CircuiTree articles from March 2008

CircuiTree archives from March 2008

Expo going to Vegas: a gamble, or a sure bet?(My Line)
March 1, 2008... Dear Las Vegas, You've come a long way, baby. Since the mob first walked through a barren desert and said "Why not here?," you have grown from a small strip of casinos to the town The Rat Pack owned to the place where Fat Elvis became the...

Isola appoints F. Gordon Bitter president and CFO.(Power People News)
March 1, 2008... Chandler, Ariz. -- Isola Group, SARL, appointed F. Gordon Bitter executive vice president and chief financial officer, reporting directly to Ray Sharpe, chief executive officer for Isola Group. Previously, Bitter was senior vice president and...

Carano, Siegal, and Utsunomiya join Verdant board.(Power People News)(Brief article)
March 1, 2008... Sunnyvale, Calif. -- Verdant Electronics announced the addition of Michael Carano, Bernie Siegal, and Henry Utsunomiya to its board of advisors. Carano is with OMG Electronic Chemicals and has been involved in the PWB industry for more than 28...

Belusar named senior VP and CFO of CTS Corporation.(Power People News)
March 1, 2008... Elkhart, Ind. - Donna L. Belusar was named senior vice president and chief financial officer of CTS Corporation; she replaced Vinod M. Khilnani. Previously, Belusar was executive chief financial officer of the Global Financing Americas Division...

Tom Brady elected to Winland board.(Power People News)
March 1, 2008... Mankato, Minn. -- Thomas J. Brady was elected to the Winland Electronics, Inc., board of directors; he is the fifth member of the Winland board. Brady will also serve on the audit and nominating/governance committees. With more than 20 years of...

Steven Burke new Endicott CFO.(Power People News)(Endicott Interconnect Technologies Inc.)(Brief article)
March 1, 2008... Endicott, N.Y. -- Steven Burke was appointed chief financial officer of Endicott Interconnect Technologies, Inc., strengthening Endicott's management team during its period of accelerating growth--the company secured substantial funding,...

Indium announces staff changes.(Power People News)
March 1, 2008... Clinton, N.Y. -- Indium announced changes at its global headquarters. Eric Slezak, director of business development, accepted additional responsibilities as director of the assembly products business unit. Ray Altieri was named manager of the...

Shih appointed to Flextronics board.(Power People News)
March 1, 2008... Singapore -- Willy Shih was appointed to Flextronics' board of directors. Shih is currently a senior lecturer at Harvard Business School and previously worked with Kodak, IBM, Silicon Graphics, and Thomson.

Lenz new Sun Chemical CEO and President.(Power People News)
March 1, 2008... Parsippany, N.J. -- Rudi Lenz was appointed chief executive officer and president of Sun Chemical; he succeeded David Hill, who announced his retirement in late 2007. With more than 30 years of experience, Lenz joined Sun Chemical in 2002 after...

Lotosky new Cookson global director of customer support.(Power People News)
March 1, 2008... South Plainfield, N.J. -- Paul Lotosky was named global director of customer technical support for Cookson Electronics. In this role, Lotosky will lead the coordination of the ALPHA[R] global customer technical support efforts as they relate to...

Doyle new director of business development for Sierra Proto.(Power People News)
March 1, 2008... Sunnyvale, Calif. -- Sierra Proto Express named Bill Doyle director of new business development. In this role, Boyle will be responsible for growing Sierra's overall business by managing its rep network; he will also be responsible for finding,...

Cadence and Mentor release open verification methodology.(Technology Today News)(Cadence Design Systems Inc.)(Mentor Graphics Corp.)(Brief article)
March 1, 2008... San Jose, Calif., and Wilsonville, Ore. -- Cadence Design Systems and Mentor Graphics Corp. released the Open Verification Methodology (OVM), distributed under the standard open-source Apache[TM] 2.0 license. The OVM, based on the IEEE Std....

Anderson Power Products releases high power PCB connector and contact series.(Technology Today News)
March 1, 2008... Sterling, Mass. - Anderson Power Products [R] released the high power (45 amp) PCB connector and contact series, which is an ideal solution for applications that require high power connections to a PCB. The connector and contact series can be...

