Printed Circuit Design & Manufacture articles from October 2005

Printed Circuit Design & Manufacture archives from October 2005

Come together, right now.(OUR LINE)
October 1, 2005... DALLAS in late August registered at a mind-numbing 103 degrees. But the meeting of the North Texas Chapter of the Designers Council was as cool as the other side of the pillow. The Dallas area Designers Council chapter invited me to sit on...

Trends in the U.S. electronics equipment market (shipments only).(STORAGE ALL FULL)
October 1, 2005... STORAGE ALL FULL Trends in the U.S. electronics equipment market (shipments only). % CHANGE MAY JUNE (r) JULY * YTD Computers/ 1.9 -0.2 ...

Manufacturing still hot in August.(MARKET WATCH)
October 1, 2005... TEMPE, AZ -- The manufacturing sector grew for the 27th straight month in August, although high energy prices raise concerns for future growth. New orders and production slipped from July but remained strong, according to the latest Institute...

ICs: correction ahead?(MARKET WATCH)
October 1, 2005... LOS ALTOS -- Have semiconductor inventories gotten out of whack? The disparity, between strong sales of end-use items and the drop in IC shipments suggests a "major inventory adjustment," said research firm Henderson Ventures...

Gartner: servers up 4.7% in June quarter.(MARKET WATCH)
October 1, 2005... SAN JOSE -- June quarter sales of servers grew to $12.1 billion worldwide, up 4.7% year-over-year, said researchers Gartner Inc. Revenue fell 1.6% sequentially. For the quarter, IBM was the market leader, at a 30.4% share, followed by HP...

Hardware forecast slows in Aug.(MARKET WATCH)
October 1, 2005... SAN FRANCISCO -- Expected spending on computer hardware softened in August, according to a poll of U.S. CIOs by Deutsche Bank (www.db.com). More than 42% said they would increase hardware spending, down from 48.3% in July. Just 30.2% of CIOs at...

Book-to-bills of various components/equipment.(INDUSTRY MARKET SNAPSHOT)
October 1, 2005... INDUSTRY MARKET SNAPSHOT Book-to-bills of various components/equipment. APRIL MAY JUNE JULY Semiconductor equipment (1) 0.81 0.84 0.90 0.93 Semiconductors (2) ...

M-Flex expanding in China.(OVER THERE)
October 1, 2005... SINGAPORE -- Multi-Fineline Electronix Inc. (M-Flex) has plans to expand its existing facilities in Suzhou, China by approximately 38%. The growth is expected to cost about S$47.5 million (US$28.3 million). M-Flex chairman and CEO Phil...

Prestwick circuits halts operations.(AROUND THE WORLD)
October 1, 2005... SURREY, ENGLAND -- TT electronics has reported a reduction in the manufacturing operations at Prestwick Circuits Ltd., its Scottish-based printed circuit board plant. TT electronics has decided that manufacturing of PCBs in the UK is no...

Cimmetry adds more 3D to AutoVue 19.(VISUALIZE THIS)
October 1, 2005... CAMBRIDGE, MA -- Cimmetry Systems believes AutoVue 19 may be the most full-featured but easiest to use version yet of its collaborative mechanical CAD tool. The newest update of AutoVue has added 3D functions and support for Gerber and ODB++,...

TTM named one of 100 fastest growing firms.(AROUND THE WORLD)
October 1, 2005... SANTA ANA, CA -- Fortune magazine has named TTM Technologies Inc. one of the 100 fastest growing companies in the United States. In Fortune's September 2005 issue, TTM was ranked 83 in the magazine's annual ranking of fastest-growing companies....

Freedom CAD merges with Ruppert Design.(Design M&A)
October 1, 2005... NASHUA, NH -- Freedom CAD Services Inc. has reported that it will merge with Ruppert Design, a Sacramento, CA-based design service company. Financial details are not being released. According to an article, the new company will retain the...

Menlo Park, CA-based Technical USA will assume responsibility for sales.(IT'S A DEAL)
October 1, 2005... Menlo Park, CA-based Technica USA will assume responsibility for sales, service and distribution of MacDermid's entire line of printed circuit fabrication products in the Northwest region of North America.

Multi Circuits of Oshkosh.(IT'S A DEAL)
October 1, 2005... Multi Circuits of Oshkosh, WI has acquired a Bacher Imaging Systems Model PEPS 700 MA post-etch punch.

