Latest Articles

Stephen Chavez and Happy Holden on Designing Reliable Vias

Andy Shaughnessy and Happy Holden speak with Stephen Chavez, a staff engineer with an aerospace company and chairman of the Printed Circuit Engineering Association (PCEA), about designing vias for greater reliability. They also address several areas where they can look to improve reliability, a variety of steps that designers should take to help ensure more robust vias, and some testing and educational resources that PCB designers and design engineers should be aware of.

Use of IMS Thermal Materials in Multilayer Stackups for Power Applications

This roundtable discussion brings together the expertise of Ventec International Group’s Global Head of IMS Technology Chris Hanson and Technical Manager Denis McCarthy. Rax Ribadia of Excello Circuits provides hands-on fabrication experience from a specialist PCB manufacturer, and I-Connect007 editors Andy Shaughnessy and Pete Starkey contribute to a conversation that explores applications, materials, design considerations, and mechanisms of heat transfer.

Just Ask Tara Dunn: Will IC Substrates Be Produced in Volume in the U.S.?

First, we asked you to send in your questions for Happy Holden, Joe Fjelstad, John Mitchell, and others in our “Just Ask” series. Now, it’s Tara Dunn’s turn! Tara is the vice president of marketing and business development for Averatek. Today's question: Do you think IC substrates (BGA, CSP, flip chip, etc.) will ever be produced in high volumes in the U.S.?

EIPC Technical Snapshot: Market Analysis and Advanced Manufacturing Tech

Pete Starkey details the November EIPC webinar program that combined knowledgeable market analysis and advanced manufacturing technology, including insights from Prismark's Dr. Shiuh-Kao Chiang, Averatek's Mike Vinson, and Atotech's Roland Herold.

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

Well, it’s the last Friday in November. On any normal year in the U.S., this would be “Black Friday” because, for many retailers, the kickoff to the holiday season’s shopping spree is the source for most of the operating income for the year. While it remains to be seen how exactly how much traditional in-store and online retailing will rake in, with the varied pandemic lockdowns, it’s clear that readers wanted to get the latest electronics industry sales numbers!

Lee Ritchey Discusses His ‘Homemade’ NASA Board

In this audio interview, Lee Ritchey shares a story about his favorite PCB design—a board that he built on his kitchen table early in his career for a radio used on the Apollo 11 spacecraft. Lee explains how he ended up working on this design as a young engineer, as well as the excitement that he felt watching Apollo 11 land on the moon while carrying his PCB. He also jokes about why his wife was less than pleased with his handiwork when he drilled holes in the board on the kitchen table.

Our Thanksgiving Wish

As we take time to observe this holiday, the I-Connect007 team wishes to offer our thanks to you, our global readers and contributors: designers, fabricators, engineers, assemblers, quality and process control gurus, chemists, physicists, supervisors, managers, entrepreneurs, business owners, standards writers, industry experts, and more. You breathe life into the vital, thriving, world-changing electronics industry. You are the real story.

Catching up With QCMS General Manager Rick McAnally

Founded in 2007, QCMS is one of the more interesting EMS companies on the East Coast. They are actually a sister company to Niche Electronics located in Pennsylvania. Dan Beaulieu interviews QCMS General Manager Rick McAnally.

Institute of Circuit Technology Technical Webinar

With its regular program of physical seminars and symposia on hold, the Institute of Circuit Technology went virtual and presented a webinar of three technical papers, organized by Technical Director Bill Wilkie and introduced by IPC Chair Emma Hudson. Pete Starkey brings you all the details.

IPS Expanding to Accommodate Growing Market

I recently had the opportunity to visit IPS in their Cedar City, Utah, facility, where Mike Brask, founder and president of IPS, shared his business strategy and gave me a tour of the expanding manufacturing facility. IPS produces a wide range of PCB manufacturing equipment, including plating, DES, VCM, VRPs, ventilation, and spare parts for older equipment.

PC Technological Advances in 2020

With CES quickly approaching, which is perhaps the largest technology event globally that is also going virtual this year, key component and sub-assembly companies are not waiting to announce their next generation of components. Dan Feinberg details new components and performance advances, as well as why you should consider building your own PC.

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

In my top five picks, we have news about columnist Tara Dunn moving to Averatek to work with their A-SAP additive processes, and an interview with Audrey Sim regarding the “hybrid” model adopted by the HKPCA for its upcoming Electronic Circuits World Convention. We also have a compilation of the questions that readers have asked Joe Fjelstad and news about DownStream Technologies adding support for flex, rigid-flex, and embedded component designs. Finally, we share a review of some of KYZEN’s new training sessions on cleaning electronic assemblies—virtual courses that pack a lot of information into 15-minute snapshots. Knowing how tight everyone’s schedules are now, 15-minute events might be the ticket.

Just Ask Joe Fjelstad: The Exclusive Compilation

We asked for you to send in your questions for Joe Fjelstad, and you took us up on it! We know you all enjoyed reading these questions and answers, so we’ve compiled all of them into one article for easy reference. We hope you enjoy having another bite at the apple. And if you’d like to hear more from Joe, view his column series “Flexible Thinking.”

