CircuiTree articles from December 2003

CircuiTree archives from December 2003

Put quotas on U.S.-made PCBs.(Letters)(Letter to the Editor)
December 1, 2003... Just a short comment on the sad market for U.S. manufactured PWBs. Why can't the U.S. put some type of limit on the boards coming into the U.S.? Something like the automotive market has done. Anything electronic coming in must have 50% of the...

Foreign students learn at U.S. expense.(Letters)(Letter to the Editor)
December 1, 2003... Why does it come as a surprise to anyone that has received an education in the U.S. that our jobs are moving offshore? It was true when I attended UCLA twenty years ago, and it is even truer now. Our educational institutions have long been...

TPCA show matches media's hype.(The Way we see it)(Taiwan Printed Circuit Association )
December 1, 2003... After months of bad news for many in our industry, reports of a recovering electronics market continue to make headlines. For instance, worldwide spending on information technology is expected to grow 5 percent to $916 billion next year, while...

Corrosion resistance of ENIG: an improved immersion gold process: to understand the impact of ENIG chemistry change on corrosion resistance of the immersion gold, this article investigates the relationship between immersion gold bath pH and chemistry and the resulting corrosion resistance of the immersion gold layer.(Electroless Nickel/Immersion Gold)
December 1, 2003... Electroless Nickel/Immersion Gold (ENIG) has been relied upon as a durable, corrosion resistant surface finish in the electronics packaging industry for decades. With the advent of high reliability products, recent attention has been focused on...

Parlex's Rabinovici resigns.(Parlex Corp.)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2003... Methuen, MA--Parlex Corp. announced the resignation of Dr. Benjamin Rabinovici, 81, as a member of the Board of Directors. Dr. Rabinovici, who has been a director since 1970, felt that his age and health required him to curtail his corporate...

Old rivals remember the golden years.(Fein-Lines)
December 1, 2003... How the PWB universe, both fabricators and suppliers, have changed in the last few years! Many of the classic names are still there but few of them have the same market clout as they did five to ten years ago. Two of the best known suppliers...

Executive explanations: Cadence's Charles Giorgetti.(Interview)
December 1, 2003... Charles Giorgetti is Corporate Vice President and General Manager of the Printed Circuit Board Systems Division, Cadence Design Systems. He leads a worldwide software and services business focused on electronic design automation (EDA)...

Boards Etc.(People)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2003... Boards Etc. signed a representative agreement with Pentex-Schweizer Circuits Inc. as their manufacturer representative for specified accounts in Texas and Mexico. Boards Etc., with offices in the Dallas/Fort Worth area, is headed by Monte Marrs...

Stan Plzak.(People)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2003... IPC reported that the Chairman of its Board of Directors, Stan Plzak, passed away suddenly in late September. Stan was the former president and CEO of Pensar Corp. He helped found the company in 1983 and guided it until its acquisition by SMTC...

IPC.(People)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2003... Northbrook, IL--IPC's members elected new officers and directors at its 2003 IPC Annual Meeting. The IPC nominating committee presented the following individuals as officers on the IPC board for terms ending December 31, 2005: Peter J. Murphy,...

Rogers Corp.(People)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2003... Rogers, CT--Rogers Corp. announced that Edward Joyce has been named Manager of Investor and Public Relations. He is replacing Ms. Debra Granger who previously was appointed as Director of Corporate Compliance and Controls at Rogers. Joyce will...

Enthone Inc.(People)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2003... West Haven, CT--Tim Packwood has been appointed Global Director, PWB Marketing by Enthone Inc. He will have global responsibility for the direction of the Enthone[R] PWB chemistry business. He will focus on expanding the company's market share...

Management buy-out makes Vogt Electronic Fuba independent.(People)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2003... Gittelde, Germany--According to Andreas Ebeling, CEO of Vogt Electronic Fuba GmbH, the German PCB company will be purchased from its parent company, Vogt Electronic AG, by its management team and an investor whose name remains undisclosed. The...

Let's hear it for groovy circuit mechanics.(Circuits Unusual)
December 1, 2003... We chemists appear to grab all the credit for circuitry processes. Sure, there's a lot of chemistry (some say chemical warfare) going on in the printed circuit plants. And chemists have delivered etching, plating, cleaning, and some splendid...

Who in Switzerland's PCB industry can neutralize the downturn?(Inside Germany)
December 1, 2003... What is Switzerland's role in the European PCB industry? How are the Swiss PCB and equipment manufacturing companies performing, and which strategies do they employ? Finally, why am I discussing Switzerland when the name of this column is...

