Printed Circuit Design & Manufacture articles from February 2006

Printed Circuit Design & Manufacture archives from February 2006

Billions served: Acrobat goes 3D.(OUR LINE)
February 1, 2006... ADOBE Acrobat is going 3D. Yes, that Adobe Acrobat. Adobe Systems, creator of the ubiquitous reader that's probably on your desktop right now, recently rolled out Acrobat 3D, a software tool that lets users publish technical documents as Adobe...

No December freeze for U.S. production.(MARKET WATCH)
February 1, 2006... TEMPE, AZ -- The PMI index of U.S. manufacturing dipped in December but grew overall for the 31st straight month. The December PMI was 54.2%, down 3.9 points from November, according to the latest Institute for Supply Management (www.ism.ws)...

Japan electronics production to rebound.(MARKET WATCH)
February 1, 2006... TOKYO -- Electronics production in Japan will fall in 2005 but will rebound in 2006, according to the Japan Electronics and Information Technology Industries Association (www.jeita.or.jp). JEITA forecast domestic production of $161.4...

Global EDA sales up 6% in Q3.(MARKET WATCH)
February 1, 2006... SAN JOSE -- Electronic design automation revenue for the third quarter was up 6%, to $1.1 billion, over last year, the EDA Consortium (www.edac.org) said Dec. 30. PCB and multichip module revenue was flat, at $81 million. EDAC chairman...

Industry market snapshot.(MARKET WATCH)
February 1, 2006... INDUSTRY MARKET SNAPSHOT JULY AUG. SEPT. Semiconductor equipment (1) 0.93 0.97 0.90 Semiconductors (2) 0.3% 3.2% 5.2% Rigid...

Solectron opens new services center at Romanian plant.(AROUND THE WORLD)
February 1, 2006... TIMISOARA, ROMANIA -- Solectron Corp, has opened a design and engineering services center at the company's Timisoara, Romania plant. The expansion of capabilities in the Timisoara facility will focus on providing advanced collaborative design...

Flextronics has new CEO.(IN WITH THE NEW)
February 1, 2006... SINGAPORE -- Flextronics has appointed Michael McNamara to the position of CEO. McNamara replaces outgoing CEO Michael Marks, who is now chairman of the Flextronics board of directors. McNamara has held various senior positions during his...

Multiline Technology, European subsidiary to reorganize.(TAKING CARE OF BUSINESS)
February 1, 2006... FARMINGDALE, NY -- Registration equipment maker Multiline Technology Inc. and its European subsidiary Multiline International Europa LP (mie LP) are planning to reorganize to better serve their customers globally. Paul Waldner, the current...

Gould U.S. operations to close.(AROUND THE WORLD)
February 1, 2006... CHANDLER, AZ -- Gould Electronics, a subsidiary of Nikko Materials Co., a unit of Nippon Mining Holdings Inc., today announced that it plans to close its Chandler, AZ manufacturing facility and U.S. headquarters by April of 2006. "The...

Advanced Circuits goes lead-free.(AROUND THE WORLD)
February 1, 2006... AURORA, CO -- Advanced Circuits will begin fabricate all prototypes with lead-free solder as a plating finish. In a release, the company said the lead-free HAL finish provides an enhanced solderable finish for assembly and meets all legislation...

French board maker buys PerkinElmer Litho unit.(PERKING UP)
February 1, 2006... VAL DE REUIL, FRANCE -- French printed circuit board maker Automa Tech has completed its acquisition of the lithography systems business of PerkinElmer's optoelectronics unit. According to the French News Digest, Automa-Tech will manage the...

DownStream gets new digs.(MOVING ON UP)
February 1, 2006... BOLTON, MA -- DownStream Technologies has moved into new corporate headquarters in Marlborough, MA. The facility will house the company's financial, marketing, sales and R&D operations. "Our new facility is optimally equipped to help us...

Coretec names new chairman.(AROUND THE WORLD)
February 1, 2006... TORONTO, CANADA -- Coretec Inc. reported that Robert Olsen has been given the position of chairman of the board, replacing Paul Langston, who remains CEO and president. Olsen has been the lead director on the board since 2004. "This...

Rohm & Haas breaks ground.(EXPANSION TIME)
February 1, 2006... PHILADELPHIA -- Rohm & Haas Electronic Materials, CMP Technologies has broken ground for its Asia Pacific Manufacturing and Technical Center at the Hsinchu Science Park, Chunan satellite campus in Taiwan. The facility is expected to be in...