Engineering procedure management provider Direct Logix Inc. and management software developer Cimnet Systems have formed a partnership to offer a digital manufacturing engineering solution for PCB manufacturers.(IT'S A DEAL)
October 1, 2005... Engineering procedure management provider Direct Logix Inc. and management software developer Cimnet Systems have formed a partnership to offer a digital manufacturing engineering solution for PCB manufacturers. Features of Direct Logix's...

Thick film resistors and substrates manufacturer International Manufacturing Services has appointed RF Spectrum.(IT'S A DEAL)
October 1, 2005... Thick film resistors and substrates manufacturer International Manufacturing Services has appointed RF Spectrum as the company's representative in Canada.

Agilent Technologies' JV in China, Agilent-Qianfeng Electronics Technologies.(IT'S A DEAL)
October 1, 2005... Agilent Technologies' JV in China, Agilent-Qianfeng Electronics Technologies, has selected Altium Designer's Protel design system for its R&D facility in China's Sichuan Province.

Chemistry producer OS-TECH has appointed two new distributors in California.(IT'S A DEAL)
October 1, 2005... Chemistry producer OS-TECH has appointed two new distributors in California. Univar Inc. of San Jose will distribute the OS-TECH products in Northern California; Mustang Industries Inc. of Laguna Hills will cover Southern California.

Technic Inc.(FACES)
October 1, 2005... Steve Schaefer has joined Technic Inc. as vice president, global business operations. Schaefer has over 21 years of experience in the electronic materials and metal finishing industries. He has served as senior VP of marketing at Park...

Starbridge Systems.(FACES)
October 1, 2005... Kurt Dobson is the new CEO of Starbridge Systems, a developer of reconfigurable software for FPGAs. He was CEO and founder of SiliconOptics, and founded Intelligent Modem Corp. and D.A.T.A. Corp. Dobson has authored 40 patents.

Kiran Patel, CFO of Solectron Corp., has resigned to become the CFO of Intuit Inc. Warren Ligan.(FACES)
October 1, 2005... Kiran Patel, CFO of Solectron Corp., has resigned to become the CFO of Intuit Inc. Warren Ligan, currently the senior vice president and corporate controller at Solectron, will assume Patel's role on an interim basis while a candidate search is...

Merix Corp.(FACES)
October 1, 2005... Daniel T. Olson has been promoted to CEO of Merix Corp.'s Asian operations. Olson is the former senior VP of sales and marketing, and he's been with Merix since October 1999. He held senior sales management roles at MacDermid Inc. and Olin...

Westwind Air Bearings.(FACES)
October 1, 2005... Tony Bannan is the new technical director for Westwind Air Bearings. He'll be based at Westwind's headquarters in Poole, UK.

Matrix USA.(FACES)
October 1, 2005... Raw materials supplier Matrix USA has hired Robert Norman to represent its interests in Northern California. Norman has worked for R.E. Services, Nova Service Inc. and The Advance Group.

Events.(HAPPENINGS)(Calendar)
October 1, 2005... OCTOBER 4-6 Implementing Lean Manufacturing and Beyond Boston, MA Contact: www.lean.org/Events 10-14 PCB DESIGN CONFERENCE EAST Expo Center of New Hampshire Manchester, NH Contact: www.pcbeast.com 11 Circuit...

Strategize your dreams: strategic planning means setting objectives for your company's future, no matter what the business conditions may be down the road.(ROI)
October 1, 2005... IT'S NEVER TOO early to begin the process of business planning. Two very different but equally important aspects of business planning are the strategic plan and the annual budget. Let's focus on the strategic plan. The strategic plan is a...

The Relationship of components, alloys and fluxes, part 1: call it a love triangle--or a Bermuda Triangle. Either way, the best alloy may be determined by the end-application.(COUNTDOWN TO LEAD-FREE)
October 1, 2005... Ed.: This column can be found in its entirety at www.pcdandm.com. LEAD HAS BEEN an indispensable element in solders due to its high ductility, reasonable mechanical strength, low eutectic melting temperature with tin, low surface tension...

Embedded passive test vehicle update: the development of EP standards continues, and you're invited to pitch in.(GETTING EMBEDDED)
October 1, 2005... SINCE RETIRING FROM Coretec, my life has been busier than ever. I now enjoy the comforts of a slide-out 32-foot Sunnybrook 5th wheel, with a user-friendly workstation in the back and a workstation in the cab of my Duramax pick-up. While my wife...

