CircuiTree articles from February 2008

CircuiTree archives from February 2008

SEMI predicts USD 41.7 billion in equipment sales.(Data Transfer)
February 1, 2008... According to the year-end edition of the SEMI Capital Equipment Consensus Forecast, semiconductor equipment sales for 2008 are expected to reach USD 41.7 billion. Following a 23 percent market growth in 2006, SEMI predicts that the equipment...

November PCB industry program results.(Data Transfer)(printed circuit board)(Brief article)
February 1, 2008... IPC released the November findings from its monthly North American PCB Statistical Program. Rigid PCB shipments were down 9.6 percent and bookings were up 11.8 percent compared to November 2006. Rigid PCB shipments year-to-date were down 9.1...

Pass the recession, please.(The Way We See It)
February 1, 2008... It seems that every day you watch the news or read the paper, the storm looming offshore is Hurricane Recession. Just like The Weather Channel forecasters working to determine where a hurricane will hit and how strong it will be, financial...

Automated Logistics Solutions and Direct Logix partner.(Supply Line)(Brief article)
February 1, 2008... Vancouver -- Direct Logix, Inc., and Automated Logistics Solutions (ALS) partnered to offer fully integrated digital manufacturing engineering solutions for PCB manufacturers. The partnership allows regional access to the best features of...

Labtech Microwave appoints new agents throughout Europe and Southern Hemisphere.(Supply Line)
February 1, 2008... Powys, U.K. -- Labtech Microwave appointed a number of new agents to represent its business throughout Europe and the southern hemisphere; new territories include Australia, France, India, Israel, Scandinavia, and Singapore with opportunities...

CADParts & Consulting and EdmondMarks form alliance.(Supply Line)
February 1, 2008... Morganville and Neptune, N.J. -- CADParts & Consulting LLC formed a strategic alliance with EdmondMarks Technologies. Through this alliance, the two companies can leverage their expertise in design and manufacturing to provide a seamless,...

GUC joins Cadence-sponsored Power Forward Initiative.(Supply Line)
February 1, 2008... Hsinchu, Taiwan -- Global Unichip Corp. (GUC) joined the Cadence-sponsored Power Forward Initiative (PFI) and will offer common power format-enabled low-power flow for its design service customers. GUC is the 24th member of the PFI. The PFI is...

Stablcor enters licensing agreement with Stevenage Circuits.(Supply Line)(Stablcor Incorporated and Stevenage Circuits Ltd. in licensing agreement)(Brief article)
February 1, 2008... Costa Mesa, Calif. -- Stablcor Incorporated signed a licensing agreement with Stevenage Circuits Ltd., one of the largest independent PCB fabricators in the U.K. Stevenage is the first company in the U.K. to license the STABLCOR technology for...

Cadence opens second office in Russia.(Supply Line)
February 1, 2008... San Jose, Calif. -- Cadence Design Systems, Ltd., opened a second office in Russia, located in Zelenograd, which is recognized as the center of the Russian semiconductor industry. The opening of this new office is the latest in a series of...

CADParts & Consulting signs VAR agreement with CadPlex Software.(Supply Line)
February 1, 2008... Morganville, N.J. -- CADParts & Consulting entered into a VAR agreement with CadPlex Software LLC to sell and support the complete line of Schematic Symbol Modeler tools including Symbol Modeler[TM] Basic, Symbol Modeler[TM] Standard, and...

Dow Corning awarded additional navy funds.(Supply Line)
February 1, 2008... Midland, Mich. -- Down Corning Compound Semiconductor Solutions (DCCSS) was awarded a USD 4.2 million contract from the U.S. Office of Naval Research to develop semiconductor silicon carbide (SiC) materials technology; this follows a previous...

CIMTEK expands in China.(Supply Line)
February 1, 2008... Boston -- CIMTEK expanded its operations in China, opening a new facility in Suzhou. The new facility addresses the need to fulfill critical Asian-based business initiatives while ensuring that the most reliable products are delivered to market...

TTM installs Inspecta X-Ray System.(Supply Line)
February 1, 2008... Ronkonkoma, N.Y. -- TTM (Time to Market), Santa Ana, Calif., installed an Inspecta HPL X-Ray Inspection and Drilling System, together with Xact software. The new system will help TTM drastically improve its registration process and data...

Christopher Associates delivers 100th Koh Young solder paste inspection system.(Supply Line)
February 1, 2008... Santa Ana, Calif. -- Christopher Associates, Inc., delivered its 100th Koh Young solder paste inspection system in North America. The sale was made to a major international supplier of embedded computing systems in Huntsville, Ala.

