Printed Circuit Design & Fab Online Magazine - New Products

New Products

PlanAhead v. 9.2 is an analysis design tool said to promise a full speed grade advantage; features expanded functionality of PinAhead technology, which provides FPGA designers with the ability to assign interface I/O groups to I/O pins by dragging into a graphical representation of the FPGA. Reportedly simplifies the complexities of managing the interface between the designer's target FPGA and the PCB with the ability to import and export I/O port information through VHDL or Verilog headers. Offers support for the latest Spartan-3A DSP platform FPGA. Supports the entire line of Xilinx Spartan-3 generation FPGAs.

Xilinx, www.xilinx.com

ROGERS, Conn. - Rogers Corporation introduces a halogen-free, transparent epoxy polyimide laminate system. The material is environmentally friendly and designed for use in flexible circuits. The new R/flex JADE™ A epoxy adhesive system is ideal for a wide range of applications including hard disk drives, cellular phones, laptop computers, personal digital assistants and semiconductor packaging applications.

The R/flex JADE A series products are RoHS compliant and are UL 94 V-0 classified for flame retardant performance. According to Rogers, they have outstanding thermal stability enabling withstand multiple passes through a lead-free soldering process. In addition the materials are reported to have excellent dimensional stability and adjustable squeeze-out control results in increased yields and better results in fine-line, tight tolerance design applications. The R/flex JADE A series features a transparent adhesive system that simplifies optical inspections. The material is available in bonding film, coverlayer and copper clad laminate constructions.

FREUDENSTADT, Germany – Ormecon introduces a new nanofinish. It is 50 nm in thickness, and consists of less than 10% Silver and over 90% of Ormecon’s Organic Nanometal, according to company sources. The performance is said to be superior to any metal or OSP finish. The company cited several external test results generated by companies including a report from Flextronics. The new process will consume less energy compared to other metal finishes, and will save over 90% of (expensive and partially noble) raw materials, according to Ormecon.

SAN JOSE, CA – EMS company Sanmina-SCI Corp. announced the production of what the company believes is the world's first PCB with embedded ESD protection, covering 100% of the components on the board.

Sanmina-SCI's PCB division collaborated with Viking InterWorks and Shocking Technologies to manufacture Viking VLP DDR2 memory modules with Sanmina-SCI's eESD embedded electrostatic discharge protection technology.

Reportedly, testing by a third party indicated improvement in ESD resistance of the sensitive memory devices mounted on the PCB. Multiple 6,000-volt discharges were directly injected into the modules without any damage or drop in performance recorded, said the company. This was said to represent a 200% improvement in the energy protection level provided to the modules.

BLANKENLOCH, Germany - Digitaltest, a manufacturer of advanced PCB test solutions releases Condor MTS-500 Flying Probe Tester. Condor MTS-500 incorporates new drive technology, linear motors, and closed-loop technology that according to Digitaltest, results in 30% faster test speed than previous models while continuing to provide high accuracy in fine pitch applications.

It has options that include Digitaltest’s proprietary ‘Soft Landing’ technology, that according to the vendor guarantees damage-free testing of even the most delicate high-density boards as well as integrated boundary-scan.

The non-multiplexed system structure is able to emulate existing test programs and fixtures from other platforms like GenRad, Teradyne, Agilent etc. The ability to exchange programs and fixtures with other test manufacturers' systems effectively makes the MTS300 a 'neutral platform' that can save both time and money.

BEAVERTON, OR - Polar Instruments releases Speedstack 2.0, an automated PCB stack-up creation tool. Accoording to Polar the tool reduces the time required for electronic engineers or PCB fabricators to create and document multi-layer printed circuit board stackups.

Speedstack uses basic information such as the overall board thickness, number of layers and target impedance to generate a number of virtual stacks based on a library of generic or real-time material costs, availability and lead-times. Users then balance different criteria by ranking the potential stacks by cost, finished thickness, or the availability of materials. Speedstack 2.0 has an autostack VSR (Virtual Stack Realization) engine that performs a Monte Carlo analysis on 10,000 virtual builds of each stack to provide a statistical profile of board thickness and an accurate prediction of production yields.