CircuiTree articles from October 2008

CircuiTree archives from October 2008

First impressions.(Lead Wire)(electron discovered in 1897)(Brief article)
October 1, 2008... When J. J. Thomson discovered the electron in 1897, no one knew what to do with it--it had no practical applications. Today, we have an entire world run by electronics and many still wonder how something as small as the electron could have such...

IPC releases July PCB industry results.(Industry Review)(Brief article)
October 1, 2008... Bannockburn, lll. -- IPC released the July findings from its North American PCB Statistical Program. Rigid PCB shipments increased 5.3 percent and bookings decreased 8 percent from July 2007. Rigid PCB shipments year-to-date were up 5.7 percent...

BPA releases latest flex report.(Industry Review)(Report)(Brief article)
October 1, 2008... Surrey, U.K. -- BPA Consulting released its latest report on flexible circuit markets, technologies, and applications, reporting that worldwide demand for flex and flex-rigid printed circuits is expected to increase in value from USD 8.5...

North American semiconductor equipment industry posts book-to-bill ratio of 0.83.(Industry Review)
October 1, 2008... San Jose, Calif. -- For July 2008, the North American-based manufacturers of semiconductor equipment posted USD 905 million in orders and a book-to-bill ratio of 0.83, according to a report published by SEMI. For July, the three-month average...

Enthone acquires Ormecon.(Industry Review)
October 1, 2008... West Haven, Conn. -- Enthone, Inc., a business of Cookson Electronics, acquired Ormecon GmbH, Ammersbek, Germany. Ormecon is an emerging technology company, focusing primarily on PWB final finishes; it has established a growing and leading...

Indium expands solar engineering team.(Industry Review)
October 1, 2008... Clinton, N.Y. -- Indium Corporation expanded its solar engineering team with the appointment of Clark Scharett and Justin Weiler as manufacturing process engineers. Scharett joined Indium's solar copper tabbing team, supporting process...

MacDermid forms photovoltaics business.(Industry Review)
October 1, 2008... Denver -- MacDermid formed a new photovoltaics business unit to coordinate MacDermid's global efforts toward this industry; currently the company has a presence in the photovoltaic sector with product offerings ranging from wafer cleaning and...

AT&S celebrates groundbreaking of new plant in India.(Industry Review)
October 1, 2008... Vienna -- AT&S celebrated the groundbreaking of its second plant in Nanjangud, India. Construction is scheduled to be completed in July 2009 and production will begin during the third quarter of 2009. Production will focus on multilayer PCBs....

Global semi sales up in July.(Industry Review)(Financial report)
October 1, 2008... London -- According to the World Semiconductor Trade Statistics organization, in July, sales of semiconductors in Europe grew 0.7 percent to USD 3.39 billion. This is a 3.3 percent year-over-year increase; year-to-date, sales increased 1.6...

PCB material costs on downhill trend.(Industry Review)(Brief article)
October 1, 2008... Taipei -- According to DigiTimes, PCB makers may see their profitability improve as soon as Q4 FY 08 as prices of key materials, including solder paste and CCLs, are declining. In addition, the price of tin declined to USD 19,000 per metricton...

Mentor reports second quarter results.(Industry Review)(Financial report)
October 1, 2008... Wilsonville, Ore. -- Mentor Graphics Corporation reported Q2 FY 08 revenue of USD 182.4 million, a GAAP loss of USD 0.19 per share and a non-GAAP loss of USD 0.02 per share. According to Walden C. Rhines, chair and chief executive officer,...

Demand for single-sided PCBs returns to the U.K.(Industry Review)(Brief article)
October 1, 2008... Knaresborough, U.K. -- GSPK Circuits Ltd. reported an unprecedented increase in demand for the manufacture of its single-sided PCBs, acknowledging a 50 percent rise in both interest and the order book. This followed what is believed to be a...

Camtek announces second quarter results.(Industry Review)(Financial report)
October 1, 2008... Migdal Ha'Emek, Israel -- For Q2 FY 08, Camtek Ltd. reported revenues of USD 22.7 million, a 48 percent increase over Q2 FY 07 and a 7 percent increase over Q1 FY 08. For Q2 FY 08, gross profit margin was 38.9 percent, compared to 40.8 percent...

