CircuiTree articles from September 2002

CircuiTree archives from September 2002

Letters.(Letter to the Editor)
September 1, 2002... Don't Glorify Traitors I can't tell you how disgusted I was with the cover story in your July issue ["Topsearch Uses Top Talent to Move into Multilayer Production," page 50]. Everyone knows the state of our domestic industry, and then to...

Shining some light on a major technology challenge. (The Way We Seelt).
September 1, 2002... Last summer, the IPC shined a light on optoelectronics, hosting its second international conference in Northern California. Although optoelectronics has been hyped as the Holy Grail for higher bandwidth, it was clear by the end of the...

Trimming embedded passives: cost of ownership.
September 1, 2002... DR. D.O.K. (Kim) Fjeldsted A cost of ownership model has been developed for laser trimming of resistors printed on large format organic substrate panels. This model has been used to demonstrate the cost effectiveness of the trim process in...

Polyclad Laminates. (People).(Brief Article)
September 1, 2002... Londondeny, NH--Dominic Yeo was appointed Director of Global Facilities Engineering, Polyclad Laminates by Cookson Electronics PWB Materials & Chemistry. Yeo is responsible for major capital project planning and implementation for Polyclad...

Konarka Technologies. (People).(Brief Article)
September 1, 2002... Lowell, MA--Konarka Technologies appointed Bill Beckenbaugh, Ph.D, to the position of president and CEO. His background includes more than 28 years of senior level leadership in electronics manufacturing and R&D. Before joining Konarka, Bill...

LaserVia. (People).(Brief Article)
September 1, 2002... Portland, OR--Dan Feinberg has been named to the Board of Directors for LaserVia[R] Corp., the developer of a new laser drilling technology for PCBs. Feinberg is President and CEO of Fein-Line Associates Inc. and a founding partner in the...

Flextronics. (People).(Brief Article)
September 1, 2002... Singapore--Flextronics announced that Dr. Hirotaka Takeuchi, dean of the Graduate School of International Corporate Strategy at Hitotsubashi University, was appointed to its board of directors. Takeuchi has authored and co-authored several...

Circuit Search. (People).(Brief Article)
September 1, 2002... Bejing, China--Circuit Search announced it hired Harry Tong as its Asian representative. Tong brings over fifteen years of senior management experience, including past positions with Samsung Electronics, Hun Wei Co., Wang and BICC. Harry is...

GIL Technologies. (People).(Brief Article)
September 1, 2002... Collierville, TN--GIL Technologies Inc. hired Derrick Neo as the company's Business Director of Asia. Neo, a senior sales executive with broad experience in circuitry materials, will manage the company's new Shenzhen Sales Office, and will...

Heartland Technology. (People).(Brief Article)
September 1, 2002... Chicago, IL--Heartland Technology Inc. announced CFO Richard Brandstatter was elected a director to fill the unexpired term of John Torell III, who resigned in June. Directors Robert Davis and Ezra Zilkha also resigned.

Lambda Physik. (People).(Brief Article)
September 1, 2002... Fort Lauderdale, FL--Lambda Physik opened a West coast sales office in San Diego, Calif. As part of this expansion, the company hired a West coast director of sales, Dr. Bernhard Nikolaus, to manage scientific and industrial sales managers in...

Parlex. (People).(Brief Article)
September 1, 2002... Methuen, MA--Parlex Corp. appointed Jonathan R. Kosheff as CFO and Treasurer. Kosheff assumes the role held by Robert Rieth who continues as Senior Vice President.

EMDS. (People).(Brief Article)
September 1, 2002... Gaithersburg, MD--Patrick Roney, founder of EMDS, sold controlling interest in the company to his daughter, Shannon Swanson. She has been active with EMDS since 1984, and has been leading the company since 2000 when she was promoted to...

Silicon valley start-up aims to speed up copper interconnections.(Silicon Pipe)
September 1, 2002... Much attention and money has been lavished on optoelectronics over the last few years. Optoelectronic technology has been positioned as the only viable solution for interconnecting electronics components at high speed. However, copper, much...

Value selling. (Columns).
September 1, 2002... Value Selling -- Lou DeRose "Value Pricing--Thinking Outside the Box" For PCB companies, it's time to think "outside the box." Sales are declining, profits are evaporating, and unless something fundamental changes, the prognosis is...

News from Northbrook. (Columns).(Brief Article)
September 1, 2002... News from Northbrook -- Denny McGuirk "Getting Serious About Standards" If standards play such an important role in the worldwide marketplace, why do some companies see them as nothing more than an extracurricular activity?

