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SAN JOSE, July 19 -- Orders for semiconductor equipment rose sharply in June as North American manufacturers posted a 90-day book-to-bill of 1.08.

The 90-day average of worldwide bookings was $1.61 billion, up 3% from the revised May numbers and 123% year-on-year.

The 90-day average of worldwide billings was $1.48 billion, up 5% from May and 91% ahead of last year.

"Despite the premature negative commentary by some Wall Street analysts, the semiconductor equipment industry continues to maintain growth at high levels," said Stanley Myers, president and CEO of SEMI. "Total bookings remained strong throughout the second quarter and are at levels more than double that of one year ago."

A book-to-bill of 1.08 means that $108 worth of orders were received for every $100 of product billed for the month.

Carlsbad, CA -- Asymtek (www.asymtek.com) has developed a method for applying solder ball reinforcement material to semiconductor packages that can eliminate the need for dispensing secondary underfill in PCB assembly.

The company's DispenseJet DJ-9000 shoots a fluid stream of underfill adhesive as small as 100 micrometers wide between balls on CSPs and other BGA packages during the semiconductor packaging process. Other methods of pre-applied underfill have resulted in contaminating the solder balls or have been too costly to ramp into production.

Jetting the underfill prior to board assembly without contaminating the solder balls allows semiconductor packaging companies to offer packages with improved reliability without the cost of traditional underfilling.

Typically, CSPs or other BGA packages require adhesive underfill to glue the component rigidly to the PCBA to prevent failures due to shock. If the primary failure of a non-underfilled CSP or other BGA package occurs at the ball-package interface, the pre-applied solder ball reinforcement reduces the probability of joint failure at that interface.

The cured reinforcement material relieves the stress at the ball-substrate interface by reducing the geometric stress concentration factor at that point. Therefore, the solder joint withstands more load during shock-loading or thermal cycling.

MfgQuote (www.mfgquote.com) is an online sourcing solution for custom manufactured parts and engineered components. Buyers, engineers and purchasing professionals submit and distribute request for quotes (RFQs) through the secure online system.

Suppliers have the opportunity to match their expertise, equipment and capacity to the buyers who need their services. The site gives them the tools to identify and build relationships with the right customers for their business with complete confidentiality.

The service is free to buyers (engineers, inventors and students), with suppliers and original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) paying a subscription fee for the opportunity to sell to the buyers.

Cognex Corp (www.cognex.com) is hosting a seminar, Understanding and Applying Machine Vision Sensors, throughout North America this fall. Attendees will find out how machine vision sensors work, learn how applications can be set up quickly and easily, see live vision sensor demonstrations and learn how to reduce production costs.

All seminar participants will receive VisionGuide, which includes free In-Sight Explorer trial software.

The scheduled dates are:

