Jedec Releases Plans for Memory Module Standards

ARLINGTON, VA – Jedec has announced upcoming standards for advanced memory modules designed to power the next generation of high-performance computing and AI applications.

The standards for DDR5 multiplexed rank dual inline memory modules (MRDIMM) and a next-generation compression-attached memory module (CAMM) for LPDDR6 are set to change the industry with unparalleled bandwidth and memory capacity.

DDR5 MRDIMMs offer an innovative, efficient new module design to enhance data transfer rates and overall system performance. Multiplexing permits multiple data signals to be combined and transmitted over a single channel, effectively increasing bandwidth without the need for additional physical connections and providing a seamless bandwidth upgrade to enable applications to exceed DDR5 RDIMM data rates. Other planned features include:

Renesas Completes $5.9B Altium Acquisition

TOKYO – Renesas in August announced the successful completion of its $5.9 billion acquisition of Altium, which was first announced in February.

The combination sets the foundation for Renesas and Altium to create a common electronics system design and lifecycle management platform, Renesas said in a release. The platform will integrate and standardize various electronics design data and functions and enhance component lifecycle management, delivered in digital iterations.

“This is a historical milestone for both Renesas and Altium as we take another important step forward in bringing enhanced user experience for electronics system designers,” said Hidetoshi Shibata, CEO, Renesas. “The integrated and open electronics system design and lifecycle management platform we aim to build together will make electronics accessible to broader market, for any enterprises regardless of their size or industry. I want to reaffirm that our commitment to upholding data security and compliance of the Altium customers will continue to be our top priority.”

SIA Report Provides Recommendations for Domestic Semiconductor Growth

WASHINGTON – A new report from SIA and the Boston Consulting Group identifies five primary factors that impact investment decisions for semiconductor companies. “Attracting Chips Investment: Industry Recommendations for Policymakers” also lays out actionable recommendations for governments seeking to grow their domestic semiconductor industry.

Among the factors:

1. Investment and operational costs. Semiconductor development, in both design and manufacturing, is expensive. In evaluating site options, companies thoroughly analyze site-specific costs, including land, utilities, equipment, materials, labor, and taxes. Government support programs that are simple, flexible, and offset construction and equipment costs are attractive to semiconductor investors.

Long Young to Build 2 Thai Factories

KUNSHAN, CHINA – Long Young Electronic has announced plans to invest CNY200 million ($28 million) to build two new factories in Thailand.

The Chinese supplier of electromagnetic interference shielding materials said it will spend up to CNY120 million ($16.8 million) on a composite copper foil plant and CNY80 million ($11.2 million) on an EMI shielding materials plant in Thailand’s northern Chachoengsao province.

The company said the composite copper foil plant will take four years to construct and is designed to produce various types of products, targeting printed circuit board makers in Southeast Asia and other markets. The other factory will be built in three years with a production capacity of 62,400 sq. m. of conductive tape and 352 million EMI shielding and related materials a year.

Benchmark Expands Romanian Facility

TEMPE, AZ – Benchmark Electronics has opened an expansion at its Brasov, Romania, facility that more than doubles its manufacturing capacity in the region.

The EMS company said the expansion is intended to support customer-driven demand for access to high-technology manufacturing solutions, localized and global supply chains, and a customer-focused team committed to optimizing delivery, quality, cost, and manufacturing and engineering services. Key market sectors serviced include complex industrials, medical and semiconductor capital equipment.

“Benchmark Brasov, alongside Benchmark Almelo, serves as the heart and soul of our European operations and we are excited to expand our manufacturing footprint, add capacity to better serve our current customers, and support the high interest by new customers who are looking to regionalize their manufacturing in Europe,” said Jeff Benck, president and CEO, Benchmark. “The new space will offer our manufacturing and engineering teams ample room to expand our operations in eastern Europe while also bringing more high-paying jobs to the Brasov community.”

Kimball Sells AT&M Unit to Averna

JASPER, IN – Kimball Electronics has completed the sale of its automation, test and measurement business to Averna, and said it plans to focus on its core EMS business.

The sale to Averna Technologies closed on Jul. 31, with proceeds from the transaction being used for support of organic growth, debt reduction and share repurchases, Kimball said in a release. Financial terms of the sale were not disclosed.

Kimball entered the automation, test, and measurement industry with the acquisition of Global Equipment Services in 2018, and in May 2024 announced that the unit was for sale. The AT&M business provides advanced testing and inspection solutions for manufacturers in the industrial, medical, consumer electronics, and semiconductor sectors.

Meiko to Open Vietnam PCB Factory in 2025, Partners with Aoshikang

AYASE, JAPAN – Meiko Electronics is planning to begin production at its $100 million PCB factory in Vietnam in the second quarter of 2025.