Automa-Tech buys controlling share of Ayonis.(Suppliers)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2003... France--Automa-Tech announced that it has purchased a controlling interest (51 percent) in Ayonis, a French manufacturer of industrial imaging systems. The terms of the deal were not disclosed. Ayonis has an annual turnover of 1 million euro...

Union Tool increases production of PCB drills.(Suppliers)(Union Tool Company Ltd.)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2003... Tokyo, Japan--Union Tool Co. announced it has increased its output of extremely small-diameter carbide drills used to create vias for printed circuit boards. The company is spending 1 billion yen to increase production of the drills by 50% to...

Downstream Technologies expands Worldwide Partner Program.(Suppliers)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2003... Bolton, MA--DownStream Technologies LLC announced three additions to its Worldwide Partner Program. The additions, all based in the U.S., include Plano CAD Engineering (Texas), ECADware (Southern California), and Atlantic EDA Solutions (New...

Cimnet Systems' Paradigm[R] ERP a hit in China.(Suppliers)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2003... Chicago, IL--Cimnet Systems Inc. announced continued momentum in the mid-sized PCB manufacturing market in mainland China. Five more firms--Yantat Circuits Co. Ltd, Tat Chun Printed Circuit Board Co. Ltd, Goodboard Electronic Co. Ltd, Olympic...

Cookson Electronics, Ebara announce sale of Ebara Udylite.(Suppliers)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2003... West Haven, CT--Cookson Electronics Inc. and Ebara Corp. (Tokyo, Japan) announced the sale of Ebara Udylite Company Ltd. to EU Holdings Co., Ltd. (Tokyo, Japan). EU Holdings acquired 100% of the stock of Ebara Udylite that was jointly owned by...

Diehl Avionik Systeme approves Lackwerke Peters' conformal coating.(Suppliers)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2003... Diehl Avionik Systeme GmbH, a manufacturer of avionics systems, successfully used the water-borne conformal/permanent coating SL 1305 AQ/25 FLZ in civil and military aviation. The company has been using conformal/permanent coatings developed by...

Electrochemicals, Shikoku expand marketing agreement.(Suppliers)(Shikoku Chemicals Corp.)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2003... Maple Plain, MN--Electrochemicals Inc. and Shikoku Chemicals Corp. (Japan) expanded their marketing agreement for the Shikoku Glicoat SMD Organic Solderability Preservatives (OSP). These materials are used to enhance the solderability of PWBs,...

Park Electrochemical launches new internet product reference area.(Suppliers)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2003... Lake Success, NY--Park Electrochemical Corp. introduced a new technical and product reference areas at the company's website, www.parknelco.com. The new site areas, "Resources" and "Products," replace the previous product, web customer and...

IS620's increasing acceptance outpacing Gigaver designs.(Suppliers)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2003... Chandler, Arizona--Isola Laminate Systems Corp., the U.S. subsidiary of Isola AG, announced that the accelerating acceptance of IS620, their low Dk, low-loss product for high-speed digital applications, would lead to discontinuation of Gigaver...

Shenzhen RD Chemical Co. Ltd. opens.(Suppliers)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2003... Mountain View, CA--RD Chemical opened its Shenzhen RD Chemical Co., Ltd. (SRDC) facility. The company's address is Room 1007, 10/F Fandda Building, No.12 South Keji Road, HighTech Industrial Park, Shenzhen, China 518057. The managing director...

Atotech USA expands headquarters.(Suppliers)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2003... Rock Hill, PA--Atotech USA announced that it completed its expansion project, adding approximately 57,000 square feet for its sales and marketing, R&D, and quality control departments, as well as for its warehouse and manufacturing facilities.

Four advancing technologies to spur higher spending in 2006.(Suppliers)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2003... Lake Buena Vista, FL--Oct. 20, 2003--A substantial recovery in information technology (IT) capital spending is increasingly likely in 2004, according to Michael Fleisher, chairman and chief executive officer of Gartner, Inc. Increasing...

Risky business: how the electronics interconnect industry has damaged itself (with a little help from its friends); many sins have been committed by the electronics industry in the name of increasing shareholder equity, and the pursuit of short-term profits. What we must do to return to stability--and sanity.
December 1, 2003... The electronics interconnect manufacturing industry recession is now in its third year. While stable at present, it has lost almost 60% of capacity in North America, Japan and Europe, and many Chinese and Taiwanese manufacturers are staring at...

