Printed Circuit Design & Fab - November 2008 - (Page 10)

AROUND thE world in BRIEF Flextronics’ Design Group Drawing Interest. Flextronics’ design services unit is drawing interest from tech Mahindra Ltd. and tata Consultancy Services Ltd., according to economic times. Flextronics previously announced plans to sell the Bangalore-based group, which employs 250 workers. Neither party would comment on the report. XJTAG Hires Distributor in Germany. XJtAG announced FlowCAD will be its distributor in Austria, Germany, Liechtenstein and Switzerland. FlowCAD was chosen for its reputation and market experience in Germanspeaking eDA communities. It will sell the XJtAG system, used for debugging, testing and programming PCBs and systems, to its established base of electronic design customers. FlowCAD believes XJtAG answers the demand for new and current approaches to boundary scan technology for its Central european customer base. LED Makers Re-Examine Heatsink Design. LeD makers are attempting to lengthen life cycles by creating new products that would increase the illumination efficiency of LeDs from 70 lm/W to at least 100 lm/W. In addition, they are looking at alternative materials such as aluminum PCB substrates and soft silicone rubber pads as a method to improve heatsink designs. In natural convection heatsink architecture, aluminum PCB substrates are good heat conductors and insulators, and in performance-to-cost, they are a grade higher than regular metal core substrates. Soft silicone rubber heat conductive pads can replace silicone grease, commonly used in high-end heatsinks. FUBA Management Upheaval. Andreas ebeling has resigned as managing director of FUBA Printed Circuit GMBH for undisclosed reasons. Shareholders have named Hubert Beyrle and Slim Sellami to replace him. Beyrle will serve as managing director of Human Resources and Finance, while Sellami will serve as managing director of Sales. Hans Bonck, a member of the management board since April, will remain the technical managing director. Trace Lab Opens Shanghai Facility. trace Laboratories, Inc. has opened a laboratory for complete testing solutions for OeMs and their suppliers. the lab supports material analysis, functionality, design validation, dimensional measurements and process validation testing. trace sees the new facility as an "important step in assisting customers with their product validation in a timely fashion." the lab is in a high-growth market, with production geared for the global marketplace. trace believes this will save its customers time and money by removing the need to ship products prior to qualification. Intel’s Gary Kipp Inducted Into the PCB Top Gun Hall of Fame SMYRNA, GA – UP Media Group and Printed Circuit Design & Fab announce PCB Top Gun Hall of Fame winner Gary Kipp of Intel (Hillsboro, OR). Contestants are given a list of parts, data sheets to build these parts, a sample of the BOM and netlist they will receive on site and the board outline approximately 10 days before the contest begins. They are also given a list of deliverables to set up output files ahead of time. The goal is to have a completed and manufacturable board at the end of the contest. A 15-year veteran of the PCB design industry and a Cadence software user, Kipp said of his win,"Entering the Top Gun contest takes a lot of confidence in your design ability. The competition is fierce. In the end, it comes down to your training, experience and dedication to complete the project. Winning is the icing on the cake.” Jean Stout, a PCB designer III with International Game Technology (Reno, NV), served as the Top Gun technical coordinator. Valor Computerized Systems provided DFM reviews for all of the Top Gun contest designs. The judges and graders included: Charlie Capers, Trilogy Circuits (Richardson, TX); 2007 PCB Top Gun Hall of Fame Inductee Randy Holt, Optimum Design Associates (Pleasanton, CA); and 1999 PCB Top Gun Hall of Fame Inductee Tom Stout, Optimum Design Associates (Pleasanton, CA). For more information about PCB Top Gun, visit www.pcbwest. com/ HIGH-DENSITy DELAy Americas Lag in HDI Santa ana, ca – The Americas lag the world in HDI production, according to a new presentation delivered by Matt Holzmann at the IPC HDI Technology Conference in Dallas, TX. Holzmann, president of Christopher Associates, said high density interconnect substrates production was $202 million in the Americas in 2006, far behind Southeast Asia ($3.6 billion), Japan ($1.5 billion) and Europe ($352 million). While the compound average growth rate of HDI in the Americas will be 7% through 2011, it will remain a distant fourth regionally, Holzmann said, citing data from Prismark Partners. HDI is used in a wide range of end-products, ranging from cellphones to PC peripherals, medical gear and even aerospace. Cellphones make up nearly 40% of HDI board use, followed by IC package substrates at roughly 35%. Those two segments will remain the largest consumers by far through 2011. Of the 3,600 laser drills installed worldwide, only 150 are in North America, Holzmann said. That reluctance to invest is one reason more than 80% of current demand filled from overseas sources, Holzmann said. 10 printEd CirCuit dESign & fAB NOVEMBER 2008 http://www.pcbwest.com http://www.pcbwest.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Printed Circuit Design & Fab - November 2008

Printed Circuit Design & Fab - November 2008 Contents Our Line Market Watch Around the World Happenings ROI Positive Plating Ten Tips to Improve Manufacturability 3D Chip-Package-Board Modeling Improving Circuit Simulation With The Addition Of Real Measurements Ad Index PCB West: Interview with NBS Design Inc. The Influence of Final Finish on Lead-Free Assembly Reliability The Lead-free Soldering Challenges for Peelable Resists Off the Shelf Marketplace BGA Bulletin

Printed Circuit Design & Fab - November 2008

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