(June 30, 2008) It was a month for names in the news as acquisitions and evolving business strategies inspired executive appointments and reorganization; industry organizations added members and directors, and books got published. Company announcements came in from JP Sercel Associates, TRUMPF, Dage Precision Industries, ECD, Jordan Valley, Rogers Corp., Formfactor, Unisem Group, Mentor Graphics, and Alchimer.
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J. P. Sercel Associates (JPSA) announces the opening of a customer service and support office in Malaysia to focus on the combined territories of Malaysia, China, and Singapore, and provide service, installations, and training, and will stock spare parts for customers of JPSA’s laser workstations for wafer processing and micromachining.
Chuan Ki (C.K.) Foo, a direct JPSA employee based in Penang will run the center. Foo holds a Diploma in Electronic and Mechanical Engineering Technology from the Silicon Institute of Technology, Penang, Malaysia. He previously served as Senior Field Service Engineer for the Malaysia installation of Besi Die Handling, Laurier & Datacon divisions.
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James Rogowski was appointed managing director of TRUMPF Canada shortly after the company acquired the remaining shares of Advanced Fabricating Machinery, which serves the Canadian market as a sales and spare parts facility for TRUMPF products. Rogowski will reportedly manage day-to-day operations and all sales and service activity in Canada. Rogowski is a 10 year verteran of TRUMPF, serving in various positions, most recently as product manager of 2D laser machines and automation.
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The High Density Packaging User Group International, Inc. (HDP), a global non-profit cooperative research and development organization for the Electronics industry, announces that Huawei Technologies, Inc. has joined the organization as an Executive Member. Huawei will participate in HDP User Group’s technical programs, and will also have a seat on the Board of Directors. HDP is dedicated to “reducing the costs and risks for the Telecommunications and Computer industries when using advanced electronic packaging and assembly”. This international industry led group organizes and conducts R&D programs to address the technical issues facing the industry, including design, printed circuit board manufacturing, electronics assembly, and environmental compliance.
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Dage Precision Industries reports that Hal Hendrickson, general manager, and national sales manager for the Americas was elected to the Surface Mount Technology Association’s (SMTA) Board of Directors. Hendrickson has been an active member of SMTA since 1991 and has been actively involved in the electronics industry since 1974. His goal in serving on the SMTA Board of Directors is reportedly to help the association achieve its full potential and success as a training and networking organization as well as to expand into new areas of global involvement.
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ECD of Milwaukie, OR, has selected Kroschewski Industrial Electronics (KIE) GmbH as the distributor of ECD’s full line of thermal profiling products in Germany and Austria. After the company announced it had become a full-line distributor at SMT/Hybrid/Packaging in Nuremberg, KIE GmbH is led by Jascha Kroschewski, who holds a Dipl.-Betriebswirt Geschaftsfuhrung degree. Previously with Peter Jordon GmbH for thirty-five years, Mr. Kroschewski is well known in the industry, and brings a wealth of experience to serve ECD’s customers across a wide range of applications.
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Metrology solution provider, Jordan Valley Semiconductor, Ltd., has tapped Meir Mimon as worldwide VP of sales and marketing. Mimon will lead Jordan Valley’s aggressive growth strategy, with a focus on enhancing worldwide customer support operations and increasing Jordan Valley’s market share in the thin film and materials characterization metrology market segments. The announcement follows Jordan Valley’s recent acquisition of Bede, effective April 14th, 2008. Bede supplies HRXRD (High Resolution XRD) metrology for the semiconductor and compound industries. Mimon joined Jordan Valley in January 2008 as the VP of Business Development, responsible for the Bede acquisition project ended in Apr 2008 when JV acquired the assets, IP’s and technology of Bede, UK. Previously, he served as the corporate sales director for KLA-Tencor’s metrology group and overlay division based in San Jose, CA.
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Rogers Corporation recently appointed Michael D. Bessette, V.P. to lead its Advanced Circuit Materials Division (ACMD) in Chandler, Arizona. A 33-year veteran of Rogers, He comes to the ACMD from Rogers’ Durel Division, also located in Chandler. Previously, Bessette worked at Rogers’ R&D department in Connecticut, where he was responsible for new product development and business commercialization, and also in Japan, where he headed up Rogers’ joint venture with INOAC Corporation, which manufactures Rogers’ elastomer materials.
Robert Wachob, President and CEO of Rogers Corporation, says this appointment comes at a critical time as the company strives to accelerate growth in that division. Rogers ‘ ACM Division manufactures high performance laminates and thin dielectric circuit materials for use in high frequency applications in a variety of global industries, including wireless base station, defense/aerospace, automotive, high speed digital, and advanced chip packaging.
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Formfactor’s board of directors appointed Mario Ruscev, currently president, as its next CEO. Ruscev, 51, will succeed Igor Khandros, 53, FormFactor’s founder, who will become executive chairman of the FormFactor board of directors. Khandros will succeed Jim Prestridge, 76, its current chairman, who will remain on the FormFactor board of directors and become its lead independent director. The changes will become effective at the beginning of the company’s fiscal third quarter of 2008. Speaking on behalf of the BOD, Prestridge ascertained that the Khandros and Ruscev are the right team to lead the company through its next stage of growth.
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Earlier this month, Unisem Group announced the resignation of Bruno Guilmart, executive director and group CEO in order to pursue other interests. His resignation was accepted by the board of directors and took effect June 4 2008. C.H. Ang, group COO, will be taking over all of Guilmart’s responsibilities and will be leading Unisem moving forward. Unisem reportedly does not anticipate any additional changes to the group’s organizational structure, nor does the company anticipate disruptions its daily operations.
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Alchimer, the nanometric films for through-silicon via (TSV) metallisation company, has appointed Lenix as its representative in Korea. This exclusive agreement means Lenix is sole agent for Alchimer’s products in Korea. As such, the company’s formulations and process IP for its electrochemical deposition process will reportedly be available from Lenix. Lenix is owned and run by semiconductor industry veteran Sang-Sok Lee, president and CEO. Lee created Lenix earlier this year to focus on advanced 3D packaging and TSV technology. The company is also provides carrier tape as the final packing media of packaged ICs.
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Mentor Graphics Corporation announced the publication of a book written by Charles Pfeil, engineering director of Mentor’s Systems Design Division, entitled BGA Breakouts and Routing, Effective Design Methods for Very Large BGA. This publication reportedly explores the impact of dense ball-grid array (BGA) packages with high pin-count on PCB (printed circuit board) design, and provides solutions for inherent design challenges.
“Using a BGA is the most common method today for packaging a high pin-count or very dense application specific integrated circuits (ASIC) and field programmable gate arrays (FPGA). BGAs have been proved to be a reliable, cost-effective package while at the same time providing flexibility to address miniaturization and functional requirements,” said Pfeil. “However, as BGA density and pin count continue to increase, the designer’s ability to effectively design with the devices has not kept pace. Fortunately, significant advancements in PCB fabrication technology have enabled further miniaturization in the manufacturing process.”
These improvements, along with new software and design methods specifically for BGAs provide a means to successfully design using these devices.