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AltiumLive Frankfurt 2019: Happy Holden Keynote

Nobody left early! Altium had wisely kept Happy Holden’s keynote presentation on “PCB Trends that Will Impact Your Future” until the end of the final day of the AltiumLive 2019 European PCB Design Summit in Frankfurt, Germany. Pete Starkey presents the highlights of Happy's presentation.

Electra Polymers: Inkjet Soldermask is Ready, Reliable and Green

Editor Pete Starkey and Tibbals discuss Electra Polymers’ move into the inkjet soldermask market, and some of the challenges and benefits of this technology. Tibbals explains how inkjet soldermask can enable end-users to improve reliability of the final product, for instance, because this additive process allows manufacturers to control the thickness of soldermask around vias and BGAs and eliminating trapped chemistry in undercut areas.

The CPCA and China’s Electronic Circuit Industry: Past and Future

Wang Longji is the honorary secretary-general of the China Printed Circuit Association. He is a senior engineer and an industry leader and used to be the production manager of the first imported PCB manufacturing line in China. Mr. Wang is also a well-known child actor and a “national treasure;” one of his most famous characters was San Mao in “The Winter of Three Hairs.”

Pluritec Takes Industry 4.0 to the Next Level

Pete Starkey and Pluritec’s Nicola Doria, president and CEO, discuss how the structure of Pluritec has developed over the past few years, now including many respected brand names that are long familiar in the PCB fabrication segment. Doria also explains how the company is continuing its implementation of Industry 4.0 processes.

Indium Discusses New Materials and Plans for 2020

Editor Nolan Johnson sits down with Nash and Mackie to discuss Indium’s focus on creating innovative products for the 5G, automotive, semiconductor, and high-reliability segments. Mackie offers a preview of Indium’s plans for 2020 and beyond, including lead-free drop-in sintering materials that can be dispensed and printed more quickly than ever before.

Industry Set for Shift to True 3D Printing and Photonics

Nolan Johnson sits down with Zach Peterson, owner of Northwest Engineering Solutions, who predicts two things that would challenge the current status quo for the PCB manufacturing industry: true 3D printing and additive, including discretes as well as the substrates and traces, and a completely different approach with photonics.

LA/Orange County SMTA Expo and Tech Forum Review

Dan Feinberg recently attended the LA/Orange County SMTA Expo and Tech Forum, which was held in Long Beach, California. He provides an overview of the activities, from the show floor to the presentations.

AltiumLive Frankfurt 2019: Carl Schattke Keynote

“How many here can remember manually taped artworks?” No more than three hands were raised in an audience of over 230 at the AltiumLive 2019 European PCB Design Summit in Frankfurt, Germany, as IPC Advanced Certified Interconnect Designer Carl Schattke introduced his keynote, entitled “Making and Breaking the Rules.” Schattke had learned PCB layout as his father’s apprentice, hand-taping several hundred PCB designs in the 1970s.

Nolan’s Notes: Clarity of Vision

In this issue, we update your prescription, clarify your vision of the industry, and bring your own perspective into view. With each interview, try on another outlook and look at the industry from another point of view.

Day 1 Coverage of International Electronics Circuit Exhibition in Shenzhen

The newly named International Electronics Circuit Exhibition, formerly known as the HKPCA Show, kicked off today in Shenzhen, China. This event is now part of a cooperation between the CPCA and HKPCA associations. This is the largest trade show serving the south China region, with 3,537 booths from 621 exhibitors this year.

Conductivity Laminate for High-frequency Applications

Editor Pete Starkey and Vitali Judin discuss how Rogers Corporation has responded to demands for high thermal conductivity combined with low loss in high-power RF applications with the newly launched. The PTFE-based TC350 Plus is capable of handling temperatures above 125°C and draws upon Rogers’ long experience with the TC350 material line-up.

Atotech’s Graphite-based Process and Chemistries Portfolio

Dr. Brüning, global product director, desmear and metallization, and electronics consultant Johan Lundqvist, update Nolan Johnson on the ViaKing graphite-based direct metallization process and explain how it fits in with customer applications. They also discuss Atotech’s portfolio of various chemistries. Johan came to Atotech in August 2019 through the acquisition of J-KEM where he held the position of CEO. Johan stated, “We are pleased J-KEM has joined the Atotech family, as it makes sense for both sides.”

