Printed Circuit Design & Manufacture articles from November 2006

Printed Circuit Design & Manufacture archives from November 2006

Time for a new tool.(OUR LINE)
November 1, 2006... IT'S been a little over 100 days since the EU RoHS legislation came into effect. In a few months China Rolls will come online. The U.S. is anything but united as independently over a dozen states plan programs, monitoring methods and deadlines,...

Growth in storage.(MARKET WATCH)
November 1, 2006... GROWTH IN STORAGE Trends in the U.S. electronics equipment market (shipments only). % CHANGE JUNE JULY (R) AUG. * YTD Computers/electronics...

ISM: manufacturing sector slowing.(MARKET WATCH)
November 1, 2006... TEMPE, AZ--September brought little sequential change in new orders and production for North American manufacturers, but the clouds are darkening a bit after a sunny first half, reported the Institute for Supply Management (ism.ws). The...

Indian auto electronics in fast lane.(MARKET WATCH)
November 1, 2006... EL SEGUNDO, CA -- Technological developments in engine management and the incorporation of safety systems in cars will drive a 21.8% CAGR in the Indian automotive electronics market, says research firm iSuppli Corp. (isuppli.com). India's...

TV shift seen.(MARKET WATCH)
November 1, 2006... EL SEGUNDO, CA -- THE Corp. fell to third place in television units shipped in the second quarter, supplanted by LG Electronics Corp. and Samsung Electronics, which took the first and second, respectively, said iSuppli Corp. TTE's global...

Inventories climbing, in control.(MARKET WATCH)
November 1, 2006... SAN FRANCISCO -- EMS providers have roughly $3 billion of excess inventory in stock, said Deutsche Bank (db.com) in a September research note. However, overall the supply chain is in fairly good shape, DB found, and will rid itself of most of...

Industry market snapshot.(MARKET WATCH)
November 1, 2006... INDUSTRY MARKET SNAPSHOT Book-to-bills of various components/equipment. APRIL MAY JUNE JULY AUG. Semiconductor equipment (1) 1.11 1.11 1.14 1.06 1.00 (p) Semiconductors (2) ...

EMA Automation on Inc. 500 list for second year.(CHECK THE LIST)
November 1, 2006... ROCHESTER, NY -- EMA Design Automation reported that it is ranked #97 on this year's Inc. 500 list of the fastest growing privately held businesses in America. "We are extremely honored to be part of the Inc. 500 list for a second year in...

Plexus to expand capacity, capabilities in Malaysia.(AROUND THE WORLD)
November 1, 2006... NEENAH, WI -- Plexus Corp. has entered into a definitive agreement to purchase a manufacturing facility in Penang, Malaysia. Located on approximately 23 acres, the new facility will be Plexus' third plant in Malaysia and will provide an...

Mentor sponsoring design lab at Hungarian university.(A++)
November 1, 2006... WILSONVILLE, OR -- Mentor Graphics Corp. is sponsoring an electronic design laboratory at the Budapest University of Technology and Economics (BME) in Budapest, Hungary, the company reported. Mentor said it has donated more than $20 million...

China's flex output to grow at 20% CAGR.(Growth spurt)
November 1, 2006... SHANGHAI, CHINA -- Mainland China's total output of flexible PCBs is estimated to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 20%, from 10 million [m.sup.2] in 2004 to 32.9 million [m.sup.2] in 2008, according to the China Printed Circuit...

IPCA seeks government help.(S.O.S.)
November 1, 2006... BANGALORE, INDIA -- With nearly Rs. 1,500 crore worth of PCBs being imported annually into India, the Indian Printed Circuit Association (IPCA) is seeking support from the government to create a substantial manufacturing base here to bridge the...

Foxconn to invest US$1 b in China.(AROUND THE WORLD)
November 1, 2006... SHANGHAI, CHINA -- Foxconn Electronics (the registered trade name of Taiwan-listed Hon Hai Precision Industry Co. Ltd.) will invest more than US$1 billion to establish a stronger presence in China, according to the South China Morning Post...

Book-to-bill: rigid and flex up.(UP, UP AND AWAY)
November 1, 2006... BANNOCKBURN, IL -- The North American rigid PCB industry book-to-bill ratio for August 2006 increased to 1.06, and the North American flexible circuit book-to-bill ratio grew as well, to 1.05. According to IPC's monthly statistical program, the...