Environmentally Speaking. (Columns).
September 1, 2002... Environmentally Speaking -- Martin Goosey "Conquering Refrigerator Mountain" It will no longer be possible to consign end-of-life electronics to landfill; an increasing amount of recycling and reuse must be undertaken.

Controlled Surface Etching Process for Fine Line/Space Circuits. (Articles).(Brief Article)
September 1, 2002... Controlled surface etching process for fine line/space circuits. (Articles) By Ken-ichi Shimizu, Katsuji Domatsu, Yasuo Tanaka, and Mono Gaku Semiconductor chip design is moving towards increasingly finer lines to meet the demands of...

Carolina Circuits changes the rules.
September 1, 2002... Can the South's largest high-volume PCB facility reverse the trend of U.S. plant closures by adapting to new market conditions? With the recent plant closures of high-volume PCB facilities in the U.S. involving industry giants Honeywell...

To train or not to train. (View from the Middle).(Column)
September 1, 2002... "It's all to do with the training: you can do a lot if you're properly trained." Are these the words of a modern corporate training officer attempting to motivate her workforce? Hardly. Elizabeth II, Queen of Great Britain and Northern Ireland,...

Christopher Group appoints Ascentech New England reps. (Suppliers).(Brief Article)
September 1, 2002... Santa Ana, California--The Christopher Group appointed Ascentech LLC (Chester, CT) as representatives covering the New England region for sales of the HC 610 hole inspection system and related products, including verification and repair...

Cemco-FSL, Topsearch ink deal. (Suppliers).(Brief Article)
September 1, 2002... Waterlooville, UK--Cemco FSL sold an "Alchemy D Series" Horizontal Solder Leveling System to Topsearch Printed Circuits (HK) Ltd. (Shenzhen, China). With a capacity of up to 350 panels per hour, the system was purchased by Topsearch for...

Sematech, Coherent develop lasers for advanced photomasks. (Suppliers).(Brief Article)
September 1, 2002... Santa Clara, CA--Coherent, Inc. received a multi-year contract from International Sematech (ISMT) for lasers used in the development of advanced photomasks. The multi-year agreement is targeted towards the development of laser systems at...

Camtek completes initial filing for rights offering; receives orders. (Suppliers).(Brief Article)
September 1, 2002... Migdal Haemek, Israel--Camtek Ltd. made the initial filing to the SEC for its rights offering to current shareholders. The company hopes to raise up to $9 million for working capital and for other general corporate purposes. The offering will...

Chemcut Corp. announces U.S. sales reps. (Suppliers).(Brief Article)
September 1, 2002... State College, PA--Chemcut Corp. announced its list of U.S. sales representatives. Etchomatic, Inc., covers Alabama, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Mississippi, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York,...

EagleVision supports off-shore PCB manufacturers/Mfg reps. (Suppliers).(Brief Article)
September 1, 2002... Plaistow, NH--EagleVision, a support service that reworks, qualifies, and inspects PWBs, is focused on helping off-shore fabricators/importers and their U.S. representatives. When PWB fabricators experience defects in their manufacturing...

Cimnet posts more orders. (Suppliers).(Brief Article)
September 1, 2002... Downers Grove, IL-Cimnet Systems announced that PCB maker Tian Jin Printronics is now implementing the Paradigm S/ERP system. In other news, Price Printed Circuits implemented Cimnet's Engenix system, which delivers a complete set of...

Rexam Image Products now 'InteliCoat Technologies'. (Suppliers).(Brief Article)
September 1, 2002... South Hadley, MA--InteliCoat Technologies, LLC, formerly Rexam Image Products, LLC, the precision coating division of Rexam PLC, announced the completion of Sun Capital Partners, Inc. acquisition. A leader in contract coating of papers, films,...

Park Electrochemical authorizes N6000 and N4000-13 mixed packages. (Suppliers).(Brief Article)
September 1, 2002... Lake Success, NY--Park Electrochemical Corp. received authorization from UL for the manufacture of mixed packages using N4000-13 core and FR-4 prepreg and Notice of Authorization for mixed packages using N6000 core and FR-4 prepreg. The...

Zeng to speak at QPG executive retreat. (Suppliers).(Lisa Zeng, Quantum Performance Group)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2002... Carlsbad, CA--The Quantum Performance Group LLC (QPG) announced that Lisa Zeng, Deputy General Manager and Member of the Board of Directors of the Shanghai-based consultancy CBC, will join the QPG's October 18 Executive Retreat Event at Aviara...

Fundamental frequency lasers: laser cut solder mask stencils. (Seeing the Light).
September 1, 2002... Fundamental frequency [Nd.sup.3+] lasers have an optical output at approximately 1 micron wavelength. This is in the infrared (IR) portion of the electromagnetic spectrum. At this wavelength, material interaction is via a thermal mechanism--the...

