Printed Circuit Design & Manufacture articles from March 2007

Printed Circuit Design & Manufacture archives from March 2007

Build to print.(OUR LINE)
March 1, 2007... A FEW weeks ago the iNEMI roadmap was officially released. PCD&M will be covering some of the iNEMI chapters that relate to our industry during 2007. This roadmap is important because it provides R&D insights for the entire electronics...

Growth in storage: trends in the U.S. electronics equipment market (shipments only).(MARKET WATCH)
March 1, 2007... GROWTH IN STORAGE Trends in the U.S. electronics equipment market (shipments only). % CHANGE OCT. NOV. (r) DEC. * YTD ...

New orders steady, inventories decline.(MARKET WATCH)
March 1, 2007... TEMPE, AZ -- The manufacturing sector stalled in January, following a one-month expansion, as companies shed inventories, says the Institute for Supply Management (ism.ws). The PMI sank 2.1 points to 49.3, falling below the benchmark 50...

Analyst: Q1 component pricing 'weak'.(MARKET WATCH)
March 1, 2007... SAN FRANCISCO -- Weak component pricing bodes well for OEMs this quarter, a leading tech analyst said in February. DRAM and NAND prices are down 20% and 35%, respectively, so far this quarter, vs. their fourth quarter average selling prices....

IC sales hit record in '06.(MARKET WATCH)
March 1, 2007... SAN JOSE -- Global sales of semiconductors reached a record $247..7 billion in 2006, up 8.9%, the Semiconductor Industry Association (sia-online.org) reported. December sales were up 9% to $21.7 billion. The trade group reiterated its 2007...

Auto electronics to slow in '07.(MARKET WATCH)
March 1, 2007... LOS ALTOS, CA -- Chinese vehicle production is estimated to have risen 12.1% during 2006, according to analyst Henderson Ventures (hendersonventures.com). The research group says world unit vehicle sales rose 4.4% last year, after a 5.2%...

Industry market snapshot: book-to-bills of various components/equipment.(MARKET WATCH)
March 1, 2007... INDUSTRY MARKET SNAPSHOT Book-to-bills of various components/equipment. AUG. SEPT. OCT. NOV. DEC. Semiconductor equipment (1) 1.00 1.00 0.95 0.97 1.05 Semiconductors (2) ...

IPC releases December 2006 book-to-bill ratios.(LACKLUSTER CLOSE FOR 2006)
March 1, 2007... BANNOCKBURN, IL -- IPC, Association Connecting Electronics Industries, reported that the North American rigid PCB industry book-to-bill ratio for December 2006 held steady at 0.92. The North American flexible circuit book-to-bill ratio went up...

EDAC reports continued growth in 2006 Q3.(GROWTH SPURT)
March 1, 2007... SAN JOSE -- The EDA Consortium's Market Statistics Service (MSS) reported that EDA industry revenue for Q3 2006 grew to $1.3 million compared to $1.1 million in the same quarter of 2005. This increase reflects both the continuing growth of the...

EMA acquires TimingDesigner product line, Chronology Division from Forte.(AROUND THE WORLD)(Chronology)
March 1, 2007... ROCHESTER, NY -- EMA Design Automation has acquired the Chronology Division of Forte Design Systems, which includes the TimingDesigner product line from Forte Design Systems. "EMA has been selling TimingDesigner for a couple of years, so we had...

Latest solder mask spec addresses lead-free.(STANDARDS UPDATE)
March 1, 2007... CARSON CITY, NV -- For its latest revision, the task group behind IPC-SM-840D, "Qualification and Performance of Permanent Solder Mask," focused on terminology, consolidation, the lead-free dilemma and test methods. In a recent interview...

Titan to spin-off PCB business.(AROUND THE WORLD)
March 1, 2007... RICHARDSON, TX -- Titan Global Holdings Inc. stated that the company's board of directors has authorized the spin-off of Titan's PCB manufacturing business to its shareholders. The spin-off will reportedly allow the company to accelerate...

Chemcut employee honored with PCMI award.(HEAD HONCHO)
March 1, 2007... STATE COLLEGE, PA -- Chemcut Corp. employee Don Ball was honored by the Photochemical Machining Institute (PCMI) for his contributions to the field of photochemical machining. Ball received the career achievement award at PCMI's fall conference...

Events.(HAPPENINGS)(Calendar)
March 1, 2007... MARCH 6-8 RTS Embedded Systems CNIT Paris La Defense, France Contact: birp.com/rts2007/en/index.htm 19-22 IMAPS International Conference and Exhibition on Device Packaging Doubletree Hotel, Scottsdate, AZ Contact:...

