Printed Circuit Design & Fab Online Magazine - Design News

Design News

Details: Written by Staff; Category: Design News; Published: 14 August 2008

DUBLIN, IRELAND -- Research and Markets announced the release of the "Sectional Design Standard for Flexible Printed Boards" report.

This report, designed to be used in conjunction with IPC-2221A and IPC-2223B, establishes the requirements for the design of single-sided, double-sided, multilayer, or rigid-flex flexible circuits and includes information on adhesive and adhesiveless constructions.

The report covers selective plating requirements, new definitions for cover materials, new requirements for the plated-through hole to rigid-flex interface and expanded coverage for nonfunctional lands.

Details: Written by Staff; Category: Design News; Published: 12 August 2008

ROCHESTER, NY – EMA Design Automation introduces a single user version of the EMA Component Information Portal (CIP) that gives engineers access to the Digi-Key part database through Cadence OrCAD Capture CIS.

Details: Written by Staff; Category: Design News; Published: 08 August 2008

NEWBURG, OR – Wise Software announces the release of V15.2 VisualCAM and GerbTool. According to the company the new tool offer improved quality and reliability through the correction of reported defects.

V15.2 VisualCam and GerbTool supports version 8.0 ODB++ format specifications. It supports flip panel, mirror imaging and sub-panels within a panel. It includes integrated support for IPC-D-356B netlists and flying probe test point generation.

Details: Written by Staff; Category: Design News; Published: 06 August 2008

TUALATIN, OR. -- Stilwell Baker, a PCB design and DfX engineering services company has opened a new 3,000 square foot design center in Vancouver, WA.

This new facility will expand Stilwell Baker's capacity for PCB design and engineering in support of customer projects. Joe Zaccari, vice president, said, "With this second facility we are significantly expanding our ability to meet the needs of our growing customer base in the Northwest."

The new design center is located at 1325 SE Tech Center Drive, Suite 170, Vancouver, WA 98683.

GLEN ARM, MD -- Armistead Technologies, LLC, a reverse engineering firm that specializes in reverse engineering printed circuit boards, is opening an office in Newcastle upon Tyne, UK.

Armistead Technologies works with manufacturers and OEM companies to recover old PCB designs and update them, integrating new functions and bringing them into compliance with modern standards for safety, environmental protection, and energy efficiency.

"It was inevitable, really," Armistead says about his company's expansion. "Today's technology companies are more globally focused, with European standards like RoHS becoming world standards."

"In addition, more companies have concerns about outsourcing their reverse engineering projects to a company based in China or India. When we take on a reverse engineering project, all the work is done in the US or UK. None of the intellectual assets go offshore."

The UK office of Armistead Technologies will be run by John Charnley. "Mr. Charnley brings a vast experience in the practical application of electronic engineering," Armistead says. "And now, Armistead Technologies brings to our clients an even broader range of resources to move reverse engineering projects off the engineering manager's desk and onto the production line."

PITTSBURGH, PA. -- DesignAdvance Systems, Inc. announces the release of CircuitSpace Foundation with Cross-Probing Technology.

The new Cross-Probing technology gives the user bi-directional communication between the layout and a (PDF) schematic. According to the company the new technology works seamlessly within Cadence's Allegro and the Allegro Viewer environment, and gives both designers and engineers instant selection and verification of design elements such as components, nets, or pins, within Cadence Allegro and the (PDF) schematic.

"We have worked closely with our key customers in developing this new technology," stated Mr. David Ringer, principal product engineer of DesignAdvance. "Since unveiling Cross-Probing in May, our customers have been actively deploying the solution throughout the PCB design process, providing PCB designers, hardware engineers, test engineers and manufacturing engineers a valued mechanism for design, review verification and test," continued Mr. Ringer.

EMA Design Automation is handling the sales of CircuitSpace in the North American market. CircuitSpace Foundation with Cross-Probing is now available from $4,990.