CircuiTree articles from September 2004

CircuiTree archives from September 2004

The 'stealth' suppliers.(Letters)(Letter to the Editor)
September 1, 2004... I enjoyed [Steve Gold's] latest column ["Korea: Fabricators, OEMs Play Follow the Leader," July]. One thing that Caught my eye was the mention of LG as a supplier of cell phones. They certainly are that but they also make items such as...

Feeling 'beat down'.(Letters)(Letter to the Editor)
September 1, 2004... I read your article about Korea with great interest. This is the kind of involvement that we deeply need in this country so that we can remain a global leader. As a small business owner, instead of feeling wanted and needed by our OEMs and our...

Correction.(Correction Notice)
September 1, 2004... In our August feature ["Close Links Between Passive and Active Board Components"], we neglected to publish the names of one of the article's authors. It was written by John D'Ambrosia and Greg Sheets. Also, in last month's Tech Talk ("Fine...

Quick! Turn profits.(TheWayWeSeeIt)
September 1, 2004... In early August, CircuiTree attended RBC Capital Markets' North American Technology Conference in Half Moon Bay, California. The conference hosted institutional and venture investors, with several PCB manufacturers and EMS providers making...

Meeting the challenge: activating through holes in Teflon[R] material; When processing Teflon[R] panels through plating, your manufacturing process might have more flexibility than you think.
September 1, 2004... It is very difficult to plate to Poly-tetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) material. Its chemical hydrophobic properties, together with low surface energy, cause the surface to repel liquids making it very difficult to plate. To successfully plate PTFE...

Alligators in the sewers and 260[degrees]C reflow temperatures.(NewsFromNorthbrook)
September 1, 2004... You've all heard of urban legends: stories like the alligators in the sewers of New York. Well, in the case of our industry, there are also technology legends: requirements that companies act on without apparently a lot of research to back them...

Fine lines in high yield (part CVIII): novel fluid movement and drying techniques.(TechTalk)
September 1, 2004... Fluid Movement Techniques [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] PWB fabricators have relied for decades on conventional fluid movement techniques in wet processing such as spraying, air sparging, knife-edge and paddle agitation. Improved fluid...

Excellon forms China enterprise.(Fabrication)(Excellon Automation)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2004... Torrance, CA -- Excellon Automation established a wholly foreign owned enterprise in China, creating a manufacturing facility in Chengdu to build equipment to satisfy its Asian demand. "This operation, owned and operated by Excellon Automation,...

CST group incorporates Zincocelere SpA.(Fabrication)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2004... CST completed its merger with Italian PCB maker Zincocelere SpA. CST/Zincocelere Group's offering includes large-format backplanes, laser microvia, blind and buried technology, rigid-flex products and high volumes of conventional and HDI boards...

IPCA announces 2004 Expo.(Fabrication)
September 1, 2004... Bangalore, India -- IPCA will host IPCA Expo 2004 on September 23 through 25 in Bangalore, India. The event's focus includes creating awareness of lead-free interconnect technology, and its impact on the PCB industry as a whole. In addition,...

Coretec gets mil-spec approval.(Fabrication)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2004... Toronto, Canada -- Coretec Inc. received official notification from Defense Supply Center, Columbus (DSCC) that it has been awarded MIL-PRF-31032/1 and MIL-PRF-31031/2 certification at its Toronto operations. The company is now certified to...

Eltek scores medical PCB order.(Fabrication)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2004... Petach-Tikva, Israel -- Eltek Ltd. received an order exceeding $500,000 from an European customer for PCBs that will be used in the production of advanced medical equipment. This order is anticipated to be supplied during the third quarter of...

Prototron Circuits wins King County Industrial Waste Award.(Fabrication)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2004... Redmond, WA -- Prototron Circuits took home a King County Industrial Waste Award for 2004. Prototron received a Gold Certificate, which is awarded to companies that have no violations of any kind related to wastewater discharge. "With nearly 70...

PWT buys Emma probe test system.(Fabrication)(Printed Wiring Technologies)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2004... UK -- Printed Wiring Technologies (PWT) purchased and installed an Emma ELX6146 high speed moving probe test system from Viking Test Services. PWT comprises an experienced team, fully conversant with all aspects of PCB technology and new...

Innovex closes Minnesota facility, transfers biz to Thailand.(Fabrication)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2004... Maple Plain, MN -- After a disappointing third quarter, Innovex announced it will close its Maple Plains facility in twelve months, transferring the business to its other facilities in Thailand and Litchfield, Minnesota. Once the move is...

