Printed Circuit Design & Manufacture articles from February 2004

Printed Circuit Design & Manufacture archives from February 2004

Competition needs moderating.(Letters)(Letter to the Editor)
February 1, 2004... I heard an editorial on NPR about the loss of manufacturing jobs in the U.S. The speaker said the problem is worldwide, noting statistics for the last few years. The comment made was basically, consider the fact that the world is losing...

Cover concerns.(Letters)(Letter to the Editor)
February 1, 2004... We in the engineering department take issue with the December cover. Showing equal tolerances of +/-0.003 on dimensions that are depicted at 1, 2 and 3 decimal point precision is not the norm. While we applaud the idea of teaching designers the...

Embedded passive patents.(Letters)(Letter to the Editor)
February 1, 2004... In response to the article by Jim Howard ["An Open Architecture Approach to Buried Passive Components," December 2003]: Some of the information presented may mislead a reader to believe that it is permissible to manufacture PCBs with thin...

Correction.(Letters)(Correction Notice)
February 1, 2004... In the January issue, the URL for Ultrasonic was incorrectly listed. The correct URL is ultraspray.com.

Storage the story.(Market Watch)
February 1, 2004... Trends in the U.S. electronics equipment market (shipments only). % CHANGE SEPT. OCT. Computers/electronics products 0.8 2.6 ...

Manufacturing orders at 53-year high.(Market Watch)
February 1, 2004... TEMPE, AZ -- December orders and production at U.S. manufacturers accelerated, leading the sector to its best month since December 1983. The new orders index posted its highest reading since July 1950. "The strength in December's data...

Telematics, handsets to ring up gains in 2004.(Market Watch)
February 1, 2004... OYSTER BAY, NY -- Handset shipments will likely reach an all-time high, potentially reaching 550 million shipments in 2004, predicts ABI (abiresearch.com). The tech research firm says a growing share of Internet users will use fixed wireless...

Cellphones, PCs push IC sales.(Market Watch)
February 1, 2004... FRAMINGHAM, MA -- Semiconductor revenue will grow 18% in 2004, driven by stronger-than-expected mobile phone and PC shipments and increased capacity-utilization rates among suppliers, says IDC (idc.com). Unit shipments will grow in double...

Homes going digital.(Market Watch)
February 1, 2004... OYSTER BAY, NY -- The number of networked homes will near 25 million this year, while residential ZigBee nodes will top 200 million by 2006, ABI forecasts. New standards such as ZigBee--which links low-power, low-bandwidth nodes wirelessly...

Industry market snapshot.(Market Watch)
February 1, 2004... INDUSTRY MARKET SNAPSHOT Book-to-bills of various components/equipment. AUG. SEPT. Semiconductor equipment (1) 0.92 0.96 Semi conductors (2) 4.0% 6.5% PCBs (3)...

EDA Q3 growth 1% sequentially.(Design)
February 1, 2004... SAN JOSE -- Revenue from EDA products and services fell 1% in the third quarter year-on-year but grew 1% vs. last quarter. Third-quarter sales were $950 million worldwide, the third straight quarter of growth. Industry employment rose 4%...

Broken locks.(Design)
February 1, 2004... WASHINGTON, DC -- Chief executives from leading high-tech companies are calling on Congress to stay away from policy initiatives that penalize companies from outsourcing labor to foreign nations. "America can only grow jobs and improve its...

Survey: IEEE members pass $100k salary mark.(Skill Beats Specialization)
February 1, 2004... WASHINGTON, DC -- The median salary for U.S. IEEE members topped $100,000, according to the latest IEEE-USA (ieeeusa.org) Salary & Fringe Benefit Survey. Median incomes from primary sources--base pay plus any self-employment income,...

Cimmetry adds formats to markup tool.(Design)
February 1, 2004... ST. LAURENT, CANADA -- Cimmetry Systems (cimmetry.com) has released an add-on to its AutoVue visualization and markup tool including several formats supporting leading EDA tools. The add-on, called Service Pack 1, adds 11 formats to AutoVue...

