-
- News
- Books
Featured Books
- design007 Magazine
Latest Issues
Current IssueAdvanced Packaging and Stackup Design
This month, our expert contributors discuss the impact of advanced packaging on stackup design—from SI and DFM challenges through the variety of material tradeoffs that designers must contend with in HDI and UHDI.
Rules of Thumb
This month, we delve into rules of thumb—which ones work, which ones should be avoided. Rules of thumb are everywhere, but there may be hundreds of rules of thumb for PCB design. How do we separate the wheat from the chaff, so to speak?
Partial HDI
Our expert contributors provide a complete, detailed view of partial HDI this month. Most experienced PCB designers can start using this approach right away, but you need to know these tips, tricks and techniques first.
- Articles
- Columns
Search Console
- Links
- Media kit
||| MENU - design007 Magazine
PCB Carolina Breaks Attendance Record
November 10, 2022 | Andy Shaughnessy, I-Connect007Estimated reading time: 1 minute
PCB Carolina has been growing consistently for the past decade, and this year the show reached a milestone: more than 1,000 attendees. Yesterday, the show was the busiest I’ve ever seen it; I almost had to park off the NC State University campus. Fortunately, I’m an expert at “the parking lot game.” I waited until a guy was leaving and then I sniped his spot. Bam!
When I walked onto the show floor at PCB Carolina, I had to maneuver between attendees to get from one booth to another. The aisles were jammed, and the show stayed busy throughout the day, even when classes were in session. I didn’t see a single mask.
It was the same in the classrooms. Author Kathy Joseph led the keynote address, discussing the origins of electricity to a room that was standing room only. Many of the technical sessions were packed as well.
Exhibitors sang their praises of this one-day tabletop event, especially the bang-for-the-buck. A couple of times, I was talking with an exhibitor and an attendee asked, “Can you talk to me about this right now?” There’s a lot of tech concentrated in Research Triangle Park, and many of these attendees came to this show with immediate needs.
I spoke with Randy Faucette, co-founder of PCB Carolina and president of the design bureau Better Boards in nearby Cary. He said the show floor had sold out this year, and he had a waiting list of 15 companies who were ready to exhibit if anyone dropped out.
But as Randy explained, the biggest news was on the attendee side.
“For attendance, 2019 was our biggest year, right before COVID, and we were in the mid-900s,” he said. “When I checked earlier today, we had broken 1,000, which is a big milestone for us.”
Randy said the 84 exhibits are now spilling out into the hallways, but they would never want to relocate the show because the NCSU staff are so accommodating. The college also provides a pipeline of engineering students who are eager to network with people in our industry.
Lunch was a fantastic locally-catered barbecue and sweet tea like my grandma used to make. We had tasty Mexican food for dinner, along with some local craft beers. I bet next year’s PCB Carolina is going to be off the charts.
Suggested Items
EIPC Technical Snapshot: Factors Driving the Fluctuating Demand for PCBs
12/11/2024 | Pete Starkey, I-Connect007EIPC continued its series of online Technical Snapshots with a webinar on Nov. 21 presented by Dr. Hayao Nakahara of N.T. Information Ltd, who summarised world PCB production and shared his vision of the market over the next five years. With information gathered from many sources, Nakahara examined factors driving the increasing demand for printed circuit boards.
Working on a Personal Level at Stellar Technical Products
12/11/2024 | Nolan Johnson, SMT007 MagazineMaking the world a better place isn’t just a snappy slogan to put on their marketing collateral for Southern California-based distributor Stellar Technical Products. CEO Mike Min is looking for partners that want to optimize their bottom line, increase their resilience, and create a more sustainable planet. It’s the mission statement for the company, and Mike is working diligently to take that message forward. In this interview he shares the qualities that make Stellar Technical unique.
SEL Recognized as a Dream Employer
12/10/2024 | SELSchweitzer Engineering Laboratories (SEL) has been named one of America's Dream Employers by Forbes. The American media and publishing company released its inaugural list ranking U.S. companies based on growth opportunities, quality of work, compensation, and company reputation.
The Chemical Connection: Getting the Best from Your Cupric Chloride Etchant
12/04/2024 | Don Ball -- Column: The Chemical ConnectionOver the past several months, we have received a lot of questions from our customers about cupric chloride etching—mostly about how to improve etch quality, but also about process problems. Most of them were easily dealt with, but the questions arose because the people involved in running the etching process were not aware of the finer nuances involved in using cupric chloride as the primary etchant. (They don’t have courses on etching in most colleges and trade schools.) I thought this might be a good time to summarize some things I have learned in my 50 years of experience with cupric chloride etching and clear up some of the confusion.
Is It the Death of the Dashboard?
11/27/2024 | Nolan Johnson, SMT007 MagazineIn 2024, companies are leveraging AI agents to automate data-driven decisions, bypassing the need for specialized data science skills. In this interview with Tim Burke and Jennifer Davis of Arch Systems, they say these AI tools can handle straightforward tasks, significantly improving factory efficiency by addressing numerous small issues. This shift allows existing staff to use data effectively without extensive retraining. Both large and small language models are used to support real-time decisions on the production floor, integrating various data sources to create a comprehensive digital twin of the factory’s operations.