Printed Circuit Design & Manufacture articles from September 2003

Printed Circuit Design & Manufacture archives from September 2003

IP safeguards.(Letters)(Letter to the Editor)
September 1, 2003... JIM MARTENS ["Golden Circuits: Getting the Most from Good Designs," July 2003] describes well the terminology of present-day utilization of known-good circuits in the DA world. Circuit designers have, of course, used "known goods" for some...

It takes a low price.(Letters)(Letter to the Editor)
September 1, 2003... PETER BIGELOW, IN his sheltered business environment, is able to say that he really doesn't care about globalization ["Globalization? I Thought it Takes a Village!" July 2003]. Certain niche markets are effectively sheltered from overseas...

Watch the bromine.(Letters)(Letter to the Editor)
September 1, 2003... ABOUT FIVE YEARS ago I went around a major exhibition and asked every manufacturer of laser drills (and a couple of users as well) what they did with the fumes from the process. I was looked at as if I was from Mars. At best, I was told that...

Positive thinking.(Letters)(Letter to the Editor)
September 1, 2003... JUST READ YOUR editorial ["Labor of Love," July 2003]. Congratulations on the birth of your son; enjoy him as much as you can, be a part of his babyhood (change those diaper!). I really liked your last paragraph: it was a positive statement on...

Big things in storage.(Market Watch)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... BIG THINGS IN STORAGE Trends in the U.S. electronics equipment market (shipments only). % CHANGE APRIL MAY JUNE * YTD ...

July manufacturing data show cause for optimism.(Market Watch)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... TEMPE, AZ -- U.S. manufacturing grew in July, reversing a five-month trend and setting tire stage for a second-half rally, according to a monthly survey taken by the Institute for Supply Management (ism.ws). Manufacturing shook off...

CEM market grew 1% last year.(Market Watch)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... SAN JOSE -- CEMs were hit hard again in 2002, furthering an industry downturn that began a year earlier. But the bottom has been hit, says a new report from Electronic Trend Publications (electronictrendpubs.com). Electronics assembly sales...

Replacement phones dial up gains.(Market Watch)(high demand for replacement phones forecast)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... OYSTER BAY, NY -- Demand for feature-rich handsets will bring about a tremendous shift and drive replacement volume up 180%, to 591 million units in 2008. The new devices incorporate color screens, advanced data, and messaging applications,...

Industry market snapshot.(Market Watch)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... INDUSTRY MARKET SNAPSHOT Book-to-bills of various components/equipment. MARCH APRIL MAY JUNE Semiconductor equipment (1) 0.91 0.90 0.90 0.93 Semiconductor (2) 2.7% ...

PCB East program announced: conference tuition lowered 30%.(Around The World/Design)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... ATLANTA, GA -- UP Media Group has announced the final schedule of events for the eighth annual PCB Design Conference East, for PCB engineering, design and manufacture professionals. PCB East will be held Oct. 20-24, in Boxborough, MA, near...

Cadence makes cuts.(Around The World/Design; Cadence Design Systems Inc. eliminates 500 jobs following second-quarter losses)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... SAN JOSE -- Cadence Design Systems (cadence.com) will eliminate 500 jobs, or about 10% of its work force, following second-quarter losses of $7.8 million. Revenue dropped to $276 million from $345 million a year earlier. The company will...

Top Celestica VP to keynote PCB East: Dan Shea to talk on design services model.(Around The World/Design)
September 1, 2003... ATLANTA, GA -- Design services are changing as OEMs move toward a completely virtual manufacturing model, a shift called transformational outsourcing. How that model will impact the PCB design market is the keynote topic of this year's PCB...

EE unemployment rate fell in Q2.(Around The World/Design; electrical and electronics engineers)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... WASHINGTON, DC -- The unemployment rate for U.S. electrical and electronics engineers dropped in the second quarter, but remains well above the rate for other high-tech professionals, according to data compiled by the Department of Labor,...