PLM JV forms.
February 1, 2004... Valor (valor.com) and TraceXpert (tracexpert.com) have formed a JV to deliver manufacturing-execution (PLM) software for manufacturing engineers. TraceXperts tools are used to track assembly operations down to single components. The JV will...

Altium does China.
February 1, 2004... Altium Ltd. (alitum.com) in January opened a rep office in China and is taking steps to strengthen its reseller network there, the company said. "We see China as a very important market because their electronics design market is rapidly...

EMA goes 'DownStream.'.
February 1, 2004... EMA Design Automation (ema-eda.com) signed a nonexclusive agreement to resell and market DownStream Technologies' (down streamtech.com) CAM350 line to OrCAD and Cadence customers. EMA will also provide first-level technical support and product...

Sinking their teeth.
February 1, 2004... Badger Technologies Inc. will this month begin operating a board shop at Ultralife Batteries Inc., outside Newark, NJ. Badger will save on shipping and storing costs.

Shea no more.
February 1, 2004... Money-losing Shea May Enterprise Co. closed Dec. 29 and is being investigated for financial improprieties. Chairman Hsu Ching-chung has disappeared. The company reported losses of NT$336 million Since 2001.

NEMI newbies.
February 1, 2004... Dell Inc. (dell.com), Endicott Interconnect Technologies (endicott interconnect.com) and Senju Comtek Corp. (senjucomtek.com) have joined NEMI (nemi.org).

How to spend $36m.
February 1, 2004... Kingboard Chemical Holdings (kingboard.com) plans to spend $36 million on a new PCB plant in China, the company said. The facility will be completed in 12 months, and will have a monthly capacity of 600;000 [ft..sup.2] of multilayer PCBs....

Printed Circuit Board Basics 4th Edition.
February 1, 2004... By Dan Beaulieu Publisher: UP Media Group Inc. 77 pages with glossary WELCOME BACK, old friend. The revision of this classic fits the needs of a new generation of readers, including rookies in manufacturing, in house personnel in sales...

MacDermid divests stake in Eurocir.(Manufacturing)
February 1, 2004... WATERBURY, CT -- MacDermid Inc. (mac dermid.com) has divested its 60% ownership in its Spanish joint venture with Eurocir Group, selling the PCB unit to the minority investors in a deal worth $5 million. The sale ends MacDermid's iuvolvement in...

Primed in Korea: outlooks for major South Korean PCB makers.(Manufacturing)
February 1, 2004... PRIMED IN KOREA Outlooks for Major South Korean PCB Makers COMPANY 2003 2004 CHANGE Accuris 34 52 53% Daeduck Electronics 240 300 25% Youngpoong...

Embedded passives material standard readied.(New Spec Defines Types, Tests)
February 1, 2004... NORTHBROOK, IL -- Designers and fabricators who use embedded materials will soon have a standard to make their lives easier. The chairman of a task group charged with writing a standard on EP materials used in PCBs says "over 90%" of the...

Kendrick to run Nelco Products.(New Spec Defines Types, Tests)
February 1, 2004... LAKE SUCCESS, NY -- Park Electrochemical Corp. named Margaret (Marty) Kendrick to run its Fullerton, CA-based Nelco Products Inc. unit. She replaces Mary Wathen, who ran the FR-4 printed circuit material operation for two and a half years. ...

IPS snags fab, plans Asian entry.(Eyes Further Buys)
February 1, 2004... DALLAS -- Integrated Performance Systems Inc., a Dallas-based holding company, has signed a letter of intent to acquire an unspecified privately owned PCB manufacturer for cash and stock considerations. IPS declined to name the company. If...

GSI, Westwind merge.(New Spec Defines Types, Tests)
February 1, 2004... BILLERICA, MA -- GSI Lumonics (gsilumonics.com) in December acquired Westwind Air Bearings (westwind-airbearings.com) for about $37 million in cash. The acquisition will be accretive to earnings during 2004. GSI president and chief...

Tin men.(New Spec Defines Types, Tests)
February 1, 2004... HERRENBERG, GERMANY -- PCB equipment maker HMS Hollmuller and Ormecon GmbH, a supplier of final finishes, will cooperate on immersion tin process technology, the companies jointly announced, HMS (hms.ag) claims to be the world's largest builder...

