Latest Articles

EIPC: Europe’s Energy Disadvantage

EIPC’s Alun Morgan details the unsettling realities facing the European PCB industry due to the current war in Ukraine, and outlines steps that the EIPC plans to take to help raise awareness of the possible perils the industry might face as a result. Alun says, "It's possible that we may get more supply chain back in Europe, but that won’t happen overnight."

ICT Christmas Seminar 2022: The Caliber of a ‘World Cup’ Event

Regardless of the potential distraction of the international football match between England and Wales in the World Cup competition, an enthusiastic crowd of PCB fans gathered in Meriden UK for the Institute of Circuit Technology Christmas Seminar, an eagerly-awaited networking opportunity that included a face-to-face industry welcome event and an outstanding technical programme. Guest speakers highlighted new technology in selective solder nozzles, flexible circuits, industry cooperation, and a greener future by recycling PCBs.

Rogers: Bringing New Materials to Light

Pete Starkey stopped by the Rogers booth at electronica to hear from Dr. Vitali Judin, the new business development manager at Rogers, on how the well-respected company is making a splash with new high frequency materials meant to address the rapidly evolving needs of the additive manufacturing sector. Rogers determined that digital light processing (DLP) 3D printing technique brought the combination of speed and resolution necessary to make additive manufacturing reasonably scalable, then partnered with Fortify to bring the processing consistency needed for the RF industry. With so many potential applications for this newly adapted technology, Rogers hopes to create a full slate of additive manufacturing materials for use in this sector and beyond.

Industry Innovation Starts Here

If it isn’t clear already, your money, time, and effort will be well spent attending IPC APEX EXPO in January. Here, we’ve outlined the top six reasons that this event will be the highlight of your year. We’ve done all we can to make the event not only memorable, but a show that allows you to connect with industry peers, learn how to enhance your skills, help advance the industry, and discover new insights on products and strategies from industry innovators.

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

We’re into December, and the new year is around the corner. Things are looking pretty good for our industry. Trade show attendance is back up to pre-COVID levels, and a lot of companies are having banner years. Has the virtual trade show gone the way of the dodo bird? Let’s hope! This week, our must-reads include articles and news items on the decline of R&D, STEM education for kids, why vias do not heat up, the need for more DFT, and the lack of movement toward intelligent data transfer. Designers just love their Gerbers, but Dana Korf has a few ideas about how to make Gerbers obsolete.

Polar Instruments: Simulating PCB Potentialities

Nolan Johnson checks in with Polar’s Martyn Gaudion on the evolving needs of global PCB manufacturing markets in a post-pandemic world, where generating accurate PCB specification documentation is essential to successfully navigating today's rampant supply chain constraints. Polar has positioned itself to meet these needs through agile software product developments that allow OEMs and fabricators to simulate material interactions and end-product specifications, including in-demand features like a comprehensive "structure view" that allows users to visualize all the transmission lines on a given a PCB. Though keeping pace with the demands of a rapidly growing industry has been challenging, Polar's commitment to innovation has kept its software suite ahead of the curve.

R&D Takes Back Seat Amidst Chip Shortage—But It Shouldn’t

As the global chip shortage continues, companies may be tempted to put research and development on the backburner to conserve capital and prioritize production. A primary area of focus has been on increasing production capabilities to meet demand. In this drive to increase capacity, R&D has fallen to the wayside as some companies consider scaling back to refocus on the expansion of manufacturing capacity at current technology nodes. This is a hard choice to make for any company, and even R&D giants like Apple, known for its dedicated investments in innovation, have had to cut R&D budgets below original projections.

Trailblazing Substrates in PCB Fabrication

Todd Brassard, vice president and COO at Calumet Electronics, participated not only in the IPC Advanced Packaging Symposium in Washington, D.C., Oct. 11-13, but also met with congressional staffers at the Capitol during his visit. Todd does not back down from a challenge, and the one in front of him is no different. It’s why his company is at the forefront of the conversation, and he plans to keep it that way.

ICAPE: Staying on Top During ‘Interesting’ Times

Recently, we met with Nathan Martin, group purchasing director; Jean-Christophe Miralles, supply chain director for Europe and U.S., and Lea Maurel, Americas marketing manager. This wide-ranging conversation dug into market drivers, supply chain challenges and how ICAPE creates consistency on its manufacturing floor. Complementing the supply chain control is ICAPE’s engineering experise, which it uses to increase customer yields and quality. Corporate sustainability is a key strategic initiative for ICAPE, and it was enlightening to learn just how holistic ICAPE’s approach to sustainability is.

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!
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