According to project’s latest report, the company aims to finish construction of the factory by the third quarter of this year, install equipment during the end of the year and early 2025, recruit and train staff during the first quarter and enter official operation in the second quarter.

When finished, the factory will have an annual production capacity of 80,000 sq. m. The company also plans to build a second factory on the site, upping its total investment to $500 million. The factories will produce PCBs for peripheral devices, computers, electronic home appliances, audio-visual equipment, solar cells, microprocessor chips and controllers.

Bain Capital to Acquire Italian PCB Maker Somacis

LONDON – Private investment firm Bain Capital has announced the acquisition of a controlling stake in Somacis, an Italian PCB manufacturer, from Chequers Capital.

Chequers will reinvest into the company alongside the management team, led by CEO Giovanni Tridenti. Other terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Somacis was founded in 1972 and specializes in high-mix/low-volume, and mission-critical PCBs. The company serves various high-performance markets such as aerospace & defense, MedTech, and data centers/AI, among others, and operates across the full value chain, offering R&D prototyping, ramp-up and end-to-end production. The company has a global footprint composed of five facilities in Europe, North America and Asia.

SEMI Publishes Recommendations on Outbound Investments

BRUSSELS – SEMI has published recommendations to advance the European semiconductor industry in response to the European Economic Security Strategy.

The European Commission has outlined the nonbinding roadmap to monitor outward investment transactions with the goal of preventing technology and knowledge leakage in four critical technology areas tied to advanced semiconductor technologies.

The SEMI Europe Recommendations on Outbound Investments outline the association’s position and strongly encourage all policymakers involved to carefully consider the following key recommendations:

ECIA Guide Advises Approved Channel Buying

ATLANTA – An Electronics Component Industry Association (ECIA) committee in August released an advisory to use only the authorized channel to procure electronic components. With the double threat of a steep rise in bad actors with new tools to sell fake components, combined with more frequent supply chain disruptions, it is an especially critical time to be vigilant, the trade group’s Global Industry Practices Committee (GIPC) said.

The GIPC Guideline, “The Risks of Buying Components Outside the Authorized Channel,” is available from the trade group’s website.

“These guidelines spell out the specific risks taken when going outside the safety of the authorized channel to buy electronic components,” explained Don Elario, ECIA Vice President of Industry Practices. “We urge customers to seriously consider the consequences that can occur when a counterfeit component infiltrates their BOM: catastrophic failure, brand damage, liability, and so on. Our document contrasts those risks with the assurances that come from the authentic chain of custody from the component manufacturer through the authorized channel.”

Bank Exits Welsh Electronics Manufacturer After Funding Buyout

TREDEGAR, UK – The Development Bank of Wales has exited Camtronics six years after funding a management buyout of the contract electronics manufacturer.

In 2018, the Development Bank’s Wales Management Succession Fund Investment Fund invested £450,000 ($584,000) in the company to enable managing director Paul Macleur, alongside colleagues Chris Gulliford and Linda Sterry, to lead a management buyout from Photonstar, who had purchased the company in 2011.

The Development Bank also introduced non-executive director Mark Pulman to the company at the time, and since the buyout, Camtronics’ turnover has doubled to £4 million ($5.2 million).

Electronics Industry Sentiment Rose at end of July

BANNOCKBURN, IL – Sentiment in the electronics industry saw a modest uptick in August, though it remains below the peak observed in April, IPC said in a report released in mid-August. The results are based on a survey conducted Jul. 18-31.

Regarding current supply chain conditions, half (50%) of electronics manufacturers responding said they are currently experiencing rising labor costs, with 46% reporting increased material costs. At the same time, ease of recruitment, profit margins and backlogs are presently declining. Over the next six months, electronics manufacturers expect labor and material costs to remain high, although relatively stable. Profit margins and backlogs are expected to rise, with recruitment challenges continuing to persist.

Some 42% of respondents are very or extremely concerned about geopolitical risks and 44% are concerned with trade policies and tariffs, with no significant differences by geographical regions. (more)

Fundamentals of Signal Integrity at Various Frequencies

Tips and tricks for applications of all speeds, from 1MHz to gigabit level.
by Andrew Gonzales and Jason Metzner

How do you know a high-speed design application from an ordinary one? What qualifies as high speed and when does design rigor need ramping?

With CAD tools available to help enforce design rules and the internet at one’s fingertips, PCB designers may implement “best practice” techniques without truly understanding their importance. They may also be missing some less common, powerful and effective techniques as well.

Here we target a broad range of designers and discuss the gamut of lower-speed designs up to gigabit-level speeds. We cover board-level tips and tricks and explain why these tips are important and the nature of the physics behind them. Whether you’re designing with simple I²C or gigabit ethernet, there’s something to be gained by considering even the simplest additions to a design.

Dendrite Growth Dynamics

Are industry standards sufficient for characterizing the effects of cleanliness at high voltages?
by Adam Klett, Ph.D.