DDi Corp. completed the sale of its assembly business to Veritek Manufacturing Services LLC, for approximately $12 million in cash.(IT'S A DEAL)
November 1, 2006... DDi Corp. completed the sale of its assembly business to Veritek Manufacturing Services LLC, for approximately $12 million in cash. The sale reflects the company's previously announced strategy to focus on its core PCB fabrication, engineering...

Fidus Systems has acquired Fabridyne Electronics Inc.(IT'S A DEAL)
November 1, 2006... Fidus Systems has acquired Fabridyne Electronics Inc. The acquisition comes as Fidus launches its new electronic Design Centre in Toronto. Fabridyne's founder, Carl Stacy, will be joining the Fidus design team in Toronto. The parties have not...

Elcoteq SE.(FACES)
November 1, 2006... Elcoteq SE has appointed Richard Appleby as director of Americas Operations. He will be responsible for all aspects of operations management including manufacturing, quality, engineering, after-sales services and program management. Formerly...

Henkel Electronics Group.(FACES)
November 1, 2006... Henkel Electronics Group has appointed Jason Brandi to global product manager for Phase Change and Thermal Adhesives. Previously Brandi held various positions within Henkel, including technical sales supervisor and thermal materials specialist....

Benchmark Electronics Inc.(FACES)
November 1, 2006... Benchmark Electronics Inc. announced the appointment of Michael R. Dawson to the board of directors of the company to serve as an independent director. Dawson is senior vice president and CFO of GlobalSantaFe Corp., an offshore oil and...

Endicott Interconnect Technologies Inc.(FACES)
November 1, 2006... Endicott Interconnect Technologies Inc. appointed Eric Hills as director of Program Management, Military and Defense Programs. He brings 20 years of experience in the electronics industry in a variety of program and product management roles,...

Altium Ltd.(FACES)
November 1, 2006... Altium Ltd. appointed Emma Lo Russo to the newly created executive position of president and chief operating officer. Lo Russo joined Altium in 2004 and advanced through a broad range of roles, most recently serving as COO.

Winland Electronics Inc.(FACES)
November 1, 2006... Winland Electronics Inc. has named Glenn Kermes as its new chief financial officer. Brian Lawrence, who served on an interim basis as the CFO and controller, will remain as the controller. Kermes joins Winland from Ross Manufacturing, a global...

Agilent Technologies Inc. and privately held Remcom Inc. reported that Agilent has licensed 3D electro-magnetic (EM) simulation technology from Remcom.(IT'S A DEAL)
November 1, 2006... Agilent Technologies Inc. and privately held Remcom Inc. reported that Agilent has licensed 3D electro-magnetic (EM) simulation technology from Remcom. Financial details were not disclosed. Remcom will continue to develop, sell and support...

JMD International and Sedona Board Services announced the completion of a definitive merger agreement.(IT'S A DEAL)
November 1, 2006... JMD International and Sedona Board Services announced the completion of a definitive merger agreement. The new entity is known as Sedona International Inc. and will merge locations, resources and customer bases in Ottawa, Boston, Texas and San...

Events.(HAPPENINGS)(Calendar)
November 1, 2006... NOVEMBER 1 Designers Learning Symposium Blue Mountain Golf and Convention Centre, Wood Lane, Binfield, Berkshire, UK Contact: www.eda.co.uk/customer_conference2006.htm 1-3 Bohai Electronics Week ...

A force to be reckoned with: driving organizational excellence pays dividends.(ROI)
November 1, 2006... IT'S THE TIME of year again to begin that corporate ritual known as "preparing next year's budget." This process is supposed to pull the entire management team together in order to consider all possible challenges and opportunities, resulting...

Crystal clear reproductions: optimizing process controls for the next generation diazo phototool films.(BETTER PHOTOTOOLING)
November 1, 2006... A FEW YEARS ago, the market offered a variety of diazo emulsion designs. The diazo films then were commonly referred to as standard and double-sided emulsions. Diazo film was designed for silver film duplications, a matte emulsion version and...

Embedded passive test programs: ECIT active with OEMs on embedded passive testing.(EMBEDDED PASSIVES)(Company overview)
November 1, 2006... THERE ARE CURRENTLY a number of active consortiums dealing with electronics topics in North America. The Emerging Critical Interconnect Technology (ECIT) is just one of the groups that is sup ported by the IPC. Its goal is to aid North American...

