Printed Circuit Design & Manufacture articles from May 2006

Printed Circuit Design & Manufacture archives from May 2006

The Psychology of trade shows.(OUR LINE)
May 1, 2006... TRADE shows have their own psychology. Consultants charge mega bucks to teach exhibitors the proper techniques for working a show booth: Make eye contact, avoid sitting and eating, never turn your back on the aisle, and never read anything for...

On the defense.(MARKET WATCH)
May 1, 2006... ON THE DEFENSE Trends in the U.S. electronics equipment market (shipments only). % CHANGE DEC. JAN. (r) FEB. * YTD Computers/electronics...

March PMI shows continued strength.(MARKET WATCH)
May 1, 2006... TEMPE, AZ -- The PMI index of U.S. manufacturing slipped in March but remained well above the benchmark for growth. Overall, the sector grew for the 34th straight month, according to the latest Institute for Supply Management (www.ism.ws) poll....

2006 promising for IC sales.(MARKET WATCH)
May 1, 2006... SARATOGA, CA -- Revenues and unit sales of ICs worldwide in 2005 grew 7.8% and 10.6%, respectively, and 2006 is expected to be even more robust, said Advanced Forecasting, a semiconductor forecasting firm. "Our forecast showed an upward turning...

India's EMS sector on the rise.(MARKET WATCH)
May 1, 2006... BANGALORE -- India's embryonic EMS sector is preparing for a breakout, based on recent forecasts from various market watchers. The Indian EMS industry will be worth $4 billion by 2010, growing over 30% annually, says the Electronics Component...

Industry market snapshot.(MARKET WATCH)
May 1, 2006... INDUSTRY MARKET SNAPSHOT Book-to-bills of various components/equipment. OCT. NOV. DEC. JAN. FEB. Semiconductor equipment (1) 0.95 0.93 0.93 0.97 1.01 Semiconductors (2)...

CMK building PCB plant in Thailand.(AROUND THE WORLD/MANUFACTURING)
May 1, 2006... TOKYO, JAPAN -- CMK Corp. is planning to build a PCB manufacturing plant in Thailand for global supply. Its initial intended manufacturing capacity is 66,000 [m.sup.2] per month. The new company, CMK Corp. Thailand, is to be capitalized at...

TXP, SMS to merge on reverse stock split.(PUBLIC WITHOUT THE IPO)
May 1, 2006... DALLAS and NEW ORLEANS -- Stock Market Solutions Inc. (SMS) reported that its shareholders have approved a 1-for-10 reverse stock split as part of its merger with Dallas-based Texas Prototypes (TXP). Once the reverse split is effective, SMS...

Photocircuits deal with AMPAC finalized.(AT THE AUCTION)
May 1, 2006... SAN BERNARDINO, CA -- The long-awaited deal for Photocircuits, the Glen Cove, NY, board maker, was made official with the sale of the business to a newly formed subsidiary of American Pacific Financial Corp. AMPAC, a private equity group,...

Tyco moving headquarters.(Rather Be in Philly)
May 1, 2006... HARRISBURG, PA -- Tyco Electronics is moving its headquarters to the Philadelphia area. CEO Thomas Lynch met with managers recently concerning the move, company spokesman Mike Ratcliffe said. The company has more than 92,000 employees in 54...

3M ups sales growth, earnings forecast.(AROUND THE WORLD/MANUFACTURING)
May 1, 2006... ST. PAUL, MN -- 3M Co. has raised its forecast for first-quarter sales growth and earnings on strength in its industrial, safety, consumer and electronics-related businesses. The company credited investments that began in the second half of...

Nam Tai expands flex business.(AROUND THE WORLD/MANUFACTURING)
May 1, 2006... VANCOUVER -- Nam Tai Electronics plans to expand its flexible circuit business into flex unit manufacturing in China. In order to support its existing flex subassembly business, Nam Tai recently began investing in flex unit manufacturing...

EDA up 3% for 2005, PCB flat.(RECORD BREAKING REVENUE)
May 1, 2006... SAN JOSE, CA -- EDA industry revenue in 2005 totaled a record $4.6 billion, 3% more than $4.4 billion in 2004. The industry's Q4 2005 earnings reached $1.25 billion, a 5% increase over Q4 2004, according to the EDA Consortium's (www.edac.org)...