Valor Computerized Systems Ltd.(FACES)
March 1, 2007... Valor Computerized Systems Ltd. appointed Stephan Hafele as the new president of its European operations, Valor Computerized Systems NV. He replaces David Bengal, who has moved into a corporate role as Valor's vice president of Marketing....

Mentor Graphics Corp.(FACES)
March 1, 2007... Mentor Graphics Corp. named Ananthan Thandri CIO. He most recently worked at Oracle Corp. as vice president of Information Technology. Thandri graduated in mathematics from the University of Madras, India and holds an MBA from St. Mary's...

DDi Corp.(FACES)
March 1, 2007... Jerry Barnes is DDi Corp.'s new senior vice president of Sales. He has over twenty years of sales experience in the PCB industry. Barnes most recently served as vice president of Sales for TTM Technologies since September 2005.

Artetch Circuits.(FACES)
March 1, 2007... Artetch Circuits hired Matthew Beadel as product development manager. Previously with Quantum Production, DDi, Thomas Walter and GEC Marconi Research, Beadel has more than 15 years experience in printed circuit research.

Park Electrochemical Corp.(FACES)
March 1, 2007... Park Electrochemical Corp. appointed Howard Elliott as vice president of Asian Business Development and Louis Starts as vice president of R&D. Elliott will be responsible for business development relating to all of the company's product lines...

InteliCoat Technologies.(FACES)
March 1, 2007... Joseph A. Lupone was appointed president and CEO of InteliCoat Technologies. He replaces Robert Champigny who had been CEO since June 2002. Lupone most recently served as president of Reflexite Display Optics, a division of Reflexite Co., a...

Mentor Graphics Corp. and Actel Corp. signed a new OEM agreement expanding the companies' existing technology and marketing partnership.(IT'S A DEAL)
March 1, 2007... Mentor Graphics Corp. and Actel Corp. signed a new OEM agreement expanding the companies' existing technology and marketing partnership. With this agreement, Actel will provide the rich feature set of Precision Synthesis, Actel-edition, as part...

Tapco Circuit Supply (TCS) has signed a deal with Sheldahl to be the U.S. distribution channel partner for certain Sheldahl products including flexible printed circuit laminates and coverlay films.(IT'S A DEAL)
March 1, 2007... Tapco Circuit Supply (TCS) has signed a deal with Sheldahl to be the U.S. distribution channel partner for certain Sheldahl products including flexible printed circuit laminates and coverlay films. The agreement includes stocking and servicing...

Firan Technology Group Corp. (FTG) has acquired the PCB fabrication business of Action Circuits.(IT'S A DEAL)
March 1, 2007... Firan Technology Group Corp. (FTG) has acquired the PCB fabrication business of Action Circuits. Terms of the sale were not disclosed. FTG will transition the current business of Action Circuits to the FTG facility in Chatsworth, CA.

Jaltek Group has acquired Wavesight, the designer, manufacturer and supplier of ruggedized, wireless transmission solutions that supports intelligent data, voice and video applications for transportation, surveillance and enterprise.(IT'S A DEAL)
March 1, 2007... Jaltek Group has acquired Wavesight, the designer, manufacturer and supplier of ruggedized, wireless transmission solutions that supports intelligent data, voice and video applications for transportation, surveillance and enterprise. With the...

CADParts & Consulting formed a strategic alliance with Miemie Design Services Inc.(IT'S A DEAL)
March 1, 2007... CADParts & Consulting formed a strategic alliance with Miemie Design Services Inc. The two companies have been working together for the past two years designing products for customers in the telecommunications and audio markets. This alliance...

Make the most of your partnerships: a valued supplier/customer relationship begins with mutually beneficial long-term goals.(ROI)
March 1, 2007... I LIKE MEETING with customers; seeing what they are doing, where they are going and what their needs might be. It helps me figure out how to best provide them with long-term value. There are, however, two types of customer meetings that really...

Solving PCB design interconnect challenges: new design tools that incorporate strategic planning, routing guidance and design feedback.(PCB PROBLEM SOLVERS)
March 1, 2007... THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN PCB interconnect challenges and the CAD tools needed to address them has always been one of leapfrog. In years past, as new interconnect challenges such as surface-mount technology, differential pairs and simple...

Selecting the right SerDes device: OEM designers and their EMS partners should evaluate SerDes device characteristics and match them to know PCB design constraints to improve overall performance.(HIGH-SPEED DESIGN)
March 1, 2007... Serializer/deserializer (SerDes) technology is pushing parallel-based architectures out of the way and rapidly becoming an integral part of high-speed PCB designs. Many designers are learning that SerDes device specifications vary and are...

Cost-optimized PCB power integrity design: new analysis tools measure the performance of the power delivery system and consider both cost and electrical performance resulting in a functional and cost-efficient design.(POWER DELIVERY SYSTEM)
March 1, 2007... Power delivery system (PDS) design has become an important issue as power consumption of electronic products increases and internal power supply voltages decrease. As a result, design resources that were once exclusively reserved for signal...

