A Designer's Focus on High Density

Estimated reading time: 2 minutes

Vern Solberg is a distinguished member of the Global Electronics Association Raymond E. Pritchard Hall of Fame and has served as chair or vice chair of many committees, developing technical standards and implementation guidelines, including the IPC-7090 series, which focuses on design for manufacturing and reliability for electronic assemblies. He’s a long-time contributor to Design007 Magazine, and he conducted a half-day tutorial at APEX EXPO 2026, where he addressed 2D, 2.5D, and 3D packaging and ultra-high density hybrid bond interconnect. I caught up with Vern at the show and asked about his pivot from addressing more standard design challenges to his focus on high-density circuits.

Marcy LaRont: Vern, it's always good to see you. You are an icon in our industry. Tell us about how you got started in the electronics industry and found yourself in this wonderful place.

Vern Solberg: Coming out of school, I was trained to be an industrial designer, but I couldn't find work, as the term “industrial design engineering” wasn’t terribly meaningful at that time. So, I found a job as a draftsman with ITT, a communications company at Vandenberg Air Force Base. It just so happened they had an R&D facility in Palo Alto that needed help. One of the guys who was working on a new technology asked if I knew how to design printed circuit boards. I did not. He became my mentor in PCB design, and that really kicked off my career.

LaRont: It is always interesting how we end up doing the exact thing that becomes central to our careers.

Solberg: I eventually moved to Southern California for a job where they needed someone with a mechanical background, which I had. At that point, my work went beyond just PCB design to more of a full mechanical system design, including the PCBs. At my next company, they needed somebody who could design PCBs for volume manufacturing. This company was getting into automation and needed all its PCBs redesigned accordingly. Eventually, I moved back to Northern California (South Bay Area) and pretty much stayed there. As one’s career progresses, though, you end up in management, and I wanted to be back on the engineering side. Finally, I started my own small design company, NuGrafix Group, in Los Gatos, focusing on surface mount technology, which was becoming an important technology in the design and fabrication of PCBs.

To continue reading this interview, which appeared in the April 2026 edition of I-Connect007 Magazine, click here.