Lead-free 'groupthink'.(FlexibleThinking; electonics industry and lead free devices)
September 1, 2004... The report by the U.S. Senate Select Committee on Intelligence relative to the build-up on the war in Iraq was startling in many of its revelations. Among the most searing of its findings was that not just the U.S. Intelligence but the entire...

'Home grown' circuits.(CircuitsUnusual)
September 1, 2004... How do we make an electronic circuit? The answer has changed quite a few times in our century-old circuitry industry. The first circuits weren't even printed; they were made by cutting strips of metal and creating the pattern by gluing pieces...

Making pulse plating work for PCB metallization.(printed circuit connectors)
September 1, 2004... Pulse plating is the electrolytic deposition of metals by a periodic variation of current or voltage. A broader definition includes the related pulse anodizing and pulse electropolishing. Pulse plating is divided into ordinary pulsed current...

EMS Analytical Labs adds TOC analysis capability.(Suppliers)(Total Organic Carbon )(Brief Article)
September 1, 2004... Orange, CA -- EMS Analytical Labs Inc. bought an O.I. Analytical model 1010 Total Organic Carbon (TOC) Analyzer. TOC analysis is good measure of when to treat or replace a plating bath and is crucial to high-throw nickel and pulse plating...

Vitech, PCB equipment.com merge.(Suppliers)(Vitech International B.V.)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2004... Geleen, The Netherlands--Vitech International b.v. and pcbequipment.com agreed to merge into one global company. With this merger pcbequipment.com becomes part of Vitech. For more information, visit www.vitech-int.com.

RPP eliminates list prices in face of high resin demand.(Suppliers)(Resolution Performance Products LLC)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2004... Resolution Performance Products LLC eliminated all off-list pricing for its bisphenol A, liquid epoxy resins, and solid epoxy resins in the Americas. According to Marvin O. Schlanger, Chairman and CEO, "In the current market environment,...

Pluritec Industries buys out ACD Technologies' manufacturing facilities.(Suppliers)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2004... Pluritec Industries s.r.l. completed the asset buyout of the ACD Technologies s.p.a. manufacturing facilities; Borgotec, IS (International Supplies), Pluritec and Cedal. In addition, a new division has been formed to focus on service and spare...

Excellon gets new Taiwanese distributor.(Suppliers)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2004... Torrance, CA -- Excellon Automation established a new distributor in Taiwan, announcing a formal agreement with HCTek International Co., Ltd.

Arlon, Nan Ya form distributor agreement.(Suppliers)(Arlon Materials)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2004... Arlon Materials for Electronics announced an agreement with the Electronic Materials Division of Nan Ya Plastics Corp., whereby Arlon will distribute Nan Ya laminate and prepreg products in North America. Arlon will offer the full line of Nan...

Invint announces alliance with major German equipment.(Suppliers)(Tampoprint AG)(Invint Ltd)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2004... Tampoprint AG and Invint Ltd. signed a memo of understanding to cover joint development of new approaches to printed electronic interconnect. Bill Matthews, MD of Invint, said "We have been developing I.P. in anticipation of the merging of...

Intelicoat North Carolina gets ISO 9001:2000.(Suppliers)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2004... Matthews, NC -- InteliCoat Technologies earned certification to ISO 9001:2000 quality system standards for its facility here and the coated products it produces. The certification covers the plant's procedures, processes and quality planning,...

More AOT for option.(Suppliers)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2004... Lloyd Doyle announced another installation of its Excalibur system at Option Technologies Europe (Haslingden, UK). An existing AOT user Option Technologies Europe specializes in fast turnaround small-to-medium quantities of high tech mass lam...

ZD test opens East coast regional office.(Suppliers)(ZD Test Inc.)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2004... Cornelius, OR -- ZD Test Inc. and its affiliate, Zero Defects International (Santa Clara, CA) opened a new regional office in North Grosvenordale, Conn. Additionally, ongoing technical and sales services will be routinely provided from this...

LPKF, BASF sign know-how and licensing agreement.(Suppliers)
September 1, 2004... LPKF Laser & Electronics AG (Garbsen, Germany) and technical plastics producer BASF AG (Ludwigshafen, Germany) signed a know-how and licensing agreement. With this agreement, BASF has modified a range of high performance plastics (PA, POM, PES...

Webview changes location.(Suppliers)(Webview Inc.)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2004... Webview Inc., a manufacturer of machine vision systems and products, relocated to Santa Rosa, California. The new information is 3418-A Standish Ave., Santa Rosa, CA 95407, tel. 707-588-7982, fax 707-588-7987. Visit www.webinspection.com.