The increasing popularity of high-voltage electronics, particularly in electric vehicles, underscores the need to address the quality assurance and reliability challenges linked to these technologies. Standards, such as those published by IPC, are a great way to accomplish this. A crucial step to ensure the proper application of standards is to tailor them accordingly. For high-voltage electronics, an initial part of this process involves defining high voltage. Different organizations have already put forth their definitions.

For instance, the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) and British standards stipulate that anything above 1kV AC or 1.5kV DC constitutes high voltage. On the other hand, the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) categorizes high voltage as ranging from 115-230kV, extra-high voltage as 345-765kV, and ultra-high voltage as exceeding 1,100kV. When referring to IPC standards, however, which are more pertinent to the electronics domain, a provision in IPC-J-STD-001H states that the definition of high voltage hinges on the specific application.

For the scope of the arguments presented here, as the focus is on SIR testing and most SIR is conducted at 5V, it is reasonable to define anything above 5V as “high.”

Water Quality Matters

A novel approach leverages ion exchange technology with continuous monitoring for superior tank management.
by Christopher T. Riley

Aqueous cleaning operations in printed circuit board population require particular attention to water quality. Various soils – internal and external to the population processes – need to be removed to a very high degree to ensure trouble-free operation of the circuit board. The water used for the makeup of the cleaning solutions and rinsing must also be of very high quality to minimize the potential for contamination of the circuit board, with ion exchange technology being the technology of choice to purify and recover the water.

The quality of printed circuit boards, their operating characteristics, and ultimately, their lifespan depend on several factors, with one of the more important factors being the cleanliness of the boards. Several soils, if not removed, can negatively impact the operation of circuit boards. Incomplete removal of solder flux residue, for example, can lead to corrosion and potential short circuits. Aqueous cleaning chemicals may contain various additives (such as saponifiers, surfactants, etc.) that aid in soil removal but must also be completely removed from the PCB, as failure to remove these cleaning chemicals can lead to the formation of residual spotting on the board.

Water, used for aqueous cleaning chemical makeup, as the cleaner itself, or for rinsing, is a critical component of the circuit board cleaning process. The water must be clean enough so that it does not leave any residue on the board after the cleaning process. City water typically contains background ions, such as calcium, magnesium, sodium and potassium that, if not removed (along with corresponding ions such as chloride, nitrate, phosphate and sulfate), can deposit and cause spotting or otherwise leave residue on a board after drying. Removal of these background ions before using the water in the PCB cleaning process is imperative to obtaining a contamination-free (or as close as possible) product.

Identifying Solder Mask Problems with Simple Tests

Diagnosing sources of crazing, delamination and peeling.
by Timothy O’Neill

In printed circuit board (PCB) assembly, solder mask integrity is paramount. This protective layer, designed to shield the copper surfaces and prevent solder bridging between components, plays a crucial role in ensuring the reliability and functionality of electronic devices.

Solder masks can face several issues, however: crazing, delamination, peeling, and the presence of waxy or oily residues. These defects can lead to complications like micro solder balling, bridging, and solder snail trails, especially noticeable after wave soldering processes.

Not only do these challenges compromise the PCB’s quality and long-term reliability, but they can also lead to significant production rework and increased costs.

In Case You Missed It

Component Placement

“SimPLE, A Visuotactile Method Learned in Simulation to Precisely Pick, Localize, Regrasp, and Place Objects”

Authors: Maria Bauza, et. al.

Abstract: Existing robotic systems have a tension between generality and precision. Deployed solutions for robotic manipulation tend to fall into the paradigm of one robot solving a single task, lacking “precise generalization,” or the ability to solve many tasks without compromising on precision. This work explores solutions for precise and general pick-and-place. In precise pick-and-place, or kitting, the robot transforms an unstructured arrangement of objects into an organized arrangement, which can facilitate further manipulation. The authors propose SimPLE (Simulation to Pick Localize and placE) as a solution to precise pick-and-place. SimPLE learns to pick, regrasp and place objects given the object’s computer-aided design model and no prior experience. The authors developed three main components: task-aware grasping, visuotactile perception, and regrasp planning. Task-aware grasping computes affordances of grasps that are stable, observable, and favorable to placing. The visuotactile perception model relies on matching real observations against a set of simulated ones through supervised learning to estimate a distribution of likely object poses. Last, the authors computed a multistep pick-and-place plan by solving a shortest-path problem on a graph of hand-to-hand regrasps. On a dual-arm robot equipped with visuotactile sensing, SimPLE demonstrated pick-and-place of 15 diverse objects. The objects spanned a range of shapes, and SimPLE achieved successful placements into structured arrangements with 1mm clearance more than 90% of the time for six objects and more than 80% of the time for 11 objects. (Science Robotics, June 2024, https://doi.org/10.1126/scirobotics.adi8808)