Printed Circuit Design & Fab - November 2007 - (Page 8)

AROUND THE WORLD EDITED BY KATHY NARGI-TOTH OM Group to Buy Rockwood Holdings’ Electrochemicals Division CLEVELAND – OM Group Inc. is acquiring Rockwood Holdings Inc’s electronics business for approximately $265 million in cash. Along with the Electrochemicals PCB brand of products, Rockwood Holdings supplies chemicals used in the manufacture of semiconductors and photo-imaging masks primarily for semiconductor and photovoltaic manufacturers. The Rockwood Electronics businesses, which had combined sales of $187 million in 2006, consist of PCB Chemicals, Ultra Pure Chemicals (UPC) and Photomasks. The company employs 700 people with operations in the United States, the United Kingdom, Taiwan, Singapore and China. The acquisition still needs regulatory approval and is expected to close by the end of 2007. BRIDGING THE TECH GAP iNEMI 2007 Research Priorities HERNDON, VA – The International Electronics Manufacturing Initiative (iNEMI), an industry-led consortium focused on identifying and closing technology gaps, has published its 2007 research priorities. iNEMI grouped 90 identified needs into five research areas: manufacturing processes; system integration (IT and technology integration); energy and the environment; materials and reliability; and design. The top priority for manufacturing processes shifted from development of reduced cost manufacturing processes that support rapid miniaturization to development of a new methodology/ strategy for R&D to be conducted in the global outsourcing environment. While there is still a need to continue improvements to the IT infrastructure, the top research need currently identified for system integration is the development of 3D interconnect structures with associated thermal management, reports iNEMI. According to the group, the top two research priorities for energy and environment are the development of sound scientific methods to evaluate the Silicon-on-Insulator Consortium BOSTON – A group of electronics industry leaders have launched the SOI (silicon-on-insulator) Industry Consortium, aimed at accelerating SOI innovations, promoting the benefits of SOI technology and reducing the barriers to adoption. The SOI Consortium’s goals are to reduce adoption costs, make SOI best practices available and facilitate design examples across the value chain. The most significant benefits demonstrated by SOI are performance enhancement and power consumption reduction. The founding membership roster (listed alphabetically) includes: AMD, ARM, Cadence Design Systems, CEA-Leti, Chartered Semiconductor Manufacturing, Freescale Semiconductor, IBM, Innovative Silicon, KLA-Tencor, Lam Research, NXP, Samsung, Semico, Soitec, SEH Europe, STMicroelectronics, Synopsys, TSMC, and UMC. environmental impact of materials and research into the development of new, innovative energy sources. The top research priority in materials and reliability is the development of the next generation of solder alloys with better area array shock, lower cost, lower temperature and reduced copper dissolution issues, the researchers add. And the second research priority is the development of halogen-free materials. The top priorities for design are improved, integrated and standardized DfX tools for compatibility across supply chains, and low-cost solutions for carrying >10Gb/s signal rates between components on a PCB, iNEMI says. The document identifies R&D priorities for the next 10 years by combining findings from this year’s Roadmap with R&D needs identified through follow-on gap analysis meetings. This information is intended to assist corporate research labs, government funding agencies and academic research centers in focusing limited resources on those areas that will yield the greatest return. For more information go to: http://thor.inemi.org/webdownload/RI/ iNEMI_2007_Research_Priorities.pdf. Speak Out PCB East 2008 Chicago, Call for Papers ATLANTA – UP Media Group Inc., parent company of Circuits Assembly and Printed Circuit Design & Fab, has issued a call for abstracts for PCB East 2008, to be held May 11-16 in suburban Chicago. PCB East annually provides attendees and vendors with a conference and exhibition focused on the design and fabrication of PCBs, high-density interconnect and other advanced circuits. For consideration, please email a course title, suggested course length, short description of the target audience, 100- to 300-word abstract and speaker bio(s) to Ronda Faries at rfaries@upmediagroup.com by Nov. 15. Some suggested paper and presentation topics include (but are not limited to): high speed, high frequency and signal integrity; component placement; EMI/EMC analysis; thermal analysis; lead-free processes (especially how they affect design and fabrication); RF and microwave design; packaging design; mixed-signal design; area arrays; FPGA design and implementation; embedded passives and active devices; flexible circuitry; HDI design and technologies; PCB design/layout basics; component library creation and management; design for manufacture, test and assembly; design (including analog, digital and power supplies); PCB fabrication; soldering; surface finishes; industry forecasts, and business and supply chain issues. For more information, visit pcbeast.com. 8 PRINTED CIRCUIT DESIGN & FAB NOVEMBER 2007 http://thor.inemi.org/webdownload/RI/iNEMI_2007_Research_Priorities.pdf http://thor.inemi.org/webdownload/RI/iNEMI_2007_Research_Priorities.pdf http://pcbeast.com

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Printed Circuit Design & Fab - November 2007 Contents Our Line Market Watch Around the World Happenings ROI Packaging HDI Design and Fab Plating Design Tools Metric Design Productronica Product Preview Marketplace Ad Index The Signal Doctor

Printed Circuit Design & Fab - November 2007

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