Events.(Happenings)(Calendar)
February 1, 2004... FEBRUARY 2-4 4th Annual NSpec Advanced Training Seminar Tampa. Contact: angela@christopherweb.com 10-12 9th Annual Pan Pacific symposium Oahu, HI. Contact: smta.org 12-13 EIPC Winter Conference...

Solectron Corp.(Faces)
February 1, 2004... Solectron Corp. named Dave Purvis executive vice president, worldwide design and engineering services. He was senior vice president and chief technology officer at John Deere.

Park Nelco.(Faces)
February 1, 2004... Park Nelco named Konstantine ("Gus") Karavakis director of research and development. Karavakis has 20 years experience in flex and rigid board fabrication and IC packaging. He was director of technology for Nexcleon Inc., and previously held...

March Plasma Systems.(Faces)
February 1, 2004... March Plasma Systems named Dr. Ursula Meyer applications scientist, Europe, responsible for day-to-day operations of its regional applications lab and pre-sales support. She has a Ph.D. in chemistry from the Technical University of Graz.

Innovex.(Faces)
February 1, 2004... Innovex named Terry Dauanhauer senior vice president and chief operating officer, responsible for operations at its four factories. Dauenhauer is a former VP at Seagate Technology.

Legacy Electronics.(Faces)
February 1, 2004... Legacy Electronics named Ed Monzon to manage new business development, including expanding business to OEM markets. He previously handled business development for Toshiba's Electronic Components, and was senior stratagic accounts manager for...

Mabbett & Associates Inc.(Faces)
February 1, 2004... Mabbett & Associates Inc. named Apdl Abate and Bill Simons as environmental scientist-hydrogeologists, responsible for technical services for site assessment and restoration.

Titan General Holdings.(Faces)
February 1, 2004... Titan General Holdings named Ken Shirley as chief executive officer. Bob Ciri, who was CEO, remains chairman of the company.

Artesyn Technologies (artesyn.com) will use Tecnomatix Technologies'.(It's a Deal)
February 1, 2004... Artesyn Technologies (artesyn.com) will use Tecnomatix Technologies" (tecnornatix.com) eMPower execution software in its manufacturing operations in China.

Labtech (labtechcircuits.com) and Pioneer Circuits (pioneercircuits.com) signed a cross-selling deal.(It's a Deal)
February 1, 2004... Labtech (labtechcirouits.com) and Pioneer Circuits (pioneercircuits.com) signed a cross-selling deal. Labtech specializes in microwave circuit boards for telecom applications. Pioneer makes rigid and flexible circuits for high-rel uses.

Aeroflex Inc. (aeroflex.com) signed an exclusive technology licensing and distribution agreement with Navigation Laboratories.(It's a Deal)
February 1, 2004... Aeroflex Inc. (aeroflex.com) signed an exclusive technology licensing and distribution agreement with Navigation Laboratories (navlabs.com) covering development and sale of GPS test equipment, simulators and GPS software applications.

Fuba Printed Circuits and Cimnet Systems (cim-sys.com) signed a multi-million euro deal covering IT and software.(It's a Deal)
February 1, 2004... Fuba Printed Circuits and Cimnet Systems (cim-sys.com) signed a multi-million euro deal covering IT and software including i-Quote for quoting, Engenix for preproduction engineering, and Paradigm for ERP.

Electropac Ltd. (electropac.com), in St. Catharines, Ontario, installed a Microcraft moving probe tester.(It's a Deal)
February 1, 2004... Electropac Ltd. (electropac.corn), in St. Catharines, Ontario, installed a Microcraft moving probe tester, and Electropec Canada, in Montreal, installed a flying grid tester, a TTI tester and a MacDermid Blackhole processing line.

HMS Hollmuller (hms.ag) sold a COMPLATER pulse/direct current plating line to Unimicron (unimicron.com).(It's a Deal)
February 1, 2004... HMS Hollmuller (hms.ag) sold a COMPLATER pulse/direct current plating line to Unimicron (unimicron.com).The unit processes acid copper or electrolytic tin and includes desmearing and PTH metalization.