Calumet Electronics and Averatek Team Up on A-SAP

Nolan Johnson talks with Brian Hess of Calumet Electronics and Mike Vinson of Averatek about the new, insertable additive processes that the companies are working on together to help factories running primarily subtractive processes to quickly convert to very high-density interconnect (HDI) features, including trace and space from 2.5-mil line and space to 1-mil line and space and below.

InduBond: Magnetic Induction Lamination

In this video interview, part of the productronica 2019 coverage, we spoke with Víctor Lázaro, R&D manager and technical director at Indubond. Víctor describes Indubond’s innovative methods for heating the boards to effect lamination through magnetic induction. Victor discusses the energy and operational efficiency that an induction method brings to the equipment: thermal profiles.

Future Trends in Flying Probe Testing

Peter Brandt, director of sales for Europe and Japan at atg, sits down with Pete Starkey and Barry Matties, gives his views on market requirements and testing technologies, and explains how flying probe testing is becoming the industry standard at all levels of production—and in many cases, the only practicable solution.

Market Drivers and ESI’s Ongoing Developments

During productronica 2019, the I-Connect007 Editorial Team met with some of the industry's top executives, managers, and engineers.

Words of Advice: What are Your Biggest Design Challenges?

In a recent survey, we asked the following question: What are your biggest design challenges? Here are just a few of the answers, edited slightly for clarity.

AltiumLive Frankfurt 2019: Jeremy Blum Keynote

Blum was a great advocate of considering the PCB in its holistic context and designing beyond it. Understanding the software needs ought to be of prime importance for the designer, and he believed that writing even the most basic firmware would help to ensure that the resulting electronics would be debuggable and equipped to handle the needs of the software development team.

EIPC Winter Conference—Speakers and Papers

I recently spoke with Kirsten Smit-Westenberg, executive director of EIPC, who is planning the EIPC winter conference set for February 2020 in Rotterdam, Netherlands. Kirsten discusses the conference topics, which are based around the needs of the next-generation electronic devices, and changes in fabrication solutions for PCBs, PCBAs, materials, and technologies.

Sunstone Circuits on Staffing Trends in the Digital Age

Sheri Kuretich, human resources manager, and Nancy Viter, VP of operations, of Sunstone Circuits speak with Nolan Johnson about what they see from the perspective of a prototyping shop, the current state of the hiring market, and how they have used ISO 9000 as an information repository to pass technical knowledge from experienced employees to newer ones.

Decreasing Bend Radius and Improving Reliability- Part II

Many of the issues that arise when using a flex circuit come from a lack of knowledge about how to properly design one, especially when the circuit is required to bend. Many novices will design a circuit that calls for bending the flex in too tight of a bend radius, which can cause damage to the circuit and lower the reliability of the end product. This series of articles will focus on the seven key aspects to consider when designing for maximum durability and maximum “flexibility.”

Industry Wind Vane: Future Development Through the 2019 HKPCA Show

The annual HKPCA Show, which has been renamed the 2019 International Electronics Circuit Exhibition (Shenzhen), will be held from December 4–6 at the Shenzhen Convention and Exhibition Center. This year’s exhibition will be jointly organized by the Hong Kong Printed Circuit Association (HKPCA) and the China Printed Circuit Association (CPCA) and will provide a more efficient business platform for all visitors. The PCB007 China Team interviewed a representative from the HKPCA about the exhibition, the industry’s current situation, and future developments.

5G is Coming With Quantum-Level Advances and Features

I am sure that, by now, all of you have heard about 5G (the fifth-generation of mobile phone and data communication standards). I am also relatively sure that many of you think that this means neat, new cellphone features, and perhaps more texting and selfie abilities. While that may be true, getting a new cellphone for those reasons would be like getting a new car because you want a different color.

Book Review: The Printed Circuit Designer’s Guide to…Executing Complex PCBs

If you are serious about designing complex PCBs (most designs today are far from elementary) and even more serious about doing it right the first time, then this is the book for you. Loaded with guidelines for designing cutting-edge PCBs, this book is filled with real-world examples and tips, tricks, and techniques by some of Freedom CAD’s most experienced designers.

Vertical Conductive Structures, Part 4: Tuning Your Signal Performance

The objective of this article is to demonstrate the possibility of using a stitching element as an alternative to the point-to-point connections that are used with traditional via technology. Point-to-point connections have the best performance in terms of signal integrity (one via less in the connection that distorts the signal). A via is mainly a capacitive element that causes signal loss/ dispersion.
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