CircuiTree articles from January 2004

CircuiTree archives from January 2004

An open letter to all California PCB fabricators.(Letters)(Letter to the Editor)
January 1, 2004... Our industry is finally recovering from what has undoubtedly been the most difficult time in our history. The last two years have been so devastating, that those of us that are still in business are referred to as the "survivors." When your...

Common factor among strong manufacturing nations: good government.(TheWayWeSeeIt)
January 1, 2004... Happy New Year! Last year ended with industry expansion even in the hardest hit circuit board-producing nations. This year, we're finally expecting more profits than pain. Whether you're making circuit boards, buying them, or supplying products...

Military PCBs: the 'only other' sure thing in life.
January 1, 2004... In a world where we don't like to discuss the first two sure things in life, it's refreshing to understand the military market is certain to stay primarily in America for many years to come. How to become a qualified military supplier. ...

Comdex: a virtual shadow of the 90s.(Fein-Lines)
January 1, 2004... Just six years ago there were 200,000 people at Comdex, a show that once spanned the entire Las Vegas hotel, both floors of the Sands convention centers, as well as a number of meeting rooms in various hotels. This year the announced attendance...

Executive Forum unites supply chain.
January 1, 2004... Hosted by Orbotech in the paradise-like environment of southern Thailand, representatives from major OEMs, EMS providers, and PCB manufacturers attended an executive conference to discuss market and technology trends in Asia ********** ...

Embedded passives: 'now we shall see'.(EmbeddedPassivesUpdate)(Column)
January 1, 2004... There's a great scene in one of my favorite movies, "The Man Who Would Be King," where some big claims are put to the test. Fast-talking Sean Connery has traveled halfway around the world to convince an isolated civilization in the Himalayas...

ESI, MIE sign distributor agreement.(Suppliers)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2004... Munich, Germany -- Electro Scientific Industries (ESI) Inc. and MIE announced a new distributor agreement for laser drilling systems. The agreement makes MIE an authorized distributor and product representative for the laser drilling equipment...

Fuba, Cimnet sign multi-million Euro deal.(Suppliers)(Fuba Printed Circuits GmbH)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2004... Munich, Germany -- Fuba Printed Circuits GmbH (FUBA) and Cimnet Systems Consulting (Cimnet) agreed on a multi-year multi-million Euro engagement to enhance Fuba's IT capability and install software solutions from Cimnet. Under the agreement,...

Westwind Air Bearings China receives quality accolade.(Suppliers)(ISO9001:2000 certification)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2004... Suzhou, China -- Following a system review and on-site audit by Lloyd's Register Quality Assurance, Westwind Air Bearings Suzhou (China) Company Ltd. successfully gained ISO9001:2000 certification. Opened in March 2003, Westwind's facility in...

Isola Laminates discontinues Gigaver products.(Suppliers)(discontinuation of Gigaver products due to product defects)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2004... Chandler, AZ -- Isola Laminate Systems Corp. announced that the accelerating acceptance of IS620, its low Dk, low-loss product for high-speed digital applications, would lead to discontinuation of Gigaver products by the end of 2003. "IS620 has...

Fein-Line to represent Boeing Intellectual Property Business.(Suppliers)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2004... The Boeing Intellectual Property Business has signed Fein-Line Associates Inc. (San Clemente, CA) to represent them in the licensing of specific intellectual properties. Fein-Line's principal, Dan Feinberg, will be briefed on and will soon...

Elprinta invest in Lloyd Doyle's redline [X.sup.2].(Suppliers)(Elprinta NV confirmed the deal at the Productronica 2003 exhibition)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2004... Lloyd Doyle announced an installation in Europe for the groundbreaking new Automatic Optical Test system, redline [X.sup.2]. Elprinta NV of Mouscron, Belgium confirmed the deal at the Productronica 2003 exhibition. Elprinta specialize in the...

CCMP earns ISO 9001-2000 certification.(Suppliers)(International Organization for Standardization)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2004... Anaheim, CA -- CCMP Inc., North America's last independent supplier of mass lam blanks, was recognized by registrar BSI for conformance to the ISO 9001-2000 standard. CCMP, Inc. manufactures custom mass lam panels (multiclad) for PCB...

Ticona, LPFK Laser & Electronics sign know-how and license agreement.(Suppliers)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2004... Wilsonville, OR -- LPKF Laser & Electronics has entered a know-how and license agreement with Ticona (Kelsterbach, Germany) for the material Vectra[R] LCP (Liquid Crystal Polymer). The agreement enables Ticona to modify their LCP material for...

HMS Hollmuller, Ormecon International join forces.(Suppliers)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2004... Munich, Germany -- HMS Hollmuller and Ormecon International formed a partnership to cooperate in immersion tin process technology for PCB surfaces. Both companies are already working together with several mutual customers such as Viasystems in...

Tritek Circuit Products announces new partnerships.(Suppliers)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2004... Orange, CA -- Tritek Circuit Products announced two new partnerships in Southern California. Tritek will distribute the Kodak line of Silver Films and Process Chemicals. Additionally, Tritek agreed to represent Orbotech, a supplier of optical...