Lockheed-Martin (lockheed.com) has installed a Shipley (shipley.com) vacuum applicator.(It's a Deal)
February 1, 2004... Lockheed-Martin (lockheed.com) has installed a Shipley (shipley.com) 703N vacuum applicator from Unichem Industries (unichemind.com).

Firan Technology Group (firantechnology.com) purchased a 28-panel gas plasma treatment system.(It's a Deal)
February 1, 2004... Firan Technology Group (firantechnology.com) purchased a 28-panel gas plasma treatment system from March Plasma Systems (marchplasma.com), its second.

Where has all the equipment gone? Companies in search of the nuts-and-bolts machines are finding availability is scarce.(Power Selling)
February 1, 2004... THERE IS AN equipment shortage in the U.S. Hard as it is to believe, boards shops are having a hard time finding equipment. After three years of near-shutdown status, PCB shops are back in the market, updating etchers, strippers, drills and so...

The 3 C's: let's not give away our most precious resource: time.(ROI)
February 1, 2004... IT'S A BRAND spanking new year. Are we happy yet? 2004 has arrived and just in the nick of time. We are basking in a new beginning, an opportunity to either play catch-up or to strike out and reach success heretofore unimaginable. Yes...

5 tips for reducing EMI: even the best high-speed design plans can fail FCC certification.(No Myths Allowed)
February 1, 2004... FIXING ALL THE signal integrity problems is no guarantee that a product will pass an FCC EMC certification test, because it only takes a few nanowatts of radiated power, within the roughly 100 kHz bandwidth of the test, to fail. Passing Class B...

Differential signals routing requirements: for noise immunity, complementary transmitted signals need to be well balanced and trace impedances symmetrical.(Interconnect Strategies)
February 1, 2004... DIFFERENTIAL SIGINALING INVOLVES two complementary signals of equal amplitude but opposite phase (1). One signal is referred to as positive (non-inverted) and the other called negative (inverted) (2). Differential transmission is gaining in...

BGA land pattern and assembly issues: while saving plenty in board real estate, BGAs and chip-scale packages carry host of other considerations, from coplanarity to rework reliability.(Cover Story)
February 1, 2004... Designers face a number of issues when working with BGAs: pad layout, cost, manufacturability and reliability of the final product. Assemblers may encounter a number of issues too. In addition, even though fine-pitch BGAs are not standard, they...

Built for speed: think cost is king? When it comes to quickturn work, designers value reliability and relationships over the almighty dollar.(PCB Negotiating)
February 1, 2004... Although the email was accolade-laden, one quote stood out: "I was quite impressed... the lab managers called me after 9 p.m. to obtain clarification on a board issue. This is the first time I've straightened out a fast-turn PCB order from the...

The search for the universal surface finish: an evaluation of the advantages--and limitations--of common surface finishes.(Surface Finishing)
February 1, 2004... There are over a dozen surface finishes on the market. All are useful for some applications, but none really fit the category of "universal surface finish." This article will highlight each of the common surface finishes with regard to...

When to embed: advice on factors to consider and questions to ask before layout.(Getting Embedded)
February 1, 2004... To EMBED OR not to embed? That is the question. The answer will deter mine the future of embedded passive technology. This does not mean that if we choose not to embed that the future of the technology is in jeopardy. However, it does mean that...

The big picture of HWPA: we continue our look at hole-wall pullaway, focusing this time on desmearing and deposition.(The Plating Rack)
February 1, 2004... IN THE LAST column, significant time was spent on the mechanics of the desmear process and issues that cause hole-wall pullaway. This time we look at other, subtler causes of the defect. However, desmear parameters for higher performance resins...

The roller coaster of cyclicality: want to see the future? Start by using 12/12 rate of growth curves.(Balance Sheets)
February 1, 2004... We live in a multi-cyclical world, embellished by complex interactions between political, economic, geographic, climatic, geological and technological forces. These forces combine to build the environment in which we operate. It's a complex...

