Printed Circuit Design & Fab - September 2008 - (Page 8)

AROUND thE world DARPA Funding “Cool” Electronics Research ARLINGTON, VA – The Defense Flex Market to Double in 7 years PALO ALTO, CA – The flex circuit market was worth some $7.3 billion in 2007 Advanced Research Projects Agency provided Northrop Grumman’s Electronic Systems a $1.7 million contract to develop an ultra high capacity hybrid thermal ground plane to fight semiconductor-generated heat employed in electronic systems. The 18-month contract follows a $1.5 million contract awarded earlier this year to the University of Colorado, Boulder and Lockheed Martin to work on comparable technology. Together, both contracts eventually could be worth about $10 million, says the agency, providing all phases are completed. These agreements come on the heels of a recent Navy report predicting shipboard cooling requirements will double every six years for the next 20 years. and will reach $16.4 billion in 2014, says research firm Frost & Sullivan. Innovative demands from various end-user verticals including telecommunications, automotive, aerospace and defense, medical and industrial packaging expect to fuel robust growth in the flexible printed circuit board market. The compliant nature of flex circuits makes it useful in dynamic motion products, and its development dramatically alters the landscape of the PCB market. Flex has also become the technology of choice for advance packaging, which includes both multichip and 3-D, says the report. Over 35 companies vie for the global market space, which makes for high competition in the flexible PCB market. Most of the Asian manufacturers play a dominant role in the market. Japan, South Korea and North America have all established a global presence and lay claim to a wide variety of products, says Frost. Smaller participants operate either regionally or locally with a limited product portfolio, restricting the competition to foreign-owned manufacturers for high-end FPCs Beijing Olympics Impact Manufacturing Supply Chain ExTREME MEASURES BEIJING – Chinese authorities in Beijing have restricted the traffic flow of goods PCB Designers, Engineers Invited to Compete SMYRNA, GA – UP Media Group invites printed circuit board (PCB) designers and engineers to battle it out for the honor of being named top designer(s) in the annual PCB Top Gun Hall of Fame contest, September 14 – 15, 2008, in Santa Clara, CA. The intensive two-day contest will be held in conjunction with PCB West 2008, September 14 – 19 at the Santa Clara Marriott. The top scorer(s) will be inducted into the PCB Top Gun Hall of Fame during a breakfast on Wednesday morning, September 17, where they will be awarded a plaque and a coveted Top Gun-style, Avirex leather flight jacket. and materials in an approximate 200-mile ring around the city through Oct. 17 in association with this year’s Olympic games. Airports in Shanghai, Beijing, Tianjin, Shenyang, Qinghuangdwo and Qingdao are also restricted from accepting any dangerous goods until Sept. 30. The types of materials affected by this hazardous goods ban include: • Organics Peroxides – class 5.2. • Toxics – class 6.1. • Hydrogen peroxides – class 5.1 (8) UN2014, UN2015, UN1511. • Acetone – class 3 UN1090, UN1091. • Sulfuric Acid – class 8 UN1830, UN1831, UN1832, UN2796. • Nitric Acid – class 8 UN2031, UN2032. • Hydrochloric Acid – class 8 UN1789. In addition, Beijing area enterprises have been requested to reduce emissions by 30% and some companies have been requested to shut down from July 20 until Sept. 20. The industries most affected include chemical companies and locations using chemicals, foundries and metalworking. There is also a water and power use restriction for the same period. Altium offers Amnesty to Chinese Pirates SYDNEY – If you can’t beat them, forgive them. Altium has inked a deal with the Chinese government under which the CAD tool supplier will offer amnesty to those using unauthorized copies of its software in exchange for special pricing and access to Chinese-language peer forums. As part of the deal, the company will also establish training centers in Beijing, Tianjin, Shanghai, Jiangsu and Shenzhen, with the aim of training 40,000 engineers over the next four years. The company estimates that about 95% of the 300,000 people using its software in China do so illegally. Altium’s customers in China include Foxconn, the company said. Over the next four years, Altium hopes to convert 20% of the software currently pirated into licenses. Altium has been negotiating the amnesty with the Chinese government as part of a consortium represented by the Business Software Alliance, which the company joined last year. Other members include Microsoft, Apple and Adobe. SEPTEMBER 2008 8 printEd CirCuit dESign & fAB

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Printed Circuit Design & Fab - August 2008 Contents Our Line Market Watch Around the World Happenings ROI Positive Plating Off the Shelf Marketplace Ad Index EMC for the Real World Final Finish Forum Design for Green: Laminates A Systematic Approach to Increasing Layer Count The NTI $100 Million Club Printable Nanocomposites BGA Bulletin

Printed Circuit Design & Fab - September 2008

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