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Letters to the Editor
December 31, 1969 |Estimated reading time: 6 minutes
We often receive letters from readers regarding past editorials or features that appeared in the magazine or online. Following are just a few letters that have come into our inboxes. We want to hear from you! Let us know how we're doing or what your company is doing. Send your letters to mboisvert@pennwell.com.
On October 30, 2006, Daniel Brandler, technical director, Ohmega Technologies, Inc., wrote this response to the October feature, "Embedded Passives: Stuck in the Chasm?" View the Article Here
The embedded passives article by Per Viklund, "Stuck in the Chasm," is both interesting and surprising. Viklund's premise is that the technology transition from "early adopter" to "majority user" called crossing the chasm takes less time than it used to; however, embedded passive (EP) technology seems to have moved more slowly than expected. What is surprising is that Per Viklund, Mentor Graphics' guru behind the Expedition automatic EP layout tool, would site economics as the reason for the slow transition when it is increasing density, design rules, and the need for high-speed signal integrity that drive the trend toward EP technology. Moore's Law says that IC complexity will increase exponentially. For the assembler, surface complexity means I/O density; for the board fabricator, complexity means wiring density. These metrics increase due to advances in IC packaging that have little to do with cost.
Viklund is correct that econometric models are overly sensitive to changes in cost inputs; however, the relative cost of alternative EP technologies have almost no affect on the point of transition from one technology to another. Switching back and forth from single- to double-sided assembly is an example of this principle. High SMT component densities force the switch to double-sided assembly. When enough resistors or capacitors can be embedded to allow the switch back to single-sided assembly, there is a huge cost savings. A similar argument can be made for the substrate. Because EP is a lower-cost alternative to sequentially built high-density interconnect (HDI) substrates with miniature SMT passives, the transition from conventional PCBs to HDI substrates is driven by surface I/O and innerlayer wiring density, not EP cost.
The article also says that EP use in consumer electronics, especially cell phones, is farther ahead than the electronics industry as a whole. We would like to suggest a reason why. The "Crossing the Chasm" model says that a dominant leader, sometimes called a "gorilla," has to emerge for the majority users to adopt a new technology. For low-cost polymer thick-films (PTF), Motorola was the gorilla. Motorola developed and promoted the use of PTFs in cell phones. For a time, the industry thought that IBM would be the high-tech thin-film gorilla, but it didn't happen. In "Stuck in the Chasm," Figure Two shows OhmegaPly resistors in a BGA pattern on an IBM/Sequent computer board (photo courtesy of Ohmega Technologies, Inc.). Although many companies use this technology, no single OEM has emerged as a gorilla to lead the majority users. Instead, each company acts independently. As long as Moore's Law holds, these companies, assemblers, and board fabricators will have to scramble to keep up with advances in IC package technology and embedding passive components is one of the ways that they will do it.
On October 23, 2006, Eric C. Levitt, advisory engineer, circuit design engineering at Northrop Grumman Corporation, had this to say on SMT October "Speaking of SMT: Under Normal Operating Conditions."
Gail, I have read many of your columns and I generally find that you have an interesting viewpoint. As I read your column about laptop batteries, I was with you until the middle of the column a plane at an altitude of 32,000 miles would have lots of issues and thermal problems with electronics would surely be one of them (including the avionics controlling the aircraft), but of course you meant 32,000 feet. I am curious as to what you meant by "eliminate the heat in initial board designs"? You really lost me right at the end. I would think you meant "minimize" and not "eliminate," as electronics contain active devices that use power and power dissipates and creates heat. Electronics engineers do need to focus on how to pull heat from their circuits effectively and to design efficiently so as to minimize power dissipation, but there will always be heat at least until someone designs devices that do not require power to operate. One thing that may be lacking in consumer electronics designs is adequate analysis of the operating environments for products and an understanding of how the environment will affect safety and reliability of the product. Sony has some issues here and one thing I have not seen is the media coming down on Sony rather than only on Dell and Apple and HP. They all share the blame for not fully testing or simulating the product to understand its operating characteristics. Consumer products have short lifecycles and the window to get a product to market successfully is small, but the lesson here is that pushing too fast can be more costly and that safety and reliability analyses should not be compromised.
On August 10, 2006, Joe Smetana, PE, principal engineer, Advanced Technology at Alcatel wrote the following in response to the August article, "RoHS Testing: Lead-free Is Not Trouble-free."
This article in SMT on RoHS testing stated, "Most reinforced materials in PCBs contain brominated fire retardants (PBB and PBDE)." There is more misinformation on this subject and this just made it worse! The reality is: Most reinforced materials in PCBs contain the brominated fire retardant TBBPA, which is not an environmental hazard, nor restricted by RoHS.
Thanks,Joe Smetana, PEPrincipal Engineer, Advanced TechnologyDistinguished Member, Alcatel Technical Academy Phone: 972-519-6135E-mail: joseph.smetana@alcatel.com
On June 30, 2006, Rick Burris of SafeNet Mykotronx Inc. wrote:
Thanks for your great articles and editorials. Keep up the good work!
Regarding the June 28, 2006 e-newsletter editorial, Bob Tavaglione of Ozark Circuits, Inc. commented:
Dear Michelle,It is always with great interest that I read the articles you write. This one is no exception. One thing is for sure, if you are alive and well in the printed circuit industry today, then you have done something right. You could say that great leaders have an insight as to what trends are developing in the industry and then position themselves and their respective companies to provide the "product" as needed. I'm not so sure about flex and rigid-flex products. They've been around for years and have never achieved the predicted levels of production.Thank you,Bob Tavaglione
Regarding the June 14, 2006 e-newsletter editorial, an American purchasing engineer working for a Japan 3 automotive company, writes:
True, RoHS didn't "come out of the blue," but it didn't impact the electronics industry exclusively¿ the fastener and various metal-forming industries were also impacted. No so many have the financial resources of a Tyco M/A-Com. Some companies will make the quick changes to trumpet their RoHS compliance at the expense of future field returns/lack of infrastructure planning. However, I did like your report about Vicor¿ shows some thinking "beyond the curve" related to the eventual elimination of chromium compounds in Japan.
Wayne Norton, president of Princeton Technology, had this to say about the same editorial:
Good morning,
An interesting time, we have been working for three years on getting ready for the end of the month. Many of our customers are pleased that there are some contract houses out there that have taken the time to be capable of meeting their needs. Not only do we feel it is critical for the industry to be prepared, but it is also critical for the customer base to be prepared. SMT's many articles on RoHS issues have been extremely helpful in helping our employees to understand why we have changed a lot of internal product handling.
Thanks for helping all us address the RoHS issue.Regards, Wayne Norton