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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.
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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.
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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.
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Orange Co. Designers Council Meeting June 28 in Irvine
June 13, 2018 | Scott McCurdy, Freedom CAD ServicesEstimated reading time: 2 minutes
For the monthly Lunch ‘n Learn meeting on June 28, the Orange County chapter of the IPC Designers Council features two guest speakers with informative presentations on multiboard design and material solutions to address skew.
Presentation 1: Addressing the Challenges of Multiboard Design: Taking the “Big Picture” Approach to System Design
Speaker: Chris Carlson, CID, Senior Field Applications Engineer with Altium
As technology becomes more complex and miniaturized, the need for more complex multiboard systems arise. Clear lines between layout, mechanical and performance concerns begin to blur, which creates the need for PCB designers to take a more holistic view of the system.
In this presentation, Chris Carlson will discuss the unique and varied challenges that arise when doing multiboard system designs. He will review the considerations relative to partitioning the PCB, connection management, connector libraries and planning the layout. He will also discuss mechanical features, managing signals, thermal management, reliability, and power and signal integrity. Finally, Carlson will show how to ensure good mechanical fit by making the most of your 3D CAD functionality.
Presentation 2: Design and Manufacturing Developments to Lower Insertion Loss and Digital Pair Skew: What a Designer Needs to Know About Meeting 56Gb/S Speed Challenges
Speaker: Norm Berry, Director of Laminate and OEM Marketing, Insulectro
As frequency increases, differential pair skew and insertion loss become critical considerations for PCB design and manufacture. Add the ever-increasing complexity of reliable designs, while balancing value/cost performance, and the manufacturing options become more challenging. The designer needs to be aware of advancements in the base material manufacture and the options available to the fabricator.
Whether we are concerned with the demands of HDI designs with stacked, laser-drilled microvias or insertion loss on high-speed digital backplanes, the base material composite, with low-profile copper and a mechanically spread glass reinforcement, has a direct impact. Backplanes operating at 56Gb/s require the integration all these factors and the newly developed manufacturing technologies.
The cost is $10 at the door. Altium is sponsoring the event by helping with the cost of the lunches.
There are two ways to RSVP:
- Click here to RSVP online
- Email your RSVP to Scott McCurdy
Please RSVP no later than noon on Wednesday, June 27. Reserve a spot on your calendar on Thursday, June 28 from 11:30 am to 1:30 pm for this educational Lunch ‘n Learn event.
Location
Harvard Athletic Park (The multi-purpose room is at the SOUTH end of the athletic fields)
14701 Harvard Ave.
Irvine, California
92606
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Driving Innovation: Selecting the Right Laser Source
04/28/2026 | Simon Khesin -- Column: Driving InnovationWhen I first joined Schmoll Maschinen, I brought experience from almost every PCB process, except for laser. As I immersed myself in laser processing, I realized why it can seem so daunting to a newcomer. The complexity arises from three intersecting factors: A vast variety of laser sources: CO2, UV-nano, green-pico, UV-pico, IR-pico, and others; a diverse range of applications: Drilling, cutting, ablation, and more; and an extensive list of materials: These have vastly different absorption rates. Choosing the right machine or laser source is rarely trivial. Even for experienced engineers, answering "Which source is best?" requires examining the business's specific goals.
Institute of Circuit Technology Spring Seminar 2026: A Bright Future in Europe
04/23/2026 | Pete Starkey, I-Connect007Through the leafy lanes and spring flowers of Warwickshire and back to Meridan, the traditional centre of England, and now officially part of the Metropolitan Borough of Solihull in the county of the West Midlands, I attended the Annual General Meeting and Spring Seminar of the Institute of Circuit Technology (ICT) on April 14. Out of the AGM came notable changes in leadership at the top of the Institute: the retirement of Mat Beadel as chair and Emma Hudson as technical director. Effective May 1, Steve Driver is the new chair, and Alun Morgan is the new technical director.
ACCM Unveils Negative and Near-zero CTE Materials for Large-Format AI Chips
04/21/2026 | Advanced Chip and Circuit MaterialsAdvanced Chip and Circuit Materials, Inc. (ACCM) has launched two new materials: Celeritas HM50, with a negative coefficient of thermal expansion (CTE) of -8 ppm/°C to offset the positive CTE and expansion of copper with temperature on circuit boards, and Celeritas HM001, with near-zero CTE and the low-loss performance needed for high-speed signal layers to 224 Gb/s and faster in artificial intelligence (AI) circuits.
Fresh PCB Concepts: Designing PCBs for Harsh Environments—Reliability Is Engineered Upstream
04/23/2026 | Team NCAB -- Column: Fresh PCB ConceptsWhen engineers hear the phrase “harsh environment,” they usually think of the extreme temperature swings, vibration and shock, pressure changes, or radiation in aerospace. However, aerospace is not the only harsh environment where electronic assemblies must survive. Automotive power electronics, downhole oil and gas tools, marine controls, rail systems, defense platforms, and industrial automation equipment all expose PCBs to environments that are equally unforgiving. The stress mechanisms may differ, but the physics does not.
Advanced Packaging for AI: Reliability Starts at the Cu/Cu/Cu Microvia Junction
04/20/2026 | Kuldip Johal, MKS' AtotechThe rapid growth of AI computing, from training clusters to inference at scale, is reshaping demand across the entire electronics supply chain. Advances in technology requirements, such as higher bandwidth, lower latency, and greater compute density, are driving the development of advanced packaging technologies and transforming the PCB industry across design, manufacturing, testing, and even architecture.