2004... Polytec Inc. has appointed Michael Townsend president. Previously, he served as vice president of sales and marketing at Dover Instrument Corp. before becoming president and CEO of the company in 1999. Townsend received a BS in mechanical...

Eagleware Corp.(Faces)
December 1, 2004... Eagleware Corp. appointed Charlie Miller vice president of marketing. He will run the company's new San Jose office. Miller was previously vice president of sales and marketing at Aptix, vice president of sales at Design Acceleration, vice...

Flextronics has agreed to acquire Agilent's camera module business.(It's A Deal)
December 1, 2004... Flextronics has agreed to acquire Agilent's camera module business. The terms of the deal were not disclosed at press time.

M-tron Industries Inc. has purchased PiezoTechnology Inc.(It's A Deal)
December 1, 2004... M-tron Industries Inc. has purchased PiezoTechnology Inc. The two companies plan to integrate their operations under a single business management and operations group. The companies will be conducting business under the name MtronPTI.

Sandvik Materials Technology has changed the name of its subsidiary.(It's A Deal)
December 1, 2004... Sandvik Materials Technology has changed the name of its subsidiary Osprey Metals to Sandvik Osprey.

EMA Design Automation and the Chronology Division of Forte Design Systems have formed a partnership.(It's A Deal)
December 1, 2004... EMA Design Automation and the Chronology Division of Forte Design Systems have formed a partnership. EMA will provide exclusive distribution and support throughout North America for Chronology's Timing Designer timing analysis product.

Interstate Connecting Components has signed on.(It's A Deal)
December 1, 2004... Interstate Connecting Components has signed on as an authorized Trompeter distributor.

Vacuum lamination press maker OEM Press Systems completed the installation of a Vac-Q-Lam Hot Press.(It's A Deal)
December 1, 2004... Vacuum lamination press maker OEM Press Systems completed the installation of a Vac-Q-Lam Hot Press at Everett Charles Technologies in Tempe, AZ.

Get the most out of your reps: reps can make both of you a lot of money, but only with good communication.(Power Selling)
December 1, 2004... ONE OF THE most important aspects of my business involves helping companies improve their relationships with their reps. It's no secret that the rep/principal relationship is one of the most rocky in the PCB industry, thanks in part to this...

Auld Lang Syne: some of 2004's greatest hits, and greatest misses.(ROI)
December 1, 2004... AS ANOTHER YEAR winds down, it is fitting to look back at 2004: What went well, what did not, and what did we learn? Let's start with what went well. Some might say that if you are still in business, then it was a great year! But in reality,...

Expanding the limits of PCB design!(Welcome)
December 1, 2004... The PCB Design Conferences are the first I and only PCB design-oriented conferences developed specifically to meet the needs of PCB engineering, design and manufacture professionals. Our conferences may have been imitated, but they have never...

Special events.(Calendar)
December 1, 2004... IN BALLROOM E PCB Technology Forum and Welcome Luncheon Sponsored by Printed Circuit Design & Manufacture Monday, March 7 @ 12-1:30 pm The PCB Technology Forum and Welcome Luncheon will feature a panel of experts who will...

Conference-at-a-glance.(Calendar)
December 1, 2004... Monday, March 7 8 AM-5 PM On-Site Registration 9 AM-5 PM Professional Development Certificate Courses (see pages 5-6) 12 PM-1:30 PM PCB Technology/ Forum and Welcome Luncheon (see page 3) Tuesday, March 8 8...

Professional Development Certificate Program.(Professional Development Courses)(Calendar)
December 1, 2004... PCB Design Conference West 2005 is pleased to offer 10 courses in this year's Professional Development Certificate Program--four two-day Design Excellence Curriculum (DEC1-DEC4) courses and six Tutorials (T1-T6). These technical courses of...

Technical Conference Program.(Technical Conference Courses)(Calendar)
December 1, 2004... PCB West 2005 is pleased to offer more than 28 courses--over 75% of which are new--during our three-day Technical Conference Program, which will be held on Tuesday, March 8 through Thursday, March 10. The courses that are new to PCB West are...

Speaker biographies.
December 1, 2004... DAVE BRADY has over 20 years of electrical engineering and EDA experience, with both PCB and IC design disciplines. Brady helped introduce RTL design and synthesis methods for IC design and developed design methods for concurrent FPGA and PCB...

Hotel and travel.
December 1, 2004... Headquarters Hotel THE WESTIN SANTA CLARA 5101 Great America Parkway Santa Clara, CA 95054 T 408-986-0700 www.thewestinsantaclara.com PCB West single/double room rate: $169 * * When booking this hotel, please use the...

