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I-Connect007 Editor’s Choice: Five Must-Reads for the Week

Normally, the holiday season is a slow(ish) news time, but this year just feels different. My opinion is that the technology industry banked up a whole bunch of innovations and new products during the pandemic disruptions, which are coming to market as quickly as possible. The November/December news is full of technology discussion, as my selections this week clearly demonstrate.

Randy Faucette Discusses PCB Carolina’s Explosive Growth

One of the fastest-growing tabletop shows is PCB Carolina, which is held at NC State University in Raleigh. Each year, the show draws more exhibitors than the venue hall can hold, pushing some exhibitors out into the lobby. And this year, the number of registered attendees broke the 1,000 mark for the first time. At PCB Carolina, I spoke with Randy Faucette, the founder of the Research Triangle Park design bureau Better Boards, which organizes this annual tradeshow and conference, and I asked him to share the secret to this show’s expansion.

The Growing Need for UHDI

Jan Pedersen of NCAB Group is deeply involved in IPC standards development surrounding ultra HDI and keeps his finger on the pulse of the industry surrounding this type of fabrication. With Asia still dominating this area, Jan sees the need for U.S. and European PCB fabricators to make the investment if they want to stay competitive.

Excerpt: The Evolving PCB NPI Process, Chapter 2

Managing the supply chain for electronics manufacturing has always been challenging. About 70-80% of the cost of building an electronic product is for the parts, while the remaining cost is in the process to assemble and test the product. However, during the worldwide pandemic, the strain on the overall supply chain for any product has been stretched to the breaking point. When supply of toilet paper, hand towels, and sanitizer is disrupted and cannot be found on the grocery store shelves, one could imagine the challenges in a similarly disrupted supply chain of efficiently acquiring complex electronic components.

3D Electronic Devices With Additive Manufacturing

Imagine fabricating PCBs without the hassle of drilled vias and metal plating. Imagine PCBs with near-perfect registration. If we take it to the next stage, imagine drawing electronics in 3D space. There is a way to do all this with additively manufactured electronics (AME). We just need to start to think in 3D. This will allow us to abandon the 2D limitations that we have become so used to and expand our horizons so that we can climb to higher levels of performance. In this article, I will explore the two fundamental capabilities that are the cornerstones for drawing electronics in 3D space, which is where AME technology and 3D design capabilities converge.

Understanding the UHDI Market

The more we investigate UHDI in the current market, the more advanced packaging becomes a part of the conversation. Yet there are so many questions to be answered. The I-Connect007 Editorial Team met with Calumet’s Todd Brassard and Meredith LaBeau recently to get answers to these questions and find out where the UHDI market is headed.

An Opportunity to Give Thanks

I-Connect007 wants to take this opportunity to give thanks to so many people that make "the magic" happen day in and day out. Thanksgiving is a time, of course, to give thanks for the bounty that we enjoy, and that couldn't be truer each day for the support we receive in editorial, advertising, and marketing of our daily, weekly, and monthly publications. It's a pleasure to contribute to the industry—and to receive contributions. Read our Thanksgiving message and then enjoy your turkey day.

My Experience With Maxwell

I was first introduced to James Maxwell in 1967 as a college student. I had to decide whether I would take the Maxwell fields course or the switching and coding course. Being a chemical engineering major with a co-major in control theory, I had heard about the trials and tribulations of the infamous Maxwell fields course.

Electronica 2022: Happy to Be Back in Munich

As we stepped out of the hotel into the drizzling rain, we were relieved that it wasn’t snow. Looking down the escalator into the U2 platform in Munich’s Hauptbahnhof central station early on the morning of Tuesday, Nov. 15 and observing the mass of humanity pushing and shoving to cram into trains to the exhibition centre, it appeared that a significant proportion of the international electronics industry had gathered to attend electronica 2022, co-located with SEMICON Europa and recognised as the world’s leading trade fair and conference for electronics.

I-Connect007 Editor’s Choice: Five Must-Reads for the Week

We’re heading into the holiday season, and tradeshow season is in full swing. Managing Editor Nolan Johnson and technical editor Pete Starkey have spent the week in Munich covering electronica, and apparently the attendance was wunderbar. COVID still persists, but everyone is ready to return to some normalcy. There’s a lot going on in our industry. In this week’s roundup, we have articles on everything from rigid-flex to the supply chain, as well as a primer on the role of physics in PCB design. As we move into the new year, you should check out this Top 10 list of tech trends for 2023, courtesy of Gartner.

Electronica: Picking Up Where We Left Off

The productronica/electronica pairing of trade shows is an experience unlike any other; anyone who has ever attended is likely to back me up on that claim. This year’s iteration of electronica, taking place in Messe Munich, Nov. 15-18, is no exception. I-Connect007 was onsite to gather the news and share our impressions of the show. First, the show’s attendance was rumored to be in the 60,000+ range. This number sure seemed to be reasonable given the crowd sizes we witnessed.

Catching up with ASC’s Bob Duke

Bob Duke has been involved in global sourcing for over 20 years, and by global sourcing, it’s far beyond basic PCBs and PCBAs. Bob was doing this sort of thing before it was cool. He has been involved in everything from metal and plastic fabrication to cables and wire harnesses— just about anything an electronics customer might need. So, when American Standard Circuits started a new division to expand its global sourcing solutions, it was no surprise that CEO Anaya Vardya tapped his long-time friend Bob Duke to lead the way. I sat down to have a talk with Bob about this new division and his plans for the future.