Silicon wafer shipments increase in second quarter.(Industry Review)(Brief article)
October 1, 2008... According to the SEMI Silicon Manufacturers Group (SMG), Q2 FY 08 worldwide silicon wafer area shipments grew more than 6 percent compared to Q1 FY 08. As reported by DigiTimes, total silicon wafer area shipments were 2,303 million [in.sup.2]...

DKN Research releases Japan production data.(Industry Review)(Brief article)
October 1, 2008... Haverhill, Mass. -- According to the DKN Research newsletter, the Japanese Ministry of Economy, Trade, and Industry released June's production data for Japan's printed circuit industry. Revenue and volume for the Japanese PWB industry steadily...

Valor announces first half and second quarter 2008 results.(Industry Review)(Financial report)(Brief article)
October 1, 2008... Yavne, Israel -- Valor Computerized Systems Ltd. announced its financial results for the period ending June 30. For the first half of 2008, revenues were USD 21.4 million, a 2 percent increase over the first half of 2007. For Q2 FY 08, revenues...

3M declares quarterly dividend.(Industry Review)
October 1, 2008... St. Paul, Minn. -- 3M's board of directors declared a dividend on the company's common stock of USD 0.50 per share for Q3 FY 08. The dividend was payable September 12 to shareholders of record at the close of business on August 22. This is the...

Hon Hai announces results for first half of 2008.(Industry Review)(Financial report)(Brief article)
October 1, 2008... Taiwan -- For the six months ended June 30, Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., Ltd., reported non-consolidated net sales of TWD 615.3 billion, a 20.6 percent increase over the first half of 2007. Gross profit dropped 2.5 percent, gross profit...

SEMI releases World Fab Forecast report.(Industry Review)
October 1, 2008... San Jose, Calif. -- According to SEMI's World Fab Forecast report, a projected decline in world semiconductor fab equipment spending of 20 percent is expected for 2008, but a rebound of over 20 percent in spending is expected in 2009, driven by...

Sun Chemical increases commercial, packaging, and industrial market prices.(Industry Review)
October 1, 2008... Wexham Springs, U.K. -- Due to significant increases in raw material, energy, and transportation costs, Sun Chemical increased prices for the commercial, packaging, and industrial markets by between 5 and 15 percent. These increases cover...

Eltek reports record revenues for second quarter.(Industry Review)(Financial report)
October 1, 2008... Petach-Tikva, Israel -- For Q2 FY 08, Eltek Ltd. reported record revenues of USD 11.4 million, up 32 percent from Q2 FY 08. Eltek attributes the increase in revenues to the receipt of new orders from new and existing customers and marks a...

Plexus to expand in China.(Industry Review)
October 1, 2008... Neenah, Wis. -- Plexus Corp. intends to begin manufacturing in Hangzhou, China, and entered into an agreement to lease approximately 106,000 [ft.sup.2] in Hangzhou's Binjiang Hi-Tech Park. The new facility will enable Plexus to better serve...

Northrop Grumman recognizes Endicott Interconnect for Raising the Bar in Performance.(Industry Review)
October 1, 2008... Baltimore, Md. -- At the 2008 Northrop Grumman Electronic System's supplier conference, "Raising the Bar in Performance," Endicott Interconnect Technologies was honored for innovation. The award categories represented the supplier behaviors,...

Cookson's Mexico facility achieves ISO 9001:2000 and ISO 14001:2004 certifications.(Industry Review)
October 1, 2008... South Plainfield, N.J. -- Cookson Electronics' new manufacturing facility in Apodaca Nuevo Leon Monterrey, Mexico, was awarded ISO 9001:2000 (QMS) and ISO 14001:2004 (EMS) certifications by the British Standards Institution. Recognizing...

