News
ELKHART, IN -- Electronics manufacturer CTS Corp. said today it entered into an bank agreement providing it with a $100 million unsecured revolving credit facility through June 2011.
The company, which makes parts for medical and automotive customers and performs some contract electronics assembly, said it will also have access to an additional $50 million.
CTS said it plans to use the loan for general corporate purposes, including strategic acquisitions.
CTS customers include Hewlett-Packard and Motorola.
The company, which makes parts for medical and automotive customers and performs some contract electronics assembly, said it will also have access to an additional $50 million.
CTS said it plans to use the loan for general corporate purposes, including strategic acquisitions.
CTS customers include Hewlett-Packard and Motorola.
BANNOCKBURN, IL -- May sales of rigid printed circuit boards by North American fabricators were up 20.2% and bookings climbed 7.1% year-over-year, the IPC trade group reported Wednesday. Sequentially, shipments rose 8.5% and bookings were up 2.9%.
Flexible circuit shipments fell 4.2% and bookings were off 20% compared to May 2005. Shipments rose 19.5% and flex bookings increased 19.2% over April's numbers.
The May book-to-bill ratio for rigid boards fell to 1.02. The flexible circuit book-to-bill ratio was 0.91, its third straight month below the benchmark 1.0 level.
The ratios are based on monthly data collected from PCB producers that participate in IPC’s monthly PCB Statistical Program. The combined (rigid and flex) industry book-to-bill ratio in May was 1.01.
Ratios are calculated by dividing the value of orders over the past three months by the value of sales. A ratio of more than 1.0 suggests expansion.
It is difficult to derive the value of the IPC data, critics contend, because of the limited number and size of companies that participate in the survey.
Year to date, rigid PCB shipments are up 11.1% and bookings are up 12.8%. Flexible shipments are up 0.8 % and bookings are down 14.5%. Combined industry shipments are up 10.3% and bookings are up 10.8%.
More than 75% of the PCB market in North America is for rigid boards.
At least 13% of the boards sold in May by those surveyed were built offshore.
Flexible circuit shipments fell 4.2% and bookings were off 20% compared to May 2005. Shipments rose 19.5% and flex bookings increased 19.2% over April's numbers.
The May book-to-bill ratio for rigid boards fell to 1.02. The flexible circuit book-to-bill ratio was 0.91, its third straight month below the benchmark 1.0 level.
The ratios are based on monthly data collected from PCB producers that participate in IPC’s monthly PCB Statistical Program. The combined (rigid and flex) industry book-to-bill ratio in May was 1.01.
Ratios are calculated by dividing the value of orders over the past three months by the value of sales. A ratio of more than 1.0 suggests expansion.
It is difficult to derive the value of the IPC data, critics contend, because of the limited number and size of companies that participate in the survey.
Year to date, rigid PCB shipments are up 11.1% and bookings are up 12.8%. Flexible shipments are up 0.8 % and bookings are down 14.5%. Combined industry shipments are up 10.3% and bookings are up 10.8%.
More than 75% of the PCB market in North America is for rigid boards.
At least 13% of the boards sold in May by those surveyed were built offshore.
Elk Grove Village, IL-- Sonoscan Inc., a developer and manufacturer of acoustic microscope systems, has been issued a patent (U.S. #6,890,302) that gives engineers a new tool for diagnosing packaging defects. It is one of several patents issued to the company in the past year.
Acoustic microscope echoes are typically time-gated on a depth of interest, and echoes from other depths are ignored. This method, known as time domain imaging, has been the standard for many years. If a 230 MHz transducer is being used, the frequency content of the return echoes at an x-y coordinate will range from about 170 to about 260 MHz or more, and the frequency content characteristic typically varies from one pixel to the next.
A new technique, Frequency Domain Imaging (FDI), separates the various return echoes at each x-y coordinate into their individual frequencies. The result is not a single acoustic image, but typically 20 to 40 different acoustic images, each image made from echoes of a single frequency, and each image having its own contrast and resolution.
Engineers often solve problems involving internal interfaces by comparing the various FDI images. The results for any particular sample depend on the sample and on the materials involved, but typically some FDI images have high resolution, and are useful for performing diagnoses of critical interfaces, such as those in flip chips. In some cases, FDI images display features that are not visible in the time-domain images.
Acoustic microscope echoes are typically time-gated on a depth of interest, and echoes from other depths are ignored. This method, known as time domain imaging, has been the standard for many years. If a 230 MHz transducer is being used, the frequency content of the return echoes at an x-y coordinate will range from about 170 to about 260 MHz or more, and the frequency content characteristic typically varies from one pixel to the next.
A new technique, Frequency Domain Imaging (FDI), separates the various return echoes at each x-y coordinate into their individual frequencies. The result is not a single acoustic image, but typically 20 to 40 different acoustic images, each image made from echoes of a single frequency, and each image having its own contrast and resolution.
Engineers often solve problems involving internal interfaces by comparing the various FDI images. The results for any particular sample depend on the sample and on the materials involved, but typically some FDI images have high resolution, and are useful for performing diagnoses of critical interfaces, such as those in flip chips. In some cases, FDI images display features that are not visible in the time-domain images.
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