ROGERS, CT – Rogers Corp. has released R/flex JADE series flexible circuit materials, the next generation of the R/flex CRYSTAL epoxy adhesive system. Environmentally friendly, these materials are said to meet flammability requirements without the use of halogens. They are also lead-free solder capable.
 
R/flex JADE flexible circuit materials are reported to display thermal stability and to withstand multiple passes through lead-free processing. Like the traditional R/flex CRYSTAL product line, Rogers says the R/flex JADE flexible circuit materials offer increased yields and better results in fine-line, tight tolerance designs due to its dimensional stability properties.
 
Reported product features and benefits include:
- RoHS compliant, Halogen-free flame retardant system.
- High Tg (glass transition temperature) allows for higher temperature exposures, higher yields in multilayer    builds, and better flex life despite rigorous processing conditions.
- Thermal stability that allows R/flex JADE material to withstand multiple passes through lead-free soldering.
- Transparent adhesive system facilitates optical inspection.
- Available in bonding film, coverlay and flexible copper clad laminate constructions.

ROCHESTER, NY – EMA Design Automation has released the EMA RoHS CIS Library, configured to store the critical RoHS data (from the core component vendors represented) required to aid in supporting due diligence requirements with the compliance status of the parts.
 
Determining compliance for RoHS is said to be as simple as checking the RoHS compliance field; however, there is much more information required to ensure manufacturability, proof of compliance and compliance for environmental regulations outside the European Union.
 
To help with these types of concerns, the starter library includes fields such as RoHS compliance status, RoHS compliant alternate part, materials datasheet, certificates of compliance and manufacturer’s data sheet. Having this type of data available during part selection allows an engineering team to select the proper parts for compliance in the design phase, reduce problems in the manufacturing phase caused by incompatible parts and shorten the proof-of-compliance phase should the need arise. The starter library comes preconfigured with over 1,500 parts and is designed for easy expansion as needs grow.
 
“We are already seeing products being shut out of Europe due to the impact of RoHS and WEEE legislation,” said Manny Marcano, president and CEO of EMA. “We felt it was important to make this library available so that those companies that hadn’t started on RoHS and WEEE compliance could get underway with a reliable base library.“
 
For those who want to go beyond a starter library, EMA offers a complete compliance by design methodology - EMA Engineering Data Management (EDM). It provides data management tools, integrated CAD tools and component engineering services for a complete solution for RoHS compliance, due diligence justification and WEEE reporting.

SAN FRANCISCO – Applied Wave Research Inc. (AWR) and Pulsic Ltd. announced that Pulsic’s Lyric Automatic Routing system is now integrated into AWR’s Analog Office 2006 design suite for analog and radio frequency integrated circuit (RFIC) design.
 
Through the Analog Office OpenAccess open standard data access interface, interconnects represented by the unique Analog Office Intelligent Net2 technology can be automatically routed in Pulsic’s full-featured, automatic, constraint-driven, shaped-based Lyric Automatic Routing system. The new solution is said to enable high-frequency analog, RF and mixed-signal designers to access the Pulsic routing system without leaving the Analog Office design environment, saving design time, increasing accuracy, and speeding designs to final tape-out.
 
“The collaboration between AWR and Pulsic provides IC designers with a new level of automation and flexibility in choosing the best tool for a particular design job,” said James Spoto, president and CEO of AWR. “We are pleased to be working with Pulsic in order to provide our customers with access to world class automatic routing technology directly from AWR’s easy-to-use, open design environment and unified data model.”
 
“Pulsic’s Lyric Automatic Routing system offers the highest quality controlled and constrained automatic routing available on the market,” said Ken Roberts, CEO of Pulsic. “The integration of our leading IC physical design technology into AWR’s industry-leading design software offers a breakthrough solution to create and optimize the design of analog, mixed-signal and RFICs for our mutual customers.”

ALBUQUERQUE, NM– Introbotics Corp. has announced the release of its HFT-1500 High Frequency Test System. The HFT-1500 automates the production test of PCB boards and assemblies and measures impedance, propagation delay, effective dielectric constant and interconnect loss. It is designed to meet the needs of the ATE probe card manufacturers for 100% test of their product and complex PCB manufacturers need for coupon testing.
 
“We are very happy to provide this new equipment with significant high frequency test capability for nearly half the cost of our top of the line system,” said Brian Butler, president of Introbotics. “This new equipment provides a huge advantage in test costs to anyone interested in measuring and reporting high frequency properties in a production test environment.“