Printed Circuit Design & Fab - April 2008 - (Page 12)

AROUND THE WORLD NOTEBOOK DEMAND UP in BRIEF EVE Opens Sales Office in Taiwan. SANTA CLARA, CA – Emulation and Verification Engineering (EVE) has opened a direct sales office in Hinschu, Taiwan, and appointed Dick Tao, EDA sales executive, to manage the Taiwan office. With the opening of this office, EVE now has sales offices in Taiwan, Japan, Korea and India. Enthone Opens Advanced Applications Laboratory. WEST HAVEN, CT – Enthone Inc. opened of an advanced plating applications laboratory West Haven, CT. The ribbon-cutting ceremony was followed by tours of the new facility. The company said that the West Haven applications laboratory will be “a major resource that will drive technical innovation, best practices, and learning for many years to come. ” IPC, Tsinghau University Offer Skills Development Program. BANNOCKBURN, IL – The IPC announced a new initiative with Tsinghua University in Beijing to develop a skills development program for electronics assembly.The program will be based on IPCA-610, Acceptability of Electronic Assemblies, IPC/EIA J-STD-001, Requirements for Soldered Electrical and Electronic Assemblies, and IPC7711/7721, Rework, Modification and Repair of Electronic Assemblies, and will be offered at approximately 500 vocational schools throughout China. EDA, PCB Vendor Offering Free Layout Tool. VANVCOUVER – Design software vendor Capilano Computing and PCB supplier Pad2Pad.com are jointly offering free packages for schematic capture and trace layout. The packages permit circuits to be designed in the DesignWorks Express environment and then exported to the Pad2Pad.com automatic trace router. The design package reportedly handles up to 500 net list nodes. Metals Pricing Spiking Again. LONDON – Prices for metals commonly used in electronics manufacturing have jumped in the past week, with some key commodities rising more than 11%. On the Comex, prices for silver have spiked 11.1% since Feb. 25, and 18% since Feb. 18. Prices for gold are approaching $1000 per tr. oz., up 10% since Feb. 5 and 16.7% since the closing price on Dec. 31, 2007. On the London Metals Exchange over the past week, cash seller and settlement prices for tin have risen 6.7% to $8.49 per lb. Tin is up 10.1% since Feb. 18. Meanwhile, lead is up 4% to $1.54 per lb., and copper was up 3.7% to $3.88 per lb. Lead is up 12.4% and copper up 7 .8%, respectively, since Feb. 18. Tripod Plans for Growth TAIWAN – Tripod Technology plans to double its capacity in the notebook PCB seg- ment, in order to keep pace with expected increase in demand. Tripod has designated its plant 4A at Wuxi, China for notebook PCB production. The company’s current 500,000 sq. ft. capacity will be increased to 800,000 sq. ft. in the third quarter, and to one million by the end of 2008, according to company plans. As of 2007, Tripod shipped a total of 10 million notebook PCBs, for a market share of 8%. Notebook PCB production contributed about 12% to company sales in 2007. Investors estimate that Tripod will ship a total of 12-15 million notebook PCBs in 2008, and company executives indicate that Tripod will attempt to increase their notebook PCB market share to 10%. Expansion Support TPCA Plans PCB Industry Zone in Vietnam HANOI, VIETNAM – The Taiwan Printed Circuit Association (TPCA) is planning to create a special zone in Vietnam. This is in reaction to a growing number of Taiwan-based PCB manufacturers considering moving production out of China, where the government imposes greater environmental restrictions and offers fewer tax incentives. TPCA secretary general Chao Chia-chiang said the organization has asked members to consider a proposal to set up a PCB industry sector in Hanoi, exclusively for Taiwanese manufacturers. Development of the zone is expected to begin in eight months and will be located on approximately 740 acres of land, which will reportedly accommodate 10 to 20 PCB manufacturers. Greenpeace Redlines Electronics Industry HANOVER, GERMANY – According to Greenpeace, there is still a long way to go in the development of truly environmentally friendly products. In a recent Greenpeace survey, Searching for Greener Electronics, conducted at the CeBit trade show in Hanover, Germany, where products were voluntarily submitted for testing only Sony's Vaio notebook and Ericsson Phone/PDA products received more than half of the available 100 points. The test criteria included energy efficiency, the use of hazardous materials, product lifecycle and marketing. Fourteen companies sumitted products. Citing product like the new Apple MacBook Air laptop and Nokias Evolve phone as examples of energy efficient design, Greenpeace urged manufacturers to increase efforts towards environmentally sound products as well. “Manufacturers need to embrace a truly comprehensive approach,” said Yannick Vicaire of Greenpeace. “Consumers should not have to choose between a toxic-free product or an energy-efficient one. They should not need to ask if being recyclable is better than being durable. When a product offers all those standards … then we can say there is a true ‘green’ product on the market.” EU Clears Brominated Flame Retardant for Use BELGIUM – TBBPA, a brominated flame retardant used in the manufacture of PCBs has been cleared for use by the European Union. After an 8-year EU Risk Assessment, the EU Member State experts have concluded that TBBPA presents no risk to human health. In addition the conclusion cited there was no risk to the environment when TBBPA is used in the PCB laminate process. TBBPA is added to epoxy resin, and after curing is not longer reactive but instead forms part of the polymeric backbone of the resin. TBBPA is used in more than 95% of FR-4 and CM-3 PCB materials and is also used in ABS plastics. 12 PRINTED CIRCUIT DESIGN & FAB APRIL 2008 http://www.pad2Pad.com http://www.pad2Pad.com http://Pad2Pad.com

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Printed Circuit Design & Fab - April 2008 Contents Our Line Market Watch Around the World Happenings ROI Tip Jar Interconnect Strategies Positive Plating Improving Fabrication Yields by Design Solve Design Problems with Signal Integrity Optimization Laser Direct Imaging Made Easy Troubleshooting the Innerlayer Process SIPS Give More to Moore Off the Shelf Marketplace Ad Index BGA Bulletin

Printed Circuit Design & Fab - April 2008

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