Latest News
SANTA CLARA, CA – EMS provider Hunter Technology has opened an additional design center in San Diego.
Opening the center will aid the company’s plan to provide PCB design and engineering services nationally through its subsidiary CADParts & Consulting, Hunter says.
Hunter plans to add additional service centers around the U.S. during the next few months.
Present locations include Northern and Southern California, New Jersey, Colorado, Tennessee and Pennsylvania.
Design services are available for CAD platforms of tools that include Altium, Cadence, Mentor and Zuken. Engineering services have been added, including original design, cost reduction engineering and mechanical design services.
Opening the center will aid the company’s plan to provide PCB design and engineering services nationally through its subsidiary CADParts & Consulting, Hunter says.
Hunter plans to add additional service centers around the U.S. during the next few months.
Present locations include Northern and Southern California, New Jersey, Colorado, Tennessee and Pennsylvania.
Design services are available for CAD platforms of tools that include Altium, Cadence, Mentor and Zuken. Engineering services have been added, including original design, cost reduction engineering and mechanical design services.
SAN JOSE – North America-based manufacturers of semiconductor equipment posted $1.16 billion in orders in March and a book-to-bill ratio of 0.89, according to SEMI. Bookings are down 4% from February and about 18% year-over-year.
SEVENOAKS, UK – GPS unit sales will hit $1 billion in 2012, according to tech analyst Future Horizons. Between 2007 and 2012, GPS unit sales will grow from 286 million to 938 million annually, a CAGR of 26.8%.
GPS chipset shipments are expected to rise 47% in 2008, with the handset and PDA segment showing the strongest growth at 55%. In 2009, the low cost, low power segment will show strong annual growth of 38.5%, says Future Horizons.
Upcoming applications, according to the research firm, will be mobile phone GPS applications such as local traffic and location information services.
The firm forecasts unit sales will continue to rise; however, chipset revenue will peak during this period as ASPs fall. GPS circuits eventually will become part of more complex radio accessory chips, including Bluetooth, NFC and Wi-Fi.
GPS chipset shipments are expected to rise 47% in 2008, with the handset and PDA segment showing the strongest growth at 55%. In 2009, the low cost, low power segment will show strong annual growth of 38.5%, says Future Horizons.
Upcoming applications, according to the research firm, will be mobile phone GPS applications such as local traffic and location information services.
The firm forecasts unit sales will continue to rise; however, chipset revenue will peak during this period as ASPs fall. GPS circuits eventually will become part of more complex radio accessory chips, including Bluetooth, NFC and Wi-Fi.
ST. LOUIS – For the third quarter of fiscal 2008, EMS firm LaBarge Inc. expects net sales of $75.4 million, up 27% year-over-year, beating previous guidance.
In March, the company projected net sales of $70 million to $72 million.
LaBarge reported first-half net sales of $126.2 million.
The company also updated fourth-quarter guidance, stating it expects sales and earnings to be comparable to this year’s preliminary third-quarter results, up substantially from the prior-year fourth quarter.
“Third-quarter results were better than we had previously anticipated due to some customers accelerating deliveries and broad-based strength in our end markets. That strength is continuing and we anticipate fourth-quarter results will be comparable to the preliminary third-quarter results announced today,” said Craig LaBarge, CEO and president.
Full third-quarter results will be announced May 1.
In March, the company projected net sales of $70 million to $72 million.
LaBarge reported first-half net sales of $126.2 million.
The company also updated fourth-quarter guidance, stating it expects sales and earnings to be comparable to this year’s preliminary third-quarter results, up substantially from the prior-year fourth quarter.
“Third-quarter results were better than we had previously anticipated due to some customers accelerating deliveries and broad-based strength in our end markets. That strength is continuing and we anticipate fourth-quarter results will be comparable to the preliminary third-quarter results announced today,” said Craig LaBarge, CEO and president.
Full third-quarter results will be announced May 1.
KOKOMO, IN – With cleaning on the up-tick due to more aggressive fluxes and greater concern over residues, a test method for localized extraction has been proposed to the IPC Ionic Conductivity/Ion Chromatography task group.
SAN JOSE – Dr. Luke P. Lee will describe a new 3-D optical lithography for waveguides self-assembly in the MEMS Packaging Symposium keynote next month.
In the presentation, Lee, a professor in the University of California Berkeley department of Bioengineering, will reveal the process, which uses self-aligned microlenses and self-writing in photopolymers.
His talk takes place May 22 in San Jose.
After the keynote, Karen Lightman, managing director, MEMS Industry Group, will present findings and recommendations from the MEMS Industry Group members’ annual meeting.
Symposium segments include consumer, automotive, biomedicine, and WLPs and 3-D ICs, among others.
To register, visit www.meptec.org.
In the presentation, Lee, a professor in the University of California Berkeley department of Bioengineering, will reveal the process, which uses self-aligned microlenses and self-writing in photopolymers.
His talk takes place May 22 in San Jose.
After the keynote, Karen Lightman, managing director, MEMS Industry Group, will present findings and recommendations from the MEMS Industry Group members’ annual meeting.
Symposium segments include consumer, automotive, biomedicine, and WLPs and 3-D ICs, among others.
To register, visit www.meptec.org.
RICHARDSON, TX – Test Research Inc. will integrate ASSET InterTech’s boundary scan technology into its line of in-circuit testers.
Under the terms of the extended agreement, ASSET will be the preferred supplier of boundary scan systems and related intellectual property to TRI and its customers. No financial terms were disclosed.
Under the terms of the extended agreement, ASSET will be the preferred supplier of boundary scan systems and related intellectual property to TRI and its customers. No financial terms were disclosed.