DownStream floats CAM training classes: online training also offered.(Around The World/Design; DownStream Technologies L.L.C.)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... BOLTON, MA -- DownStream Technologies (downstreamtech.com) has launched a customer training and educational services program focusing on the company's line of CAM tools. Rick Almeida, president of DownStream, said the program will cut the...

Congress mulls 'Buy America' changes: lobbying effort intensifies.(Around The World/Manufacturing)
September 1, 2003... WASHINGTON, DC -- A battle is ensuing over a Congressional mandate on the amount of military hardware that must be purchased from domestic suppliers. Currently, 50.1% of the dollar value of the content of goods purchased by the U.S. Department...

Coming up Roseville: Multek plant bought.(Unicircuit Inc. to acquire Multek plant in Roseville, MN)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... LITTLETON, CO -- Unicircuit Inc. (unicircuit.com) has signed a letter of intent to acquire the Multek plant ha Roseville, MN, PCD&M has learned. In a written statement, Unicircuit lauded the "state-of-the-art facility and extremely...

DuPont to expand IC materials area: Odom to head DuPont EKC unit.(Around The World/Manufacturing)(Jerry Coder appointed president of DuPont Electronic Technologies. John Odom appointed president of DuPont EKC Technology. Darren Haar has been promoted to business manager for PCM Americas. Odom spent 20 years at PCM.)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK, NC -- Trying to capitalize on its leadership position in circuit materials, DuPont Electronic Technologies (dupont.com/et) has formed a new business unit for IC materials and tapped Jerry Coder as president. Coder...

Sanmina PCB sales in red.(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... Sanmina PCB sales in red. Sanmina-SCI said its printed circuit board business unit lost $2 million to $3 million during its fiscal third quarter. On a July conference call with analysts, the company said the unit will edge nearer to break-even...

Name change.(Contamination Studies Laboratories Inc. changes name to Foresite Inc.)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... Name change. Contamination Studies Laboratories Inc. has changed its name to Foresite Inc. The company performs root cause analysis and recommends corrective actions.

ISO news.(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... ISO news. Companies achieving ISO 9001:2000 compliance include Holaday Circuits (holaday.com), Endicott Interconnect Technologies (endicottinterconnect.com), Lackwerke Peters (peters.de) and Electra Polymers & Chemicals (electrapolymers.com)....

Healthy citation.(Enthone Inc. receives certification from Occupational Health and Safety Assessment Series 18001)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... Healthy citation. Enthone's (enthone.com) Barcelona operations received certification to the Occupational Health and Safety Assessment Series 18001.

Hey good looking.(Mentor Graphics Corp. web site wins award)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... Hey good looking. Mentor Graphics (mentor.com) received a "Ten Best Web Support Sites" award from the Association of Support Professionals, the first EDA company to win the award.

School pays.(Taconic to supply substrate materials to universities)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... School pays. Taconic (taconic-add.com) will supply substrate materials to faculty and students conducting non funded research of microwave and RF design. Among the programs Taconic is supplying include Duke University, Penn State and MIT.

Big buy.(Tecnomatix Technologies to acquire USDATA Corp.)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... Big buy. Tecnomatix Technologies (tecnomatix.com) will buy USDATA Corp. (usdata.com) and integrate its line of manufacturing execution software. The stock transaction is valued at $10.3 million.

Call for paper.
September 1, 2003... Call for paper. The EIPC seeks papers for its Winter Conference in Cannes, France. Abstracts for the Feb. 12-13 event are due Sept. 15, to sderhaag@eipc.org.

Heavenly award.(Valor Computerized Systems Inc. wins Celestica Inc.'s Partners in Performance award)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... Heavenly award. Valor Computerized Systems (valor.com) received Celestica's first-year Partners in Performance award for 2002 for its Trilogy 5000 DfM technology. "Being chosen... justifies our ongoing efforts to deliver industry-leading...

