-
- News
- Books
Featured Books
- I-Connect007 Magazine
Latest Issues
Current Issue
Beyond the Rulebook
What happens when the rule book is no longer useful, or worse, was never written in the first place? In today’s fast-moving electronics landscape, we’re increasingly asked to design and build what has no precedent, no proven path, and no tidy checklist to follow. This is where “Design for Invention” begins.
March Madness
From the growing role of AI in design tools to the challenge of managing cumulative tolerances, these articles in this issue examine the technical details, design choices, and manufacturing considerations that determine whether a board works as intended.
Looking Forward to APEX EXPO 2026
I-Connect007 Magazine previews APEX EXPO 2026, covering everything from the show floor to the technical conference. For PCB designers, we move past the dreaded auto-router and spotlight AI design tools that actually matter.
- Articles
- Columns
- Links
- Media kit
||| MENU - I-Connect007 Magazine
I-Connect007 Editor’s Choice: Five Must-Reads for the Week
December 25, 2020 | Nolan Johnson, I-Connect007Estimated reading time: 2 minutes
We started this week with the solstice. Here in the Northern Hemisphere, it’s the winter solstice; south of the equator, of course, it’s the summer solstice. Not only is this a big event on the astronomical calendar, solstice is a busy time for holy days worldwide. Whichever holiday schedule you follow, we wish that yours is festive, restorative, and full of hopefulness.
All that holiday revelry can certainly distract one’s attention; as evidenced in a much slower news week. As a result, this week’s Top 5 brings you the three most important and/or intriguing pieces of news we’ve covered in the last week, and two items from last week that are still drawing reader attention this week. That’s I-Connect007: Keeping you informed, efficiently.
Enjoy your holiday and Happy New Year!
Prices of Copper-Clad Laminates Continue to Rise
December 18
Recently, two major explosions at epoxy resin plants in China had a great impact on domestic resin suppliers, interrupting the supply of resin and caused prices to increase dramatically. I-Connect007 reports on the market dynamics and effects.
The press release states, “Industry experts believe a five-year, $40 million investment in a public-private R&D program would yield more than $100 million in U.S. defense savings per year and improve military readiness and overall innovation. The Congress provided $5 million for such R&D in FY 2020.”
For more detail, find IPC President and CEO John Mitchell’s article in Defense News titled, “Protecting America’s military prowess requires an embrace of lead-free electronics.”
COMSovereign Delivers First Tethered Drone-Based LTE Network
December 21
Emergency and disaster response teams are a great example for this new LTE mobile network system. Imagine a wildfire command post setting up on a remote hilltop and launching a series of hovering drones to serve as temporary cell towers in an area otherwise outside cell service.
Dr. John Mitchell on IPC APEX EXPO Going Virtual
December 16
In this audio interview, Barry Matties and Dr. John Mitchell discuss IPC’s decision to move IPC APEX EXPO 2021 to an all virtual platform. Mitchell explains the reasoning for going virtual, and expresses his enthusiasm for the opportunities this presents the conference. I-Connect007 will be providing preshow and realtime coverage of IPC APEX EXPO, so check with us often to get the latest.
Happy Holden: ECWC15 Virtual Event a Success
December 15
Few industry experts are as capable as Happy Holden to review the Electronic Circuits World Convention, held recently in Hong Kong. In this report, Happy summarizes the keynotes from the first day of the three-day event. Keynote speakers include: NT Information Ltd’s Dr. Hayoo Nakahara; James Tam, from Bosch; and Happy Holden himself.
Testimonial
"Advertising in PCB007 Magazine has been a great way to showcase our bare board testers to the right audience. The I-Connect007 team makes the process smooth and professional. We’re proud to be featured in such a trusted publication."
Klaus Koziol - atgSuggested Items
Nortech Systems Launches Power over Fiber Technology Platform for EMI-Sensitive Applications
04/08/2026 | Globe NewswireNortech Systems Incorporated, a leading provider of design and manufacturing solutions for complex electromedical devices and electromechanical systems, has announced the launch of its Power over Fiber technology platform.
Flexible Thinking: Designing Flex Circuits for Dynamic Reliability
04/09/2026 | Joe Fjelstad -- Column: Flexible ThinkingFlex circuits flex. No surprises there. However, they are also very commonly designed into products because they are thin and offer consistent thickness and dielectric properties, attributes highly prized by present-day product designers of personal electronics. This would include smartphones and, increasingly, wearable electronics for medical monitoring and even fashion.
Understanding Tolerances in Flexible Circuit Design
04/01/2026 | Chris Clark, Flexible Circuit TechnologiesThe challenge with cumulative tolerances is meeting the dimensional requirements for items dimensioned on a drawing or specification for a flexible or rigid-flex circuit. It is critical to understand the fabrication processes and how features are defined when creating your tolerance requirements.
Target Condition: An Exploration of Flooding PCB Layers
04/02/2026 | Kelly Dack -- Column: Target ConditionThe concept of flooding PCB layers with copper has been around for so long, you’d think we’d have it mastered. We haven’t. (Oh, and by “we,” I mean design engineers and the software tools we depend on.) Years ago, PCB artwork was created by hand using light tables, with tape applied to Mylar. Signals were slow, traces were relatively wide, and high-current paths were simply “beefed up” with wider copper. Signal integrity wasn’t yet a driving concern. Today, solid return paths are fundamental to robust design. We understand the importance of continuous reference planes for signal integrity and EMI control.
New, Greener Solutions for Etch: Novel Copper Extraction
03/30/2026 | Richard Nichols, GreenSource Engineering“Novel” is a typical marketing phrase that implies new and unique, but often “novel” actually means an established technology being applied to a new field or application. This, in turn, is often driven by newly relevant external motivation. GreenSource has been working on just such a solution: novel copper extraction, offering a better and greener alternative to traditional LLE control systems for cupric chloride etch.