Printed Circuit Design & Manufacture articles from September 2004

Printed Circuit Design & Manufacture archives from September 2004

Morning at PCD&M.(Our Line)
September 1, 2004... THERE are good surprises and bad surprises. I see getting promoted to editor of PCD&M as a very good surprise. It reminds me of the way Christopher Moltisanti found out he was getting his button on "The Sopranos." Shoot your cuffs and look...

ICs turn down.(Market Watch)
September 1, 2004... ICs TURN DOWN Trends in the U.S. electronics equipment market (shipments only). % CHANGE APRIL MAY JUNE * Computers/electronics...

ISM says July, Q3 looking good.(Market Watch)
September 1, 2004... TEMPE, AZ -- Demand for manufactured products rose in July, reversing a two-month decline. Overall, manufacturing grew for the 14th consecutive month, said the Institute for Supply Management (ism.ws), based on its monthly poll of the supply...

ICs up big in Asia Pacific.(Market Watch)
September 1, 2004... STAMFORD, CT -- Revenues from semiconductors sold in Asia Pacific will grow 27.4% this year, according to research firm Gartner (gartner.com). Regional sales are expected to reach $138.8 billion by 2008, a CAGR of 14.3%. "Riding on the...

Revised forecast hurts semi tool sales.(Market Watch)
September 1, 2004... The SIA's latest forecast for semiconductors--29% growth this year and 4% in 2005, revised from 19% and 6%, respectively--should hurt equipment sales for 2004, according to a report recently published by The Information Network...

Industry market snapshot.(Market Watch)
September 1, 2004... INDUSTRY MARKET SNAPSHOT Book-to-bills of various components/equipment. MARCH APRIL MAY JUNE Semiconductor equipment (1) 1.09 1.13 1.10 1.08 Semiconductors (2)...

Report: PCB, EDA rose during Q1.(Quarterly Improvement)
September 1, 2004... SAN JOSE -- The EDA Consortium's Market Statistics Service (MSS) reported EDA industry revenue for the first quarter of 2004 was $995 million, a 6% increase over Q1 2003. Revenue from PCB and MCM Layout totaled $85 million in Q1 2004, 5% more...

Mentor tool links PCB, FPGA.(Constraint-Driven)
September 1, 2004... WILSONVILLE, OR -- Mentor Graphics Corp. announced the release of I/O Designer, a tool that facilitates concurrent chip-to-board design of FPGAs and PCBs. It's primarily targeted at system-level designers contending with high-pin-count FPGAs....

BLS data: Q2 EE jobless rate down.(Design)
September 1, 2004... WASHINGTON, D.C. -- The number of employed electrical and electronics engineers rose by 24,000 from the first to second quarters of 2004, according to data compiled by the Department of Labor's Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). The increase,...

Fjelstad keynote: impact of lead-free on design.(Design)
September 1, 2004... Joseph Fjelstad, a co-founder of Silicon Valley startup SiliconPipe, will deliver the keynote address at PCB Design Conference East 2004 on Tuesday, October 5, from 9 a.m.-10 a.m. at the Radisson Hotel Manchester in Manchester, NH. ...

June PCB book-to-bill shows mixed results.(Ups and Downs)
September 1, 2004... NORTHBROOK, IL -- Orders for rigid boards lagged in June, while demand for flex circuits remained strong, according to the latest three-mouth moving average of North American manufacturers. For all board types, shipments rose 31.3% and bookings...

Fujitsu develops room temperature embedding process.(Manufacturing)
September 1, 2004... TOKYO -- Fujitsu Limited, Fujitsu Laboratories Ltd. and the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology of Japan have developed what they claim is the world's first technologies for enabling formation and multilayering at...

Supply problems risk security, USPCA founder tells House.(Keeping It Here)
September 1, 2004... WASHINGTON, D.C. -- The U.S. is in danger of losing the last of its domestic rigid laminate supply, an industry advocate told the House of Representatives Small Business Committee in July. Doug Bartlett, president of Bartlett Manufacturing...