Outsourcing 101: carving out strategic partnerships can pay handsome dividends.(BUSINESS: STRATEGIES)
October 1, 2005... Increasingly, it is becoming paramount that OEMs focus on their core competencies, such as systems R&D, design, architecture, system software and branding. Outsourcing such key aspects of their product as board design, fabrication, assembly and...

No hassle lead-free HASL: it's not a drop-in replacement for HASL. But moving to lead-free HASL can be less painful than you think.(COVER STORY)
October 1, 2005... As the July 2006 Restrictions on Hazardous Substances (RoHS) deadline looms, PCB fabricators and even designers continue to search for information on lead-free processes. Many PCB shops are preparing to convert to alternative surface finishes...

Behind the scenes with IPC: how does the veteran industry organization operate? And what exactly is a not-for-profit?(STANDARDS)
October 1, 2005... Things were a lot different when IPC was founded. Young men yearned for the new 1957 Chevy Bel-Air. The Space Age had just begun. And relatively few people in the world were involved in the design and manufacture of PCBs. In the nearly...

LDP for low cost flex: a fast reel-to-reel process allows direct patterning of thin metal films on a variety of flex substrates.(FLEXIBLE CIRCUITS)
October 1, 2005... Low-cost PCBs and flex circuits are readily produced in volume by screen printing, but this process is currently limited to a practical resolution of about .00295" (75 microns). But in numerous applications, there is a growing need to push the...

Ground integrity meter.(off the SHELF)
October 1, 2005... Ground Pro is a patented ground integrity meter for the measurement of tool and facility ground parameters. Said to give equipment and facility engineers/technicians the ability to accurately and easily measure ground parameters, including...

Electrical tester.(off the SHELF)
October 1, 2005... The high-speed step/repeat electrical tester MR402 is designed to improve process control and ensure electrical integrity of the final product. It is available for both flexible circuits and thin rigid boards. Can reportedly test circuits with...

Equipment fans.(off the SHELF)
October 1, 2005... The Smart Fan products family offers internal methods to control fan speeds according to ambient temperatures. Reportedly, fan operation is thermally controlled to meet cooling needs vs. continuous operation enabling longer operating life,...

Instruments brochure.(OTHERS OF NOTE)
October 1, 2005... A new brochure introduces RAM's automatic measurement, manual measurement, visual inspection and laser profiling product lines. The motorized Sprint CNC systems provide automatic measurement via user-created measurement routines in Basic-X...

PCB terminal blocks.(OTHERS OF NOTE)
October 1, 2005... The MRT 33 PCB terminal block is a double-level PCB terminal block header that reportedly allows for easy and diverse wiring options. It is said to be ideal for use on PCBs with limited space as it allows the customer to build up rather than...

Bromine-free prepegs, laminates.(OTHERS OF NOTE)
October 1, 2005... The TacPreg/TacLam family of products offers low loss bromine-free prepregs and laminates. TLG-2.9 & 3.0 was designed with lower dissipation factor (df = 0.0030 to 0.0038 at 10 GHz-thickness dependant) for the military, RF and high-speed...

FPGA for space.(OTHERS OF NOTE)
October 1, 2005... The RTAX4000S is said to be the industry's highest density radiation-tolerant FPGA for space designs. It offers 4 million system gates (500,000 ASIC gates) with an I/O count of 840 and 540 Kbits of embedded memory. Users will allegedly be able...

Diagnostics module.(OTHERS OF NOTE)
October 1, 2005... Circuit Adviser systematically checks errors in a schematic to identify design problems early in the development cycle. Reportedly finds hidden electrical problems in the schematic design held within CR-5000 System Designer using predefined...

Embedded module.(OTHERS OF NOTE)
October 1, 2005... The PMC-AX modules are used to implement customized analog I/O embedded computing solutions. Application-specific logic routines and algorithms can be downloaded into the on-board reconfigurable FPGA, a Xilinx Virtex41 with up to 24,000 logic...

Enter the matrix: get used to differential S parameters. They're the new standard for interconnect characterization.(NO MYTHS ALLOWED)
October 1, 2005... A DIFFERENTIAL PAIR, universally used to transport all high-speed serial links and many other high-frequency busses, is really composed of two independent transmission lines. We can describe these two lines as either two single-ended...