CircuiTree articles from April 2007

CircuiTree archives from April 2007

After 56 years, Photocircuits closing its doors.(Data Transfer)
April 1, 2007... Glen Cove, N.Y. -- After 56 years in operation, Photocircuits began a 45-day shut-down schedule in March to complete projects with existing customers before officially closing the operation. Michael Tobman, spokesperson for Photocircuits, cites...

Reel-to-reel approach to printed electronics.(Supplier Spotlight News)(Brief article)
April 1, 2007... Printed electronics are set to change the way that low-cost, disposable devices will be manufactured. To overcome the difficulties of inkjet printing metal particles through minute nozzles, and the incompatibility of the post heating/sintering...

Still reeling from RoHS? More grief to come with REACH.(Restriction of Hazardous Substances Directive)(Registration, Evaluation and Authorisation of Chemicals )
April 1, 2007... According to a recent article in the English newspaper The Daily Telegraph, if all 170,000 pages of the European Union's current rulebook were laid out lengthways they would stretch 31.7 miles. If stacked and bound, the Brussels law book would...

Developments in image transfer in PWB fabrication.(printed wiring boards)(Column)
April 1, 2007... There are several steps in PWB fabrication that involve image or pattern transfer directly from CAD data or through an intermediate step such as phototool formation: drilling a through-hole or microvia pattern, forming innerlayer and outerlayer...

2006 was great--Worldwide! But what for 2007?(growth in printed circuit boards industry)
April 1, 2007... 2006 Was Great... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] As results for 2006 are emerging, it is clear that most of us had a pretty good year. Overall, the world PCB business grew at some 12 percent to reach an estimate total of nearly USD 48...

Sanmina develops embedded technology to improve signal integrity in high-speed applications.(Technology Today News)
April 1, 2007... San Jose, Calif. -- Sanmina-SCI has developed new approaches to improving signal integrity of high-speed data links. The patent-pending MTS-ViaTM uses embedded passives to eliminate the need for backdrilling via stubs on high-speed PCBs and...

MacDermid introduces high-resolution UV-curable etch resist ink.(Technology Today News)
April 1, 2007... MacDermid Electronics Solutions has introduced CircuitJet[TM], an inkjet primary image etch resist for innerlayer manufacture. In partnership with New System, SrL, the technology combines the latest in innovative ink jet equipment design with a...

Sunstone develops concept-to-delivery system.(Technology Today News)
April 1, 2007... Muline, Ore. -- Sunstone Circuits announces the availability of its Sunstone ECOsystem, a strategic vision to consolidate and improve the PCB prototyping process for designers from concept-to-delivery through the integration of four discrete...

Mentor releases next generation Board Station.(Technology Today News)
April 1, 2007... Wilsonville, Ore. -- Mentor Graphics has released Board Station[R] XE, the next-generation version of its Board Station design flow for large, enterprise customers. Board Station XE leverages existing libraries, design data, and design capture...

How EIPC supports the European PCB industry.(EIPC Perspective)(Industry overview)
April 1, 2007... Not many people in the industry know that the European Institute of Printed Circuits (EIPC) is the only branch association representing Europe for the PCB industry in the World Electronic Circuit Counsel (WECC). In the WECC, all regions of the...

IPC Expo report: to live and buy in LA, or how I learned to stop worrying and trust the Mythbusters.
April 1, 2007... IPC Printed Circuits Expo held its maiden voyage at the refurbished Los Angeles Convention Center in the gentrifying downtown Los Angeles. The move to LA from Anaheim did not come without controversy for IPC, but it was a move of necessity for...

Be careful what you ask for.(Environmentally Speaking)(regulation on hazardous substances )
April 1, 2007... "Electronics Industry Calls for Federal RoHS Legislation." --Design News "Industry Voices Call for U.S. RoHS."--SMT "Federal Government to Get Involved in RoHS-Like Legislation." --Green Supply Line "Federal RoHS Legislation...

Christopher Associates bulks up staff.(Power People News)
April 1, 2007... Santa Ana, Calif. -- Christopher Associates is adding both staff and infrastructure to better serve its customers, welcoming Marion Zubrick, Cleve Williams, Manuel Garcia, and Adam Zalewski to its engineering support team. Jon Sackett has also...

IPC tabs Labriola to lead Midwest Conference trade show sales.(Power People News)
April 1, 2007... Bannockburn, Ill. -- Maria Labriola has joined IPC as an account executive, where she will be primarily responsible for trade show sales for the new IPC Midwest Conference and Exhibition. Labriola has extensive trade show experience and most...

