CircuiTree articles from March 2009

CircuiTree archives from March 2009

Gearin' up for IPC APEX.(Lead Wire)(Brief article)
March 1, 2009... As we move through the month of March, continuing to navigate the rough waters of a struggling economy and steer a course toward growth and continued innovation, the attention of many in the PCB industry will begin to turn toward the IPC APEX...

IPC releases PCB industry results for Dec 08.(The Wire)
March 1, 2009... BANNOCKBURN, Ill. -- Association Connecting Electronics Industries[R] announced the December findings from its monthly North American Printed Circuit Board (PCB) Statistical Program. Rigid PCB shipments are down 14.2 percent and bookings...

CALCE and Buehler offer 4-day course on Failure Analysis of Electronics.(The Wire)
March 1, 2009... An intensive 4-day course on Failure Analysis of Electronics is being off ered jointly by CALCE and Buehler. The course will cover specimen preparation and materials analysis techniques applicable to electronic assemblies, components, and...

Excellon Automation announces reorganization of machine sales team.(The Wire)
March 1, 2009... Rancho Dominguez, Calif. -- Excellon Automation announced that it has restructured its sales organization in the North American market from a dedicated direct sales team to a combined direct and indirect sales structure. The company maintains...

Frank Averdung assumes position of SUSS MicroTec AG CEO ahead of schedule.(The Wire)(Brief article)
March 1, 2009... Munich, Germany -- As announced by SUSS MicroTec, Frank Averdung will assume the position of Chief Executive Officer of SUSS MicroTec AG eff ective starting February 1, 2009. The Company's Supervisory Board appointed Mr. Averdung to the...

IEC honors winners of 2009 DesignVision Awards today at DesignCon in Santa Clara.(The Wire)
March 1, 2009... CHICAGO -- The International Engineering Consortium (IEC) announced the winners of the 2009 DesignVision Awards program celebrating the premier design tools and products judged as the most unique and beneficial to the semiconductor industry....

Merix Corporation attains key military certification.(The Wire)
March 1, 2009... BEAVERTON, OR -- (Marketwire) Merix announced the receipt of MIL-PRF-31032 certification for its largest North America factory located in Forest Grove, Oregon. This certification establishes strict performance and verification requirements and...

Innovative Circuits receives ISO certification.(The Wire)
March 1, 2009... Innovative Circuits, Inc received ISO9001:2008 certification from the National Quality Association (NQA) Register. This certifies that Innovative Circuits, Inc has achieved the standard and management commitment for defining quality policies...

Millennia Group names Wasnac director of sales/marketing.(The Wire)
March 1, 2009... Pittsburgh, PA -- Pete Wasnac has joined The Millennia Group, Inc. (TMG) as director of sales/marketing. He will be responsible for managing all of TMG's sales and marketing activities, including its sales representatives, and he will report to...

CAST joins SEMI as special interest group.(The Wire)
March 1, 2009... SAN JOSE, Calif. -- The Collaborative Alliance for Semiconductor Test (CAST) will join SEMI, the global industry association serving the semiconductor supply chain, as a special interest group to better manage and accelerate industry progress...

Panasonic set to book USD 3.9B annual loss.(The Wire)
March 1, 2009... TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan's Panasonic Corp is set to book a $3.9 billion annual net loss, a source with knowledge of the matter said on Monday, as the electronics maker suffers slumping demand and growing costs for plant closures and other...

Hitachi shares plunge 17 percent on record loss warning.(The Wire)
March 1, 2009... TOKYO (Reuters) - Shares in Japan's Hitachi Ltd (6501.T) slid 17 percent to their lowest in 29 years after it shocked investors with a record $7.8 billion annual loss warning and off ered a cost-cutting plan that failed to instill confidence in...

PC/104 market shows healthy growth through the end of 2008.(The Wire)
March 1, 2009... Natick, Mass. -- The market for PC/104 family boards was US$ 248.4 million in 2007 and projected at US$ 262.7 million in 2008 according to the latest embedded stackables research from VDC Research Group, released last month. Actual 2007 dollar...