Scaling artwork basics: registration errors can be overcome by having precise, targeted, real-time data.(Registration)
February 1, 2004... Does this sound familiar? In our company, we deal with so many exotic materials and unusual constructions, the usual approaches to registration --especially scaling artwork--don't apply. Even the materials themselves are...

'One source' fits all: modeled as a "mini Flextronics," this group uses the latest equipment and the engineering practices for its competitive advantage.(One Source Group)
February 1, 2004... The American PCB manufacturer once topped the endangered list, or so it seemed. Conventional wisdom--and more than a few laid-off board guys--gave the "rest of the world" the competitive edge and forecast the demise of a plucky, if little,...

Milestones in horizontal plating: a brief look at the history of the technology reveals Asia as the willing innovator.(Horizontal Plating)
February 1, 2004... The origins of horizontal plating are "low profile," beginning in 1987 with the installation of the first horizontal plating line, for permanganate desmear, at a PCB maker in Germany. Horizontal plating has undergone its share of advances...

Caveat emptor redux: labor shortages are popping up. Unfortunately, there's never a shortage on scams.(Career Care)
February 1, 2004... AS WE MOVE further into 2004, it is becoming very apparent that this year will be better economically for all concerned. As I write this, at the beginning of January, the unemployment rate is down to 5.9% and continues to fall, more jobs are...

1-[micro]m copper foil.(off the Shelf)
February 1, 2004... CopperBond XTF1, a 1-[micro]m peelable electrodeposited 1-micron copper foil is said to have good bond strength and no bleed-through during lamination. Comes attached to a 1-oz. rolled copper carrier with an inorganic release layer and can be...

Power dissipation measurer.(Others Of Note)
February 1, 2004... TASPCB V2.2 calculates local power dissipation on bare or assembled PCBs; Automatically generates an accurate representation of a PCB including traces, vias, power and ground planes, and true board shape. Generates a summary of each trace,...

Artwork inspection.(Others Of Note)
February 1, 2004... Photoline optical tester has dedicated color LEDs and is for detacting defects on PCB artworks. Can be used for silver halide and all diazo artworks. Is said to have high resolution and reportedly specializes in outer-layer or soldermask...

Via filling processes.(off the Shelf)
February 1, 2004... Inplate DI, for inert via filling, is reportedly capable of stellar filling performance and long bath life. Combines with additives for complete solution for horizontal via filling. Can be used with vertical and horizontal copper processes. ...

Halogen-free laminate.(Others Of Note)
February 1, 2004... IS500 halogen-free base material is said to nave a Tg of 175[degrees]C, Has a targeted time-to-delamination ([T.sub.260]) at over 60 min., is V-0 rated according to UL 94, and contains no PBB, PBDE or antimony compounds. WHO: Isola ...

FEM CAE.(Others Of Note)
February 1, 2004... Flux finite element method-based CAE tools, for analyzing and designing EMI and electromechanical devices and processes, feature a redesigned interface, Nave external circuit and drive connection for all conductors; transient solver including...

Handheld optometer.(off the Shelf)
February 1, 2004... The X1-1 handheld optometer is said to combine luminous color measurement with classical photometer/radiometer capabilities in a universal optometer for use with many single, multi-sensor and sphere-based detector heads. Features a...

PCB constraints checker.(Others Of Note)
February 1, 2004... Trilogy 5000 v. 7, for PCB process preparation and assembly programming, features Documentation Editor, for sending custom setup instructions to the factory floor, and adds support for many more pick-and-place machines. Enterprise 3000 DFM...

Updated markup tool.(Others Of Note)
February 1, 2004... AutoVue 17.1 visualization and markup tool now includes several more formats including Cadence Allegro 15 (layouts, drawings, symbols), Concept HDL 14 and 15, PADS PowerPCB 4.0, Protel PCB 98, 99, 99SE, Adobe PDF 1.5 and others. WHO:...

Why I hate my desk.(Our Line)
February 1, 2004... The title is misleading. I don't actually 'hate" my desk. It's spacious and, attractive and just a year old, a gift from my wife. Its pretty nice, actually. I just hate sitting at it. And I'm going to do something about it. Just as soon as I...