InteliCoat names Lupone president and CEO.(Power People News)
April 1, 2007... South Hadley, Mass. -- Joseph A. Lupone has been named president and CEO of InteliCoat Technologies. Lupone brings more then 20 years of senior executive sales, management, and marketing experience to this role. His most recent position was...

FlipChip appoints Crayon to VP position.(Power People News)
April 1, 2007... Phoenix -- Marcus Crayon has been named vice president quality for FlipChip International's semiconductor wafer scale packaging and bumping business in Phoenix, replacing Terry Lubsen, who is retiring. Crayon brings over 16 years of quality...

Solectron CEO resigns.(Power People News)
April 1, 2007... Milpitas, Calif. -- Solectron Corporation CEO Michael R. Cannon has resigned and will be joining Dell as president, global operations. Paul Tufano, chief financial officer, will serve as interim CEO. Longtime board member Paul Low will lead the...

Ansoft executives win emerald award.(Power People News)
April 1, 2007... Pittsburgh -- Two Ansoft executives--Dr. Zoltan Cendes, founder and CTO, and Nicholas Csendes, CEO--were awarded the Emerald Asset Management E-3 Award for Entrepreneurial Excellence, Science and Technology Company Executive category, at the...

Facilitating medical miracles.(Flexible Thinking)
April 1, 2007... Flexible circuits have long served the medical product-development community. The relationship they have enjoyed with medical product developers has been long and successful. Flexible circuits continue to provide value to health care providers...

Japanese scientists patent semiconductor package with through-hole.(Data Transfer)
April 1, 2007... According to the U.S. Patent Office, Satoshi Yamamoto, Tatsuo Suemasu, and Sayaka Hirafune of Tokyo; Koichi Shiotani and Kazuya Matsumoto of Kamiinagun, Japan; and Toshihiko Isokawa of Ina, Japan, were issued U.S. Patent No. 7,180,149 on...

LDI for high volume HDI production.
April 1, 2007... Introduction It is no wonder that early adopters of laser direct imaging (LDI) technology were usually quick-turn, prototype, or volume manufacturers who needed a fast and accurate solution for sampling. Early LDI models were a perfect...

FR-4 proliferation.(Material World)(proliferation of multilayer laminate materials)
April 1, 2007... I don't know about you, but from a laminate materials standpoint, I have solution overload. Twenty-plus years ago when I started in this industry, there was a handful of multilayer laminate materials--FR-4, FR-5, polyimide, BT, and that was...

Titan exceeds previously reported revenue guidance and earnings.(Fab Focus News)
April 1, 2007... Richardson, Tex. -- Titan Global Holdings, Inc., expects to meet or exceed previously issued revenue guidance of USD 145 million and earnings before interest, depreciation, taxes, and amortization of USD 18.5 million. This information reaffirms...

Flextronics grants new employees stock options, will add new Hungary center.(Fab Focus News)
April 1, 2007... Singapore -- Flextronics has granted newly acquired employees from International Display Works Inc. options to purchase an aggregate of 773,000 ordinary shares. The options have an exercise price of USD 11.54 and expire 10 years after the date...

HannStar announces financial results.(Fab Focus News)(Financial report)
April 1, 2007... HannStar Display Corporation has announced its financial results for Q4 FY 06, reporting net sales of TWD 19,473 million, a 24 percent sequential growth. The company's net income for the same quarter was TWD 98 million.

Solectron takes home Shingo Prize, forms S-MAP.(Fab Focus News)
April 1, 2007... Milpitas, Calif. -- Solectron Corporation's Guadalajara, Mexico, facility has won the 2007 Shingo Business Prize for Excellence in Manufacturing. This award recognizes the facility's Lean Six Sigma leadership through operational and process...

Nokia to make workforce adjustments.(Fab Focus News)
April 1, 2007... Espoo, Finland -- In a move to improve the focus and efficiency of R & D and related sales and marketing activities and internal IT operations, Nokia will adjust its workforce, affecting 700 employees globally (approximately 340 in Finland)....

Construction completed for SOMACIS Guandong plant.(by SOMACIS PCB Industries )(Brief article)
April 1, 2007... Guandong, China -- SOMACIS PCB Industries has completed construction of its new plant in Guandong, China. The plant, which cost JPY 25 million to build, covers 23,500 sq. m; an annual capacity of 400,00 sq. m and a workforce of 700 are...

