Printed Circuit Design & Fab Online Magazine - New Products

New Products

MUNICH, Germany and WESTFORD, MA – Zuken and daughter organization CIM-Team have announced the launch of E³.e-PLM - a Windows based database solution for harmonizing sub-schematics, modules or blocks for product lifecycle management. In addition to providing the architecture required for total design reuse, the integrated project management functionality is also said to simplify procurement, allowing users to generate complete project order data with one mouse click.

According to a news release, the new solution integrates Zuken’s tested and proven engineering product lifecycle management (e-PLM) environment with the longstanding E³.series technology from CIM-Team. It allows users of the E³.series electrical control system design and documentation suite to fully align and integrate with nearly all departments involved in the product lifecycle, from development through to production.

“There is an enormous amount of potential for truly optimizing electrical and electronics product lifecycle management within all of our tool environments. This is the most significant integration of software between the two organizations – Zuken and CIM-Team – and is a very significant step forward for us in terms of delivering the synergies that we promised the market following the acquisition of CIM-Team in April 2006,” said Wolfgang Heinrichs, Zuken’s e-PLM business general manager.

SANTA CLARA, CA – Coherent Inc.’s new series of low-power, continuous-wave (CW) carbon-dioxide (CO₂) lasers offer high reliability operation for OEM applications. The Diamond C Series consists of sealed lasers with output powers of 30, 40, 55 and 70 watts at 10.6 µm. These lasers are said to offer good amplitude stability (±5% for air-cooled models and ±3% for liquid-cooled units) and excellent output beam characteristics (M² <1.2 for 30 W and 55 W systems, and M² <1.3 for 40 W and 70 W models). For all models with improved cooling, the warranty is 24 months, and there are no gas refill requirements.

Other features include the use of new components and new resonator materials that optimize both laser efficiency and lifetime. In addition, laser cooling and temperature control have been improved to further benefit both laser stability and lifetime.

Diamond C Series lasers are reportedly ideal for materials processing applications such as marking and engraving, which generally require output powers less than 100 W. And because the RF power supply is inside the compact laser head, the lasers are easier for OEM system builders to integrate.

GLEN ELLEN, CA – Speeding Edge released the second volume of its handbook, “Right the First Time, A Practical Handbook on High Speed PCB and System Design.” While the first volume of the handbook addressed the fundamentals of high-speed design, Volume Two provides a detailed explanation of the steps necessary to design and manufacture a high-speed PCB that works right the first time.

Lee Ritchey, founder and president of Speeding Edge, said, “Our goal with this book is to provide a hands-on guide that enables engineering professionals and business decision makers to arrive at critical decisions about the design and fabrication of printed circuit boards that not only work right the first time but are also built with the most cost-effective and time efficient methodologies possible. To that end, we have included an extremely detailed description of the PCB fabrication process; how to select the right PCB materials; the process of understanding and controlling EMI and the various types of glass styles and their impact on board impedance.”

Specific topic highlights of the handbook include:

Simulation methodologies and toolsets
A complete description of various PCB structures and their influence on signal integrity
The build-up fabrication process
Bare and assembled board testing
Split planes and return currents
The virtual prototyping process and the tools used in that process
A detailed PCB fabrication specification
Power system tests
Comprehensive laminate data for high-speed applications

“Right the First Time, A Practical Handbook on High Speed PCB and System Design, Volume 2,” is available for immediate purchase and will be shipped to customers by the end of April.

DANBURY, CT – Tridak Inc.'s 775 dispense valve is used to precisely deposit accurate amounts of all flowable materials. The valve is said to feature precise, easily adjusted, control over both the rate the material flows and the amount material that is sucked back at the end of a dispense cycle. Both of the flow and suck back controls incorporate a locking device that prevents any unwanted changes.

The air operated 775 valve is reportedly particularly effective for dispensing difficult, stringy materials. It is available with either an aluminum body that has a PTFE impregnated hard-anodized finish or an all stainless body. The self-adjusting seals are available in either a fluoroelastomer or PTFE. The shape of the valve, it’s mounting configuration and the location and operation of the controls have been specifically deigned to allow the valve to be easily integrated into both automated machinery as well as simple workstations. Accessories available for this valve include standard and custom nozzles, nozzle arrays, spray heads and digital valve controllers.

WILSONVILLE, OR – Mentor Graphics Corp. announced product support for the ARM Cortex-M1 processor, the first ARM processor designed specifically for implementation on field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs).

“With the Cortex-M1 processor, designers have the freedom to select any FPGA device they wish. Mentor Graphics’ support for FPGA design extends that freedom, offering our mutual customers a comprehensive, vendor-independent flow for FPGA design,” said Kevin McDermott, director of CPU Marketing, Processors Division, ARM. “We consider Mentor’s support to be a significant contribution for customer success with the Cortex-M1 processor.”

According to a news release, Mentor Graphics is the only EDA company with a complete FPGA solution, covering design entry, simulation, synthesis, PCB design, embedded software and software development toolsets. Mentor products are said to allow designers to target virtually any FPGA platform with their Cortex-M1-based design.

The ARM Cortex-M1 processor reportedly extends the range of the ARM Cortex family and enables OEMs to standardize around a common architecture across the performance spectrum. According to ARM, the Cortex-M1 processor enables OEMs to achieve significant cost savings through rationalization of software and tools investments across multiple projects spanning FPGA, application specific integrated circuit and application specific standard product, plus greater vendor independence through use of an industry-standard processor.

MARLBOROUGH, MA – DownStream Technologies LLC has released BluePrint for PCBs Version 1.7, the latest version of DownStream’s software solution that creates the documentation that drives PCB fabrication, assembly and inspection. This release delivers numerous customer enhancements as well as general product quality improvements to increase the product’s usability, stability and market reach.

This release also continues DownStream’s commitment to delivering “rolling releases” to their installed user base. “The concept of “rolling releases” has been very well received by customers as it provides a continuous stream of enhancements and improvements to our software,” said Rick Almeida, one of DownStream’s founders. “BluePrint Version 1.7 continues that practice and is optimized to address our customer’s expanding needs and requirements.”

Version 1.7 includes new functionality and enhancements including:

- New visibility functionality
- ODB++ import enhancement and optimization
- Dimensioning and drafting updates
- Automation API
- Omnify interface
- Import parts list enhancements
- Vectorized printing
- Search functionality
- PADS 2007 support and PADS stroke font support
- DXF and PDF export optimization
- Table headers on each split section
- Re-order sheet
- Sort by height in PCB view format panel