New online directory of EMSBuyers brings sales efficiency.(Products)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2003... El Dorado Hills, CA--Designed to drive the cost of sales down, EMSBuyer.com is an online directory of companies who purchase PCBs, PCBA and Box Build services. With over 1,000 companies listed, EMSBuyer helps sellers locate prospective...

Enthone awarded Entek[R] Plus Patent.(Products)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2003... West Haven, CT--Enthone Inc. has been awarded U.S. Patent 6,524,644 for its Entek[R] Plus CU-106A(X) organic solderability preservative (OSP). The OSP is part of the Entek Plus Gold copper protective coating system that is used as an...

Cadence delivers Linux IC package, PCB design flow.(Products)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2003... San Jose, CA--Cadence Design Systems Inc. announced the industry's first complete front-to-back advanced IC package and PCB design flow to run on Linux as part of its version 15.1 IC packaging and PCB design environment release. For design...

LPKF releases Pulsonix Chip Packaging Toolkit.(Products)(LPKF Laser and Electronics AG)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2003... Wilsonville, OR--LPKF Laser & Electronics released the Chip Packaging Toolkit option for Pulsonix PCB design software. With the release of this option, Pulsonix is now able to target chip packaging and chip-on-board designers. Pulsonix Chip...

Rogers displays R/flex[R] 3850 double-clad LCP materials.(Products)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2003... Rogers, CT--Rogers Corp. displayed its new product for the R/flex[R] 3000 family of Liquid Crystalline Polymer (LCP)-based circuit materials at the 2003 European Microwave Symposium. Complementing the R/flex 3600 LCP, single-clad laminate...

EIMC-Advanced Plating Technologies introduces Modeling and plating simulation.(Products)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2003... Laguna Niguel, CA--EIMC-Advanced Plating Technologies (Electroplating Innovation in Modeling Concepts) expanded its capabilities with the addition of consulting and engineering services for electroplating process improvement. The offer of...

Circuitree's Executive of the Year: Advanced Circuits' Ron Huston.
December 1, 2003... For our 2003 Executive of the Year award, CircuiTree has chosen Advanced Circuits' CEO Ron Huston. We base our criteria not only on the company's financial success, but also on how the leadership of the company achieves that success. In this...

Newer Copper foil options for flexible circuits.(Flexible Thinking)
December 1, 2003... Copper foil and flexible polymer films have had a long and enduring relationship extending back to the beginnings of the flex circuit industry. There have, of course, been a number of other pairings for unique applications. Aluminum,...

Fine lines in high yield (part XCIX): organic contaminants in tin/lead plating baths.(Tech Talk)
December 1, 2003... Metal etch resists based on tin/lead (Sn/Pb) are rapidly going the way of the dinosaurs. However, while they are still in use, we will continue to fight plating problems caused by organic contaminants, an issue worth understanding. Also, bright...

DuPont Printed Circuit Materials exhibits at Productronica.(Tech Talk)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2003... Research Triangle Park, NC--DuPont Printed Circuit Materials featured its latest technology developments in primary imaging for printed wiring board fabrication at Productronica, the 15th International Trade Fair for Electronics Production,...

Designing with ceramic thick-film embedded passives: bridging the gaps.
December 1, 2003... Embedded passives (i.e., resistors and capacitors built right into the PCB substrate) will be the next pivotal technology for the PCB industry. But PCB manufacturers and designers must first bridge the gaps between the design and part...

Web spotlight.(Bridging the Gaps)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2003... Each month CircuiTree offers our readers articles and columns found exclusively on our Web site: COLUMN: Exiting Gracefully--Dana Barfield When selling your business, transactions that occur at arm's length for full consideration...

"Far Out": long range forecast or 70s era shout for joy?(Market Outlook)
December 1, 2003... U.S. electronic equipment order growth continues to accelerate (Chart 1). September 2003 was up 20.3% vs. September 2002. Military electronics growth slowed a bit but communications equipment orders (probably mostly datacom) surged 68% and...

Advanced Circuits develops training program.(Fabrication)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2003... Aurora, CO--Advanced Circuits announced it has certified more than a third of its board production, test and quality control staff through a unique program developed by the company to provide better trained and more knowledgeable workers in its...

Circuit-Wise passes surveillance audit.(Fabrication)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2003... North Haven, CT--Circuit-Wise Inc. has again passed the bi-annual surveillance audit of its quality system by TUV America, a board certified auditor, and maintained its QS 9000 certification. The audit was conducted September 17-18, 2003 in its...