EMA and Ageus join forces.(AROUND THE WORLD/DESIGN)
May 1, 2006... ROCHESTER, NY -- EMA Design Automation and Ageus Solutions are working together to provide environmental compliance solutions from design through manufacturing. "We're strengthening the overall solution delivered to the client by adding...

Freedom CAD opens facility in Texas.(Lone Star State Design)
May 1, 2006... NASHUA, NH -- Freedom CAD Services has opened a design center in metropolitan Dallas (Piano) to service its customer base in southern North America. Randy Jackson and Barry Hurley, both 25-year veterans of the electronics industry, will manage...

Events.(HAPPENINGS)(Calendar)
May 1, 2006... MAY 4 Thriving in a RoHS/WEE Environment Seminar Minneapolis. MN Contact: Mark Pilkington, mark@eptac.com 4-5 Science, Engineering & Technology Congressional Visits Day Washington, D.C....

Valor Computerized System.(FACES)
May 1, 2006... Valor Computerized Systems has appointed Ong Kay Huat to the position of president of Valor Far East. He will oversee Valor's operations in Asia. Huat has more than 15 years of experience in the electronics industry, and is the former vice...

Merix Corp.(FACES)
May 1, 2006... Chee W. Cheung has been elected to the board of directors for Merix Corp. Cheung is executive director, president and CEO of Compass Technology, a Hong Kong-based flexible substrate manufacturer. Cheung co-founded Compass Technology in 1997 and...

Multi-Fineline Electronix (M-Flex) will tender an offer to acquire MFS Technology Ltd., a Singapore-based company that designs, prototypes, produces and assembles flexible printed circuit substrates.(IT'S A DEAL)
May 1, 2006... Multi-Fineline Electronix (M-Flex) will tender an offer to acquire MFS Technology Ltd., a Singapore-based company that designs, prototypes, produces and assembles flexible printed circuit substrates. MFS shareholders will be offered the option...

Endicott Interconnect Technologies has signed an agreement with sales representative firm NovaPack Technologies.(IT'S A DEAL)
May 1, 2006... Endicott Interconnect Technologies has signed an agreement with sales representative firm NovaPack Technologies. NovaPack will market Endicott's semiconductor packages, PCB fabrication, assembly and technical services to the medical, military,...

Ansoft Corp.(IT'S A DEAL)
May 1, 2006... Ansoft Corp. has joined the GEIA Compact Model Council, a group of 35 semiconductor and electronic design automation (EDA) companies worldwide that promote the standardization of compact model formulations.

Sanmina-SCI.(IT'S A DEAL)
May 1, 2006... The Sanmina-SCI facility in Kunshan, China has passed the registration audit for ISO/TS 16949 certification. ISO/TS 16949 is an international quality management system certification that aligns existing American (QS-9000), German (VDA6.1),...

Resistor and substrate maker International Manufacturing Services (IMS) has appointed Texas-based Marathon Associates to represent its products in Texas.(IT'S A DEAL)
May 1, 2006... Resistor and substrate maker International Manufacturing Services (IMS) has appointed Texas-based Marathon Associates to represent its products in Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, and Louisiana.

Macedonia-based PCB maker Hi-Tech PCB Express Service has purchased the Direct Logix.(IT'S A DEAL)
May 1, 2006... Macedonia-based PCB maker Hi-Tech PCB Express Service has purchased the Direct Logix Control Center engineering/planning software for PCB manufacturing.

An Analog Industry in a digital world: whoever figures out how to differentiate their companies online will lead the PCB industry.(ROI)
May 1, 2006... I AM AN analog guy living in a digital world. Every day my kids drive that point home. I marvel at their command of computers and other digital media. They have more blinking instant messenger "handles" on their buddy lists than I have friends...

China's evolving RoHs legal regime: the new law goes into effect March 1, 2007 (maybe), and could be even broader than Europe's version.(COUNTDOWN TO LEAD-FREE)
May 1, 2006... "CHINA'S MANAGEMENT METHODS for Controlling Pollution by Electronic Information Products," often called China RoHs, was promulgated on Feb. 26, and is scheduled to take effect March 1, 2007. This law, developed by China's Ministry of...