WISE Worldwide announces first year of cooperation with Lords System & Service.(Supply Line)
February 1, 2008... Parma, Italy -- WISE Worldwide Enterprise srl announced its first year of cooperation with its Indian agent, Lords Systems & Service. Lords System developed a "customer-satisfaction thinking" organization following WISE's philosophy of quality...

Sunstone releases next generation design solution.(Technology Today)(Sunstone Circuits introduces printed circuit boards)(Brief article)
February 1, 2008... Mulino, Ore. -- Sunstone Circuits released PCB123[TM] Version 3.0, the next generation of its complete circuit board design solution; as with previous versions, PCB123 is free. Enhancements include: real-time, bidirectional views of layout and...

Automa-Tech introduces new exposure unit.(Technology Today)(Brief article)
February 1, 2008... Val de Reuil, France -- Automa-Tech-ORC imaging introduced Acura-BGA, a new exposure unit dedicated to extremely high-density IC substrates. Exclusive features include: highly collimated light; glass temperature regulation for artwork...

Agilent offers new gain compression application.(Technology Today)
February 1, 2008... Santa Clara, Calif. -- Agilent Technologies Inc. released a new gain compression application (GCA) for its PNA-X network analyzer. Providing fast, accurate compression data at multiple frequencies, the new measurement capability is ideal for...

Cadence and UMC release new foundry design kits.(Technology Today)
February 1, 2008... San Jose, Calif., and Hsinchu, Taiwan -- Cadence Design Systems, Inc., and UMC announced the availability of UMC 65 nm foundry design kits (FDKs) for the latest Cadence[R] Virtuoso[R] custom design platform (IC 6.1) release. The FDKs will be...

Roelens new Bekaert VP.(Power People)(Geert Roelens appointed as vice president)(Brief article)
February 1, 2008... Kortrijk, Belgium -- Bekaert's board of directors appointed Geert Roelens group executive vice president and member of the Bekaert Group Executive Committee; the appointment is eff ect March 1. Roelens will be responsible for managing and...

Richard Lovely new Rohm and Haas VP.(Power People)
February 1, 2008... Philadelphia -- The board of directors of Rohm and Haas Company elected Richard R. Lovely vice president, corporate director of human resources. In this role, Lovely will lead the company's human resources function and guide workforce...

Ansoft CFO retires.(Power People)
February 1, 2008... Pittsburgh -- Ansoft Corporation CFO Thomas A. N. Miller retired on December 31; he was succeeded by Shane Emswiler, current vice president of finance. Miller is one of the company's founders and has served as CFO since February 2004.

Mentor CEO elected to GSA board of directors.(Power People)
February 1, 2008... Wilsonville, Ore. -- Walden C. Rhines, chair and CEO of Mentor Graphics Corporation, was elected to the Global Semiconductor Alliance (GSA) board of directors. In this role, Rhines will help set the organization's general direction, decide...

Terry Kronz joins prototron sales team.(Power People)
February 1, 2008... Redmond, Wash. -- Prototron Circuits appointed Terry Kronz to manage its sales efforts in the southeast. In this position, Kronz will be responsible for all sales in the southeast, with particular focus on Florida. Kronz has more than 20 years...

Asia continues to shape our industry.(CircuiTree 20-Year Retrospective)(Interview)
February 1, 2008... To note CircuiTree's 20th year, we asked industry luminaries from around the world to provide their perspectives on the advancements, ups, and downs of the past 20 years and their predictions. If you would like to offer your own perspectives on...

Slowing demand and increasing component inventories.(Market Outlook)(Industry overview)
February 1, 2008... Global business conditions continued to cool at year end 2007. The consumer electronics-driven "fall busy season" ended in southeast Asia and U.S. consumers and business leaders struggled with less discretionary spending due to higher energy...

New component identification training and reference guide available.(Data Transfer)(International Printed Circuit )(Brief article)
February 1, 2008... IPC released IPC DRM-18H, Component Identification Training & Reference Guide, a comprehensive Identification resource for electronics assembly operators and inspectors. The guide contains color photographs, computer graphics, schematic...

Thinking about vertical integration.(Material World)
February 1, 2008... Vertical integration related to the laminate business has a long and somewhat checkered history, at least outside of Asia. In the past, it was done by OEMs like IBM, which was vertically integrated from final product all the way back through...

CTS declares quarterly dividend.(Financial)
February 1, 2008... Elkhart, Ind. -- CTS Corporation's board of directors declared a Q4 FY 07 dividend of USD 0.03 per share. The dividend is payable February 1, 2008, to shareholders of record at the close of business on December 28, 2008.