Tyco reports first quarter earnings.(Tyco International Ltd. (Pembroke, Bermuda))(Financial report)(Brief article)
April 1, 2007... Pembroke, Bermuda -- Tyco International Ltd. reported its first quarter earnings, showing a diluted GAAP earnings per share from continuing operations of USD 0.37. The company also reported charges of USD 0.03 per share for restructuring and...

Sanmina to close German facility.(Fab Focus News)
April 1, 2007... San Jose, Calif. -- Sanmina-SCI will close its PCB facility in Karlsruhe, Germany, effective April 1, 2007. This decision is due to adverse trading conditions on the European market.

Aspocomp takes steps to grow in Asia.(Fab Focus News)
April 1, 2007... Helsinki -- Aspocomp Group Oyj is considering launching a rights issue, ranging from EUR 20 to 30 million, based on shareholders' preemptive subscription right. Evli Bank Plc will be the company's financial advisor. Aspocomp also hopes to raise...

Nam Tai reports drop in net sales.(Nam Tai Electronics Inc.)(Financial report)(Brief article)
April 1, 2007... Vancouver -- Nam Tai Electronics, Inc., has released its unaudited results for Q4 FY 06, reporting a decline in net sales. Due to a challenging industry and competitive pricing pressures requiring the company to lower unit prices, sales...

M-Flex reports 2007 results.(Fab Focus News)(Financial report)(Brief article)
April 1, 2007... Anaheim, Calif. -- For the first quarter of FY 07, M-Flex reported an 11 percent year-over-year net sales and income decline, from USD 139.7 million to USD 123.9 million. Year-over-year net income decreased 79 percent to USD 3.7 million, or USD...

CheckSum releases new in-circuit test system.(Fab Focus News)
April 1, 2007... Los Angeles -- CheckSum has released a new in-circuit tester targeted at users of Agilent 3070-series testers needing to increase test capacity. The tester delivers the low-cost advantages of CheckSum's Analyst test platform to Agilent 3X7X...

Merix receives NASDAQ deficiency notice.(Fab Focus News)
April 1, 2007... Portland, Ore. -- NASDAQ has issued a staff deficiency notice to Merix Corporation because the company no longer satisfies the audit committee requirements outlined in NASDAQ Marketplace Rule 4350; this rule requires a company to have at least...

Endicott and Unovis enter manufacturing services agreement.(Fab Focus News)(Brief article)
April 1, 2007... Endicott, NY -- Endicott Interconnect Technologies and Unovis-Solutions entered a services agreement with an intravascular ultrasound (IVUS) catheter manufacturer. According to the services agreement, Endicott Interconnect will develop and...

Touching down softly in 2007.(Market Outlook)
April 1, 2007... OEM Q4 FY 06 revenues (and also net income) were up eight percent versus Q4 FY 05, based upon composite financials of 61 multinational electronic equipment manufacturers (Chart 1). At the same time (Chart 2), the ratio of inventories to...

Pata chemical to distribute RBP line in Thailand.(Supply Line News)(Pata Chemicals and Machinery Co. Ltd. )(RBP Chemical Technology )(Brief article)
April 1, 2007... Milwaukee -- An agreement between RBP Chemical Technology and Pata Chemicals and Machinery Co., Ltd., calls for Pata to distribute RBP's line of electronic products to the PCB industry in Thailand. Poly Hitech Co., Ltd., Pata's blending...

Sanmina installs FASTechnologies software.(Supply Line News)
April 1, 2007... Big Lake, Minn. -- To increase drill room operations efficiency, Sanmina's Owego PCB facility has bought and installed FASTechnologies' suite of drill room automation software. This suite includes UltraServer, SmartPants classics, SmartPants...

Sigrity releases power delivery system.(Supply Line News)(Sigrity Corp. introduces OptimizePI power delivery system )(Brief article)
April 1, 2007... Santa Clara, Calif. -- Sigrity has released OptimizePI, a next-generation power delivery system (PDS) that is the first to provide minimum-cost decoupling capacitator (decap) selection and placement to achieve desired performance. The system...

PCB Libraries LP Wizard wins DesignVision Award.(Supply Line News)(Brief article)
April 1, 2007... Des Plaines, Ill. -- PCB Libraries announced that its IPC-7351 LP Wizard won the 2007 DesignVision Award (PCB Design Tool Category) at DesignCon 2007. LP Wizard was chosen based on innovation, uniqueness, market impact, customer benefits, and...

Nexus receives first order from U.S. DoD.(Supply Line News)
April 1, 2007... Houston -- Nexus Nano Electronics, a subsidiary of Turnaround Partners, Inc., has received the first-year order of a five-year contract for custom circuit boards for the U.S. Department of Defense. The order is for a Department of Defense...

