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VANCOUVER -- EMS firm Silicon Forest Electronics has added 20,000 sq. ft. of manufacturing space and reconfigured two manufacturing lines to increase speed and flexibility for quickturn, low-volume production.

The company also added high-speed equipment, more than doubling its overall machine capacity to over 7 million placements per month across a total of four lines. Additional capacity improvements are planned for late 2008, which will add another 2 to 4 million placements per month.

The company, which also has capacity in Zhuhai, China, and a partnering arrangement with ACW, provides “one-stop” contract manufacturing.

LOS ALTOS, CA – China’s electronic equipment production market is finally slowing down, and taking the rest of the world with it.

Citing the recent economic environment and spate of earthquakes, research firm Henderson Ventures said China’s short-term equipment production output will drop eight points to 13.5% this year, before rebounding slightly in 2009 and 2010.

COOPERSVILLE, MI – Saturn Electronics & Engineering has been awarded a $500,000 federal grant to help fund new machinery and equipment at its plant here.

The company, which makes automotive electronics and components, will use the grant toward planned capital investments of some $11 million. Saturn will hire 26 additional workers as well.

The grant is being made available by the Michigan Economic Development Corp.

SINGAPORE – Singapore's electronics industry rose in June, reversing a one-month fall into recession. The sector rose 2.3 points to 51.7, according to purchasing executives in more than 150 industrial companies.

May was the first time in nearly two years the electronics sector failed to grow.

The national purchasing managers' index rose 1.6 points sequentially to 50.6 in June, on new orders and higher levels of production output. A reading above 50.0 is a sign of an expanding market.

Electronics makes up one-third of Singapore's manufacturing output.

BANNOCKBURN, IL – North American PCB shipments rose 5.1% year-over-year in May, but orders fell 4.2%.

Through May, shipments are up 6.2%, while bookings are 7.5% higher. Compared to April, shipments were down 0.7% and bookings were down 5.2%. The book-to-bill ratio fell to 0.96.

COPENHAGEN -- Lego Group is taking its toys and going home. Europe's largest toy maker will end its outsourcing deal with Flextronics next year and bring manufacturing back in-house, the company said today.

"During the past year it has become increasingly obvious to the two parties that it would be more optimal for the Lego Group to manage its global manufacturing set up," Lego said in a statement.

SAN DIEGO – Pulse, an electronics component and subassembly designer and manufacturer, announced its Sonion Division will operate under the Pulse name, effective today. Sonion will undergo a name and legal entity change over the coming months.

The Technitrol Co. subsidiary’s activities related to hearing instrument components, pro-audio and medical device components will continue as a new group called MedTech. The mobile terminal components and MEMS microphone activities will become part of Pulse’s existing Wireless group.

Technitrol acquired Sonion on Feb. 28 and became part of the firm’s Electronic Components Segment.

Sonion is based in Roskilde, Denmark and has facilities in Poland, China, Vietnam, the US, and the Netherlands.

SHANGHAI – Henkel and Shanghai University, along with other research universities, have entered into an agreement to form a Shanghai Region Joint Electronics Research and Failure Analysis Center.

“One-third of Henkel’s Shanghai-based 150-person research and engineering team is dedicated solely to technology development activities, and over 3% of our research and development expenditure is earmarked for cooperative efforts with universities and technology institutions,” said Dr. Horst Eierdanz, corporate vice president, Henkel R&D Engineering Adhesives.

The roadmap of the three-year project includes study of the interfacial bonding mechanisms between metals and organic polymers; new latent curing systems for advanced electronics polymer applications; fundamental studies of the rheological behavior of microelectronic assembly materials; nanocomposite microelectronic packaging materials, and advanced microelectronic thermal solutions.

The duration of the project is scheduled through March 31, 2011.

The official signing ceremony took place June 10 at Henkel Asia-Pacific and China Headquarters in Shanghai.

ROMULUS, MI – The right combination of materials, finishes and solders can have a marked effect on bare board cost and reliability.

Indeed, according to Jim Kelch, director of sales/marketing, at PWB fabricator Saturn Electronics Corp., the right recipe can cut board costs as much as 30%.

In a Webinar Monday, Kelch, along with representatives from Isola Group and Florida CirTech, laid out how.

The move to Pb-free creates a host of indirect cost drivers, said Kelch, including increased scrap rate (due to delamination and decreased solderability) and the need for additional storage and handling steps (generally, pre-baking).