Fine lines in high yield (part CLVII): nanoparticles in electronics.(Tech Talk)
October 1, 2008... There is growing interest in the use of nanoparticles and their use in nanocomposites, not only in electronics but also in other fields such as engineering polymers, surface finishes, optics, and medical applications (see Figure 1). This...

The advantages of using flexible circuit cables for data transmission.(Flexible Thinking)
October 1, 2008... Electronic information and the handling systems that manage and distribute it are critical elements of today's Internet-centric world. These vital systems process, compile, store, and transmit data around the globe. Because not all information...

Retrospective on a brief visit.(CircuiTree 20-Year Retrospective)
October 1, 2008... IPC has always been one of the best examples of what could be accomplished by an industry working together through its association. And, with 30 years of association management experience, I was always impressed with how CircuiTree co-founder...

Flex and flex rigid circuits.(BPA Growth Curves)
October 1, 2008... Flex, flex circuits, and, in the last five years, rigid flex are becoming increasingly important. At BPA, we have been tracking the PCB industry for over 25 years and Table 1 and 2 clearly show the changing landscape for the flex circuit...

CAM/CAD design rules and guidelines.
October 1, 2008... The best design is worthless if you can't manufacture it. To be confident regarding manufacturability, it's important to know manufacturing's capabilities and limitations. There are organizations that work day and night to create guidelines and...

Using a static timing analysis tool to generate SDC timing constraints.
October 1, 2008... As technology advances, so does the complexity of the problems it exposes. Nowhere is this more evident than in high-speed interface design. Timing issues previously deemed insignificant are now impacting design schedules and can no longer be...

Factoring in the energy factor.(Circuits Unusual)
October 1, 2008... In 1971, while settling into my first job at Allied Chemical (now Allied Signal), Dr. Jim McKenzie, our research director, made the outrageous prediction that the price of gasoline would triple to hit an unbelievable USD 1/gallon. Something to...

REACH: is industry ready for this EU regulatory tidal wave?(Environmentally Speaking)(Registration, Evaluation, Authorization, and Restriction of Chemicals )
October 1, 2008... The European Union Regulation on Registration, Evaluation, Authorization, and Restriction of Chemicals (REACH) Directive will have a far-reaching effect on anyone who buys, sells, or uses chemicals. While the bulk of the regulatory requirements...

Major upturn? nothing is imminent.(Market Outlook)
October 1, 2008... Global electronic equipment production growth continues--but definitely at a slower pace (Chart 1). Taiwan/China dipped to +13.2 percent three-month growth this July compared to +36.7 percent last October; the U.S. (+4.7 percent) and Europe...

Free industry guide for medical diagnostic and implant applications from Minco.(Technical Product Spotlights)
October 1, 2008... Minco's free industry guide provides design engineers with ideas on how to save weight and space when they incorporate Minco's heater, flex circuit, and temperature sensor designs into their medical diagnostic and implantable device components....

New adhesion promotion technology from Specialty Coating Systems.(Technical Product Spotlights)
October 1, 2008... Specialty Coating Systems' (SCS) AdPro Plus[TM] is an adhesion promotion technology specifically developed to improve adhesion of Parylene conformal coatings to various substrates. AdPro Plus has also demonstrated improved stability at elevated...

Industry's first temperature profiling system specifically for the solar industry from Datapaq.(Technical Product Spotlights)
October 1, 2008... Datapaq's Solar Cell is the first temperature profiling system designed specifically for the solar industry. The new system can be used for various thermal processes, including contact firing/metallization, diffusion, PECVD, and lamination,...

Rohm and Haas introduces new line of photovoltaic products.(Technical Product Spotlights)
October 1, 2008... Rohm and Haas Company has a new line of Enlight[TM] products for photovoltaic manufacturers. The Enlight product suite improves traditional solar cell processing by increasing cell efficiency and manufacturing yields. Included in the new line...

Novatec next-generation solution for large area products.(Technical Product Spotlights)(Brief article)
October 1, 2008... Novatec's latest evolution of the VacuNest shape memory board support system meets the challenges of securely fixturing double-sided circuit board assemblies for printing, dispensing, and component placing. Now it also delivers a...