Events.(Happenings)(Calendar)
September 1, 2004... EVENTS SEPTEMBER 13-14 PCB DESIGN CONFERENCE ROAD SHOW Plano,TX. Contact: UP Media Group, pcbshows.com 16 LEAD-FREE READINESS SEMINAR Boston. Contact: UP Media Group, ...

PTC.(Faces)
September 1, 2004... PTC has named William Berutti as senior vice president, corporate development. Berutti most recently served as PTC's senior vice president, strategy and product marketing.

Enthone Inc.(Faces)
September 1, 2004... Enthone Inc. has appointed Aaron Storms (pictured) managing director for Enthone Latin America, and Joe Renda OEM marketing manager, Enthone PCB chemistry. Storms will be based at Enthone's Mexico City facility, where he will focus on...

Taconic.(Faces)
September 1, 2004... Taconic has named Dr. Albert Angstenberger technical sales manager, Central Europe. Angstenberger, who holds a Ph.D. in polymer chemistry, will serve customers from his home office in Schwabisch Gmund, Germany.

Titan General Holdings Inc.(Faces)
September 1, 2004... Titan General Holdings Inc. has appointed Richard E. Berger vice president of sales for the East Coast. Berger has 33 years of experience in the management of technical sales and marketing in the PCB industry, serving as VP of sales at...

Indium Corp.(Faces)
September 1, 2004... Indium Corp. has named Paul Salmon (pictured) director of marketing for Indium of Europe. He has experience in soldering products and sales channel development in addition to strategic marketing of consumable products across the European...

Prototron Circuits.(Faces)
September 1, 2004... Prototron Circuits has hired New Hampshire-based Norman Turner as East Coast accounts manager. A 30-year PCB industry veteran, Turner has held positions with Hadco (now Sanmina-SCI), Advanced Flex and Rockwell (now Maine Electronics). The...

DEK has licensed its VectorGuard stencil technology to Christian Koenen GmbH of Munich, Germany.(It's A Deal)
September 1, 2004... DEK has licensed its VectorGuard stencil technology to Christian Koenan GmbH of Munich, Germany. The agreement allows Christian Koenen to manufacture VectorGuard stencils from foil blanks supplied by DEK, and to supply its customers with...

Zuken has inked an agreement with Tropical PCB Design Services aimed at increasing CADSTAR technical support coverage from eight to 14 hours per day on weekdays.(It's A Deal)
September 1, 2004... Zuken has inked an agreement with Tropical PCB Design Services aimed at increasing CADSTAR technical support coverage from eight to 14 hours per day on weekdays, with an additional four hours of coverage on Saturdays. Tropical is a longtime...

Lloyd Doyle has signed Leeport to be its new representative in Hong Kong and China.(It's A Deal)
September 1, 2004... Lloyd Doyle has signed Leeport to be its new representative in Hong Kong and China. Leeport is an importer and distributor of manufacturing and electronics equipment to the Chinese market. Leeport GM Clement Lain will work to promote AOT in...

And the survey says ... Don't know what your customers are thinking? Try surveying them.(Power Selling)
September 1, 2004... IF YOU DON'T know how your customers feel about you, your business may be in trouble. How often do you request feedback from customers? How often do you visit them? Call them? Remember, in business, no news is bad news. If your customers...

Wanted: positive leadership: there should be no shortage of take-charge, entrepreneurial enthusiasm in an industry like ours.(ROI)
September 1, 2004... POSITIVE LEADERSHIP IS MISSING in action at too many companies in our industry. I'm not talking about positive thinking; plenty of our leaders wear rose-colored glasses. Nor am I talking about leadership; many of these folks know how to...

