Printed Circuit Design & Fab Online Magazine - New Products

New Products

WILSONVILLE, OR — Mentor Graphics Corp. has released the first Mentor processor support package for the ARM Cortex-M3 processor, which works with the company’s Seamless tool to expose hardware/software integration errors inherent in processor-based designs.

ROGERS, CT -- Rogers Corp. is introducing its RO4230high frequency circuit material. The RO4230 circuit material is said to extend the capabilities of the RO4000 product series used for antenna applications. The RO4230 is a ceramic filled, glass reinforced hydrocarbon based material that reportedly provides controlled dielectric constant, low loss performance and excellent passive intermodulation (PIM) response for mobile infrastructure microstrip antenna uses.

The material is halogen free and meets the worldwide green standards. It processes similarly to FR-4 laminates in plated through-hole preparation. Typical applications include infrastructure base station antennas, satellite radio antennas and WiMAX base station antennas.

Reported features include:

- Excellent PIM response
- Higher thermal conductivity for high power applications
- Non-PTFE
- Excellent high frequency performance due to low dielectric tolerance and loss
- Low thermal coefficient of dielectric constant
- Low in-plane expansion coefficient

IRVINE, CA – Henkel Electronics has introduced the Accelerated Cooling (AC) process to be used in conjunction with Hysol FP5000 and Hysol FP5001, the company’s two flip-chip in package non-conductive paste (NCP) underfill encapsulants.

The patent-pending AC flip-chip assembly process heats the device while it is secured by the flip-chip bonder head and then is cooled during compression onto the NCP-coated substrate. This rapid cooling process enables assembly completion prior to any excess heat exposure, reducing package warpage and voids caused by moisture and assembly cycle time.

The AC process is reported to cut the typical cycle time by nearly 50%, delivering a 7 second cycle time.

PALO ALTO, CA – Hewlett-Packard (HP) has introduced a low-cost workstation for the entry-level market. Featuring the new Intel Core 2 Duo and Core 2 Extreme processor and 975X Express chipset, the HP xw4400 Workstation is said to be ideal for meeting the computing demands of engineers, designers, video editors and other power users.

“Our customers have an insatiable demand for performance – the xw4400 offers a performance breakthrough over previous system architectures,” said Jim Zafarana, vice president and worldwide marketing manager, Workstation Global Business Unit, HP. “The xw4400 boasts dual graphics capabilities, an internal USB port for secure software licensing and leading acoustic levels, all with less power required at the plug.”

The HP xw4400 Workstation is designed to deliver the performance and flexibility needed by mechanical computer-aided design engineers, architectural engineers, architects and other users in small and medium-size businesses, enterprises and original equipment manufacturers.

It comes with Microsoft Windows 32-bit or x64 and has a wide range of graphics, memory and storage options, including serial-attached SCSI hard drives. The workstation also will be Windows Vista Capable at launch and will offer Red Hat Enterprise Linux later this fall.

The xw4400 is designed to facilitate print and electronic design, 2D animation, web authoring, video editing and corporate content creation.

WEST HAVEN, CT - Enthone has released CUPROSTAR CVF1 Microvia Fill Process. CUPROSTAR CVF1 is specifically developed for filling blind microvias with copper while simultaneously plating through-holes. The process is compatible with vertical direct current (DC) plating equipment. Pulse periodic reverse rectification is not required.

Microvia fill is complete and flush with the surface eliminating cavities, moisture or residue entrapment. CVF1 does not require electrolytic regeneration or continuous carbon filtration to maintain optimum performance. The solution additives are fully analyzable and can be controlled using CVS analysis techniques, eliminating variability. Applicable for panel or pattern plating, the process will provide 100% fill of large and small vias and achieve throwing power of greater than 90% in 5:1 aspect ratio plated through-holes.

Reported benefits of CUPROSTAR CVF1 include:

- 100% via fill for large and small vias
- Throwing power greater than 90% with 5:1 aspect ratio plated through-holes
- Capable of panel and pattern plating
- Fully analyzable and controllable single component in predip and plating bath
- Utilizes existing vertical DC equipment
- Plates through-holes and fills blind microvias with one process

SANTA CLARA, CA – Coherent Inc. has released ExciStar XS, a compact excimer laser.

The laser measures 649 x 300 x 400 mm, but delivers up to 10mJ/pulse at 193 nm with an energy stability of <2% (1σ), at repetition rates of up to 500 Hz. The use of Almeta XS all metal tube construction, corona preionization, an all solid state pulser and electrostatic dust removal combine to yield a laser tube lifetime of 500 million pulses and an optics lifetime of 100 million pulses.

The ExciStar XS can reportedly operate at 157 nm (F₂), 193 nm (ArF), 248 nm (KrF) or 351 nm (XeF). Additionally, the ExciStar XS is RoHS compliant.