CircuiTree articles from May 2005

CircuiTree archives from May 2005

U.S. must focus on R & D to reclaim innovative spirit.(Letters)(Letter to the Editor)
May 1, 2005... I enjoy [Dan Feinberg's] commentaries [Fein-Lines]. I knew we agreed on the free trade issue. My degree is in Economics. I don't know whether that makes a difference in my views but free trade just seems to make more sense, and history is full...

Correction.(Correction Notice)
May 1, 2005... In last month's article "North America's PCB Industry 'Shows' Improvement" [CircuiTree April, page 54] we incorrectly reported that Cookson Electronics was planning to close its laminate facility in southern California. In fact, the company...

Solder mask: beauty beyond skin deep.(SupplierSpotlight)
May 1, 2005... In the past ten years, solder mask's role in the performance and appearance of PCBs has become extremely important. Only four materials are a permanent part of the board: laminate, copper, solder mask/legend ink, and the final metal finish. ...

Creative destruction.(TheWayWeSeeIt)(industry forecasts and trends)
May 1, 2005... Is another wave of PCB manufacturing consolidation headed our way? PricewaterhouseCoopers' Advisory Group believes the tech sector is already up to its eyeballs in one right now. Mergers and acquisition activity in this area jumped 23 percent...

Iceberg ahead! By immersing 80 percent of thick copper areas directly in the substrate, it's now possible to unite copper layouts of 400[micro]m copper depth on the same level and on the same circuit board. Introducing "iceberg technology.".
May 1, 2005... Printed circuit boards with a copper layer thickness of up to 400[micro]m continue to gain importance in power electronics. Wherever high currents flow, designers try to find costsaving and multifunctional alternatives to conduct high electric...

Has everyone become a consultant? (Part II).(Fein-Lines)
May 1, 2005... In late 2000, I left Morton (Dynachem), deciding never again to be part of corporate executive management. Instead, I became a consultant. But I soon noticed that I was not alone in this endeavor. Those were the days, before the bubble burst,...

Technology drivers for printed circuits.(HappyThoughts)(economic aspects of computer hardware industry)
May 1, 2005... By now you're probably tired of hearing about printed circuit manufacturing moving to China. I am. But let's step back and consider what's really important in this picture. Technology is the driver that takes PCB manufacturing along as a...

An alternative economic indicator.(SeeingTheLight)(trade shows of computer hardware industry)
May 1, 2005... I had a very interesting thought at the IPC Gala this year: It (and similar events) could possibly be used as an economic indictor. I admit that I have not been impressed with the Gala the last few years. In fact, last year I did not even...

Inflation and the 'Goldilocks economy'.(Finance & Forecast)
May 1, 2005... The last period of big inflation in the U.S. was in the late 1960s and 1970s. It's a story of war, higher oil prices, and the creation and eventual reigning in of "inflationary expectations." [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] At a critical point...

Advanced Circuits introduces Check Plot Online.(Fabrication)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2005... Aurora, CO -- Advanced Circuits made available its Check Plot Online, a PDF preview tool that provides engineers with an accurate and convenient view of circuit board designs prior to production. Using Check Plot Online, engineers upload Gerber...

AT & S closes Fohnsdorf, invests 11 million euro in Leoben-Hinterberg.(Fabrication)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2005... Vienna -- AT & S will move some of its production within Austria from Fohnsdorf to Leoben-Hinterberg by the end of 2005, with an investment of 6 million euro to secure jobs in Austria. The relocation will begin in the spring and be completed in...

CMK invests millions in China PCB upgrades.(Fabrication)
May 1, 2005... Tokyo -- CMK Corp. plans to spend up to 10 billion yen ($95.5 million) on capital investment in the year through March 2006, which will be a 20-30 percent increase from the current fiscal year. The majority of the investments will be made to...

TT electronics acquires manufacturing base in China.(Fabrication)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2005... TT electronics plc acquired Dage Electronics Integrated Systems (DEIS), a contract manufacturer with manufacturing facilities in Suzhou near Shanghai, and Aylesbury in the UK.

Honeywell gets award from Samsung.(Fabrication)(Honeywell Electronic Materials acheives Best Quality Award )(Brief Article)
May 1, 2005... Morris Township, NJ -- Honeywell announced that its Electronic Materials business has been awarded the Best Quality Award from Samsung Electronics' Semiconductor Business. The Best Quality Award is one of several top supplier awards...

M-Flex, Mobility Electronics team up.(Fabrication)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2005... Irvine, CA -- Multi-Fineline Electronix Inc. (M-Flex) and Mobility Electronics Inc. signed technology development and manufacturing agreements aimed at utilizing M-Flex's component assembly capabilities and new embedding technology to reduce...