The response, according to Kelch, is designers are calling out FR-4 laminates with 180° Tg and 340° Td (time to decomposition at temperature). But while FR-4 is RoHS compliant, it is not always right for Pb-free assembly, he explained, while 180° Tg does not guarantee adequate Td.

Saturn’s proposed solution: mid-grade Pb-free capable laminates that meet IPC-4101/99 (filled) or IPC-4101/124 (unfilled), with a minimum 150° Tg and 325° Td.

The benefits, he says, are a 15 to 20% cost savings on raw materials; lower moisture absorption (0.10 to 0.25%); higher interlaminate adhesion (peel strength = T-288 >10 min.), and high copper-to-laminate peel strength.

Dave Coppens, technical account manager at laminate supplier Isola, discussed test results for the company’s IS400 product, which reportedly performed well under tests for TGA, DSC, Td, weight loss % by TGA, peel strength and 6X reflow.

Next, Glenn Sikorcin, sales manager at Florida CirTech, which is one of the North American licensees for Nihon Superior’s SN100CL, an all-tin solder alloy, shared results of Pb-free HASL and HALT tests. Pb-free HASL required the most energy (G-force and thermal cycling) to break solder joints, and outperformed SnPb HASL in the tests, according Sikorcin. He noted Pb-free HASL (also called HAL) has certain drawbacks, including a non-planar finish, and it’s not ideal for extremely fine-pitch applications; there are post-solderability issues, and SN100CL requires a thermal cycle in addition to thermal cycle in assembly. Finally, no industry standards exist for Pb-free HASL.

Based on Isola and Florida CirTech’s studies, Kelch said, “By implementing one or both solutions, you save up to 30% of bare board cost; increase product performance; standardize fab notes to remove risk of non-performing products, and improve your supply base.”

During the Webinar, Kelch took audience polls. Here are some results:

Have you experienced delamination during Pb-free assembly?
–        Yes 46%
–        No 54%

What is your current lead-free finish?
–        ENIG: 32%
–        Pb-free HASL: 32%
–        Immersion silver: 15%
–        Immersion tin: 0%
–        RoHS compliant: 21%

EL SEGUNDO, CA – Intel gained momentum in the worldwide microprocessor business in the first quarter, while rival Advanced Micro Devices continued its long-term increase in market share, according to iSuppli Corp.

In the first quarter, Intel accounted for 79.7% of global microprocessor revenue, up 1.2 points sequentially. However, Intel’s microprocessor revenue market share was down by 0.7 points year-over-year.

In contrast, AMD lost market share on a sequential basis in the first quarter, taking 13% of global revenue, down 1.1 points sequentially. On the other hand, the company managed to increase its share by 2.2 points year-over-year.

Combined, AMD and Intel accounted for 92.7% of total microprocessor revenues in the first quarter, up 1.4 points year-over-year.

“Intel was the short-term winner in the first quarter microprocessor market,” observed Matthew Wilkins, principal analyst, compute platforms for iSuppli. “But over the previous 12-month period, the trend is reversed, with AMD growing its share.”

About half of AMD’s long-term growth came at the expense of Intel. The remainder came out of the market-share of smaller suppliers, says the research firm.

iSuppli’s latest global PC forecast calls for unit shipment growth of 10.5% in 2008. First-quarter results were encouraging, with global PC unit shipments rising to 69.9 million units, up 12.1% compared to the same period last year.

Notebook shipments were strong, with growth of more than 30% compared to the first quarter of 2007. In contrast, desktop PC shipments in the first quarter were essentially flat compared to a year earlier.

Reflecting the robust demand situation, both Intel and AMD noted their ASPs did not decrease sequentially. This price stability is another indication that price pressure has decreased and the pricing war between the two microprocessor suppliers has abated, according to iSuppli.

LISLE, IL –Molex Inc. has completed its previously announced acquisition of Taipei-based AFlextech Inc. No financial terms were disclosed.

AFlextech designs and manufactures flexible circuits and assemblies. GM Sando Chen says the company also offers Molex-expanded capabilities for SMT, through-hole and hybrid assembly.

The company will operate as a subsidiary of Molex and will be part of the company’s Global Integrated Products Division.

Founded in 2003, AFlextech has sales of approximately $25 million and 300 employees.

SAN JOSE – Worldwide semiconductor sales rose 7.5% in May, year-over-year, the Semiconductor Industry Association reported today. Sales were up 2.8% sequentially. Excluding memory sales, ICs are up 12.3% through May.