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SAN JOSE – MEMS Industry Group and MEPTEC will hold meetings in May in San Jose to discuss advancements and trends in microelectromechanical systems fabrication and integration.

MEMS Industry Group’s members-only meeting METRIC will identify and overcome technical and business challenges to MEMS fabrication. Topics to be discussed include optimizing MEMS fabrication, new opportunities for MEMS (including advances in packaging technologies and alternatives to silicon), tradeoffs between the captive fab versus the fabless business models, and how to partner and work with a foundry.

METRIC will be held May 18-19. For more information, visit www.memsmetric.com.

The Microelectronics Test and Packaging Engineering Council’s MEMS Symposium will discuss transitioning from fully integrated to separate MEMS and IC, the transition from automotive MEMS to consumer MEMS, software applications and accelerometers in cellphones, ASICS/MEMS, different types of integration, and flipchip bumping.

The MEMS Symposium will be held May 20. For more information, visit http://www.meptec.org/meptec8thannualm.html.

SMYRNA, GA – Following record-breaking attendee registration, Virtual PCB, the industry's only virtual trade show and conference, which took place this week, is now offered on-demand for the next two months.

STAMFORD, CT – The need for computing hardware will not cease, but the shift of ownership will affect every aspect of the IT hardware industry, says a top research firm.

MILTON, NY – Sono-Tek Corp. today announced sales of more than $2.1 million for the fourth quarter, ended Feb. 28, up 32% year-over-year.

This quarter’s sales are the largest in the firm’s history, following a third-quarter record of nearly $2 million.

The company says its 2009 sales will hit $7.24 million, also a record, up 13% over last year.

“We are pleased to see substantial growth in clean energy markets such as fuel cell and solar energy coating equipment, strong results in glass and medical markets, where we reported our largest single order earlier in the year, and the beginning of a recovery in our electronics market,” said Dr. Christopher L. Coccio, Sono-Tek’s chairman and CEO.

Sono-Tek develops and manufactures liquid spray products.

AUSTIN, TX – Freescale Semiconductor has filed multiple lawsuits against Panasonic, JVC and Funai Electric, alleging illegal use of its intellectual property.

In the suits, Freescale cites failures by the firms to renew license agreements, and seeks to bar their products from being imported into the US.

The suits were filed in US District Court in Austin and with the US International Trade Commission.

Products potentially impacted by the suits include TVs, memory cards, video cameras, digital cameras and media players, such as Blu-ray DVD players.

The trade commission lawsuit also names several retailers, including Best Buy, B&H Foto & Electronics, Wal-Mart, QVC and Buy.com.

MACAO – Deswell Industries reported fiscal third-quarter sales fell 42.4% from last year to $21.4 million.

The company reported a net loss of $400,000, down from net income of $1 million last year. Operating income dropped 67% to $300,000 for the period ended Dec. 31.

The company’s EMS-related sales plunged 49.7% to $8.2 million. Gross profit in the electronic and metallic segment increased to 8.5% of net sales for the third quarter ended Dec. 31, compared to 7.3% of net sales for the year-ago quarter. The improved gross margin in the electronic and metallic segment was mainly attributed to lower materials cost offsetting higher factory overheads.

Chief executive Mr. Franki Tse said, "We continued to see the impact of the difficult global economy and our sequential sales performance was essentially flat. There has been some strengthening in order volume recently and we believe that we are well positioned to benefit from a recovering global economy. That being said, we remain cautious and continue to evaluate ways to reduce expenses."

NORTH BILLERICA, MA -- Reflow soldering equipment OEM BTU International reported fourth-quarter net sales fell 17.7% from a year ago to $12.1 million.

WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama’s proposal to make the R&D tax credit permanent would be a landmark accomplishment, SEMI said this week.

SMYRNA, GA – More than 2,500 PCB designers, fabricators and assemblers registered for Virtual PCB (virtual-pcb.com), the industry's only virtual trade show and conference, which is taking place this week.

TAIPEI – Last week’s earthquake in Chile, the largest producer of copper, could push electronics component prices higher as a result of a sustained surge in metal prices.

TEMPE, AZ – Manufacturing continued to grow in February, but the rate of growth decelerated, as the PMI registered 56.5%, a decrease of 1.9 percentage points sequentially, says the Institute for Supply Management.

A reading above 50% indicates the manufacturing economy is generally expanding.

New Orders registered 59.5%, down 6.4 percentage points. Production was 58.4%, down 7.8 points. Inventories contracted at a slower rate in February, as the index registered 47.3%, up 0.8 points. Customer Inventories grew 5 points to 37%, and Backlogs hit 61%, also up 5 points.

“The manufacturing sector grew for the seventh consecutive month during February. While New Orders and Production were not as strong as in January, they still show significant month-over-month growth,” said ISM spokesperson Norbert J. Ore in a press release.

The Employment Index was up 2.8 percentage points for the month to 56.1%, the third consecutive month of growth.

The overall economy grew for the 10th consecutive month, says ISM.

EVERYWHERE -- A series of moderated technical chats on everything from prototype design to tin whiskers highlight Virtual PCB, the online conference and trade show that kicks off today.