Anderson touch-safe connector for hazardous voltage applications.(Technical Product Spotlights)
October 1, 2008... Anderson Power Products' latest addition to the Finger Proof Family, the SBS[R]75x, provides power contacts rated up to 110 A, and its touch-safe design provides user protection by eliminating finger contact with live circuits per UL1977,...

Non-silicone fume protection tape from Scapa.(Technical Product Spotlights)(Brief article)
October 1, 2008... Scapa North America's Scapa 519 is a conformable and heat-resistant tape for masking PCBs during solder stripping and nickel/gold plating of finger contacts. Protecting large areas of PCBs from chemical fumes and splashes, Scapa 519 consists of...

File importer for Allegro for easy migration to Altium Designer.(Technical Product Spotlights)
October 1, 2008... Altium's file importer for Altium Designer automatically and transparently converts Cadence[C] Allegro[C] binary files to an intermediate ASCII text format that is then parsed and imported into an Altium Designer PCB design document and...

Plasma cleaning and contamination removal system from Plasma Etch.(Technical Product Spotlights)
October 1, 2008... The PE-100 from Plasma Etch, Inc., is a new low-cost plasma etching system for universities, small R&D labs, and pilot production facilities. With a modestly sized vacuum chamber that accommodates up to 240 in of process area capacity per run...

Manufacturing solution from multiline, XACT PCB, and Direct Logix to reduce PCB registration scrap.(Technical Product Spotlights)(Brief article)
October 1, 2008... Multiline Technology Inc, XACT PCB, and Direct Logix's MULTIWORX is the most progressive integrated registration solution available for PCB fabricators. MULTIWORX allows for a complete seamless integrated solution to significantly reduce...

CircuitProbe from DesignAdvance.(Technical Product Spotlights)(Brief article)
October 1, 2008... CircuitProbe from DesignAdvance[R] Systems, Inc., enables bidirectional communication, through IPC, between layout and a PDF of the schematic. CircuitProbe provides designers and engineers a mechanism to select one or more design elements in...

Next-generation Marantz software reduces AOI programming by 40 percent.(Technical Product Spotlights)
October 1, 2008... Marantz Business Electronics' V400 software suite for its series of AOI equipment reduces programming time by 40 percent. The software creates customer libraries automatically, allowing users to deploy the same library in different process...

ERG's compact, economical plug-and-play solutions for LED-backlit LCDs.(Technical Product Spotlights)(Brief article)
October 1, 2008... Endicott Research Group's (ERG) two new high-efficiency, low-profile Smart Force[TM] LED driver boards are standard products for a wide range of industrial and medical LCDs. The SFDE (economical) and SFDM (mini) series provide full-function...

Complete line of flexible etch circuits from Minco.(Technical Product Spotlights)
October 1, 2008... Minco's complete line of flexible etch circuits are designed to fill the gap between round wiring and PCBs; the circuits enable virtually unlimited freedom of electronic packaging geometries while retaining the precision density and...

Technic lead-free electroless nickel for PCB.(Technical Product Spotlights)
October 1, 2008... Technic's TechniENickel AT 5500 is a lead-free and cadmium-free electroless nickel formulation specifically designed for PCB applications. The TechniENickel process produces a mid-phosphorus deposit solving industry issues like skip plating,...

Extensive range of D-Sub connectors for SMT, through-hole, and press fit applications from ERNI.(Technical Product Spotlights)
October 1, 2008... ERNI Electronics offers an extensive range of D-Sub connectors with precision stamped, high-current contacts to meet the needs of SMT, through-hole reflow, and press fit applications. ERNI's power and signal contacts are efficiently stamped for...

SMT attach method from Molex.(Technical Product Spotlights)
October 1, 2008... Molex Incorporated developed a new SMT attach method that features excellent fatigue strength and lower applied costs than traditional SMT mounting methods. This new technology was quickly adopted by major OEMs and contract manufacturers to...

