STAMFORD, CT – COMET, a supplier of x-ray, RF and dosimetry solutions, has opened a Technical Resource Center in San Jose, CA. In the heart of Silicon Valley, the new office provides more than twice the space of the previous West Coast facility.  

The 5,200 sq. ft facility was chosen due to the efficient layout of the building and its proximity to existing customers in the area. The North America service team will be able to inventory the entire line of COMET products and perform on-site service and repairs.  Features three inspection service laboratories for product demonstrations and quality assurance inspection.

The company also recently expanded its North American headquarters in Stamford.

Hauppauge, NY—RVSI Inspection LLC, a provider of semiconductor wafer and package metrology and defect inspection solutions, and BKM Technology Partners, a manager of advanced technologies, have signed a sales and service agreement to provide customers in North America support for semiconductor wafer and package inspection requirements.

BKM Technology Partners will provide sales, service and application support for RVSI Inspection product lines throughout North America. In addition, some existing sales and service employees will transfer from RVSI Inspection to BKM.

Atlanta – Renowned market and industry analyst Walt Custer will present a free, two-hour analysis of the global electronics industry on August 9.

The Business Outlook Webinar, hosted by PBRSeminars, will include information on:

World economy;

Electronic equipment - size, scope and end-market drivers by sector;

Active and passive components (including semiconductors and PCBs);

Global electronic assembly markets (OEM, EMS and ODM) ;

Related materials and process equipment ;

Status and economic performance of key companies serving each sector.

Custer will cover information about the future of the domestic and world electronics industries; current business cycles and realistic growth expectations; and industry survivors and profitable markets.

A joint venture between UP Media Group and PCB 007, PBR Seminars produces live, on-demand technical Webinars for PCB industry professionals. For more info: pbrseminars.com.

SAN FRANCISCO -- IBM's fabled C4 flip chip concept has been updated and was a popular attraction at a major semiconductor manufacturing expo last week.

NASHUA, NH -- National Standards Authority of Ireland is the first registrar to receive authorization to provide registration under the new EIA/ECCB-954 specification adopted by IECQ. The move permits NSAI to certify hazardous substance (lead-free) processes at electronics companies.

IECQ is the IEC’s quality assessment system for electronic components. It specifies technical requirements that manufacturers must meet to ensure that their products conform to new environmental limits.

As a result, NSAI is now able to offer a process certification solution for  electronics companies to demonstrate compliance with the new environmental regulations regarding lead and other hazardous substances, NSAI said in a press release.

Credit Suisse First Boston expects electronics manufacturing services and component companies to report "mostly inline" second-quarter results.

CSFB said, "Given a slow demand environment, we continue to overweight EMS names that are 'creating their own destiny': leveraging secular margin expansion as Celestica or new business wins as Jabil Circuit and Flextronics International to drive above-average earnings growth."

The cell-phone business and increasing Nortel Networks revenue "should get Flextronics over the line in the second quarter, with the booming Multek PCB business driving an opportunity for margins to beat. Celestica and Sanmina-SCI will both likely achieve earnings consensus on margin improvements from restructuring, despite lackluster revenues," the research firm said.

SAN JOSE -- Flextronics has entered into an employment agreement with chief executive Michael Marks, who becomes chairman in January, according to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission Wednesday.

Migdal HaEmek, Israel -- Camtek Ltd. and its parent company, Priortech Ltd., filed a lawsuit in the Tel Aviv District Court against Orbotech Ltd. and Orbot Systems Ltd. The suit seeks to recover about $4 million in damages caused by Orbotech's request for a preliminary injunction given ex parte.

Camtek has other legal issues today as well, with August Technology Corp. filing a patent infringement suit over the former's inspection line.

CHICAGO – Boeing Co. this week reiterated its stance on lead-free products, reminding its suppliers to validate that their products meet existing contractual requirements. Those requirements include environmental and reliability, Boeing said in the letter, dated July 12.

FREMONT, CA -- SensArray Corp.’s new Assembly and Test Business Unit delivers process optimization tools for backend semiconductor manufacturers. The unit currently markets six applications, as well as custom control systems for the wafer bumping process.

Backend assembly and test, including wafer solder bumping and solder reflow, requires increasing thermal monitoring and control. As temperature controls narrow from +/- 10 to +/- 5°C, and soon to +/- 1°C, tighter tolerances are necessary; meanwhile temperatures are going up, demanding even more process control.

The company has created a system bundle from its current tools for measuring real-time, in situ temperature in backend processes. These include:

* Process Probe 1935 thermocouple (TC)-instrumented wafer used to check wafer center-to-edge thermal stresses during loading and ramping,and calibrate temperature set-points in ovens with confidence;

* Process Probe 1630 TC-instrumented wafer designed for reflow oven profiling up to 800°C;

* Process Probe Custom Reflow Probes to determine edge-to-center temperature to adjust heater zone set points, and measure and adjust drift in temperature due to oxide build-up on the heaters and belt;

* PDA-based Thermal TRACK measurement systems, used with Process Probes, for real-time visual representations of the wafer temperature and uniformity measurements;

* Laptop-based Thermal MAP metrology systems to deliver graphic representations of temperature ramp-up, steady state and ramp-down;

* Intelligent Sensor Interface System (ISIS) 5 module is wireless, using Bluetooth technology for portability and ease-of-use.

Currently available in the U.S., Europe and Asia. For more info, visit sensarray.com.

Munich, Germany and Westford, MA -- Zuken was chosen as the EDA vendor representative to participate in a multinational research project that came to a close in May. Zuken was selected for its knowledge in EMC (electromagnetic compatibility) simulation and modeling.

The aim of the MESDIE (microelectronic EMC system design for high density interconnect and high frequency environments) project was to research modeling for new chip sets, dedicated HDI and package modules for applications facing EMC/noise and system integration in the telecommunications, automotive, consumer and multimedia sectors.

MEDEA, the industry-initiated pan-European program for co-operative R&D in microelectronics, headed up the three-year, multinational MESDIE project. Working with companies such as Airbus, Alcatel, Bosch, Infineon, Continental, Philips and ST-Microelectronics, the project has begun forming the basis of methods of modeling and simulation at the system design level. 

Zuken helped advance technology concepts for EMC-related modeling of power ground systems for various off-chips structures, at both the HDI and board level.