Weymouth --On Nov. 25, DEK held a Stencils Technology Day at its Weymouth, UK, office to share the findings from its recent lead-free print trials, and to provide hands-on experience with stencil technologies.

Clive Ashmore, global applied process manager, presented the lead-free trial results. The company found that having a stencil that is well designed and specified for its application has the greatest impact on process performance, whether the application is lead-free or leaded. A second important consideration is materials composition. Electroformed nickel was the top performing stencil material in tests, closely followed by laser-cut nickel.

Richard Boyle of Henkel Multicore then gave a presentation on lead-free pastes that focused on areas where the differences between leaded and unleaded may impact the industry most.

The afternoon was dedicated to workshops and discussions on the theme "Print failures: cause and effect."

SAN JOSE, Nov. 22 -- The 90-day moving average for orders of semiconductor equipment from North American manufacturers rose 3% over revised September levels and 60% year-on-year, the industry trade group SEMI said today.

Respondents to SEMI's monthly poll posted $1.39 billion in orders in October. The book-to-bill ratio was 0.96, meaning that $96 worth of orders were received for every $100 of product billed for the month.

The three-month average of worldwide billings was $1.44 billion in October, flat with revised September levels and up 67% versus a year ago.

The industry is flux, SEMI said in a statement. "The overall semiconductor equipment sector will post the second greatest gain on record in 2004. It is also several months into a period of order softening," said Stanley T. Myers, president and CEO.

"Total equipment bookings for North American producers have declined 13% from the cyclic peak observed in June. Given recent announcements from several equipment companies, continued moderation in orders is expected until end market visibility strengthens for the semiconductor manufacturers."

SAN JOSE, Nov. 26 -- Worldwide semiconductor sales grew 1.5% to $18.8 billion in October, said the SIA today. The October 90-day average for sales was up 22% over a year ago.

The rise reflected "ongoing inventory corrections in certain market segments," said SIA president George Scalise in a press statement.

SIA guided for fourth-quarter sales to be flat sequentially. The trade group projects year-on-year growth of at least 28%.

October sales of DSPs rose 8.5% sequentially, a sign that the inventory correction that began in the wireless handset market in July has run its course, said Scalise.

PC sales, which historically peak in the fourth quarter, have been further buoyed by corporate demand, SIA said. Microprocessors were up 6.4% sequentially and DRAMs were up 2.8%, signs that the supply chain has shed its excess inventories for those chips, SIA said.

"Sales of consumer electronics are especially strong in the fourth quarter as the holiday build continues," said Scalise.

Capacity utilization declined two points in the third quarter, to 93%. Sales in all geographic regions except Japan were up sequentially in October.

The agreement was announced by the companies today. Other details were not disclosed.