Asian section.
September 1, 2004... [TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII] [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] [FIGURE 1 OMITTED] [FIGURE 2 OMITTED] [FIGURE 3 OMITTED] [FIGURE 4 OMITTED] [FIGURE 5 OMITTED]

Mechanical machining processes in printed circuit manufacture--a renaissance? While most consider laser drills necessary for microvia formation, mechanical drills are capable of forming microvias of 100 microns--and even 75 microns diameter--in regular production runs.
September 1, 2004... During the last decade, laser-machining techniques grabbed so much of the attention of the printed circuit manufacturing industry that mechanical drilling, routing and milling processes began to be seen as past-generation technology. Lasers...

Keeping solder joints whole: effects of bulk phosphorous content of electroless nickel layers to solder joint integrity and their use for gold and aluminum wire bonding.
September 1, 2004... The impact of the operating environment on the reliability of electronic devices is particularly important for certain functions, such as keypads or contact switches, where areas of the final metallic coating are exposed. Because these areas...

CirTran-Asia.(People)(Appointment)(CirTran Corp.)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2004... Salt Lake City, UT -- CirTran Corp. announced Charles Ho has signed an exclusive employment agreement as president of its wholly owned subsidiary, CirTran-Asia Inc. Ho will be engaged as president of CirTran-Asia for a minimum of a three-year...

IPC.(People)(appointment)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2004... Northbrook, IL -- IPC appointed Lars-Olof Wallin as its new representative in Europe. Wallin replaces Jo Warnier, who took a marketing position outside the industry. An experienced technical and marketing professional in the PCB and electronics...

Endicott Interconnect Technologies.(People)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2004... Endicott Interconnect created separate business units aligned with its major product lines. The business units will include PWB Products, Semiconductor Packaging Products, Complex Electronic Assembly, Electro-Mechanical Equipment and Precision...

Enthone.(People)(appointment)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2004... West Haven, CT -- Enthone Inc. appointed Aaron Storms, Managing Director--Enthone Latin America. Storms' primary focus will be on developing Enthone's Central and South American businesses, with a special emphasis on the Brazilian market. He...

Lenthor Engineering.(People)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2004... Milpitas, CA -- Lenthor Engineering hired John Wiltshire as Mil-Spec Program Manager. Wiltshire will over see Lenthor Engineering's' Mil Spec qualification process and its entry into the Mil Spec marketplace by assembling a national sales...

Taconic.(People)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2004... Taconic's Advanced Dielectric Division now serves customers in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, and BeNeLux countries directly, naming Dr. Albert Angstenberger as Technical Sales Manager, Central Europe. Angsterberger is an authority in RF and...

ITT Industries.(People)(ITT Industries Inc.)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2004... White Plains, NY -- ITT Industries Inc. Board elected Steven R. Loranger to succeed Louis J. Giuliano as president and CEO. Loranger has also been elected to serve on the company's Board of Directors. He joins ITT Industries from Textron Inc.,...

Prototron Circuits.(People)(Appointment)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2004... Redmond, WA -- Prototron Circuits hired Norman Turner as East Coast Accounts Manager. Turner is based in New Hampshire and will focus on PCB sales throughout the East Coast. He has been in the PCB profession for over 30 years. In addition,...

Coretec.(People)(Coretec Inc.)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2004... Toronto -- Coretec Inc. appointed Jeffrey Canavor as Vice President of Marketing and Sales. He brings to Coretec over 20 years of related industry expertise and most recently held several senior executive roles with a major EMS company in North...

Pluritec Industries purchases ACD assets.(Interview)
September 1, 2004... This summer, one of the biggest stories coming out of Italy was the demise of ACD. Yet out of its ashes rose a new company: Pluritec Industries s.r.l. The asset buyout of the ACD Technologies will includes all manufacturing facilities, along...

Back on track for now; higher interest rates eventually will slow growth.(Market Outlook)(Industry Overview)
September 1, 2004... We are now moving into the fall "busy season" after a volatile first half of 2004. Chart 1 shows U.S. electronic equipment orders and shipments. Note the recurring and often substantial fluctuations in orders compared to shipments:...

Efficient use of capital and profitability.(VitalSigns)(sales and earnings)
September 1, 2004... The purpose of the following three charts is to give you a snapshot of the 2003 position of some Asian PCB manufacturers, their profitability and sales/fixed tangible assets ratio. The snapshot shows widespread positions of the companies....

Cookson Electronics--Enthone.(What's on Tap at EPC 2004)(Brief Article)(Advertisement)
September 1, 2004... The following advertisers make their respective products available in Europe. During EPC 2004 (October 5-7 in Cologne, Germany), PCB manufacturers, suppliers, EMS providers and OEMs will come together to discuss a variety of technology and...