Cimnet releases fully integrated PCB-specific engineering and business software solutions.(Technology Today News)
March 1, 2008... Indianapolis - Cimnet Systems released new versions of three of its PCB-specific engineering and business software solutions: Paradigm Version 3.5, Cimnet's core ERP system; iQuote Version 3.2, an intelligent, web-based solution that automates...

LogicSwap launches new migration tools.(Technology Today News)
March 1, 2008... Munich and Westford, Mass. - Zuken's preferred provider for CADSTAR mitigation software, LogicSwap, launched new migration tools. Now schematics, libraries, and PCB designs can be moved into Zuken's desktop-based PCB design suite, CADSTAR, from...

Technic releases flexible circuit coverlay material/solder mask.(Technology Today News)
March 1, 2008... Cranston, R.I. - Technic released TechniFlex LCL 1000F, a new liquid photoimageable coverlay/solder mask for fl exible circuits that is a RoHS-compliant, halogen- free material that passes UL 94V-0 and NASA outgassing specifications. The new...

Camtek sells Falcon wafer systems to European supplier.(Supply Line News)
March 1, 2008... Migdal Ha'Emek, Israel-Camtek Ltd. sold three Falcon wafer inspection systems to a major global corporation in Europe. Two of the Falcons are for semiconductor wafer inspection and the third was customized for automated inspection of special...

Enthone expands operations to Romania and Slovakia.(Supply Line News)(Brief article)
March 1, 2008... Langenfeld, Germany-Enthone, Inc., continued expansion of its operations throughout the East of Europe region, opening newly formed companies in Romania (Enthone S.R.L.) and Slovakia (Enthone s.r.o.). Located in Bucuresti, Romania, Enthone...

Tapco acquires H.A.M. Technology's North American printed circuit division.(Supply Line News)(Brief article)
March 1, 2008... Addison, Ill.-- Tapco Circuit Supply acquired the PCB division of H.A.M. Technology USA, joining the two companies to provide an industry-leading drill room solution. Acquiring H.A.M. enables Tapco to continue its strategy of investing in the...

Lloyd Doyle installs two systems in Belgium.(Supply Line News)(Brief article)
March 1, 2008... Surrey, England-Lloyd Doyle installed two AOT systems in Belgium. Two redline 6000 X4 were installed at Elprinta NV of Mouscron and Multiboard NV of Poperinge. The systems will be used for scanning inner-and outer-layer multilayer boards; the...

WISE Worldwide announces first year of cooperation with Lords System & Service.(Supply Line News)
March 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 and...

Digitaltest and Valor partner to deliver NPI tools.(Supply Line News)(Valor Computerized Systems Ltd.)(Brief article)
March 1, 2008... Yavne, Israel-Digitaltest GmbH and Valor Computerized Systems Ltd. established a technology partnership to deliver bestin-class NPI solutions for assembly and test planning. The companies offer seamless integration between C-Link (Digitaltest's...

Intraglobal issued fourth patent in Asia.(Supply Line News)(Brief article)
March 1, 2008... Atlanta -- Intraglobal Corp. was issued its fourth patent in Asia for its MicroSite[R] semiconductor packaging technology. A MicroSite semiconductor package is the thinnest component package commercially available and is employed extensively in...

ETI announces second equipment liquidation of China manufacturer.(Supply Line News)
March 1, 2008... Hudson, N.H. -- Equipment Technologies, Inc. (ETI), announced a second equipment liquidation of leading China PCB manufacturer Gultech Suzhou. Equipment includes Pluritec drilling and routing, Microcraft Flying Probe and Kyoeitesters, and...

Tessera licenses consumer optics technologies to Nemotek.(Supply Line News)
March 1, 2008... San Jose, Calif. -- Tessera Technologies, Inc., licensed OptiML[TM] wafer-level camera technology and SHELLCASE[TM] waferlevel chip scale packaging solutions to Nemotek S.A., enabling Nemotek to offer a full range of cost-efficient camera...

Datron awarded Top 100 Innovators Seal of Approval.(Supply Line News)(Brief article)
March 1, 2008... Milford, N.H. -- Datron Dynamics was presented with the Top 100 Innovators Seal of Approval during a ceremony at the Phonixhalle in Germany. Participating companies were evaluated in the following categories: innovative success, innovation...

