VICTORIA, Australia – The PCB Company Pty Ltd. has released AL-Back PCBs, aluminum backed printed circuit boards designed for the thermal conduction of heat away from high power dissipating components.

The product is basically a thin FR-4 PCB bonded to an aluminum backplate. Excess heat being generated is said to easily pass through the FR-4 of the board and then dissipate quickly into the aluminum, allowing the board to have its own large heatsink permanently attached.

The aluminum backplate is offered in varying thicknesses and can be folded, machined and/or routed according to specific requirements. Final profiling of AL-Back PCBs is generally achieved by routing, although for larger volumes the circuits can also be stamped or pressed.

The simplest form available of AL-Back PCB is single-sided surface mount. For more complicated circuits, double-sided PTH and multi-layer PCBs can also be manufactured. Access to the bottom layer (bonded to the aluminum) can be gained via routed openings.

The use of AL-Back is ideal for high power LEDs, but can be used for any product where heat dissipation is important. 

JOHANNESBURG, South Africa – Mimic Components Ltd. (part of Mimic Crafts Ltd.) has made the full version of Ranger2 PCB CAD software available as a freeware version. According to the company, became uneconomic to sell Ranger2 due to the administration costs involved.
 
All Ranger2 designs and libraries are fully upwards compatible with the current Ranger2 XL and Ranger XL packages.

Key features include:

- Schematic: eight sheets - A5 to A1; auto-allocation of parts and pins; macros; up to eight power rails.

- ArtWork: 25 µm resolution; 16,000 pins, 1,400 components; 16 layers; 16 track and 16 pad sizes per design; an 800x800 mm PCB area; gate and pin swapping; back annotation; signal highlight; autorouter (single or double-sided).

- Outputs: printers/plotters with Windows drivers, Gerber, NC drill files and HPGL.

- General: Futurenet pinlist input; Gerber input.

- DXF: transfer and interfaces to Specctra auto-router.

SANTA CLARA, CA – SigmaQuest Inc., a provider of software for managing product quality throughout manufacturing and a product’s lifecycle, has announced that its software helps OEMs track the quality and performance of products that have been revamped to adhere to the RoHS Directive.
 
“Adhering to the RoHS Directive has been a huge obstacle for many electronics companies, as removing the newly banned substances can impact the performance and reliability of products from cell phones to automotive components,” said Nader Fathi, CEO of SigmaQuest. “It is well understood that replacing a substance such as lead from the soldering joints on a printed circuit board with another substance can cause all kinds of product performance issues, including the higher melting requirements of the newly revamped soldering points. SigmaQuest’s SigmaSure suite helps OEMs find, fix, detect and avoid issues resulting from the transition from non-RoHS to RoHS compliance.”
 
SigmaSure on-demand, web-based software features several modules where the impact of moving to RoHS compliance can be checked. Through its Manufacturing and Test Insight software, it is reported that users can continuously monitor their manufacturing chain’s product quality data anytime and anywhere, and OEMs can measure the impact of how new, RoHS-compliant components affect their end products. 
 
Through the Supplier Quality Insight module, it is said that OEMs can track the quality of their core suppliers’ components, including those modified for RoHS compliance, before committing to the assembly of broader product offerings. Further, SigmaQuest’s RMA Insight module reportedly delivers instant knowledge about defects, trends and the root cause of failures on products returned by end customers.
 
In addition to helping OEMs better manage product performance and quality the software helps to provide “due diligence” information by creating technical files that are loaded with supporting documentation that confirms RoHS compliance. 
 

TAIPEI, Taiwan – C Sun Manufacturing Ltd. has released the UVE M720 manual exposure unit for solder mask imaging and the UVE-M525 high performance solder mask system.
 
Developed for high reliability/high volume applications, the UVE M720 uses high output metal halide lamps that reportedly deliver over 60 Mw/cm² output at the image plane, as well as dual 24” x 36” exposure frames to ensure high throughput. An LCD touch screen panel allows precise control of all operating parameters
 
The UVE-M525 uses an in frame dual target/dual camera CCD registration system and glass/glass tooling said to ensure proper substrate alignment and the ability to photo pattern very fine line geometries. Metal halide lamps reportedly ensure high throughput on panels up to 22” x 26”.
 
Both systems have features that include touch screen control, system self-diagnostics, and dual air/indirect water cooling for longer lamp lifetimes and precise frame temperatures.