'Turning Point' for Excellon: bought by investment firm.(Around The World/Manufacturing; Turning Point Capital acquires Excellon Automation )(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... TORRANCE, CA -- Turning Point Capital, a Portland, OR-based investment firm, has acquired Excellon Automation (excellon.com). Terms were not disclosed. Excellon President Rick Tippett said, "Our new owners understand the industry we serve...

Gould now Nikko Materials unit.(Around The World/Manufacturing; Gould Electronics Inc.)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... EASTLAKE, OH -- A restructuring by Japan based Nippon Mining Holdings Inc., the parent company of Gould Electronics Inc., will result in the transfer of Gould's assets and liabilities to another Nippon subsidiary. All of Gould's assets and...

Mild improvements: earnings reports.(Around The World/Manufacturing)(Brief Article)(Illustration)
September 1, 2003... MILD IMPROVEMENTS Earnings Reports REVENUES (1) COMPANY Q2 2003 Q2 2002 Aspocomp (2) 42.1 42.2 Eltek (3) 5.9 5.5 Flextronics 3.1...

Cimmetry ships updated viewer: tool includes EDA features.(Around The World/Manufacturing; Cimmetry Systems)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... Cimmetry Systems (cimmetry.com) has started shipping the latest revision of its signature brand of viewing and markup tool. The new version of AutoVue 17.1 features several new formats and, for the first time, EDA features and functionality....

Cookson to sell Speedline.(Around The World/Manufacturing; Cookson Electronics to sell Speedline Technologies)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... LONDON -- Cookson Electronics is putting its money losing Speedline Technologies business unit (in the block, a move that will "free up resources to expand" the company's materials and process capabilities. Cookson's materials businesses...

Events.(Happenings)(Brief Article)(Calendar)
September 1, 2003... 4-7 Suzhou Electronics Equiments & Components Exposition Suzhou. Chine. Contact: China Society of Electronics. 0512-68601744; twf1_21@163.net. 8-11 Conference on the Commercialization of Micro and Nano Systems Amsterdam. Contact:...

c-Ark (c-ark.com) has licensed Cimmetry's (cimmetry.com) AutoVue visualization and collaboration tools.(It's A Deal)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... c-Ark (c-ark.com) has licensed Cimmetry's (cimmetry.com) AutoVue visualization and collaboration tools for its PLM solutions.

Phoenix X-ray Systems (Phoenix-xray.com) installed a PCBA Analyzer at American Competitiveness Institute.(It's A Deal)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... Phoenix X-ray Systems (Phoenix-xray.com) installed a PCBA Analyzer at American Competitiveness Institute (aciusa.org). The company is also supplying applications services.

Zero Defects (zdefects.com) and ZD Test appointed Wepco/Vintek Technical Sales (wepcovintek.com) as its exclusive sales representative.(It's A Deal)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... Zero Defects (zdefects.com) and ZD Test appointed Wepco/Vintek Technical. Sales (wepcovintek.com) as its exclusive sales representative in Arizona, New Mexico and Clark County, Nevada.

Engineering Bausch und Ziege GmbH (ebz-gmbh.de) signed a $500,000 contract to use Tecnomatix.(It's a Deal)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... Engineering Bausch und Ziege GmbH (ebz-gmbh.de) signed a $500,000 contract to use Tecnomatix's (tecnomatix. com) eMPower manufacturing process management software.

Schneider Electric inked a $700,000 deal with Tecnomatix Technologies.(It's a Deal)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... Schneider Electric inked a $700,000 deal with Tecnomatix Technologies (tecnomatix.com) to install eMPower manufacturing process management software.

Mentor Graphics (mentor.com) has acquired Alcatel.(It's a Deal; acquires Compagnie Financiere Alcatel's line of Ethernet and media access control IP)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... Mentor Graphics (mentor.com) has acquired Alcatel's (alcatel.com) complete line of Ethernet and media access control IP.

Electra Polymers & Chemicals (electrapolymers.com) has relocated its U.S. base to Chicago and named Toryon Technologies.(It's A Deal)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... Electra Polymers & Chemicals (electrapolymers.com) has relocated its U.S. base to Chicago and named Toryon Technologies as West Coast distributor.