Web vs. Direct Imaging

As flexible printed circuits (FPC) continue making waves in PCB manufacturing, the Altix team of Alexis Guilbert, Damien Boureau, and Alexandre Camus look at today’s use cases for FPCs, and detail the finer points of roll-to-roll technology vs. direct imaging. For example, how long can a flexible circuit be? Which technology works best with extremely long circuits, and how does a customer know which one to use? The I-Connect007 Editorial Team explores these trending topics and what it means for PCB manufacturers.

I-Connect007 Editor’s Choice: Five Must-Reads for the Week

The industry news cycle seems to be picking up speed lately. Of course, 30 days into the quarter is about when public companies announce their results, and in the midst of this worldwide financial situation, we’ve got all eyes on anything coming out from our counterparts in the industry. I’ve noticed that global corporate results (Nan Ya PCB and TTM, in particular) do seem to be on everyone’s radar. In addition to financial news, trade shows are popping back up around the world—Europe, India, and a special report from editor Andy Shaughnessy, who took his own road trip to Raleigh, reporting on PCB Carolina, which had its own heyday this year.

MKS' Atotech Embracing Digital Solutions for PCB Fabrication

?MKS' Atotech continues to develop and release digital solutions within the Atotech product portfolio. In this conversation Stefan Stefanescu and Nolan Johnson, they discuss the work MKS' Atotech is engaged in, the problems to be solved, how this work will improve customer operations.

PCB Carolina Breaks Attendance Record

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!

IPC to Unveil New Member Magazine, ‘IPC Community’ at IPC APEX EXPO 2023

IPC, in partnership with IPC Publishing Group (I-Connect007) will unveil an exciting new publication, "IPC Community," at IPC APEX EXPO 2023, as a continuation of its commitment to better serve the electronics industry and provide additional value for IPC members.

Five Priorities for Implementing Direct Imaging Technologies

The circuit fabrication industry has always been the unsung hero of the electronics era. SPC, TQM, ISO, and 50 other acronyms have ruled the day to govern quality and process approaches. I’ve been in the industry for 39 years and I feel more like a craftsman than ever before—trying to figure out how to produce the impossible and maintain a profit. With smaller features, exotic materials, endless plating, and press cycles, the industry feels like it is in transition. Soon enough the lines between microelectronics and PCB will be forever blurred.

I-Connect007 Editor’s Choice: Five Must-Reads for the Week

We’re officially in show season and Managing Editor Nolan Johnson just got back from SMTA International. As he says in his review, the show drew a sizeable crowd this year. With the pandemic in the rear-view window, let’s hope our trade shows are getting back to normal.

Optimize Your Etcher for Best Image Quality

When it comes to obtaining high-quality images, many different factors come into play. Typically, most of these factors come down to your imaging equipment and cleanroom; however, there are factors involved in the etching process that can affect the quality of your image. Here are five steps to ensure your etching process is optimized for the best image quality.

Custom Made: The Digital Factory Suite

Stefan Stefanescu is head of business development for Atotech’s industrial digital transformation solutions. Here, he discusses how the Digital Factory Suite (DFS) fits into a PCB fabricator’s workflow. The new software connects to the onsite production equipment and continuously collects process and equipment data. But it’s more than that, Stefan says. It’s a way to help customers increase productivity and take steps toward developing a smart factory.

Millennium Circuits on The Move

I recently met with Daniel Thau, CEO of Millennium Circuits Limited, at PCB West. This Pennsylvania-based PCB distributor has been on an expansion path lately, so I asked Daniel to introduce us to MCL and explain where the company is headed. As Daniel says, it’s all about impacting the world in a positive way.

I-Connect007 Editor’s Choice: Five Must-Reads for the Week

Halloween is next Monday and parties will be taking place over the weekend, I’m sure. Here in the United States, at least, the “any-holiday-is-an-excuse-for-a-party” crowd has integrated Halloween, along with Valentine’s Day, St. Patrick’s Day, and Cinco de Mayo into wide-ranging opportunities for themed revelry. The news this week has been a bit crazy as well, though certainly not alcohol-fueled. There was a lot of important news and narrowing it down to just five was thought-provoking yet ultimately rewarding. Here then, are the five top pieces of news you shouldn’t miss this week.

PCB Technologies Sees Substrates as a Foundation

In this interview, PCB Technologies CEO Oved Shapira discusses the company's move into advanced packaging and heterogenous integration. Shapira explains how substrates and advanced packaging fit into the PCB fab and assembly ecosystem, and makes the argument that an all-inclusive fabrication and assembly supplier can be of great value to customers in product development and small scale production.

EIPC Technical Snapshot: ‘Tremendous Uncertainty’ in Global PCB Marketplace

For the past two years, EIPC’s Technical Snapshot series has kept us extremely well-informed on developments in printed circuit materials and manufacturing technologies. But what is currently happening in the global PCB market, and how is Europe and the rest of the world affected by the current world situation? The 19th chapter (coincidentally on Oct. 19) in the series gave us a privileged opportunity to find out, as two leading industry analysts presented their observations and opinions in a webinar introduced and moderated by EIPC technical director Tarja Rapala-Virtanen.
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