Embedded resistor design guidelines: test vehicle development is continuing, and thermal guideline development has begun.(Getting Embedded)
December 1, 2004... A FEW COLUMNS ago, we were talking about thermal management of resistors and the development of test vehicles to quantify some logical resistor behaviors so they can be added to design guidelines for your use. Developing design guidelines...

A matter of timing: gone are the days when chip delays consumed the bulk of overall timing budgets. Now, board-level timing margins are more important than ever.(High-Speed Design)
December 1, 2004... Not long ago, timing wasn't that big an issue on most PCB designs. But the large timing margins that designers once took for granted have been consumed by a reduction of die sizes and component geometries, which have dramatically decreased the...

COTS ruggedization simplified: yes, the military often buys the same parts from the same supplier you do. But how best to ensure that these civilian parts meet the military's requirement?(Testing And Analysis)
December 1, 2004... The use of commercial parts in military systems is now commonplace. In fact, the use of military parts is no longer a viable option, as the availability of such rigorously specified, tested and guaranteed parts wanes. Many of the manufacturers...

From Sharpe's mind comes a new Isola: with a new owner, CEO and technology center, the world's 3d largest laminate maker is at last 'Leaning' forward. A PCD&M exclusive.(Cover Story)
December 1, 2004... Isola is coming off perhaps the most turbulent year in the company's storied history. After months of speculation over its future--including a very public announcement of its availability by then-owner Rutgers--Isola was purchased in July by...

Registration techniques for advanced technology PCBs: or, so you think you can really do two-track routing?(Drilling)
December 1, 2004... This article will review all of the essential steps involved in the proper registration of today's advanced technology printed circuits. We've included a registration template that will help PCB manufacturers grade the capabilities within their...

Printer GUI.(Off the shelf: machines materials tools systems software)
December 1, 2004... DEK 248 semiautomatic printers have a new PC-based user interface that allows operators to view all machine parameters at a glance. The new user interface is said to make editing parameters, storing and backing up product files, and accessing...

Laser module.(Off the shelf: machines materials tools systems software)
December 1, 2004... The 150C-5-650 cross-hair laser diode module is ideal for positioning and alignment applications such as PCBs, x-rays, machine vision systems and lab instrumentation, robotic control and security. The 150C-5-650 is a direct replacement for HeNe...

DFM tool.(Off the shelf: machines materials tools systems software)
December 1, 2004... GerbTool version 14.0 offers a fully revised support of NC drilling and milling and enhanced netlisting support that streamlines the comparison process of Gerber-to-D356. Provides DFM support for embedded passive technology. There are 25 new...

PCB design software.(Others Of Note)
December 1, 2004... CADSTAR Express is a free Web download of Zuken's PCB design solution CADSTAR 7.0. Now available with an advanced place-and-route editor for faster, more accurate routing. Advanced features include accurate 45[degrees] routing, automatic copper...

Analysis tools.(Others Of Note)
December 1, 2004... XcitePI is said to perform transient analysis of the IC power grid simultaneously with dynamic simulation of electromagnetic fields in the package planes, taking into account both the wave propagation effects in the package and distributed...

PCB simulation.(Others Of Note)
December 1, 2004... Multisim 8 includes "real" virtual instruments from Tektronix, said to allow engineers to validate and optimize circuits during schematic entry. Dynamic Probes, a new time-saving function, permits an unlimited number of probes to be placed on...

Shielded drum core inductors.(Others Of Note)
December 1, 2004... The Coiltronics SD38 series of shielded drum core inductors is available in two low profile heights (1.2 mm and 1.4 mm) for thinner/lighter designs. Less than 3.8 mm square, the SD38 series has a current range from 4.44 to 0.100 amps, an...

SI simulation tool.(Others Of Note)
December 1, 2004... IFS Pro High Speed Signal Integrity Simulation software tool suite is specifically developed for design engineers with high-speed analog simulation requirements (beyond 1Gbit/s) involved in PCB, cable, connector, IC and related interconnect...

Test socket.(Others Of Note)
December 1, 2004... The RF Center Probe test socket is said to be ideal for manual testing of devices with pitches down to 0.5 mm in applications with speeds from 1 GHz to over 10 GHz, such as CSP, MicroBGA, DSP, LGA, SRAM, DRAM and Flash devices. It provides...

Rise times and bandwidths: as rise times keep dropping, bandwidths will keep heading through the roof.(No Myths Allowed)
December 1, 2004... WE ARE ACCUSTOMED to thinking about high-speed digital signals in the time domain, where signals are sequential voltages that change in time. After all, it is in the time domain where performance such as propagation delay, jitter, skew, rise...