E/CIT update: a program hopes to drive technology development and keep U.S. military contracts in the U.S.(Getting Embedded)
September 1, 2004... I RECENTLY ATTENDED the kick-off meeting for the Emerging Critical Interconnect Technology (E/CIT) program. As you may recall, E/CIT was established in 2002 by IPC and NAVSEA Crane Division, Naval Surface Warfare Center, to support R&D for the...

Exploiting balanced circuits: balanced systems can fight unwanted noise and coupling, but test equipment is still geared toward the unbalanced.(Fighting Noise)
September 1, 2004... The drive of progressive miniaturization through tighter packing densities and integration places a great premium on isolation. Internal parts must be packed progressively tighter or be more highly integrated. Achieving adequate isolation...

Flex makes its move: buoyed by incessant demand for consumer devices, flex makers dominated the top of the 2003 NTI 100.(Cover Story)
September 1, 2004... The latest incarnation of the NTI 100 is notable for its Asian flavor. The top five makers in 2003 were Japanese, with combined revenue of $4.57 billion, equal to 13.3% of the total world output of $34.5 billion. The top 10 were all from Asia,...

PCB Design Conference East.(PCB East Preview)(Calendar)
September 1, 2004... Conference: October 4-8, 2004 Exhibition: October 5-6, 2004 Radisson Hotel in Manchester, NH SPECIAL EVENTS PCBTechnology Forum and Welcome Luncheon Sponsored by Printed Circuit Design & Manufacture Monday. October 4...

Pulsed UV laser.(Off the shelf: machines materials tools systems software)
September 1, 2004... The new AVIA Thor is a solid-state, Q-switched, UV laser said to enable rapid micromachining. Features pulse energy above 500 micro-joules and repetition rate of 30 kHz, with over 15 W of average power. Ideal for high-throughput via drilling in...

Desktop PCB milling.(Off the shelf: machines materials tools systems software)
September 1, 2004... The FP11T family of moving gantry PCB milling machines features a 41K rpm spindle motor, X-Y axis accuracy and repeatability, and tighter manufacturing tolerances. Said to support a wide range of board materials, both hard and soft substrates....

200-500 MHZ 'scopes.(Off the shelf: machines materials tools systems software)
September 1, 2004... The WaveSurfer line of digital oscilloscopes has a 10.4" SVGA touch screen display but measures only 6" deep and has s small footprint. Is said to offer a long capture time and a robust set of trigger features, including edge, line, glitch,...

PCB layout platform.(Others Of Note)
September 1, 2004... The Allegro 15.2 interconnect design platform introduces constraint management at the schematic and physical design levels. Is said to help account for critical signal delays in IC packages and vias through pin delay and Z-axis features....

Metallization system.(Others Of Note)
September 1, 2004... ENVISION HDI is a single-pass direct metallization system said to provide complete coverage of blind vias and high-aspect ratio through-holes. Composed of process chemistry and horizontal equipment, the patented system deposits a thin,...

Laminator press pads.(Others Of Note)
September 1, 2004... The Top Board line of reusable press pads is now available in North America. Said to offer consistent performance in hot-press cycles, lower operating costs and even distribution of temperature and pressure. Applications include flexible and...

ICT boundary scan tool.(Others Of Note)
September 1, 2004... The Symphony boundary scan tools have been upgraded and are now compatible with all Agilent 3070 in circuit test systems featuring an Ethernet port. Once upgraded, structural tests of the digital portions of units under test can reportedly be...

Web-based autorouter.(Others Of Note)
September 1, 2004... Imagineering is offering free autorouting services on its Web site. Customers of the quickturn prototype company can access Cadence Design Systems' SPECCTRA high-speed autorouter, as well as free DFM verification. WHO: Imagineering Inc....

B-stage film adhesive.(Others Of Note)
September 1, 2004... E2213F is a high-performance electrically conductive B-staged film adhesive, said to be capable of bonding to gold or gold-plated substrates. Suited for EMI/RF grounding applications, it meets ASTMD 3850 for space-simulated outgassing and MIL...