ALABAMA

Huntsville, AL - Nov 17

Auburn, AL - Dec 1

ARIZONA

Phoenix, AZ - Oct 26

Tucson, AZ -Oct 28

ARKANSAS

Fayetteville, AR - Oct 28

CALIFORNIA

Emeryville, CA - Aug 5

San Diego, CA - Aug 10

San Jose, CA - Aug 18

Los Angeles, CA - Aug 19

Petaluma, CA - Sept 22

Fresno, CA - Oct 7

Santa Ana, CA - Nov 3

COLORADO

Denver, CO - Sept 28

CONNECTICUT

Hartford, CT - Nov 11

FLORIDA

Tampa, FL - Sept 21

GEORGIA

Augusta, GA - Sept 23

College Park, GA - Oct 12

IDAHO

Boise, ID - Sept 16

ILLINOIS

Burr Ridge, IL - Aug 18

Mount Vernon, IL - Aug 25

Tinley Park, IL - Sept 2

Deerfield, IL - Sept 21

Glendale Heights, IL - Oct 26

Peoria, IL - Nov 4

Elgin, IL - Nov 16

INDIANA

Evansville, IN - Nov 30

Indianapolis, IN - Dec 1

IOWA

Des Moines, IA - Aug 17

Cedar Rapids, IA - Aug 31

KANSAS

Topeka, KS - Sept 7

Wichita, KS - Oct 13

KENTUCKY

Louisville, KY - Oct 14

Bowling Green, KY - Dec 16

MARYLAND

Hunt Valley, MD - Sept 29

MASSACHUSETTS

Woburn, MA - Sept 15

Natick, MA - Nov 3

MICHIGAN

Adrian, MI - Aug 4

Dearborn, MI - Aug 5

Sterling Heights, MI - Aug 12

Saginaw, MI - Aug 24

Grand Rapids, MI - Sept 7

Cadillac, MI - Sept 15

Ypsilanti, MI - Sept 16

Battle Creek, MI - Oct 6

Pontiac, MI - Oct 12

Livonia, MI - Nov 18

MINNESOTA

Minneapolis, MN - Sept 9

Rochester, MN - Nov 2

NEBRASKA

Lincoln, NE - Oct 5

NEW HAMPSHIRE

Lebanon, NH - Sept 22

NEW JERSEY

Mahwah, NJ - Oct 13

Somerset, NJ - Oct 20

Mt. Laurel, NJ - Nov 10

Parsippany, NJ - Nov 30

NEW YORK

Albany, NY - Oct 27

NORTH CAROLINA

Winston-Salem, NC - Sept 16

Charlotte, NC - Oct 7

OHIO

Defiance, OH - Aug 3

Mansfield, OH - Aug 26

Toledo, OH - Oct 14

Dayton, OH - Oct 19

Akron, OH - Oct 21

Cincinnati, OH - Nov 4

Independence, OH - Nov 16

OREGON

Portland, OR - Aug 26

PENNSYLVANIA

Mars, PA - Aug 17

State College, PA - Aug 18

King of Prussia, PA - Sept 1

Canonsburg, PA - Sept 28

RHODE ISLAND

Providence, RI - Sept 8

SOUTH CAROLINA

Greenville, SC - Nov 2

SOUTH DAKOTA

Sioux Falls, SD - Aug 3

TENNESSEE

Nashville, TN - Sept 2

Jackson, TN - Sept 14

Cleveland, TN - Sept 30

Oak Ridge, TN - Nov 10

Clarksville, TN - Dec 2

TEXAS

Austin, TX - Aug 12

Dallas, TX - Oct 19

UTAH

Salt Lake City, UT - Sept 30

VIRGINIA

Fredericksburg, VA - Oct 21

Williamsburg, VA - Nov 17

Harrisonburg, VA - Dec 14

WASHINGTON

Spokane, WA - Sept 14

WISCONSIN

Menomonee Falls, WI - Aug 25

Wausau, WI - Sept 1

Racine, WI - Sept 23

Eau Claire, WI - Oct 5

Green Bay, WI - Nov 18

CANADA

Vancouver - Canada - Aug 24

Oshawa - Canada - Aug 31

Kingston - Canada - Sept 29

Mississauga - Canada - Oct 6

Cambridge - Canada - Oct 27

London - Canada - Nov 9

Chatham - Canada - Nov 23

Windsor - Canada - Dec 15

MEXICO

Juarez - Mexico - Dec 14

Reynosa - Mexico - Dec 16

PUERTO RICO

San Juan - Puerto Rico - Nov 9

Arecibo - Puerto Rico - Nov 11

To register, visit:

http://www.imakenews.com/eletra/go.cfm?z=cognex%2C18305%2Cb19Stk4q%2C20643%2Cb3kghhW

Singapore -- Flextronics, the world's largest EMS provider, reported net sales rose 25% to $3.88 billion for its recently ended first quarter.

Net income rose 283% to $78.3 million, excluding restructuring and other charges. GAAP net income was $74.3 million, up from a loss of $289.7 million a year ago. Cash flow from operations was $166 million.

Gross and operating margins were up 110 basis points.

Michael Marks, chief executive, said in a statement, "The improvement in margins was driven by effective management of our operations, which included aggressive restructuring in prior periods as well as continuous cost reductions. Additionally, a healthier demand environment not only improves our factory utilization and increases overhead absorption, but also provides an opportunity for us to improve our pricing."

According to one analyst, sales from Sony Ericsson increased roughly 40% sequentially to 15% of total revenue in the quarter. Sales to other customers dropped about 2% sequentially, said Deustche Bank. Communications infrastructure sales were down moderately, DB said.

Inventories rose by four days, to 34 days.

Flextronics guided for September earnings of 15 to 18 cents and December earnings of 21 to 24 cents.

Yet Flextronics should benefit from greater outsourcing of handsets. "Anecdotes from Nokia, Samsung, Sony Ericsson, Intel, AMD [and] Philips suggest that handset demand in 2Q was healthy," wrote analyst Chris Whitmore of Deustche Bank. "We expect further commoditization of the handset market to force more outsourcing, benefiting ODMs like Flextronics."

The Surface Mount Technology Association (www.smta.org) is again co-locating its annual conference, SMTA International, with the Assembly Tech Expo (ATExpo) show this fall at the Donald Stephens Convention Center in Rosemont, IL, from Sept. 26-30.

Dr. Paul T. Vianco of Sandia National Labs has organized a Lead-Free Soldering Symposium that will take place on Thursday, Sept. 30, and will consist of four 90-minute paper sessions on lead-free and tin whiskers consortia activities, materials issues in lead-free soldering, lead-free soldering processes and lead-free soldering reliability. Dial-in options will be available for the symposium during the conference.

In consideration of the current demand for information on lead-free technology, it was decided that the symposium would be an appropriate first attempt at mixing the traditional conference format with an online, dial-in format. Dial-in attendees will receive the technical papers and auxiliary presentation files in advance of the symposium. They will have access to the real-time audio portion by telephone line to follow along as the event takes place.

The dial-in format gives would-be attendees, such as students who might not otherwise be able to attend the conference, an option for taking part.

The cost to dial-in is $195/$255 for SMTA members/non-members. A one-year individual SMTA membership is included in the non-member price.

For more information, visit: www.smta.org/education/presentations/presentations.cfm#smtai_lead-free