Tara Dunn Transitions to New Role at Averatek

I-Connect007 columnist Tara Dunn shares the exciting news about the transition from her role as president of Omni PCB to vice president of marketing and development at Averatek, where she will be working primarily with OEMs to break down the advantages of additive manufacturing.

HKPCA’s Audrey Sim Details Upcoming Electronic Circuits World Convention

Nolan Johnson speaks with Audrey Sim, executive director and vice president of operations for the Hong Kong Printed Circuit Association, about the upcoming Electronic Circuits World Convention, to be held November 30 through December 2, 2020. Ms. Sim gives Nolan an overview of the conference’s history, its scope as a printed circuit industry conference, and its shift to a hybrid virtual/physical format for 2020.

This Month in PCB007 Magazine: The Copper Foil Market Is Anything But Flat

Nolan Johnson interviewed Mike Coll, COO of Denkai America, about the copper foil and substrate market, the recent acquisition of the company by Nippon, and what they’re doing to respond to very small feature sizes.

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

My last turn to select the top five editor’s picks was just before the triple-threat Halloween holiday (full moon, blue moon, and on a Saturday). Now that it’s my turn again, it falls the mega-superstitious Friday the 13th. You’re not triskaidekaphobic, are you?

Manufacturers Weigh in on Made-in-America Debate

As the U.S. grapples with who will take the helm of the U.S. presidency, electronics manufacturers around the country are grappling with which policies and ideas would promote growth and innovation in the sector. Many agree that a push for “made in America” policies and incentives might be useful. Often, they point to similar initiatives used by other countries, including China and India.

Just Ask Tara Dunn: Why Don’t Fabricators Provide More Feedback to Designers?

First, we asked you to send in your questions for Happy Holden, Joe Fjelstad, John Mitchell, and others in our “Just Ask” series. Now, it’s Tara Dunn’s turn! Tara is the vice president of marketing and business development for Averatek. A regular Flex007 columnist, Tara discusses flexible circuits, rigid-flex, and rigid PCBs, as well as RF/microwave technology, microelectronics, and additive processes. She is also co-founder of Geek-a-Palooza and a show manager for the SMTA Additive Electronics TechXchange event. She has over 20 years of experience in the PCB industry. We hope you enjoy “Just Ask Tara.”

Roundtable Discussion: App Notes and Fab Notes

Andy Shaughnessy recently invited four recent contributors—Dana Korf, Jen Kolar, Mark Thompson, and Kelly Dack—to review the June and August 2020 issues of Design007 Magazine, which covered app notes and fab notes, respectively. In this wide-ranging roundtable, the group discusses some of the ongoing challenges related to incomplete and inaccurate design data and why communication can preclude many of these problems. What follows is the transcript from this conversation.

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

This past week, we published a variety of articles, interviews, and columns—and readers definitely made their favorites known. There was good news about hiring and staffing. (In case you were wondering, there are quite a few open positions in this industry right now.) We touched base with a pair of young engineers to get their thoughts on what it’s like for recent grads working in the PCB manufacturing community. We learned about a company’s new program that can help take some of the stress out of NPI. We also launched a new chapter in our “Just Ask” series, this time starring columnist Tara Dunn. And there was sad news that a contract manufacturer’s chairman had just passed away.

Just Ask Tara Dunn: What’s Next for LCP Materials?

First, we asked you to send in your questions for Happy Holden, Joe Fjelstad, John Mitchell, and others in our “Just Ask” series. Now, it’s Omni PCB President Tara Dunn’s turn! A regular Flex007 columnist, Tara discusses flexible circuits, rigid-flex, and rigid PCBs, as well as RF/microwave technology, microelectronics, and additive processes. Tara is the co-founder of Geek-a-Palooza and a show manager for the SMTA Additive Electronics TechXchange event. She has over 20 years of experience in the PCB industry. We hope you enjoy “Just Ask Tara.”

Survey Results: ‘Are You Currently Hiring?’

The I-Connect007 research team invited readers to share their thoughts on what's happening with staffing and retention to help prepare for an upcoming issue on this important topic. Here, we delve into the first question, "Are you currently hiring?"

This Month in SMT007 Magazine: Test and Measurement in a Smart Factory

Nolan Johnson spoke with MIRTEC President Brian D’Amico about how the role of test and measurement equipment is changing in the smart factory and how shops can adjust to make use of the new technology. D’Amico shares this insight: “While approximately 90% of U.S. electronics manufacturers recognize the potential of Industry 4.0 to improve productivity, many are slow to adopt smart factory solutions within the manufacturing process.”

Real Time with… AltiumLive 2020: Vince Mazur Previews New Design Rule Features

Altium Technical Marketing Manager Vince Mazur discusses his presentation at the recent AltiumLive, which focused on updates to Altium Designer's approach to creating design rules and constraints. Vince explains that these features will be more intuitive for the user, and the update, which is currently in beta, will be released in the future. The company is shifting from “rule-centric” design rules features to capabilities that are more “design-centric,” with applicable rules for each object available at one click.
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