Dongguan Somacis approved to supply PCBs to multinational leader.(Fab Focus News)(Brief article)
March 1, 2008... Dongguan, China -- Dongguan Somacis Graphic PCB Co. Ltd. announced its approval to supply heavy copper highlayer PCBs to a large multinational leader in the production of high-quality power supply appliances. This homologation is for the...

Nam Tai Group completes reorganization.(Fab Focus News)
March 1, 2008... Macao, China -- Nam Tai Electronics, Inc., completed its previously announced reorganization of the Nam Tai Group structure involving its Hong Kong Stock Exchange-listed subsidiaries: Nam Tai Electronic & Electrical Products Limited and J.I.C....

Endicott fabricates award-winning PCB for IBM.(Fab Focus News)
March 1, 2008... Endicott, N.Y. -- Endicott Interconnect Technologies, Inc., fabricated an award-winning PCB for IBM Zurich Research Laboratory. The complex construction consists of 36 layers, 36,053 blind vias, 29,246 connections, a total trace length of 1.6...

Intel has record fourth quarter.(Financial News)
March 1, 2008... Santa Clara, Calif. -- Intel Corporation reported record Q4 FY 07 revenue of USD 10.7 billion, operating income of USD 3 billion, net income of USD 2.3 billion, and earnings per share of USD 0.38. Operating income for 2007 increased 45 percent,...

Hon Hai December sales up 58 percent.(Financial News)(Financial report)
March 1, 2008... Taiwan -- For December 2007, Hon Hai reported nonconsolidated sales of NTD 149.34 billion, a year-over-year increase of 58.18 percent. Accumulated sales for 2007 increased 42.45 percent year-over-year to NTD 1.2368 trillion.

Numbers down for park in third quarter.(Financial News)
March 1, 2008... Melville, N.Y. -- Park Electrochemical Corp.'s numbers were down in Q3 FY 08, reporting sales of USD 63,653,000, compared to USD 68,195,000 for Q3 FY 07. For the first nine months, Park's sales were USD 181,271,000, compared to USD 197,551,000...

Foxconn sales NTD 12 billion for December.(Financial News)
March 1, 2008... Taiwan -- For December 2007, Foxconn Technology Co., Ltd., reported consolidated sales of NTD 12.861 billion, a 1 percent increase over December 2006; Q4 FY 07 numbers were up 21 percent year-over-year. Accumulated sales for 2007 were NTD...

Merix reports USD 5 million loss.(Financial News)(Financial report)
March 1, 2008... Beaverton, Ore. -- Merix Corporation reported a loss from continuing operations of USD 5.0 million or USD 0.24 per share on revenue of USD 97.4 million for Q2 FY 08. This compares to income from continuing operations of USD 3.0 million or USD...

DDi sales increase 4 percent in fourth quarter.(Financial News)(Financial report)
March 1, 2008... Anaheim, Calif. -- For Q4 FY 07, DDi Corp. reported net sales of USD 45 million. This is a 4 percent increase sequentially and year-over-year; expected adjusted EBITDA was greater than 10 percent of net sales. DDi has seen solid demand so far...

More than moore: consequences for the PCB industry in general and for electrical test in particular.(Cover story)
March 1, 2008... The semiconductor industry is determined to integrate many new functions (sensors/actuators, bio chip, etc.) on a single chip. Even though the prophecy of Moore's Law is still valid, it is no longer sufficient to address many new expectations...

Embedded passives: the long road to becoming mainstream.(Inside the Package)(Column)
March 1, 2008... I first worked on embedded passive component technology in the mid-'90s as a new R&D engineer at Georgia Tech. At that time, I was told that embedded passives were developed in earnest starting in the early '90s and that it was only a matter of...

Finish options: just the pads, Ma'am, and a RoHS gold rush.(Ask the Flexperts)(Interview)
March 1, 2008... Q: I was asked to consider padsonly plating for my design. What is pads-only plating, and why is it required? A: Pads-only plating (sometimes referred to as button plating) is commonly described as a process whereby plating is deposited in...

New study on embedded components available.(Data Transfer)
March 1, 2008... Austin, Tex. -- According to TechSearch International's new study, "Embedded Active Components and Integrated Passives: Technologies and Markets," embedded components are one of the most significant developments in the electronics industry...

