Circuits Assembly Online Magazine - Current Issue

News

Edina, MN -- The SMTA and Auburn University are organizing a Harsh Environment Electronics Workshop to be held July 19-20 in Indianapolis, IN. The workshop on automotive, space, military and avionics-type harsh environments is soliciting abstracts that provide new, timely information to attendees on the latest developments.

The deadline for abstracts is March 1.

Specific subject areas include,:

· Issues and Opportunities- Automotive Harsh Environment

· Activities in Semiconductor Technology for Harsh Environment Electronics

· Issues with Harsh Vehicle Systems

· Substrate Advancements for Harsh Environment Electronics

· Next Generation Harsh Automotive Systems

· Connectors and Interconnect Technology

· Lead-Free Implementation for Harsh Environment Electronics

· Advancements in Materials for Harsh Environment Electronics

Send a 200-300 word abstract to Melissa Serres (melissa@smta.org), and include: Name, Company, Mailing Address, Telephone Number, Fax Number, E-Mail Address and Presentation Title.

For more info, visit smta.org/education/symposia/symposia.cfm#harsh

Pittsburgh, PA – DesignAdvance Systems, Inc., an electronic design automation (EDA) and computer aided design (CAD) software developer, has completed a $3 million second round of funding.

Randy Eager, CEO, noted that the additional funds will be used to “add the necessary sales, support and marketing staff to hit our sales targets for 2006 and beyond.”

The company has also graduated from The Technology Collaborative Jumpstart program. The economic development organization supports the growth of
Pennsylvania’s digital technologies, robotics and cyber-security industries.

“The resources and infrastructure of The Technology Collaborative gave us many advantages we needed to start and run our business,” continued Eager. “They provided us with initial contacts to potential customers; rent free office space next to Carnegie Mellon University, our technology licensor; and a sounding board for new ideas.”

DesignAdvance has debuted its first product, CircuitSpace, and has strategic partnering agreements with Cadence Design Systems, Mentor Graphics and Valor Computerized Systems.

Breda, Holland -- One issue facing manufacturers transitioning to Pb-free soldering is the threat of cross-contamination between Pb-bearing and Pb-free materials. To help, materials supplier Cobar BV has instituted a simple, recognizable color coding standard for its solder paste products to distinguish Pb-bearing from Pb-free.

Pb-free solder pastes will now be packaged in green containers, while Pb-bearing pastes will continue to ship in white containers. There is no difference in the quality of the packaging material.

Cobar is the latest to join the ranks of solder vendors using color-coded packaging to aid in distinguishing lead and lead-free materials. Indium and Kester, among others, also package solder in similar fashion.