GSPK celebrates SMED certificates.(Fabrication)(GSPK Circuits Ltd.)(Single Minute Exchange of Dies certificates)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2005... Martyn Gibson, Operations Director at GSPK Circuits Ltd., expects an increase in production and output as a direct result of a forward-thinking initiative in staff training. Colleagues have celebrated achieving their SMED (Single Minute...

Prestwick Circuits forced to layoff 75 employees.(Fabrication)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2005... TT Electronics' Scottish PCB business Prestwick Circuits has cut 75 staff in production and support areas. The cuts have been forced by lower cost competition from Far Eastern manufacturers, said the firm in a statement. The firm has been...

Non-classical conductor losses due to copper foil roughness and treatment: results for a set of high frequency loss characterizations across various copper foils reveal the impact of the copper roughness on the relationship between conductor loss and frequency.
May 1, 2005... Copper foil is roughened to promote adhesion of the dielectric resin to the conductor in printed circuit boards. Adhesion at the interface between conductor and insulator must be very robust due to conditions during manufacturing, assembly, and...

Steady as she goes ... people continue to buy electronic equipment!(MarketOutlook)(Industry Overview)
May 1, 2005... World rigid and flexible PCB production totaled almost $40 billion in 2004 (Chart 1). This is based upon a FOREX conversion at constant 2004 exchange rates. Since this $40 billion total is U.S. dollar denominated, converting from strong euros,...

Isola reveals three new products for RF, Microwave markets.(Brief Article)
May 1, 2005... Chandler, AZ -- Isola Group Srl announced the launch of the following three new products for the RF and Microwave market: IS640-300 with a nominal dielectric constant of 3.00 at 10 GHz, IS640-320 with a nominal dielectric constant of 3.20, and...

Mania Technologie enjoys successful trade shows.
May 1, 2005... Mania Technologie took its "Total Focus" roadshow to Anaheim (IPC Printed Circuits Expo) and Shanghai (CPCA Show) during the last few months, signing several important contracts and selling equipment in both North America and Asia. The company...

Asia: ally or scapegoat?(ViewFromTheMiddle)(analysis of printed circuit board industry)(Industry Overview)
May 1, 2005... I have been fairly successful in avoiding controversial topics with this column, but am anticipating a very emotional response to my topic of choice this month. Because I continue to be asked the same question by my old friends in the industry,...

Insulectro now National Distributor for Pacothane.(Brief Article)
May 1, 2005... New York, NY -- Pacothane Technologies, Division of Multilayer Worldwide Enterprises LLC, announced that Insulectro will become the exclusive Distributor for the Pacothane Products in the Upper Midwest states including Illinois, Eastern...

US Circuit purchases Ceco Hole Checker.(Brief Article)
May 1, 2005... Anaheim, CA -- Ceco Industries announced the purchase of an HC-8 Hole Checker by US Circuit Inc. For use after drilling, plating, and HASL, the HC-8 inspects for presence, size, and cleanliness of all holes, up to 600,000 per panel. US Circuit...

Back to basics 3: conductive coatings and metal foils for flexible circuits.(FlexibleThinking)
May 1, 2005... The reader will recall that in Part 2 of this series, the discussion focused on polymer base films for flexible circuits. In this, the third part of the series, the focus turns to look at conductive coatings and metal foils used in the...

Invest or die: Multilayer Technologies grows up; An interview with a small, Texas printed circuit fabricator reveals that investing in new equipment and technologies is directly proportional to a company's sales growth.(Brief Article)
May 1, 2005... At first glance, Multilayer Technologies doesn't look like anything special. Located in Irving, Texas, the company seems like one of the hundreds of small quickturn PCB fabricators that dot North America's landscape. The 25,000 square foot...

Holy Toledo! Sanmina reworks Spanish facility for lead-free compliance.(Brief Article)
May 1, 2005... Toledo, Spain -- Sanmina-SCI Corp. invested $582,840 (450,000 euro) adapting its plant in Toledo, Spain to comply with the new directive of the European Union (EU), the company reported. Formerly owned by French telecommunications giant...

Are we there yet?(EmbeddedPassivesUpdate)(usage forecasts)
May 1, 2005... A year and a half ago, I started this column off by noting that it's beginning to become clear what effect embedded passives would have on our industry. Although there is still much fog to lift, we are making good progress in finding our way in...