Endicott Interconnect, Georgia Tech team up.(Fabrication)(Endicott Interconnect Technologies Inc., Georgia Institute of Technology)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2003... Endicott Interconnect Technologies Inc. (EI) entered into a partnership with the Packaging Research Center (PRC) at the Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech) to develop and manufacture new packaging concepts for the electronics...

Labtech achieves environmental award.(Fabrication)(Laboratory Technologies Corp.)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2003... Wales--Labtech recently celebrated after achieving a prestigious environmental award. The PCB company, which employs a workforce of 90 at headquarters in Presteigne, has secured the ISO14001 award from British Standards Institute. Labtech's...

UTZ Technologies receives ISO 9001/2000 certification.(Fabrication)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2003... Clifton, NJ--UTZ Technologies Inc. received certification for ISO 9001/2000 by UL Inc., effective August 2003. An ISO registrant since February 1999, this upgrade to the latest standard continues the company's commitment to providing its...

Ormecon, Florida CirTech join forces.(Fabrication)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2003... Ormecon GmbH, a German company with global immersion tin activities for solderable PWB surface finishes, has acquired a majority share of Florida CirTech's Omikron[TM] White Immersion Tin business in North America and Asia. The new company,...

TT electronics Prestwick Circuits invests in new equipment.(Fabrication)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2003... TT electronics Prestwick Circuits is continuing its capital expenditure program with the purchase of a new electroless line and AOI machine. The fully automated electroless copper plating line is built with an excellent vibration and solution...

Pioneer Circuits achieves AS9100 & ISO 9001:2000 certification.(Fabrication)(International Organization for Standardization)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2003... Santa Ana, CA--Pioneer Circuits announced certification of its Quality Management System (QMS) to the AS9100 and ISO 9001:2000 industry quality standards by CRS registrars of Muamee, Ohio. Previously, Pioneer's QMS was certified to an earlier...

GSPK announced winner at European Electronics Awards 2003.(Fabrication)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2003... GSPK Circuits Ltd. won the European Electronics "Training Award" 2003. This event was Europe's first Electronics Awards initiative which set out to recognize three disciplines: technical innovation, business success, and commitment to training...

Experience required.(Seeing the Light)
December 1, 2003... I have just returned from the IPC Annual Meeting held in Minneapolis, Minn. I was surprised to see that the turnout was pretty good, and more importantly, most of the attendees were expressing cautious optimism regarding the near and longer...

Intellect's 20th PCIF annual conference: squinting into the sunshine: in October, intellect held its 20th PCIF annual conference with the theme "focusing on the future," underscoring the mood of increasing confidence. Not exactly buoyant, but considerably more optimistic than last year, when the event's theme was "Journey into the unknown.".
December 1, 2003... Those members of the printed circuit industry who had survived the devastation of the previous three years were beginning to emerge from the gloom of the "Unknown," squinting into feeble sunshine, endeavoring to re-focus their vision and to...

Sanmina says improving market conditions mean no more cuts.(Board Buyers)(Sanmina-SCI Corp.)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2003... Owego, NY--Sanmina-SCI reported revenues of $10.4 billion for the fiscal year, compared to $10 billion during the same period a year ago. Revenues in the fourth quarter were $2.73 billion, an increase of 3.1% from $2.65 billion in the third...

Motorola sells Hon Hai mobile phone plant.(Board Buyers)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2003... Tapei, Taiwan--Motorola Inc. sold its Mexican mobile phone manufacturing facility to Hon Hai Precision Industry Co. for $18 million. The two companies also inked a long-term manufacturing contract, but didn't reveal further details. Hon Hai is...

Flextronics CEO: major restructuring 'nearly finished'.(Board Buyers)(chief executive officers)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2003... Singapore--Flextronics announced results for the second quarter, with net sales totalling $3.5 billion, reflecting a 13% sequential increase. "The September quarter revenues and earnings were significantly better on a sequential basis, which...

Plexus' fourth quarter revenues increase 10%.(Board Buyers)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2003... Neenah, WI--Plexus Corp. announced results for its fiscal fourth quarter. Dean Foate, president and CEO, said, "Revenue in the fourth fiscal quarter increased 10% sequentially to $216 million primarily as a result of strengthened demand from a...

NEMI team recommends three test conditions for evaluating tin whisker growth.(Board Buyers)(National Electronics Manufacturing Initiative's )
December 1, 2003... Herndon, VA--The National Electronics Manufacturing Initiative's (NEMI's) Tin Whisker Accelerated Test Project presented its recommendations for tin whisker testing at the SMTA International conference in Chicago. The NEMI project team has...