SAN JOSE – North America-based manufacturers of semiconductor equipment posted $1.6 billion in orders in April (three-month average basis), up 10.8% year-over-year and up 1.1% sequentially, says SEMI.

The book-to-bill ratio was 0.98.

A book-to-bill of 0.98 means $98 worth of orders were received for every $100 of product billed for the month.

CHENGDU, CHINA -- Three workers are confirmed dead following a May 20 explosion at Foxconn Technology Group's Chengdu plant.

SANTA CLARA, CA -- Whizz Systems has begun installation at its new contract electronics assembly site in Kulim Hi-Tech Park, Kedah, Malaysia, the company told CIRCUITS ASSEMBLY.

WESTLAKE, OH -- Nordson Corp. turned in another stellar quarter as net income more than doubled from last year to $65 million.

SAN JOSE -- Will Flextronics stay in the outsourced PC market?

SUZHOU -- Rehm Thermal Systems has opened a process development center here to support customers in Asia.

GLEN ALLEN, VA – The total market for silver inks and pastes in 2011 will be approximately $4.5 billion, an increase from 2010, according to a new report by NanoMarkets.

The market size for these kinds of materials will stay in this range for the next eight to 10 years, the firm says.

NanoMarkets believes silver prices will remain high and may increase, and expects many users to reduce silver consumption. The firm sees an opportunity for hybrid silver inks, as a result.

“While these more specialist inks currently account for no more than a few percent of traditional (i.e., non-nanosilver) inks/pastes at the present time, they could easily expand to (say) 15% of all traditional pastes and inks by 2016 or so.” This would be an increase from well under $100 million to more than $600 million by 2016, NanoMarkets says.

The market for nanosilver inks is expected to be not much more than $300 million by 2016, making it just 7% of the silver inks and pastes market as a whole, the firm adds.

Thick-film applications will generate $1.8 billion in 2011 and $2.1 billion by 2016, with growth in consumer electronic markets in particular.

To request a full report, visit http://nanomarkets.net/news/article/nanomarkets_announces_availability_of_new_report_on_silver_inks_and_pastes/.

GLENVIEW, IL -- Illinois Tool Works' Power Systems and Electronics business unit's revenues grew 20% year-over-year in the April quarter.

AUSTIN – Package-on-package volumes will continue to grow, with a CAGR of 31% from 2009 to 2015, a leading research firm says. 

Applications driving this double-digit growth include mobile phones (especially smartphones), tablets, games, iPods, and digital cameras, TechSearch International says.

“When Amkor ramped PoP in 2005, the mobile processor clock was 330 MHz with a 0.65mm pitch interface to the top SDRAM/NOR combo memory," said Lee Smith, VP of marketing and business development at Amkor Technology. "Now processor speeds exceed 1 GHz with a 0.4mm pitch interface to the top low power DDR, with near term roadmaps exceeding 2.5 GHz and high-density PoP interfaces supporting two channel LP DDR2. With more than four billion mobile processors forecasted for smart device applications in the next four years, PoP growth and advancements will continue at a high rate.” 

PoP provides a cost/performance solution that solves business and logistics issues associated with stacking devices directly – something that cannot yet be met by 3D TSV technology, according to TechSearch. Memory and the logic packages can be tested separately before assembly. Standardization of the top memory package footprint allows memory packages from various suppliers to be interchanged. Memory devices are wire-bonded in the top package, but the logic device in the bottom package is migrating to flip chip, including copper pillar.

EINDHOVEN, NETHERLANDS -- The management of Marantz Business Electronics, the AOI division of D&M Europe, has purchased the unit from its parent company.

TAIPEI -- After continued losses in 2010, Foxconn’s contract cellphone arm expects “dramatic improvement” in 2011.

RICHARDSON, TX ― Automated Circuit Design said first-quarter sales rose 33% year-over-year, reaching their highest mark for the period in the electronics manufacturing services company's history.