Dynamic Details Inc. Hosts 8th Annual Technical Seminar.
September 1, 2002... Dynamic Details Inc. (DDi) held its traditional annual Technical Seminar (Hyatt Dulles, VA) on May 17, 2001, conveniently located near DDi's Sterling, Virginia plant (formerly Automata). The seminar gave the approx. 100 attendees an excellent...

[PCQR.sup.2] industry statistics: half-ounce innerlayer conductor and space. (Between the Conductors).
September 1, 2002... Continuing the discussion of the industry statistics collected by the IPC D-36 Subcommittee Printed Board Process Capability, Quality, and Relative Reliability ([PCQR.sup.2]) Benchmark Test Standard and Database, this column presents the...

Parlex's UK subsidiary receives quality certifications. (Fabrication).(Brief Article)
September 1, 2002... Methuen, MA-Parlex Corp.'s UK subsidiary, Poly-Flex Circuits Ltd., achieved QS 9000 and ISO 14001 certification. The transition from ISO 9001 to QS 9000 was achieved in nine months. In other news, the company's flexible printed circuit...

Enthone delivers process line to Bipiemme. (Fabrication).(Brief Article)
September 1, 2002... Londonderry, NH-Bipiemme (Loreto, Italy), a European PWB manufacturer, accepted delivery of an Enthone Stannostargem immersion tin process line, featuring the Occleppo 650 Horizontal Processor. Occleppo (Alice Castello, Italy) and Enthone Srl...

M-Wave, Crown ink deal. (Fabrication).(Brief Article)
September 1, 2002... Bensenville, IL-M-Wave Inc. announced that Crown International (Elkhart, IN) signed a three-year Supply Chain Management agreement with M-Wave, using its Virtual Manufacturing Concept. The company expects to ship up to $2 million of PCBs per...

Q&Tech Korea selects U.S. marketing firm. (Fabrication).(Brief Article)
September 1, 2002... Phoenix, AZ-Q&Tech selected Circuit Board Sources LLC as its marketing firm for U.S. sales. Q&Tech, which produces $30-40 million annually, is opening a new facility at the end of 2002, which will boost sales to over $100 million. Based on...

AT&S invests in Lloyd Doyle's AOT. (Fabrication).(Brief Article)
September 1, 2002... Walton-on-Thames, UK-Lloyd Doyle installed a Sabre verification and repair system at AT&S Fohnsdorf. The new machines will complement the existing Excalibur equipment already installed at AT&S. When coupled with the Sabre verification station,...

DDi, Vertical Networks announce partnership. (Fabrication).(Brief Article)
September 1, 2002... Anaheim, CA-DDi Corp. announced a manufacturing agreement with Vertical Networks Inc., developer of the Instant-Office[TM] Integrated Communications Platform (ICP) for enterprise branch offices and small to mediumsized businesses. Under the...

Fine Lines in High Yield (Part LXXXIV): trends and observations in aqueous development of photoresists. (Tech Talk).
September 1, 2002... Over the years this column has touched several times on issues of aqueous development (Ref. 1-3) such as the chemistry of negative-working photoresist development, the controls employed in this process step, and the various techniques to...

Roadmapping: critical thinking for interconnect products and technologies.
September 1, 2002... The roadmapping process, if properly implemented, is a business tool that can promote critical thinking and lead to higher revenue streams by selecting the right technology, find the right OEM relationship, provide more "vision" for inventory,...

A flex circuit material wish list. (Flexible Thinking).
September 1, 2002... As flexible circuit technology continues to expand and diversify into areas not originally envisioned by developers, the materials used in the construction of flex circuits are frequently challenged to meet the demands. Flex circuit technology...

Christopher Group announces new options for Hole Inspection System. (Products).(Brief Article)
September 1, 2002... Santa Ana, CA--The Christopher Group introduced two new options for the HC 610 Hole Inspection System. The JetAir hole cleaner uses compressed air and "fluid head" technology to remove debris from holes in PCBs. This system can be used either...

Coherent exhibits latest technologies at Semicon West 2002. (Products).(Brief Article)
September 1, 2002... Santa Clara, CA--Coherent Inc. exhibited its latest products at Semicon West. The company displayed its 488-nm solid-state Sapphire[TM] laser platform with enhanced power up to 200 mW, the Azure[TM] 266-nm continuous-wave (CW) laser system for...