Optical reflectivity as a nondestructive measurement technique for OSP coating thickness on production PCBs.
March 1, 2008... Organic solderability preservative (OSP) coatings feature among the leading surface finish options in the PCB industry because of their excellent solderability, lead-free applicability, ease of processing, and low cost. OSP coatings are...

What's happening--2010: part 1-OEM/fabricator balance and an industry standard for board descriptions.(CircuiTree 20-Year Retrospective)(Company overview)
March 1, 2008... In this three-part CircuiTree 20th Anniversary Retrospective Series, industry veteran Dieter Bergman will walk you through the technology, business, and geographical drivers that have shaped our industry and serve as the roadmap for its future....

Letter to the editor.(Inbox)(Letter to the editor)
March 1, 2008... I just read the article about crosshatching by Lee Ritchey. I have to disagree with what he said. The author does not understand today's demand for high-density PCB fabrication. No fabricator in the world would ask for crosshatching or copper...

2008: tighten your belt.(Market Outlook)(Company overview)
March 1, 2008... Based upon global semiconductor shipments (Chart 1), electronic assembly activity has now moved into a slow down phase worldwide. Although North American electronic equipment orders improved in December (Chart 2), most economists see a...

Chip packaging 2.0 provides benefits to board designers.
March 1, 2008... Experts skilled in the art of PCB design have probably experienced the "last pin" debacle. You're wrapping up a complex design after months on the project, giving it your best effort of hands-on experience and intuition. You've employed a...

PCB and EMS salary budgets increased more than 3 percent.(Data Transfer)
March 1, 2008... Bannockburn, Ill., -- An IPC study released in January showed that wages in the PCB and EMS industries have increased. The two reports, 2006-2007 IPC Wage Rate and Salary Report for the PCB Industry and 2006-2007 IPC Wage Rate and Salary Report...

Fine lines in high yield (Part CL): the first 150 tech talks -- a reflection.(Tech Talk)(Editorial)
March 1, 2008... In January 2004, Tech Talk Number 100 was issued. I used the occasion to reflect on industry changes during the course of the last 100 months that seemed noteworthy, and I reminisced about the beginnings of this column. [ILLUSTRATION...

EPA withdraws proposed changes to TRI forms.(Data Transfer)(Environmental Protection Agency)(Brief article)
March 1, 2008... Bannockburn, Ill. -- The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) significantly revised its proposed changes to the 2007 Toxic Release Inventory (TRI) Information Collection Request (ICR), which included adding new data elements to TRI forms A and...

SEMI book-to-bill report shows increased bookings.(Data Transfer)
March 1, 2008... San Jose, Calif. -- According to SEMI's book-to-bill report, North American-based manufacturers of semiconductor equipment posted USD 1.23 billion in orders in December 2007, signifying a book-to-bill ratio of 0.89. The three-month average of...

RoHS under review: IPC urges commission to aim for science-based regulations with thorough consideration of life cycle impacts.(Data Transfer)
March 1, 2008... Bannockburn, Ill. -- The Government Relations and Environment, Health and Safety Committees of IPC submitted comments to the European Commission reviewing the Restriction of Hazardous Substances (RoHS) Directive. With the threat of an...

CES 2008 wrap-up--an evolutionary show.(Fein-Lines)(Consumer Electronics Show)
March 1, 2008... This is the ninth year in a row that I have covered CES for CircuiTree. So, what is new this year? Actually, very little is really new but almost everything is renewed. This year the CES show appeared to be bigger and busier than ever with...

Back to basics part 20--land design for flex circuit plated through-holes.(Flexible Thinking)
March 1, 2008... In Part 19 of this series, the discussion centered on surface mount land terminations for flexible circuits and reviewed the synergistic relationship between flexible circuits and surface mount technology. In this part of the Back to Basics...

Events.(Calendar)
March 1, 2008... 6th EIPC Technology Trip to China March 16-22, 2008 Shanghai www.eipc.org CPCA Show March 18-20, 2008 Shanghai www.cpca.org.cn/en IPC Printed Circuits Expo[R], APEX[R] and the Designers Summit April...