Cookson sells Polyclad laminates to Isola.(I'm Back)
February 1, 2006... LONDON -- Cookson Group has agreed to sell Polyclad Laminates to Isola Group for $91 million. Completion of the transaction, which is conditional on satisfactory clearance from the European anti-trust authorities, is expected in February. ...

Events.(HAPPENINGS)(Calendar)
February 1, 2006... FEBRUARY 6-9 DesignCon Santa Clara Convention Center Santa Clara; CA Contact: www.designcon.com 8-10 IPC Printed Circuits Expo/APEX Anaheim Convention Center Anaheim, CA Contact: www.ipc.org 13-17 PCB Foundation Course...

Rohm and Haas Electronic Materials.(FACES)
February 1, 2006... Rohm and Haas Electronic Materials has appointed Thomas Wilson to the position of Circuit Board Technologies General Manager for North America and Europe. Wilson most recently sewed as director of global sales operations for Rohm and Haas...

Excellon Automation.(FACES)
February 1, 2006... Don Payne has joined Excellon Automation as its eastern region and Canadian business manager. Payne has 24 years of PCB experience in manufacturing, sales and as a supplier to the industry. Responsibilities will include business development,...

Dynamic & Proto Circuits.(FACES)
February 1, 2006... Stephen Hazell has joined PCB manufacturer Dynamic & Proto Circuits (DAPC) as director of quality assurance. Hazell will be responsible for all facets of the corporate quality program. He comes to DAPC after working at FTG Circuits. Hazell has...

Winland Electronics Inc.(FACES)
February 1, 2006... Winland Electronics Inc. has promoted Gregory Burneske from director of engineering services to vice president of engineering. Burneske has more than 18 years of new product development experience. Prior to joining Winland, Burneske was manager...

Service bureau D2M Technologies has purchased the Direct Logix.(IT'S A DEAL)
February 1, 2006... Service bureau D2M Technologies has purchased the Direct Logix automated process planning system Control Center XP.

Cooper Electronic Technologies.(IT'S A DEAL)
February 1, 2006... Cooper Electronic Technologies has opened a customer support center in Boca Raton, FL. The new facility complements CET's design and customer support capabilities in Dublin, CA and St. Louis, and follows the opening of the Thomas Edison Center...

Flomerics'.(IT'S A DEAL)
February 1, 2006... Galileo Avionica has selected Flomerics' Flotherm and Flo/PCB software as its standard thermal modeling software for its seven design centers and five business units. Galileo signed a $300,000 order for perpetual licenses.

SOMACIS pcb industries.(IT'S A DEAL)
February 1, 2006... PCB manufacturer SOMAClS pcb industries was awarded the certifications EN 9100:2003 and NADCAP for the aerospace sector.

Thick film resistor manufacturer International Manufacturing Services (IMS) has signed W. Howard Associates Inc.(IT'S A DEAL)
February 1, 2006... Thick film resistor manufacturer International Manufacturing Services (IMS) has signed W. Howard Associates Inc. to represent its products in the states of Colorado, Utah, Montana, Wyoming and Idaho. W. Howard Associates is a manufacturers'...

What goes down must come up: repeat after me: it's time for a price increase.(ROI)
February 1, 2006... I HAVE ALWAYS hated the term "business model" because business is not a model. Business is a real-world activity that enables people to have a livelihood. Still, my banker, accountant and lawyer keep telling me that the business model of...

Implementing RoHS in the U.K.: discussions over exemptions continue, but RoHS will take effect July 1.(COUNTDOWN TO LEAD-FREE)
February 1, 2006... THE RESTRICTION ON the Use of Hazardous Substances directive, adopted by the European Union in 2003, bans the sale of new electrical and electronic equipment in the EU by July 1, 2006, if those products contain more than the permitted levels of...

Topology characteristics of reliable bus design: symmetry, minimized impedance discontinuities and balanced loading are preferred features.(INTERCONNECT STRATEGIES)
February 1, 2006... ONE PHASE OF high-speed system design involves exploring a layout solution space to ascertain workable technologies and interconnect architectures for various signal groups. (1,2) Some commonly employed topologies for reliable bus design...