Phase change material for Intel from laird.(Technical Product Spotlights)
October 1, 2008... Laird Technologies' T-pcm[TM] 670 and T-pcm 680[TM] are two new products in its T-pcm[TM] phase change line of thermal interface materials; the new products are optimized for Intel's Penryn Quad-core mobile processor. With unique material...

First ever AOR system for bare PCB manufacturing from Orbotech.(Technical Product Spotlights)(Brief article)
October 1, 2008... Orbotech Ltd.'s PerFix[TM] automated optical repair (AOR) system for shorts and excess copper is the first of its kind in the bare PCB production industry. PerFix AOR delivers unmatched repair performance and overcomes the limitations of manual...

AWR version 2008 of Visual System Simulator software.(Technical Product Spotlights)
October 1, 2008... Version 2008 of AWR's Visual System Simulator (VSS) software suite is for the end-to-end design and optimization of communications systems. This update enhances user flexibility and adds many new features and capabilities, including: *...

YESTech next-generation AOI inspection solution.(Technical Product Spotlights)(Brief article)
October 1, 2008... YESTech's next-generation YTV F1 Series AOI inspection system delivers a complete inspection solution and provides advanced automated inspection of solar and lead defects, component presence and position, correct part, polarity, and...

Updated, free version of CADSTAR Express from Zuken.(Technical Product Spotlights)(Brief article)
October 1, 2008... Zuken released the latest version of its free sample download of CADSTAR 10.0-CADSTAR Express. This version includes all of the latest features of CADSTAR 10.0, with a limit of 300 pins and 50 components, and upgrades include a back annotation...

Agilent RF and Microwave Switch Selection Guide.(Technical Product Spotlights)
October 1, 2008... Agilent Technologies' RF and Microwave Switch Selection Guide provides comprehensive information on Agilent's entire portfolio of electromechanical and solid state switches. With all the technical information to help you select the right switch...

Updated BluePrint for PCBs from DownStream.(Technical Product Spotlights)(Brief article)
October 1, 2008... DownStream Technologies, LLC's BluePrint for PCBs[R] Version 2.0 is the latest update of its comprehensive authoring tool that helps designers simplify and automate the creation of the documentation that drives the PCB fabrication, assembly,...

Wafer Backside portfolio from henkel.(Technical Product Spotlights)(Henkel Corp.)(Brief article)
October 1, 2008... Henkel's Ablestik 8000[TM] Wafer Backside Coating[TM] (WBC) technology utilizes the proven materials deposition techniques of stencil printing, screen printing, and spin coating to allow packaging specialists to efficiently coat the back of...

WISE VisualCAM 2006 and GerbTool.(Technical Product Spotlights)
October 1, 2008... VisualCAM 2006 (15.2) and GerbTool[TM] 15.2 from WISE Software offer substantial increases in functionality and usability; the 15.2 release also offers improved quality and reliability through correction of reported defects. Highlights include...

EMA single user version of Digi-Key integration.(Technical Product Spotlights)
October 1, 2008... EMA Design Automation's single user version of the EMA Component Information Portal (CIP[TM]) gives engineers access to the Digi-Key[R] part database through Cadence[R] OrCAD[R] Capture CIS. The EMA CIP is available in two versions--CIP and CIP...

Cookson lead-free solder paste.(Technical Product Spotlights)
October 1, 2008... Cookson Electronics' ALPHA[R] PoP-959 is a lead-free, no-clean solder paste specifically designed to deliver highly repeatable paste volumes for challenging PoP assembly, thus increasing throughput and yield while minimizing expensive rework...

Constraint-driven high-density interconnect design flow from Cadence.(Technical Product Spotlights)
October 1, 2008... Cadence Design Systems, Inc.'s set of improvements to the Cadence[R] Allegro[R] and OrCAD[R] families of products aims at boosting performance and productivity through new features and functionality. The new technology, which is part of the...

Events.(Conference news)(Calendar)
October 1, 2008... TPCA Show October 22 - 24, 2008 Taipei www.tpca.org.tw 3rd Impact and 10th EMAP Joint Conference October 22 - 24, 2008 Taipei www.impact-emap.org IPC/SMTA High Performance Electronics Assembly Cleaning...