News
The National Electronics Manufacturing Initiative (NEMI, Herndon, VA) will sponsor a tin whisker workshop and a component supplier/large user meeting at the upcoming IEEE Electronic Components and Technology Conference (ECTC) in Las Vegas, NV, June 1-4.
An all-day session on June 1 will review all of the NEMI tin whisker project activities to date. Two half-day sessions are scheduled for June 2. Users and suppliers will discuss mitigation strategies and acceptance test plans for high-reliability critical systems applications in the morning session, followed by an open meeting of the Tin Whisker Accelerated Test Project in the afternoon.
With the move toward lead-free electronics, tin is considered a drop-in replacement for the tin-lead finish currently used for component terminations. However, pure tin coatings may have a tendency to grow small filaments, known as whiskers, which could bridge adjacent terminals, causing system failures. NEMI has three projects that are working on various aspects of this phenomenon: accelerated test (attempting to develop tests to predict tin whiskers), modeling (attempting to understand basic cause of whiskers) and a user group (addressing how high-reliability, long-life systems or critical applications can be protected).
The Tuesday workshop will provide an overview of more than three years' work by the three projects, including discussion of an annotated bibliography, a set of tests recommended to JEDEC, basic theories behind whisker formation and how to protect critical applications and systems given what is known today.
On Wednesday, the Tin Whisker User Group will focus on the need for mitigation practices when pure tin is used as a component terminal coating. The concern with tin whiskers in high-reliability, critical systems applications will be discussed, potential solutions outlined and tests to demonstrate compliance will be proposed.
Carol Handwerker, chief of the Metallurgy Division of the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), will moderate the Tuesday workshop and Wednesday user/supplier discussions on whisker mitigation and test acceptance. Nick Vo, Motorola, will chair the Wednesday test method standardization evaluation and discussions.
All meetings will be held in the same venue as the ECTC. Anyone registered for ECTC can attend the NEMI tin whisker meetings. Individuals wishing to attend only the NEMI meetings should contact the NEMI secretariat for information (703-834-0330).
Copyright 2004, UP Media Group. All rights reserved.
Electronics manufacturing services (EMS) provider Flextronics (Singapore) has announced results for its fourth quarter and fiscal year ended March 31, 2004. Net sales for the quarter were a record $3.8 billion, a 23% increase over the March 2003 quarter. Net sales for the fiscal year reached $14.5 billion, up $1.2 billion, or 9%, from 2003.
Proforma net income was $72.8 million, or $0.13 per diluted share for Q4, up $47.4 million from Q4 2003. Including after-tax amortization expense of $8.8 million and restructuring costs of $48.0 million, net income was $16.0 million, or $0.03 per diluted share, down from $19.5 million, or $0.04 per diluted share, year-on-year..
"Our financial results continue to improve as we realize the earnings leverage embedded in our business, said Michael E. Marks, chief executive officer of Flextronics. "Quarterly revenues grew 23% on a year-over-year basis, while proforma profits nearly tripled. Both operating margin and revenues were stronger than expected, as the quarter ended less seasonal than expected for handsets and other consumer related products."
Flextronics also announced that it intends to convert all of the outstanding 0% Convertible Junior Subordinated Notes issued in March 2003 into approximately 19 million shares of common stock. The company filed a Registration Statement on Form S-3 to register the shares, and the conversion will be completed after the Securities and Exchange Commission declares the Form S-3 effective. The conversion will not impact Flextronics' diluted EPS, as the stock equivalents have always been included in the diluted EPS calculation.
Copyright 2004, UP Media Group. All rights reserved.
Intellon Corp. (Ocala, FL), a provider of integrated circuits (ICs) for high-speed powerline networking, has shipped its one millionth HomePlug IC. According to the company, virtually all of the HomePlug powerline communications products in the global market today are powered by Intellon's integrated circuits.
The ICs enable high-speed communications over existing powerlines in homes and small businesses. They power over 50 products from more than 24 equipment manufacturers. These products can be purchased at retail outlets such as Best Buy, CompUSA, Circuit City, Mediamarket and Radio Shack.
Intellon customers are continuing to develop new products that take advantage of the ICs with applications as WiFi extension, online gaming, whole-house audio and security. The ICs are also being used for broadband over powerline (BPL) access applications, opening a third pipe (in addition to cable and DSL) to deliver broadband to homes and multi-dwelling units such as apartments and hotel rooms.
Intellon is extending the capability of its HomePlug product line to enable HDTV distribution over home powerlines. By the end of the year, Intellon will launch its PowerAV chipsets, which support application speeds in excess of 100 Mbps, allowing transmission of multiple audio, standard-definition video and HDTV video streams over powerlines.
Intellon Corp.is a privately-held fabless semiconductor company specializing in powerline networking and communications.
Copyright 2004, UP Media Group. All rights reserved.
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