Barco Machine Visions.(promotes Ralph Habets )(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... Barco Machine Vision promoted Ralph Habets to managing director. Habets has a master's in mathematics, and worked for Pulsarr Industrial Research before becoming managing director of Barco Machine's Eindhoven office.

Agilent Techonologies Inc.(Robert L. Joss named to board of directors)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... Agilent Technologies Inc. (agilent.com) has appointed Robert L. Joss to its board of directors. Joss is the dean of the Graduate School of Business at Stanford University, a position he has held since 1999.

Sefar America.(promotes Daniel Glladorf)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... Sefar America promoted Daniel Glladorf, Technical Center manager, to the R&D team for corporate screen-printing. Safer also promoted Rick Adams to national sales manager, Screen Printing. Adams was Western Region sales manager.

Taiyo America.(names Jody Williams business development manager)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... Taiyo America (taiyo-america.com) named Jody Williams new business development manager. Williams was process engineering manager at Multek (multek.com).

Electra Polymers & Chemicals.(promotion)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... Electra Polymers & Chemicals (electrapolymers.com) promoted non Uncle to sales manager, North America. He had been Chicago manager since 1995.

P.D. Circuits Inc.(names Andy Slade quality manager)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... P. D. Circuits Inc. (pdcircuits.com) named Andy Slade quality manager. Slade has held positions in engineering and quality at Martin-Marietta and Universal Circuits, and spent 10 years at Hadco and Sanmina as product development engineer.

In Memorium.(PCB shop owner Walter Johnston)(Brief Article)(Obituary)
September 1, 2003... Walter Johnston, a Iongtime PCB shop owner, died of cancer July 27, in Largo, FL. He was 74. Starting in 1958, Johnston was owner of a number of PCB shops including National Circuits and CuTronics. CuTronics was at its peak the largest...

The brighter side of the industry: now that the recession is "over," we should rejoice that nearly 600 shops survived.(Power Selling)
September 1, 2003... IT'S OFFICIAL; THE recession is over. (It must be true: they said so on the news.) Having considered and contemplated the data, economists say we are on our way to prosperity. They trace the recession's end to November 2001, which means it's...

It's time to break a few things: paralysis by analysis can choke a company. Let your staff shake things up.(ROI)
September 1, 2003... IF IT AIN'T broke, don't fix it!" How many times have we heard that? Problem is, it sure appears that in the world of electronics manufacturing a lot of things are "broke." Volumes are off, competition is keen and technology continues to...

Low-impedance power delivery over broad frequencies: decoupling capacitors reduce impedances at low frequencies while removing resonances up to a few hundred MHz.(The Power Of Planes)
September 1, 2003... Ed.: View this article in its entirety at pcdandm.com. As IC devices operate faster and power supply voltages drop, it is becoming increasingly more difficult to meet the noise margin permitted in power distribution systems (1). To...

Support goes global: from sophisticated Web-based systems to that old standby, the phone, EDA companies have entered a new era of customer support.(Customer Service Trends)
September 1, 2003... Mentor Graphics' recent launching of a support database that provides customers instant online access to the most up-to-date solutions to common design problems is only the latest in a continuing battle to stay ahead of customers' needs for...

Via modeling for high-speed simulations, Part 1: a method for creating via models and integrating into a network topology for high-speed PCB simulations.(Interconnect Strategies)
September 1, 2003... A CRUCIAL PART of high-speed PCB simulation often involves generating and testing models to represent driver/receiver buffers, termination components and the interconnect elements including connectors, vias and traces. A transmission line...

Rules of thumb I have known and loved: while no substitute for good design practices, in certain situations they can be useful.(No Myths Allowed)
September 1, 2003... A RULE OF thumb is a simple relationship that allows us to effortlessly "put in the numbers" at the starting point of an estimate. What we gain in simplicity, we lose in accuracy. Rules of thumb can help feed our intuition, but they can't...