DfR Solutions, Interface Sciences Team up on CAF formation.(Suppliers)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2005... DfR Solutions and Interface Sciences Corp. (ISC) have partnered to investigate potential improvements in CAF resistance through the application of ISC's molecular assembly and deposition technologies. DfR Solutions identified this technology as...

U.S. Circuit selects Chemcut for new plant.(Suppliers)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2005... U.S. Circuit installed seven lines of Chemcut equipment in its new 40,000 square-foot production facility in Escondido, Calif. The new installations includes Chemcut's wet processing equipment for chemical cleaning, developing, etching and...

Printar establishes sales office in North America.(Suppliers)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2005... Anaheim, CA -- Printar Ltd. established its organization in North America. Gregory Blake is heading the company's U.S. office in New Hampshire. All4-PCB signed a distribution agreement for the sale of Printar's digital printing products on the...

Flex-ability gets new Lenz drill.(Suppliers)(Lenz DLG 615-1+1 drilling machine)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2005... Flex-ability, a manufacturer of flexible and flexible rigid circuits in the U.K., purchased a new fully automated Lenz DLG 615-1+1 drilling machine. This latest acquisition complements the purchases of a new UCAM front-end software system and a...

Plasma Etch victim of counterfeiting scam.(Suppliers)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2005... Carson City, NV -- Plasma Etch, Inc. has become aware that counterfeit plasma machines are being marketed and sold under the name "Plasma Etch Asia Pacific" throughout Asia. "These machines are damaging the reputation of Plasma Etch, Inc. USA,...

Test Technology International announces tester sale.(Suppliers)
May 1, 2005... Carson City, NV -- Test Technology International (TTI) announced a one-of-a-kind inventory sale of all remaining bare board and backplane universal grid test systems in its Carson City headquarters. All testers are factory-new and TTI will...

Isola acquires Italian fiberglass cloth maker.(Suppliers)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2005... Chandler, AZ -- Isola Group acquired the assets and intellectual property of Gividi-Italy, a specialty manufacturer of fiberglass cloth for the PCB industry. The company, located in Monza Italy, has revenue of over $20 million, and will report...

More AOT for AT & S, GG Circuits.(Suppliers)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2005... AT & S placed the first order for Lloyd Doyle's new LD6000 range of AOT equipment. The redline X4 system has new camera designs, faster electronics and new mechanical hardware which bring improvements in throughput and ease of use. In...

March Plasma Systems gets new digs.(Suppliers)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2005... March Plasma Systems moved to its new facilities in St. Petersburg, Florida. The new plant is located near its current facility, and signifies March's continued investment in its Florida-based product lines. The company's new address is 1000...

Viking Test Services announces more sales.(Suppliers)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2005... Multi-Teknik (Sweden) purchased its second MicroCraft test system from Viking Test Services. The company's first MicroCraft machine was installed in January this year. In other news, Viking Test Services sold multiple MicroCraft test...

HMS-Hollmuller trumpets ComPlate UTM series.(Suppliers)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2005... HMS Hollmuller succeeded in establishing its newest flex module generation: the ComPlate UTM, in the international PCB market. "Manufacturers in Japan, Korea, China, Taiwan, Europe and the U.S. decided in favor of our ComPlate UTM series,...

EADS selects Seica.(Suppliers)(Seica SpA and EADS Test and Services)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2005... Paris -- Seica SpA signed a licensing agreement with EADS Test and Services to add a third level optional testing capability to its line of second level systems, ATEC Series 6 and derived products.

CPCA show 2005: the circus in Shanghai; Shanghai's premiere PCB exhibition again boasted record attendance--but does a rival show threaten its future?(China Printed Circuit Association, printed circuit board)
May 1, 2005... In late March, the CPCA Show 2005 opened to rain, red carpets, and rock-n-roll music. On the steps of the Shanghai Mart, industry trade association representatives shuffled on stage for the obligatory ribbon-cutting ceremony, with a small but...

Dimensional Imprint Technology.(People)(appointment of Dr. Davidson )(Brief Article)
May 1, 2005... Dr. Davidson joined Dimensional Imprint Technology as senior vice president and CTO. Formerly the vice president of technology for Multek, he holds seven patents and is widely published.

Rohm and Haas.(People)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2005... Philadelphia, PA -- Rohm and Haas Company announced Sam Shoemaker will become Business Unit Director for Circuit Board Technologies and Regional Director for the company's Asia-Pacific region. Shoemaker currently has regional business...

March Plasma Systems.(People)(appointment of Hirotaka Tanabe )(Brief Article)
May 1, 2005... March Plasma Systems named Hirotaka Tanabe as its Senior Applications Engineer for Japan. Tanabe joins the March team based in Nordson's Tokyo office that provides local support for March customers throughout Japan. He has over six years of...

