The New Chapter: The Benefits of Continuing Education
Marcy’s Musings: Boosting Your Inner Layer Precision and Production Outcomes
It’s Only Common Sense: You’ve Got to Hustle
IPC Introduces First Standard for In-Mold Electronics
November 18, 2024 | IPCEstimated reading time: 1 minute
IPC announces the release of IPC-8401, Guidelines for In-Mold Electronics. IPC-8401 addresses in-mold electronics (IME) technology, providing industry consensus on guidelines for manufacturing processes, part structures, material selection, and production test methods to integrate printed electronics and components into 3D smart structures.
IPC-8401 is the first of what is expected to be a series of standards that will move beyond the automotive industry and cover IME for smart home products and aviation.
The standard was developed by the D-83A In-Mold Electronics Interconnection Task Group, a group comprised of experts worldwide, led by Paavo Niskala from TactoTek and Iker Arroyo Moso from Eurecat. Niskala says, “The automotive industry has driven the development of IME because it significantly reduces the cost, weight, waste, and energy required to produce vehicle interior parts. Rather than using a PCB in a plastic molding with features interacting with PCB sensors, IME components are integrated directly into the plastic molding, making the manufacturing process more streamlined, sustainable, and efficient.
Key guidelines covered in IPC-8401 include:
- Manufacturing Processes: Introduction to the manufacturing processes involved in producing in-mold electronics.
- IME Part Structure: This defines a standardized IME part structure supporting the design and processing of IME parts for mass production.
- Candidate Materials: Provides material selection criteria and recommendations as industry-adopted practices, covering all materials, including substrates, functional inks, SMT components, SMT adhesives, and injection molding resins.
- Production Test Methods: Defines best practices and criteria for process controls-driven testing throughout the manufacturing processes.
To purchase IPC-8401, visit the IPC Store. To participate in IPC standards development committee meetings like the D-83A In-Mold Electronics Interconnection Task Group, visit the IPC’s committee page.
Share on:
Suggested Items
Are Our Stackup Rules No Longer Valid?
12/19/2024 | Cherie Litson, EPTAC MIT CID/CID+Are the stackup rules we used to follow no longer valid? It depends on what you’re designing. Electrical rules change depending on your circuit. Fabrication rules change depending on which fabricator you’re working with. Today, we just have more options, and sometimes, cost is a bigger rule than anything else. If you search online for information about layer stackups, trace widths, and hole sizes in PCBs, you’ll find a variety of resources.
IPC/WHMA Launches Groundbreaking Online Course on Wire Harness Design
12/18/2024 | IPCIPC/WHMA is excited to announce the launch of its new online instructor-led training course, "Introduction to Wire Harness Design I," available now through the IPC EDGE Learning Management System.
IPC Releases Latest List of Standards and Revisions
12/17/2024 | IPC Community Editorial TeamEach quarter, IPC releases a list of standards that are new or have been updated. To view a complete list of newly published standards and standards revisions, translations, proposed standards for ballot, final drafts for industry review, working drafts, and project approvals, visit ipc.org/status. These are the latest releases for Q4 2024.
IPC, FED Partner for New Design Conference in Vienna
12/12/2024 | Andy Shaughnessy, Design007 MagazineIPC and its German partner FED have teamed up to create a new PCB design conference in Vienna, Austria. The Pan-European Electronics Design Conference (PEDC) is scheduled for Jan. 29-30 at the NH Danube City hotel in Vienna. IPC’s Peter Tranitz, one of the show organizers, discussed how this new show came about, pointing out that, unlike many of the regional conferences in Europe, PEDC will host curated, peer-reviewed presentations, not promotional content or product pitches. Will PEDC become an annual event?
Happy’s Tech Talk #35: Yields March to Design Rules
12/12/2024 | Happy Holden -- Column: Happy’s Tech TalkUltra high density interconnect (UHDI) has many forms, structures, and alternatives, so capturing all the variations and reducing them to design rules has required some departures from traditional IPC design standards. In this column, I’ll be discussing the IPC UHDI design guidelines and standards. The fundamental question is: “Do you need HDI or microvias?”