Procuring prototypes using a vendor qualification process: process? Yes, maybe you do need a process.(PROCUREMENT)(Company Profile)
February 1, 2006... Off they go again. Your company's supplier management group is leaving for the annual golf weekend sponsored by vendor X. Everyone knows that more than golf happens when a team of buyers from your company travels 3,000 miles--business class--to...

FLEX circuit manufacturing in a box? Inkjet printing may finally bring flex circuits up to speed.(FLEX TIME)
February 1, 2006... There is a buzz in the flex industry about a new manufacturing technology for making high volume, dirt-cheap flexible circuits with copper conductors. The technology is still in its early stages (it has just recently come out of the lab) but...

The laser drilling horse race: UV lasers, C[O.sub.2] lasers and hybrids all offer advantages and disadvantages. Will one technology make the others obsolete?(DRILLING)
February 1, 2006... The development of PCB technology during the last few years was driven by the industry's technical needs. The main driver for this speedy development was mobile device technology, in particular the requirements set by mobile phones and PDAs....

Laser direct imaging: improved processes and dry film resists are increasing the use of LDI.(IMAGING)
February 1, 2006... Laser direct imaging (LDI) technology has developed to the point where there is little doubt that it can be successfully implemented in large-scale production. Enabled by high speed and specially optimized dry film photoresist compositions,...

Know your final finish options: what's best for your board: immersion silver, immersion tin or maybe even ENEPIG? Learn the pros and cons of the newest alternative finishes.(SURFACE FINISHES)
February 1, 2006... One word describes the current state of the printed circuit industry--change. The North American and European shops that survived the three-year downturn and rush of business to Asia are now faced with a constant stream of new laws. Of course...

Thermal design software.(off the SHELF)
February 1, 2006... Version 3.0 of Flomerics' FLO/PCB thermal design software, FLO/PCB for Allegro, provides a link to Cadence Allegro PCB Editor software. Designers can call up a menu item on the Cadence software and generate a thermal model of their own design....

ATE system.(off the SHELF)
February 1, 2006... Aeroflex has launched its 5800 Series multi-configuration, multi-function ATE system. It reportedly features an open hardware and software architecture, and reconfigurable pinface styles. The 5800 series is available in three different body...

Connector modules.(off the SHELF)
February 1, 2006... Pulse has a new line of unfiltered connector modules for networking and telecom infrastructure equipment such as switches and routers. Are also used for networked terminal devices such as printers, televisions, security cameras, DSL modems,...

Analysis software.(OTHERS OF NOTE)
February 1, 2006... Ansoft has released Maxwell v11, 3D electromagnetic analysis software that predicts the performance of low-frequency electromechanical components in advanced automotive, aerospace and industrial/power electronic systems. The software is...

Screen-printing guide.(OTHERS OF NOTE)
February 1, 2006... DEK has published its latest findings on screen-printing with lead-free pastes, focusing on the implications for stencil design rules. Understanding Stencil Requirements for a Lead-Free Mass Imaging Process reveals how aperture dimensions must...

Antenna modules.(OTHERS OF NOTE)
February 1, 2006... The new GPS module A1035-A incorporates Tyco's GPS receiver A1029-A and adds a CANbus interface to the product. This communication channel makes the module especially useful for automotive applications or in areas, where position, velocity and...

AOT equipment.(OTHERS OF NOTE)
February 1, 2006... Lloyd Doyle has released the LD6000 range of equipment in Europe. The LD6000 range allegedly brings dramatic improvements in speed and resolution to board shops using AOT as in-process defect detection. It includes systems for all contemporary...

Design software application.(OTHERS OF NOTE)
February 1, 2006... DipTrace is a PCB design software application that comes with PCB layout module, schematic capture and component/pattern editors to design your own component libraries. It is reported the board designer can instantly renew the PCB from an...

Magnetic SPICE models.(OTHERS OF NOTE)
February 1, 2006... Intusoft has added several saturable-core magnetic SPICE models and new core materials to its design and synthesis product, Magnetics Designer. A variety of detailed generic models contained in a new magnetic core library enables the user to...

Microstrip or stripline? That is the question.(NO MYTHS ALLOWED)
February 1, 2006... IS IT BETTER to route signals in microstrip or stripline traces? Most designers would say "It depends." The answer really depends upon your definition of "better." So much of the design process is balancing tradeoffs, usually between...