The 2006 salary survey: despite a few blips, the overall salary numbers hold strong. But designers seem more cynical than ever.(ANNUAL SALARY SURVEY)
November 1, 2006... The results of the 2006 Designer and Design Engineer Salary Survey are in. Overall, the benchmarks of the survey were unchanged from last year, and after the volatility of the first few years of this century, maybe continuity is a good thing,...

3D thermal modeling: concurrent engineering tackles the thermal challenges of high-speed design.(HOT DESIGN TOOLS)
November 1, 2006... The increasing density of high-speed PCB designs is making it more difficult to simultaneously meet layout, signal integrity and thermal requirements without missing market windows and incurring cost overruns due to design re-spins. In...

Laminate material selection for RoHS Assembly, Part 1: success in lead-free assembly is based on matching critical laminate properties with the design constraints.(BASE MATERIALS)
November 1, 2006... The RoHS deadline has come and gone. Success in preparation for this deadline has varied greatly. For some, it was a relatively seamless transition. For others, it could not have been more painful. And for those with exemptions that continue...

Lead-free HAL final finishes: a review of RoHS compliant hot air leveled options.(FINAL FINISHES)
November 1, 2006... Until recently more than 80% of all PCBs produced worldwide were hot air leveled. Today, still more than 60% of all PCBs undergo HAL. Yet most studies conducted so far used PCBs with finishes of ENIG, immersion silver, immersion tin and organic...

DFM collaboration solution.(off the SHELF)
November 1, 2006... vShare is new product lifecycle management toolset that facilitates DFM collaboration between PCB design and engineering teams across global supply chains. It uses standard Internet browsers to allow users to import DFM results from DFM tools,...

Microwave Laminate.(off the SHELF)
November 1, 2006... CLTE-XT Microwave Laminate is a micro dispersed ceramic PTFE composite using a woven fiberglass reinforcement to provide dimensional stability. CLTE-XT is said to be superior when handling thin substrates or, when combined with thin film...

Design Software.(off the SHELF)
November 1, 2006... CADSTAR 9.0 is said to feature usability enhancements and functionality for adopting new technology. 'Trunk' routing functionality within P.R.Editor XR has reportedly been enhanced to allow more flexibility. Designers can swap equivalent pins...

Vertical Plater.(OTHERS OF NOTE)
November 1, 2006... The Baker R2R Selective Vertical Plater is equipped with edge trim for the next generation of HDI printed circuit board production. It has a selective plating and subsequent soft/differential etching process, removing only the thin seeded layer...

Topology router.(OTHERS OF NOTE)
November 1, 2006... Mentor's new routing technology package is said to improve the autorouting function by following the engineers' guidelines for bus topology routing and automatically mimicking typical CAD designer manual edits to form clean bus structures. It...

Back-drill monitor.(OTHERS OF NOTE)
November 1, 2006... The Zprobe is for monitoring and controlling back-drilling depths on PCBs. The patented ZProbe process and system measures drill penetration depths in seconds, and provides confirming reports to the fabricator or their customer. The process is...

Design software.(OTHERS OF NOTE)
November 1, 2006... DipTrace 1.23 is said to feature a PCB layout module, powerful autorouter, schematic capture and component/pattern editors. Has a shape-based copper pour system with different possible fill types and thermals to make plane layers or to reduce...

Communication bus Data Extractor.(OTHERS OF NOTE)
November 1, 2006... The streaming Data Extractor software, used with CWAV's USBee AX-Pro, provides a detailed view into embedded communication busses. Is reportedly able to support all of the various busses, pull out transaction data on the fly, run indefinitely,...

Xtreme accelerator/emulators.(OTHERS OF NOTE)
November 1, 2006... Cadence Incisive Design Team Xtreme III systems are the next generation of the Incisive Xtreme series of accelerator/emulators. Systems are said to simplify the movement to/from simulation and acceleration engines, integrate verification...

Real world training: hands on at the Switzerland of the networking industry.(NO MYTHS ALLOWED)(Company overview)
November 1, 2006... "WE ARE THE Switzerland of the networking industry," says Andy Baldman, member of the Senior Technical Staff at the Inter-Operability Lab at the University of New Hampshire (www.iol.unh.edu). Established in 1988, the lab operates as a...