Controlling controlled impedance boards: achieving the desired impedence is no simple task.(HIGH-SPEED DESIGN)
May 1, 2006... You are a critical link in the continuous chain of events that must all be successful if your product is to get to market on schedule. If it's a controlled impedance board and it doesn't meet its impedance target spec on the first round, you...

Product development for RoHS and WEEE compliance: environmental compliance regs are here to stay. Learn all about them so you can use them to differentiate you company.(LEAD-FREE)
May 1, 2006... If you are in the printed circuit board business and you are not familiar with the current environmental laws that are dramatically affecting the electronics industry, you would be wise to start researching the existing and pending regulations,...

Minimizing insertion loss: proper PCB stackup and trace geometry design are key elements in the fight to lower losses.(SIGNAL INTEGRITY)
May 1, 2006... As bus speeds exceed GHz speeds, signal attenuation due to conductor and dielectric losses absorb a significant portion of the signal integrity budget, especially eye height. Designers need to carefully design their PCB to minimize these...

Imprint patterning: a practical approach to fabrication: this microreplication technique can replace photolithography and laser drilling, with little investment in training or equipment.(Cover story)
May 1, 2006... A list of ideal qualities required of a technology that could address the many issues facing the printed circuit fabrication industry today would contain the following: * It would leverage existing infrastructure (capital equipment,...

Materials handling system.(of the SHELF: MACHINES MATERIALS TOLLS SYSTEMS SOFTWARE)
May 1, 2006... The BOSS PC-based material handling system is said to add high-tech flexibility for fast, accurate and efficient material handling and increased distribution center throughput. Includes a built-in networked graphical HMI, multiple processor...

Cable Assemblies.(of the SHELF: MACHINES MATERIALS TOLLS SYSTEMS SOFTWARE)
May 1, 2006... Gore Eye-Opener DensiShield Cable Assemblies are designed to transmit high-speed differential signals while reducing size and weight by 40% over others on the market. Built with FCI DensiShield connectors, the cable assemblies are said to...

Wireless Library.(of the SHELF: MACHINES MATERIALS TOLLS SYSTEMS SOFTWARE)
May 1, 2006... The 802.11 n Wireless Library is to be used with Agilent's Advanced Design System EDA platform. It is based on the Enhanced Wireless Consortium proposal, and is expected to speed development of next-generation, high-speed WLAN products. Can...

Horizontal plating.(OTHERS OF NOTE)
May 1, 2006... The horizontal electroless copper processing system Model 990D measures 41' long and 71" wide. Was developed in close cooperation with Atotech to develop a market-sized processing system designed to reliably process thick boards and small...

PCI Express Starter Kit.(OTHERS OF NOTE)
May 1, 2006... The PCI Express Starter Kit has a programmable PCI Express endpoint silicon solution that has reportedly passed all the latest PCI Express compliance and interoperability tests. The two-chip solution is priced at less than $12 in high volumes,...

Routing interface.(OTHERS OF NOTE)
May 1, 2006... Zuken and Finnish company Inca Systems have released a specialist routing interface tool, iMstrip, for handling microstrip routing for radio frequency design within CADSTAR environments. It interfaces between CADSTAR, and Aplac and Agilent...

Engineering instruction tool.(OTHERS OF NOTE)
May 1, 2006... The Pro/Engineer Wildfire 3.0 Schools Edition is an integrated CAD/CAM/CAE solution said to help companies develop detailed, intuitive and realistic digital product representations. Teachers will be entitled to free seats of the edition for...

PADS translator.(OTHERS OF NOTE)
May 1, 2006... Mentor's new translators enable migration of Protel, P-CAD and OrCAD designs and libraries to PADS PCB design solutions. They were designed to make it easier for companies to switch over to PADS, bringing over all current libraries, databases...

Flex study.(OTHERS OF NOTE)
May 1, 2006... DKN Research has made available the digest version of its latest market research study entitled 2006 Global Projection for Flexible Circuits, an independent evaluation of the flex industry by end-use segments, current and advanced technologies....

To the moon! What is the input impedance of a transmission line?(NO MYTHS ALLOWED)
May 1, 2006... YOU CAN GO to any electronics store and buy a length of RG58 coaxial cable. The description written on the shelf reads "50 [ohm] cable." But what does this really mean? If you take an ohm meter to the cable, will it read 50 [ohm]? If you...