ATLANTA – After 50 years in electronics, Jim Raby believes the industry’s greatest invention was not the transistor, but the plated through-hole.
The guru of electronics, Raby led what an audience member called a “fireside chat” at yesterday’s Atlanta SMTA Expo. He warmly shared stories from the dawn of the modern electronics industry. Raby, founder of STI Electronics, and a few others brought an Electrovert wave soldering machine from Canada with fake “Made in the USA” stickers on it.
ATLANTA – Lead-free doesn’t seem new, but many myths still pervade industry thinking. One expert tried to dispel them.
In a presentation during the Atlanta SMTA Show Thursday, Chrys Shea, R&D applications engineer manager at Cookson Electronics, posted statements about Pb-free and asked whether the audience thought they were fact or fiction. She made some strong points about the myths of Pb-free, showing a distinct passion for her research. Here are the key points of her presentation:
DANDERYD, SWEDEN – Note AB reported first-quarter sales rose 0.5% to SEK 427.3 million, while net profits fell 53% to SEK 5.7 million.
For the March quarter, the operating profits fell 44% to SEK 13.8 million on a SEK 10 million restructuring charge. The EMS company turned in an operating margin of 3.2%, down from 5.8% last year. Cash flow from operations was SEK 24 million, down from SEK 45.6 million.
During the quarter, Note continued to transfer production to lower-cost countries and cut its headcount in Sweden by more than 150, or roughly 20% of its local workforce. The firm employs 1,200 workers globally.
The company also purchased Nearsourcing Centre in the UK, and acquired a domestic mechanical engineering services group.
For the March quarter, the operating profits fell 44% to SEK 13.8 million on a SEK 10 million restructuring charge. The EMS company turned in an operating margin of 3.2%, down from 5.8% last year. Cash flow from operations was SEK 24 million, down from SEK 45.6 million.
During the quarter, Note continued to transfer production to lower-cost countries and cut its headcount in Sweden by more than 150, or roughly 20% of its local workforce. The firm employs 1,200 workers globally.
The company also purchased Nearsourcing Centre in the UK, and acquired a domestic mechanical engineering services group.
BANNOCKBURN, IL – IPC has released IPC-7095B, Design and Assembly Process Implementation for BGAs.
This revised document focuses on applications that use both SnPb and Pb-free on the same board, including various solder ball alloys, new laminate materials for Pb-free, BGA trace escape and routing considerations during board design to improve yield and reduce cost,” explained Ray Prasad, task group chairman.
“There is also a detailed discussion of reflow solder profiling, void process indicators and ways to improve product reliability,” he said
The standard was approved by consensus last month, said Prasad, who is also principal of Ray Prasad Consultancy Group, in a statement.
This revised document focuses on applications that use both SnPb and Pb-free on the same board, including various solder ball alloys, new laminate materials for Pb-free, BGA trace escape and routing considerations during board design to improve yield and reduce cost,” explained Ray Prasad, task group chairman.
“There is also a detailed discussion of reflow solder profiling, void process indicators and ways to improve product reliability,” he said
The standard was approved by consensus last month, said Prasad, who is also principal of Ray Prasad Consultancy Group, in a statement.
TEDDINGTON, UK – A new approach adopted by the National Physical Laboratory has led to the design and build of the NPL – IPTM (Interconnect Properties Test Machine), says Dr. Chris Hunt and his team.
It applies defined deformation under precision control to measure materials properties. The apparatus permits materials data to be obtained from solder samples that have volumes and geometries similar to those of real solder joints, and from joints loaded in shear, mirroring the practical situation in the field.
The instrument reportedly can accommodate various solder alloys and surface coatings, and permits direct microscopic examination during the test at temperatures between -55 to 125°C.
A four-point measurement system for resistance monitoring also has been embedded and found to correlate well with structural degradation recorded during fatigue testing of solders, says NPL. The resistance measurement is directly related to the development of a crack; resistance data can be used to predict crack growth rates. The results indicate lifetime can be measured using the load decrease and/or the resistance increase. Measuring these parameters directly, for different solders and conditions, and relating them to real assembly performance, will aid modeling of lifetime prediction for Pb-free solders, says the group.
Although the mechanical behavior of Pb-free joints is known to be different from that of conventional SnPb joints, there is a lack of data suitable for modeling purposes; the need to generate such data to evaluate likely Pb-free solder performance has assumed some urgency, according to NPL.
It applies defined deformation under precision control to measure materials properties. The apparatus permits materials data to be obtained from solder samples that have volumes and geometries similar to those of real solder joints, and from joints loaded in shear, mirroring the practical situation in the field.
The instrument reportedly can accommodate various solder alloys and surface coatings, and permits direct microscopic examination during the test at temperatures between -55 to 125°C.
A four-point measurement system for resistance monitoring also has been embedded and found to correlate well with structural degradation recorded during fatigue testing of solders, says NPL. The resistance measurement is directly related to the development of a crack; resistance data can be used to predict crack growth rates. The results indicate lifetime can be measured using the load decrease and/or the resistance increase. Measuring these parameters directly, for different solders and conditions, and relating them to real assembly performance, will aid modeling of lifetime prediction for Pb-free solders, says the group.
Although the mechanical behavior of Pb-free joints is known to be different from that of conventional SnPb joints, there is a lack of data suitable for modeling purposes; the need to generate such data to evaluate likely Pb-free solder performance has assumed some urgency, according to NPL.
Press Releases
- Indium Corporation Technical Expert to Present at SiP Conference China
- Flex Announces Kevin Krumm as Chief Financial Officer
- Green Circuits Enhances Inspection Capabilities with New DAGE Quadra 5 Pro X-ray System
- Western Digital CEO David Goeckeler Elected Chair of Semiconductor Industry Association