Circuits Assembly Online Magazine - Features

DUBLIN -- The medical electronics market is expected to reach $372.4 billion by 2018, driven by medical therapeutics and imaging systems, a new study says. Research and Markets says those two segments account for approximately 52.9% of the market and are expected to support the medical electronics industry going forward.

GLASGOW, SCOTLAND, UK — A new used SMT equipment seller has joined the scene here. EvolviSMT Ltd. held its official launch at Productronica last month.

WASHINGTON – The US House today passed legislation to reform the patent system, aiming to stop broadly written patents and so-called “trolls” who submit applications in the hopes of later capitalizing on hefty licensing fees.

ATLANTA, GA – UP Media Group seeks abstracts for PCB West 2014, to be held Sept. 9-11, 2014, in Santa Clara, CA. The event includes a three-day technical conference and one-day exhibition to be held at the Santa Clara (CA) Convention Center.

ALEXANDRIA, VA -- A quartet of Samsung engineers have been issued a US patent for a molded underfill flip chip package in which a semiconductor chip is mounted on a printed circuit board through bumps. The invention will prevent or reduce warpage and voids in the semiconductor package so as to increase reliability of the semiconductor package, the inventors said in the patent filing.

NEW YORK – An undercover investigation by a prominent human rights group has found labor rights violations ranging from unpaid and excessive overtime to verbal and physical abuse at a China-based supplier to Samsung. The report, issued this week by China Labor Watch, details such violations as $84,000 of monthly unpaid overtime wages, up to 148 hours of overtime per month, intense rates of work that have workers assembling one cellphone case every four seconds, regular verbal abuse by management, forcing workers to work barefoot, fines imposed on workers, and insufficient safety training and safety measures.