Fine lines in high yield (part CLXII): dry-film photoresist effluent disposal considerations.(Tech Talk)
March 1, 2009... February's Tech Talk discussed health and environmental considerations. This month's will delve into the proper disposal of spent developer and stripper solution and stripper. For more details see also Reference 1. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]...

Back to Basics part 23-bending and flexing design concerns.(Flexible Thinking)
March 1, 2009... The next two or three installments of this "Back to Basics" series will focus on the fundamental purpose of flexible circuits after electrical and electronic concerns have been met: bending and flexing the circuit and the design features and...

Minimizing impedance discontinuities in high-speed PCB designs.(Printed circuit boards)
March 1, 2009... A growing number of high-speed standards and proprietary serial protocols are posing major design layout challenges for PCB designers. These serial standards include PCI Express, Serial RapidIO, Gigabit Ethernet, XAUI/HiGig, SONET, CPRI, OBSAI,...

Swimming upstream in 2009.(IPC Issues and Answers)
March 1, 2009... A lot of people are asking what will happen in 2009. From the media to our members to our board of directors, it's the issue on everyone's minds. As I sit here to write this (in January), it's clear to everyone that our industry will experience...

Stress'n the little stuff.(Ask the Flexperts)
March 1, 2009... Q: Is there a Web site, article, or book that has different copper trace fractures in flex circuits? I have a flex circuit with broken Cu trace in the zero insertion force (ZIF) connector section, which is reinforced with polyamide stiffener...

Two Women Executives and Their Impact on the PCB Industry.(Interview)
March 1, 2009... With the 2009 IPC APEX EXPO[TM] on the horizon, in particular the association's Women in Electronics meeting, CircuiTree sat down with two woman executives in the PCB industry to discuss their rise to prominence, some of the obstacles they have...

IPC Standardizes Electrical Testing Requirements of Unpopulated Printed Boards.
March 1, 2009... Little did Michael Green know that sending in a comment regarding IPC-9252 would set off a complete revision of the standard. As production design engineer for Lockheed Martin, Green recommended that Level C Continuity in Table 4-1 should be...

Lowering the cost and thickness of multilayers.(Happy Thoughts)
March 1, 2009... I love the topic of "design for lower costs"! It means we get to talk about how technology can lower the cost of a printed circuit. In this case, the specific topic is a new way to fanout a BGA. At Mentor, we have been working on this idea for...

Global update: sobering but true.(Market Outlook)(Report)
March 1, 2009... SIA President George Scalise commented on February 2 regarding the sharp drop in December chip shipments: "Weakening demand for the major drivers of semiconductor sales--including automotive products, personal computers, cell phones, and...

Mentor graphics HyperLynx[R] PI.(Technical Product Spotlights)
March 1, 2009... Mentor Graphics Corporation's HyperLynx PI (power integrity) product addresses the drive to lower power in today's products has led to high performance ICs using multiple voltage levels--some very low. With lower voltages, the DC power and...

Rogers rolls out new high frequency materials, lead-free laminates.(Technical Product Spotlights)
March 1, 2009... Rogers, Conn. -- Rogers Corporation's Advanced Circuit Materials Division will exhibit its RT/duroid[R] high frequency materials and its RO3000[R] and RO4000[R] laminates at the IEEE Radio & Wireless Symposium in San Diego during Radio &...

PCB Matrix IPC LP Calculator.(Technical Product Spotlights)
March 1, 2009... PCB Matrix Corp.'s official IPC LP Calculator is available for free download with no registration, login, or USB key requirement. The V2009 IPC LP Calculator is offered as a major upgrade to all LP Viewer and LP Calculator Limited Edition...

Events.(Brief article)(Calendar)
March 1, 2009... CPCA Show March 17 - 19, 2009 Shanghai www.cpca.org.cn/en The Assembly Summit March 24 - 26, 2009 Chicago www.bnpevents.com/ASB/AS/index.htm 2009 IPC Designers Summit March 29 - April 2, 2009 Las...