Microtek Labs breaks ground in China.(Suppliers)(new facility )
January 1, 2004... Changzhou, China -- Microtek Labs announced that construction has begun on its new facility in China, with the completion set for Fall 2004. To meet growing demand for testing in China Microtek has cleared the way and broken ground on what will...

Fine lines in high yield (Part C): the first hundred Tech Talks -- a reflection.(TechTalk)(Column)
January 1, 2004... It was in the spring of 1995 when Ray Rasmussen visited DuPont's Electronic Technology Center in Research Triangle Park, NC, to interview Steve Quindlen, Director of the Printed Circuit Materials (PCM) Business Unit at the time, on issues such...

East and west: TPCA & Productronica 2003.(Taiwan Printed Circuit Association)
January 1, 2004... The close proximity of the Taiwan Printed Circuit Association (TPCA) and Productronica shows was a rare chance to gauge the state of the electronics manufacturing industries on a global basis, and to highlight the differences in trends between...

Productronica 2003: a product and technology snapshot.(TPCA & Productronica 2003)
January 1, 2004... This overview is intended to highlight new and recent product and technology introductions. The coverage is not meant to be comprehensive because of time and space limitations (sorry, if I missed your favored product!), but hopefully it is...

DuPont Printed Circuit Materials exhibits at Productronica.(Products)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2004... Research Triangle Park, NC -- DuPont Printed Circuit Materials featured its latest technology developments in primary imaging for PWB fabrication at Productronica. Three new advances in DuPont[TM] Riston[R] dry film photoresist technology were...

Preco Laser Systems introduces FlexPro.(Products)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2004... Preco Laser Systems, LLC, a provider of laser processing systems and contract production services to the flexible circuit industry, introduces the FlexPro series of laser systems designed for laser processing flexible circuits and other thin...

Fabfile Online introduced.(Products)(Fabfile Systems online)(MS Access platform)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2004... Fabfile Online announced it has put the former Fabfile Systems online. It uses a newly created MS Access platform to display HTML reports at www.fabfileonline.com and outputs data in both MS Access database and MS Excel spreadsheet. This makes...

Isola introduces new materials at Productronica.(Products)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2004... Duren, Germany -- At Productronica, Isola introduced a number of new products in conjunction with the topics of "thermal conductivity," "high-frequency applications" and "halogen-free base materials" on which attention is currently focused....

HMS Hollmuller presents two new concepts.(Products)(second generation of touch-free transport equipment for PCBs and HDF-Tsunami flooding technology)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2004... Munich, Germany -- HMS Hollmuller announced the second generation of its touch-free transport equipment for PCBs. The solution enables the most efficient utilization of the work space, guaranteeing successful transportation for inner layers and...

WISE Software Solutions releases PADS[TM] ASCII interface for GerbTool[TM] version 13.0.(Products)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2004... Newberg, OR -- WISE Software Solutions Inc. released its PADS PowerPCB[TM] "ASCII" database interface for GerbTool[TM] version 13 (www.gerbtool.com). This new interface streamlines the flow of data for PowerPCB[TM] users by allowing them to...

Samtec RISE-UP[TM] system addresses board stacking requirements.(Products)
January 1, 2004... Samtec's new RISE-UP[TM] high speed interconnect system (HSC8 Series) uses controlled impedance PCB with embedded ground plane for greatly improved performance over traditional connector sets. They are capable of transmitting data in excess of...

Park Electrochemical provides new dielectric offering.(Products)
January 1, 2004... Lake Success, NY -- Park Electrochemical Corp. now offers the N9000-13 RF PTFE performance blended laminate material with a dielectric constant of 3.38. This new substrate option was developed to meet industry demands for a material that will...

New system helps critical components dissipate heat.(Products)
January 1, 2004... Coeur d'Alene, ID -- Integrated Ideas & Technologies Inc. developed a quicker, easier, accurate, and more cost effective way of applying the compounds. It's called T-CAT, or Thermal Compound Application Technology. The system uses ESD safe...

LPKF releases Pulsonix Chip Packaging Toolkit.(Products)
January 1, 2004... 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...

DuPont Microcircuit Materials adds embedded/surface resistors to its Green Tape[TM] material.(Products)(DuPont Microcircuit Materials enhanced Loss Green Tape[TM] material system,)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2004... Research Triangle Park, NC -- DuPont Microcircuit Materials enhanced the value of its 943 Low Loss Green Tape[TM] material system, used primarily for high-frequency applications, by commercializing screen printable, co-fired embedded resistors...

DEK reveals new Via Fill process.(Products)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2004... The new DEK Via Fill process delivers 100% fill of substrate vias with no voids and minimal surface residue. Enabled by ProFlow[R] DirEKt Imagaing, this via fill system is repeatable and results in greater accuracy and throughput of over five...

Adeon Technologies, Elprintta ink deal.(Products)
January 1, 2004... Adeon Technologies B.V. announced the next sale of the first FineTrak FT300 series laser photoplotter to Elprintta OY of Lahti, Finland. According to Adeon, the three-laser model (FT303) is the fastest photoplotter on the market capable of...