DownStream Technologies delivers CAM350 v7.5. (Products).(Brief Article)(Product Announcement)
September 1, 2002... Bolton, MA--DownStream Technologies LLC is now shipping CAM350 v7.5, its first update of the CAM software since acquiring the product from Innoveda. In this latest release, DownStream merged its FabFactory[TM] and CAM350[TM] products into a...

Lloyd Doyle announce new automatic optical test system. (Products).(Redline)(Brief Article)(Product Announcement)
September 1, 2002... Walton-on-Thames, UK--Lloyd Doyle Ltd. announced redline[R], a new addition to its range of systems designed to detect faults on bare PCBs. Redline[R] is a reflective-light based AOT system which gives maximum flexibility to users allowing them...

Dainippon Screen launches PI-8000 AOI system. (Products).(Brief Article)(Product Announcement)
September 1, 2002... Kyoto, Japan--Dainippon Screen Mfg. Co. Ltd. is launching a new AOI system: PI-8000. This new AOI machine inherits the inspection algorithm Pattern Matching Inspection (PMI). In addition, the PI-8000's image capture and processing speeds are up...

New X-ray System from phoenixlx-ray sits on benchtop. (Products).(Brief Article)
September 1, 2002... Camarillo, CA--phoenixlx-ray Systems + Services Inc. introduced a configurable entry-level solution for x-ray inspection and failure analysis with the new benchlmate inspection tool. The benchlmate is a high-resolution microfocus x-ray system...

NanoVia develops microvia drilling process for 3G high density smart chip packaging.
September 1, 2002... Londonderry, NH--Nanovia LP developed its latest technology, the HyperVia[TM] holographic microvia drilling technology for drilling current and next generation high-density 3G smart chip carrier packages. The HyperVia microvia drilling...

Global picture improves, but North America still awaits 'recovery'. (Market Outlook).
September 1, 2002... The already anemic North American electronic equipment recovery took an unwelcome step backwards in June (Chart 1), as both computer and communications orders dipped versus prior months. Only instruments and defense electronics showed a pick...

EPC 2002 product preview.
September 1, 2002... A GLIMPSE OF WHAT'S NEW IN 2002 During EPC 2002, many exhibitors will be competing for your attention. To maximize your time, CircuiTree has assembled a Product Preview that allows exhibitors to present information about the equipment,...

MSL to acquire Lexmark Electronics unit. (Board Buyers).(Brief Article)
September 1, 2002... Concord, MA--MSL will acquire the Lexmark Electronics business unit from Lexmark International Inc. Lexmark Electronics is a provider of PCB assemblies for electronic business machines (Reynosa, Mexico). Terms of the sale were not disclosed....

Flextronics to buy Finnish telecom business. (Board Buyers).(Brief Article)
September 1, 2002... Helsinki, Finland--Elisa Communications, Finland's second largest telecom operator, announced plans to sell its network installation business to Flextronics for 37.2 million euros ($37 million). The telecom company said it would receive 32...

Sanmina-SCI, Lifestream Technologies team up. (Board Buyers).(Brief Article)
September 1, 2002... Post Falls, ID--Lifestream Technologies, a manufacturer of smart card-enabled home cholesterol monitors, announced the engagement of Sanmina-SCI as the primary manufacturer for its Lifestream Cholesterol Monitor. This production relationship...

Sun Capital Partners acquires ACT Manufacturing. (Board Buyers).(Brief Article)
September 1, 2002... Boca Raton, FL--Sun Capital Partners acquired ACT Manufacturing for $6.6 million. The company will be an EMS provider to OEMs in the networking and telecommunications, high-end computer and industrial and medical equipment sectors. After filing...

Solectron, ADC sign two-year agreement. (Board Buyers).(Brief Article)
September 1, 2002... Milpitas, CA--Solectron Corp. was selected by ADC to provide manufacturing services for its Cuda 12000 Cable Modem Termination System (CMTS). Under the two-year agreement, Solectron will provide new product introduction (NPI), PCB assembly,...

Preventative maintenance. (Hard-man-uscript: An Eye On Automation).
September 1, 2002... I once worked for a Satellite company in which I designed mechanisms that were required to function throughout their expected life without any maintenance. Such maintenance was impossible then, and highly expensive now, because the equipment is...

The differences in PWB materials are real. (Fein-Lines).
September 1, 2002... As we were recently reviewing the results of an emerging technology market research effort, I made a comment to one of my Quantum Performance Group partners who, upon thinking about it, asked if he could quote me. Considering that he writes for...

July Correction.(Correction Notice)
September 1, 2002... In July's EMS Report (page 36) we published information regarding the adoption of IPC-A-610C by the Department of Defense (DoD), in which we mistakenly printed "IPC Adopts DoD Assembly Standard" when in fact the DoD adopted IPC's standard. We...