Rogers.(People)(appointment of Paul B. Middleton)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2005... Rogers, CT -- Rogers Corporation announced that James M. Rutledge, Vice President of Finance, CFO and Treasurer, resigned for personal reasons. Paul B. Middleton, Corporate Controller, was appointed Acting CFO. Robert M. Soffer, Vice President...

Solectron.(People)(appointment of Tony Princiotta and Hossein Saadat)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2005... Milpitas, CA -- Solectron Corporation expanded its enclosures and sheet metal facility in Milpitas, Calif. Solectron has appointed two executives who will be responsible for managing and leading these operations: Tony Princiotta as vice...

Schlafhorst Electronics.(People)(appointment of Rudiger Dewitz )(Brief Article)
May 1, 2005... Schlafhorst Electronics (SE) named Rudiger Dewitz as its new head of development. He is the successor of HansGeorg Nowak.

IPC board of directors.(appointments)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2005... Bannockburn, IL -- IPC elected six board members. They will serve a two-year term covering calendar years 2005 and 2006. IPC re-elected four members, including Jack Calderon, managing director, Lincoln Partners LLC; Paul Langston, CEO, Coretec...

Merix.(People)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2005... Forest Grove, OR -- Merix announced that Tom Ingham, Director of Quick Turn Sales and Marketing, has assumed responsibility for Merix' manufacturer's rep sales channels in North America. Reporting to Ingham will be Mike Kadlec, Western Region,...

Technic Electric.(appointed Nigel Talbot )(Brief Article)
May 1, 2005... Southhampton, UK -- Technic Electric is expanding its sales team with a strategic new appointment in order to increase both its product range and service capability. To that end, it appointed Nigel Talbot to Sales. Nigel has a wealth of...

Fine lines in high yield (Part CXVI): hole voids (Part C).(TechTalk)
May 1, 2005... Conductor via through-hole voids, or "hole voids," are a variety of defects stemming from a number of different causes leading to insufficient or missing metal coverage in the conductor via. This four-part Tech Talk series is an update of the...

TXP's three divisions get new digs in Texas.(Texas Prototypes Inc)(TCIT Dallas Industrial, Inc)
May 1, 2005... Richardson, TX -- TXP-Texas Prototypes Inc. signed a five-year lease with TCIT Dallas Industrial, Inc., for 30,783 square feet of industrial warehouse space located at 1299 Commerce Drive, Suite B, Richardson, Texas in the heart of the Telecom...

DownStream Technologies announces BluePrint-PCB.(Products)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2005... Bolton, MA -- DownStream Technologies LLC announced a dynamic new product to create PCB documentation: BluePrint-PCB. It's a revolutionary new document authoring tool, developed in the style of Microsoft Office[R], that creates electronic PCB...

Zero Defects introduces Turbo-Test programming.(Products)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2005... Santa Clara, CA -- Zero Defects International introduced Turbo-Test, a new service which offers a fast, accurate and cost-effective means of generating test files for all PCB electrical test systems, both fixture-based and flying-probe. In...

Automa-Tech introduces new exposure unit.(Products)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2005... Automa-Tech launched a new semi-automatic exposure unit: the AFOSA ie. According to the company, the unit is a combination of the most advanced registration system and the best collimated light available on the market (5 or 8 KW). The set up...

Frontline announces InStack: Automatic Stackup Designer.(Products)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2005... Israel -- Frontline PCB Solutions[TM] launched its new Automatic Stackup Designer, a stand-alone InPlan[TM] module: InStack. It's an automatic stackup design software module that reduces cycle time and material costs. It reduces stackup design...

Nihon Almit releases void-free Pb-free solder paste.(Products)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2005... Tokyo -- Nihon Almit Co. Ltd. released a new no-clean Pb-Free solder paste that eliminates void occurrence during reflow. TM-HP (L) paste improves continuous printing quality by using a special flux that prevents an increase in viscosity. This...

Enthone introduces AlphaSTAR[TM] immersion silver for lead-free soldering.(Products)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2005... West Haven, CT -- Enthone Inc. introduced AlphaSTAR[TM] immersion silver. The process selectively deposits a high performance silver coating that easily meets or exceeds fabricator, assembler and OEM requirements, and maintains high first pass...

Events.(Calendar)
May 1, 2005... May 3-5, 2005 Nepcon East Boston Convention Center (Boston, MA) Visit www.nepcon.com May 18, 2005 IPC Capitol Hill Day Washington Court Hotel (Washington, DC) Visit www.ipc.org May 19-20, 2005 IPC TMRC...