Eltek releases Q3 FY 07 results.(Financial)(Financial report)
February 1, 2008... Petach-Tikva, Israel -- Eltek Ltd. released its Q3 FY 07 results, reporting revenue of USD 8.8 million, compared to USD 8.6 million in Q2 FY 07 and USD 10 million in Q3 FY 06. The year-over-year decrease in revenues is attributable to reduced...

Mentor reports Q3 FY 07 results.(Financial)(Financial report)
February 1, 2008... Wilsonville, Ore. -- Mentor Graphics Corporation reported Q3 FY 07 results of USD 186.3 million. On a GAAP basic, earnings were a loss of USD 0.10 per share; on a non-GAAP basis, earnings were break even. Bookings, up 10 percent year-over-year,...

HASL and flow: a lead-free alternative.
February 1, 2008... The solder surface produced on bare PCBs by hot air solder leveling (HASL) has been used extensively as a solderable finish for many years. The recent conversion to lead-free solder in the electronics industry has led many people to predict the...

Design for test is the key to testing HDI boards.(Happy Thoughts)
February 1, 2008... HDI is the fastest-growing segment of the PCB industry, but it presents certain new challenges. One of the most difficult to employ and understand is design for in-circuit testing (DfT). I am not an expert in in-circuit testing (ICT), but I...

The year of the Rat.(From the Lab)
February 1, 2008... Sounds like it could be an Al Stewart song, doesn't it? February 7, 2008, marks the beginning of the 4,708th year in the Chinese lunar calendar--the Year of the Rat. As I divide my time between our offices in California and China, I have...

Asian chip manufacturing capacity growing at double-digit rate.(Data Transfer)
February 1, 2008... According to In-Stat's report "Semiconductor Manufacturing Capacity Trends in Asia," semiconductor manufacturing in Asia has been increasing at an impressive pace that will continue for at least the next several years. In-Stat predicts that...

Fine lines in High Yield (Part CXLVIII): opens and shorts.(Tech Talk)(printed wiring boards )
February 1, 2008... All PWBs, modules, and IC packages consist of conductive features (circuit lines, vias, pads, power, and ground, etc.) insulated from each other by nonconductive (dielectric) material. Therefore, all defects originating in the circuitizing...

Flexible circuit assembly a la Occam.(Flexible Thinking)
February 1, 2008... In early August 2007, Verdant Electronics announced a new environmentally friendly approach to printed circuit design, manufacture, and assembly without the use of solder. It is called the Occam Process. In the months following the...

Dongguan Somacis Graphic PCB receives environmental certification.(Data Transfer)(Brief article)
February 1, 2008... Dongguan Somacis Graphic PCB Co. Ltd., a joint venture between the Italian group SOMACIS pcb industries and the English Graphic plc, obtained the Environmental Management System, in accordance with the regulation DIN EN ISO 14001:2004, which is...

Plated through-hole voiding--root causes and corrective actions.(Cover story)
February 1, 2008... If manufacturing complex PWBs did not present enough of a challenge, fabricators today are faced with additional hurdles. One added hurdle has been the adoption of the higher performance materials utilized for lead-free assembly. In addition,...

Lean sigma part VIII.(View From the Middle)(Poka-yoke a quality control method)
February 1, 2008... Poka-yoke is literally translated as "mistake-proofing." What is Poka-yoke? It is a method that uses fixtures, tooling, sensors, or other devices to eliminate, or design out, the errors within a process. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Cost of...

EU Competent Authorities confirm no restrictions on Deca-BDE.(Data Transfer)
February 1, 2008... EU Competent Authorities confirmed the conclusions of an EU risk-assessment report on Deca-BDE, which did not identify any significant risks to the environment or human health. EU Member States and the European Commission met on December 11 and...

Waste not, want not with lean six Sigma: five mistakes companies make and five steps to turn it around today.
February 1, 2008... Businesses today are consumed with efforts to make their organizations run leaner and meaner. Two popular approaches include Lean Manufacturing and Six Sigma, both of which can work in tandem to produce significant and near-immediate results at...

Pre-forming flex circuits.(Ask the Flexperts)(Interview)
February 1, 2008... Q: I've heard that flexible circuits can be pre-formed by the manufacturer. Is this a good idea and does it add a lot to the cost? There are many instances where having the manufacturer pre-form a flex circuit makes sense and other...

World PCB production and Laminate market report for the year 2006 available.(Data Transfer)
February 1, 2008... IPC released the World PCB Production and Laminate Market Report for the Year 2006. The report is based on the best data available and shows that the world PCB market expanded in 2006 for the third year in a row. The market, at USD 47.6...