Converging products, expanding supply chain: change is demanded to head off further commoditization and ensure future innovation.(iNEMI ROADMAP)
March 1, 2007... The iNEMI Roadmap 2007 edition will be available this month, providing a more global perspective than any previous iteration. During this roadmap cycle, we consciously targeted participation from key organizations in Asia and Europe to help...

Consumer electronics reign supreme: Asian control of cell phone and IC substrate production propels growth.(WORLD MARKETS)
March 1, 2007... For most companies in the PCB industry, 2006 was a terrific year in spite if the high cost of materials that negatively impacted margins. The growth came mainly from Asia, which is not too surprising. The PCB industry in the western world was...

The impact of lead-free processing on interconnect reliability: lead-free assembly requires a balance between copper, base material and design to assure reliability.(ROHS AND FABRICATION)(Cover story)
March 1, 2007... During the last two years there has been a steady migration toward lead-free compliant printed circuit boards. The effects of RoHS compliance have been felt primarily in the areas of PCB design, fabrication and assembly. Following exposure to...

Selecting the right final finish for RoHS compliant PCBs: immersion silver and high temperature OSPs meet the manufacturer's goals of low cost and ease of use, and the assembler's need for high first-pass yields and improved long term reliability.(FINAL FINISHES)
March 1, 2007... In order to meet the requirements of RoHS, including the elimination of lead from electronic components, the printed circuit board industry is moving away from lead bearing hot air solder leveled (HASL) final finishes to alternative materials....

DFM collaboration solution.(PCB DESIGN CONFERENCE WEST 2007 Conference: March 25-30 * Exhibition: March 27-28, 2007 * Santa Clara, CA)
March 1, 2007... vShare is a product lifecycle management toolset that supports DFM collaboration between PCB design and engineering teams. Provides a centralized platform with access to important design information and DFM issues. Users can import DFM results...

Easy-to- use capture property editor.(PCB DESIGN CONFERENCE WEST 2007 Conference: March 25-30 * Exhibition: March 27-28, 2007 * Santa Clara, CA)
March 1, 2007... MakeCAP for Cadence OrCAD Capture is said to be an easy-to-use environment for populating the Capture Property Editor. It uses a database linked spreadsheet view where engineers select from the available data objects for assigning values....

Design platform.(PCB DESIGN CONFERENCE WEST 2007 Conference: March 25-30 * Exhibition: March 27-28, 2007 * Santa Clara, CA)
March 1, 2007... A new electronics design platform comprised of NI Multisim 10.0, NI Ultiboard 10.0 and NI measurement technology introduces professional design features including: advanced simulation tools and new microcontroller (MCU) co-simulation, increased...

PDS design solution.(PCB DESIGN CONFERENCE WEST 2007 Conference: March 25-30 * Exhibition: March 27-28, 2007 * Santa Clara, CA)
March 1, 2007... OptimizePI is a PDS performance analysis, verification and cost-driven optimization platform with particular emphasis on optimum selection and placement of decoupling capacitors. Is said to provide accurate characterization of PDS performance...

Laser machining systems.(CPCA 2007 March 21-23 * Shanghai, China)
March 1, 2007... The FP1000 laser machining system was created for high performance and high volume manufacturing environments. Features include active pulse shaping for process quality, high-performance motion and laser beam control, windows operator...

Imaging system.(CPCA 2007 March 21-23 * Shanghai, China)
March 1, 2007... The Quasar engine semi-auto exposure system for fast and "cool" exposures of std PCB soldermasks ink with high resolution and accuracy at speeds approaching or even exceeding DF and LPI materials. The new imaging system reportedly addresses...

Resist technology.(CPCA 2007 March 21-23 * Shanghai, China)
March 1, 2007... In designing the line special attention is given to structuring the photo resist and the panel. As packaging densities further increase, the demands on developing and etching technologies are stepped up. Both inner and outer layers are...

High-speed, low loss laminate.(CPCA 2007 March 21-23 * Shanghai, China)
March 1, 2007... Nelco N4000-13EP 210[degrees]C TG substrate is said to offer an enhanced performance option that expands the range of the N4000-13 material system within the lead-free assembly market. The Nelco N4000-13EP series of laminate and prepreg...

Calculating characteristic impedance: when taking measurements or doing simulations, it's good to anticipate your results ahead of time.(THE SIGNAL DOCTOR)
March 1, 2007... QUESTION FROM SCOTT IN TUCSON, AZ: Everyone says that if you bring a grounded trace next to a signal line, the impedance of the signal line will drop. This is because of the proximity of the ground next to the signal line. If this is true, is...