Douthitt Corporation.(What's on Tap at EPC 2004)
September 1, 2004... The Douthitt Corporation, the world's leader in vacuum and exposure frame technology, is pleased to announce the production and installation of the world's longest exposure vacuum frame. With an image area of 10 meters, this unit easily...

DuPont Electronic Technologies.(What's on Tap at EPC 2004)
September 1, 2004... DuPont Electronic Technologies will feature Printed Circuit Materials at EPC, at Booth #4014. With Riston[R] photopolymer dry film resists, ImageMaster[TM] phototools, and unsurpassed technical service, DuPont is focused on meeting your imaging...

Oak-Mitsui Technologies.(What's on Tap at EPC 2004)
September 1, 2004... Oak-Mitsui announces two new additions to our FaradFlex line of materials for Buried Capacitance[TM]. BC8 and BC12[TM] are thin flexible substrates that can withstand typical innerlayer processing and are pre-tested at 500 volts. BC8 and BC12...

Rogers Corporation.(What's on Tap at EPC 2004)
September 1, 2004... Rogers, a leading manufacturer of high performance laminates, will be featuring its new product for the R/flex[R] 3000 family of LCP-based circuit materials. Rogers' diverse portfolio of circuit materials also include RO4000[R] and RO3000[R]...

Vonesco.(What's on Tap at EPC 2004)(Advertisement)
September 1, 2004... ARE YOU READY TO UPGRADE? Want a new plating line or upgrade an existing line, Vonesco offers state of the art control systems and plating equipment. Eliminate work rod sway, reduce rejects, lower operating costs, track operating parameters,...

Beyond the rhetoric: is IPC good or bad for our industry?(Fein-Lines)(IPC Association Connecting Electronics Industries)
September 1, 2004... Over the years I have had over seventy columns, articles and papers published. In all that time I never took issue with something written by another columnist. I have challenged ideas and forecasts but I have never taken issue on a personal...

Designing down temperatures for embedded resistors.(EmbeddedPassivesUpdate)
September 1, 2004... In the first of three articles about the thermal environment of embedded resistors, we discussed the difference between temperature and heat. Here, I want to address some of the basic design strategies that can be used to minimize component...

Sanmina to close Wilmington, Mass. facility.(Board Buyers)
September 1, 2004... San Jose, CA -- As part of its restructuring plan, Sanmina SCI Corp. announced it will close its Wilmington, Mass., PCB facility by September 20th. As a result, 490 workers will be unemployed. The move to close the 200,000 square foot plant...

Motorola to regain top spot in cell phones?(Board Buyers)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2004... Motorola will regain the top spot globally from Finland's Nokia in the coming years, helped by a raft of new phone launches, an official was quoted as saying. "We now have new phone models for every segment in all markets," Allen Burnes,...

Avecia reveals next generation of soldermask ink.(Products)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2004... Avecia launched its second generation of soldermask ink for use in PCB dedicated ink jet printers. Containing Avecia's JETRACK[TM] technology, Soldermask 002 is fully compliant with IPC SM 840C (Class H) standards, and delivers greater...

Enthone introduces ENVISION[R] HDI direct metallization.(Products)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2004... West Haven, CT -- Enthone Inc. introduced ENVISION HDI, a new single-pass direct metallization system. ENVISION HDI is specifically designed to provide complete coverage of blind vias and highaspect ratio through-holes. Composed of process...

Aculight develops 60-watt, green fiber laser system.(Products)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2004... Bothell, WA -- Aculight Corp. produced a 60-watt, 540-nm, frequency-doubled, large mode area (LMA) fiber laser system. The unique system could enable the use of fiber lasers in applications that demand high-power green laser output such as...

Isola launches IS415.(Products)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2004... Chandler, AZ -- Isola Corp. launched of IS415, the next generation high-Tg product for Telecom and Broadband applications. The product addresses the emerging need for combined thermal reliability with signal integrity. IS415 has a Tg of...

Yamauchi shows line of reusable press pads.(Products)(Yamauchi Corp.)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2004... Osaka, Japan -- Yamauchi Corp. introduced its line of reusable press pads to the North American market. The majority of the leading laminators in both Asia and Europe have transitioned to Top Board due to its consistent performance in hotpress...

LPKF introduces new MicroCut II stencil laser.(Products)(LPKF Laser & Electronics)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2004... Nuremberg -- LPKF Laser & Electronics announced the new MicroCut II, a highperformance stencil laser with a high-resolution scanner. The MicroCut II is capable of cutting any shape, including square apertures with rounded corners, at up to...