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Fab News

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

TAIPEI, TAIWAN -- Phoenix Precision Technology (PPT) and Nan Ya Printed Circuit Board (NPC) have reached a temporary settlement in the plastic ball-grid array (PBGA) substrate patent dispute. According to sources, Taiwan Taipei District Court has reject PPT's petition that claims NPC was infringing its patent covering an "electroplating nickel/gold process and structure for electric contact pad of chip package substrate."

PPT had advised that if its petition was rejected, it would seek appeal.

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

NEW YORK -- The EPA has proposed a plan to continue the clean up of VOC contamination at the Computer Circuits Superfund site in Hauppauge, New York.

The Computer Circuits Corporation operated from this site from 1969 to 1977. Waste liquids from the circuit board manufacturing process were discharged to five industrial leaching pools. These waste liquids contained metals, acids, and solvents. Photographic chemicals and waste liquids were segregated and discharged into a separate industrial leaching pool.

“EPA has been working on this site for some time now and we are seeing to it that this cleanup is solidly under way,” Regional Administrator Alan J. Steinberg said. “We feel that this proposed plan will further advance the work that EPA has been doing.”

The plan includes soil vacuum extraction (SVE) that extracts volatile organic compounds (VOCs) from soil near the north side of a one-story building on the property, as well as from underneath the foundation of the building. Furthermore, an additional SVE system is being installed to clean up a second area off the southeast corner of the building, which was also found to have residual VOC contamination. The EPA is also recommending long-term ground water monitoring through an existing network of monitoring wells.

Soil and ground water monitoring in 1989 and again in the 1990’s disclosed metals including lead, silver, copper, nickel and zinc in the soil samples, and certain VOCs, including trichloroethylene (TCE) and tetrachloroethene were detected in the ground water samples.

Details: Written by Staff; Category: Fab News; Published: 13 August 2008

ANAHEIM, CA -- DDi Corporation has received the AS9100:2004-01 certification for its Virginia facility. This internationally recognized aerospace industry standard for quality assurance in design, development, production, installation and service is an extension of ISO 9001. In 2007, DDi received the AS9100 certification for its Anaheim and Milpitas, CA and Ohio facilities.

"The receipt of AS9100 certification at our Virginia facility is the result of our continuing efforts to meet the critical needs of the defense, military and aerospace customers," stated Mikel H. Williams, president and CEO of DDi Corporation. We continue to extend both the technical capabilities and capacity of our Virginia facility. Currently, we are in the process of a significant upgrade of our high-technology plating capacity, and look to bring this project on line later this year."

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

MIGDAL HAEMEK, ISRAEL – Camtek Ltd. announced its results for the Q2 ended June 30, 2008.

Revenues for the Q2 2008 were $22.7 million, up 48% over Q2 2007, and up 7% sequentially from $21.3 million reported in the Q1 2008. Gross profit margin for Q2 2008 was 38.9%, compared to 40.8% Q2 2007, and 44.5% for the Q1 2008.

TAIPEI – Foxconn Electronics, a PCB fabrication and assembly company, reported July revenue of about $4.18 billion, up 34.9% year-over-year, and up 21.2% sequentially.

The firm mainly attributes the increase to growing shipments of consumer electronics and related products.

Total revenue from January to July was nearly $24 billion, up 22.8% compared to the same period in 2007.

A Foxconn spokesman said the company is on track to meet its annual growth target, say published reports.

PORTLAND, OR -- Electro Scientific Industries, Inc. (ESI) announced the shipment of the company's 250th Model 5330 laser microvia drilling system. The demand for ever-smaller microvias continues to drive the increased adoption of laser micromachining systems that produce high-quality microvias in small-geometry circuit boards and flexible circuits.

Dr. R.A. Srinivas, ESI vice president of marketing, explained, "The achievement of these milestones represents ESI's continued efforts to develop cost-effective, leading-edge laser solutions. We look forward to reaching new milestones and furthering our commitment to providing exceptional laser solutions for our customers' evolving, high-volume manufacturing needs."