Valor reports record numbers.(Supply Line News)(Valor Computerized Systems Inc.)(Brief article)
April 1, 2007... Yavne, Isreal -- Valor Computerized Systems reported record-breaking numbers for 2006. Year-end revenues reached USD 36.7 million (USD 36.3 in 2005), with Q4 FY 06 revenues at USD 10 million. This is a six percent increase compared to Q4 FY 05....

Eoplex to expand capabilities.(Supply Line News)(Brief article)
April 1, 2007... Redwood City, Calif. -- Led by ATA Ventures and with investments from existing investors Draper Fisher Jurvetson, Labrador Ventures, and Draper-Richards, EoPlex Technologies closed a Series C financing with USD 8 million. Eoplex will use the...

DuPont announces successful growth strategies.(Supply Line News)
April 1, 2007... Miami -- Ellen J. Kullman, DuPont executive vice president, met with investment analysts and announced that the company's growth strategies and productivity initiatives have been successful. The company predicts continued progress in 2007. ...

Frontline doubles InPlan sales.(Supply Line News)
April 1, 2007... Isreal -- In 2006, Frontline PCB Solutions doubled sales of its InPlan automatic PCB engineering system. The system is in use in over 40 PCB shops worldwide, and there was a sharp increase in market leaders and multi-site plants choosing to...

DYMAX relocates.(Supply Line News)
April 1, 2007... Torrington, Conn. -- DYMAX Corporation has relocated its U.S. headquarters to: 318 Industrial Ln. Torrington, Conn. 06790 Phone: (860) 482-1010 Fax: (860) 496-0608

Printar opens N.A. facility.(Supply Line News)(North American)(Nachum Korman appointed)(Brief article)
April 1, 2007... Rehovoth, Isreal -- Printar Ltd. has opened a North American subsidiary, located in N.J. This location will provide sales, service, and training support for the company's growing U.S. customer base. Printar also announced Nachum Korman as...

Baker enhances web site.(Supply Line News)
April 1, 2007... Framingham, Mass. -- M.E. Baker Company (Baker) has made available streaming video of its equipment in production, viewable at www.mebaker.com. This is in response to customers' requests to view Baker's equipment in operation with just the...

Parallel Systems to distribute DesignAdvance.(Supply Line News)
April 1, 2007... Pittsburgh -- DesignAdvance[TM] Systems, Inc., has appointed U.K.-based Parallel Systems, Ltd., as its distribution partner. Parallel Systems, a Cadence Channel partner, will provide products and technical support to PCB designers in the U.K.,...

Excellon and EXACT announce partnership, first installation of combined software.(Supply Line News)(Excellon Automation Co.)(Brief article)
April 1, 2007... Calif. -- Excellon and XACT PCB have partnered to offer a combination of their respective software systems, Intelli-Drill[R] and Gemini-X. Developed out of a need for higher layer count printed circuit boards manufactured in ever shorter lead...

Fine lines in high yield (part CXXXIX): avoiding off-contact exposure in vacuum frames.(Tech Talk)
April 1, 2007... Manual exposure units (photoprinters) use vacuum frames of various constructions to bring phototools in close contact with the photoresist-covered board to avoid off-contact exposure. To create the vacuum, air is evacuated through one or more...

On the problem of jitter and skew in gigabit and faster signals caused by laminate weaves.(Intelligent Design)
April 1, 2007... In recent months, much has been written about jitter and skew on gigabit per second (Gbps) and faster differential signals that are traceable to the glass weave in PCB laminates. One proposed solution is routing the signals in the PCB at an...

IPC releases January book-to-bill ratios.(Date Transfer)(printed circuit board )(Brief article)(Statistical data)
April 1, 2007... Bannockburn, Ill. -- The North American rigid PCB industry book-to-bill ratio for January 2007 continued below parity at 0.91, and the flexible circuit ratio edged up to 0.93. The combined industry ratio in January 2007 remained under parity at...

"Groovy!" is back--this time as new trace geometry for PWBs.(Guest Editorial)
April 1, 2007... Yes, the word groovy may bring a smile of recognition to those of us old enough to remember this once over-used word, a substitute for okay or cool. So groovy just had to pop into mind when I noted with great interest a paper on grooved...

Events.
April 1, 2007... KPCA Show 2007 April 10-12, 2007 Seoul, South Korea Web site: www.kpca-show.co.kr Email: show@kpca.or.kr CALCE International Symposium on Tin Whiskers April 24 - 25, 2007 University of Maryland College Park,...