Flexible electronic super highways for chip to chip communication.(FlexibleThinking)
January 1, 2004... Optoelectronics dominated the technology news a few years back. More recently nano-technology, an all embracing term that covers everything from mechanics to biology to electronics, has become the most recent mantra for the future of...

DFM: a process to provide best solutions; Using DFM tools, fabricators can help customers achieve performance and cost targets.(Design for Manufacturability)(Cover Story)
January 1, 2004... Not having DFM (Design for Manufacturability) checks in place for printed circuit board fabrication is a recipe for disaster. Potentially fatal flaws in a PCB design go undiscovered, yields are low, costs rise, and your customer's critical new...

The show before the show: IPC Expo product preview.
January 1, 2004... On February 24-26, 2004, IPC will host its annual Printed Circuits Expo in Anaheim, California, Over 500 exhibitors will be on hand to make their pitch regarding PCB design, manufacture, assembly, and test. But before you walk the show floor,...

Fujikura reports six-layer rigid flex board.(Fabrication)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2004... Tokyo, Japan -- Fujikura's Printed Circuit Division (Tokyo, Japan), recently developed a six-layer rigid flex board, which reportedly achieves interlayer conductivity with conventional through holes, as well as offering an interlayer connection...

Sprig Circuits acquires Circuit Lam.(Fabrication)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2004... Vacaville, CA -- Sprig Circuits Inc. (Vacaville, CA) has acquired the assets of Circuit Lam Inc. (Santa Clara, CA). Circuit Lam is a custom laminator providing inner layer laminations to the circuit board industry. The facility will remain in...

Bare Board Group receives ISO certification, IPC membership.(Fabrication)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2004... The Bare Board Group announced that its Quality Management System received ISO 9001:2000 certification. In addition, BBG became a member of IPC, the only trade association that brings together all of the players in this industry: designers,...

Conquest Technology moves to new building.(Fabrication)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2004... Winter Springs, FL -- Conquest Technology, Inc. announced it has moved to the Tuscawilla Office Park, on Tuskawilla Road near State Road 434 in Winter Springs, Florida. The company will occupy the entire 3,600 square foot building. Conquest...

Electrotek recieves ISO 9001:2000 registration.(Fabrication)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2004... Oak Creek, WI -- Electrotek Corp. received ISO 9001:2000 registration in August 2003. According to Tom Tikusis, director of Quality, Electrotek was found in complete compliance with no audit findings. Audit and certification was completed by...

U.S. Fabricator partners with Welsh manufacturer.(Fabrication)(Pioneer Circuits )(Labtech)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2004... Presteigne, UK -- Labtech (Presteigne, Wales), a maker of microwave PCBs, announced that it partnered with Pioneer Circuits (Santa Ana, CA), a manufacturer of flexible and rigid-flex boards. Pioneer will promote Labtech's capabilities to the...

All Flex gets ISO certification.(Fabrication)(quality management system)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2004... Northfield, MN -- All Flex, Inc. received certification of its quality management system to the ISO 9001:2000 quality standard. This upgrade of the company's certification demonstrates that All Flex Inc. has established a quality management...

Invotec wins BAE Systems' supplier excellence award.(Fabrication)(Invotec Group Ltd. won an award)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2004... Invotec Group Ltd. won an award from BAE Systems for its manufacturing site in Tamworth, Staffordshire. The site is one of the first suppliers to BAE Systems Avionics sector to have achieved the attainment. As a PCB manufacturer, Invotec is...

Advanced Circuits creates Bare Bones prototype PCBs.(Fabrication)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2004... Aurora, CO -- Advanced Circuits introduced a new prototype PCB service designed to cut project time and costs. Offered via the web at www.BareBonePCB.com, a basic two-layer board is manufactured and shipped the very next day. The Bare Bones...

GSPK: mums the word.(Fabrication)(GSPK Electronics offers flexibility for women)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2004... Knaresborough, UK -- Women in Knaresborough are happy to be working for GSPK Electronics Ltd because of the thoughtful way in which the company allows them the scope to combine parenthood and the workplace. This way of working at GSPK is more...

Rodel, Shipley to change name.(Fabrication)(Shipley Company Inc. and Rodel Inc. renamed Rohm and Haas Electronic Materials)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2004... Marlborough, MA -- Shipley Company and Rodel will become Rohm and Haas Electronic Materials, effective February 1, 2004. Rodel and Shipley together comprise the more than $1 billion Electronic Materials business group of Rohm and Haas Company,...

U.S. recovery: real and sustainable.(MarketOutlook)(Column)
January 1, 2004... Business conditions continue to improve. However, understandably a number of respected industry leaders are unconvinced and are questioning this rebound's sustainability. Considering the three years of horror most domestic electronics companies...

When is a waste not a waste? The EPA's definition of solid waste.(EnvironmentallySpeaking)
January 1, 2004... If it seems like the title of this article is a bit of a rhetorical paradox, it is. But then, so are the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA's) proposed revisions to the definition of solid waste under the Resource Conservation and Recovery...