Clean machines: do employees treat the photo lab as a meeting room? If so, they may be inadvertently spreading contaminants--and reducing yields.(Better Phototooling)
September 1, 2003... IN SOME LINES of work, maintaining a clean workplace isn't high on the priority list. (Exactly how clean is a sanitary landfill, anyway?) But when your job requires the highest quality diazo and other phototools, you should do everything...

Thermal analysis of base materials through assembly: can current analytical techniques predict and characterize differences in laminate performance prior to exposure to thermal excursions during assembly?(Laminate Performance)
September 1, 2003... Ed.: View this article in its entirety at pcdandm.com. For PCBs, multiple soldering steps during assembly are essentially standard. A variety of tests evaluate the performance of finished PCBs, and indirectly, the materials and material...

NTI 100: a period of adjustments: "prosperity does not last forever. It comes and goes," an ancient Japanese fable reminds us. So, too, do the world's top PCB makers.(printed circuit board makers continue mergers and closures in 2002)
September 1, 2003... Every year it gets more difficult to compile a list of the top PCB makers. If all the closures aren't enough to drive you crazy, the mergers and acquisitions will. To wit, in the last year TFM Technologies bought Honeywell ACI's sole...

Large-size screen printer.(off the Shelf)
September 1, 2003... DMZ Screenmaker is ergonomic, self-contained and said to accommodate large size screens. The vacuum and exposure are automatically activated. Comes with high wattage metal halide lamp and MAGIC 83 10-memory light integrator for precision...

'All-in-one' drill.(Others Of Note)
September 1, 2003... Concept 129 mechanical drill has high-peed (150,000 rpm) spindles for microvias (0.002" diameter) and special sensors for depth-controlled drilling (accuracy +/- 0.5") Uses CCD vision for placement accuracy. Monitors for broken bits prior to...

Fine-line AOT.(Others Of Note)
September 1, 2003... The 6000HDI automated optical test system is for circuit geometries of 25 [micro]m lines and spaces and BGA and CSP substrates. Combines red LED illumination and CCD cameras with netlist logic. WHO: Lloyd Doyle WEB: lloyd-doyle.com

Mobile machine control.(off the Shelf)
September 1, 2003... Schmid Watch visually displays controls and monitors machines from remote sites. Permits setting checks and reports results of parameter modifications. Stores and sorts alarms, trends, operator intervention, user notes and other job data, and...

Differential signal simulation.(Others Of Note)
September 1, 2003... PCB Expert series 15.0 includes an enhanced constraint manager that defines comprehensive sets of rules for differential signals; treats differential pairs as a single entity while interactively routing them; edits existing differential signals...

Netlist compare CAM.(Others Of Note)
September 1, 2003... GC-PowerStation v.3.2 CAM software contains graphical netlist compare and rules-based pad registration algorithm. The release also has 48 other enhancements. WHO: GraphiCode WEB: graphicode.com

Mentor data exporter.(off the Shelf)
September 1, 2003... AnsoftLinks v. 2.5 exports data from Board Station into HFSS, Slwave, Spicelink and Designer, permitting electrical characterization and analyses using established design flows. Permits use of simulation tools from the IC through the package...

Drop-in FC packages.(Others Of Note)
September 1, 2003... FCOSL (flip-chip on standard leaded) packages use "pillar bumping" for electrical and thermal performance in a smaller footprint than wire-bond technology. Come in SOIC, TSSOP, SIP and xQFP configurations and lead-free versions. Meet...

High-res photoplots.(Others Of Note)
September 1, 2003... RP525 raster photoplotter features a 4 [micro]m spot size and is reportedly capable of imaging up to 1 [micro]m resolution. Includes multi-beam exposing head and precise light beam equalization. Autoloads, and reportedly has a plot speed of 6...

Profitable reading.(Our Line)
September 1, 2003... Catching up on some reading while we wait for the government to rescue the economy... Larry Bossidy is known as the man behind one of the largest business mergers in history, that of Honeywell and AlliedSignal. But what Bossidy, who was...