Future integrated circuitry is expected to look a lot like skyscrapers: units will be stacked atop one another and interconnects will link each level to its adjacent neighbors, much like how elevators connect one floor to the next. The problem is how do integrated-circuit designers remove heat from these tightly packed 3-D chips? The smaller [...]
I sat down with American Standard Circuits President Anaya Vardya at the recent SMTAI show and conference in Rosemont, IL. Anaya wanted to share all the great new things going on at his company. Among the topics we discussed: new equipment, new processes, new people, and what it all means for ASC’s growth. Patty [...]
IPC — Association Connecting Electronics Industries® announced today the September findings from its monthly North American Printed Circuit Board (PCB) Statistical Program. Sales growth continued in September and the book-to-bill ratio fell back to a more normal but still positive 1.05. Total North American PCB shipments increased 3.3 percent in September 2015 compared to [...]
By the '90s, Asia had become a great player on the electronics industry, driving companies all over the world, especially those in Europe and the Americas, to compete against its low prices. More recently, Asian manufacturers have been delivering more high-quality products to the market. These phenomena resulted in little space for mass production companies [...]
Why are PCBs green? This is one of the questions I get asked when people ask me what I do for a living, especially after I explain that my company supplies the little green things that one will find in pretty much anything and everything you purchase today that you cannot eat or drink. PCB [...]
High density interconnect (HDI) is the process of leveraging manufacturing capabilities and materials to create very small interconnect solutions. Small interconnects are required for some of the new applications and dense components on the market. It is the next generation of etched circuitry. Benefits of HDI Higher density and smaller size Use of advanced [...]
Abstract Today's electronics industry is changing at a rapid pace. The root causes are manifold. The world population is growing toward eight billion, which gives rise to new challenges in terms of urbanization, mobility and connectivity. Consequently, numerous new business models for the electronic industry will develop. Connectivity will influence our lives more than ever. [...]
Latent short circuit failures have been observed during testing of PCBs for power distribution of spacecraft of the European Space Agency. Root cause analysis indicates that foreign fibers may have contaminated the PCB laminate. These fibers can provide a pathway for electromigration if they bridge the clearance between nets of different potential in the presence [...]
The August issue of The PCB Magazine is focused on the war on process failure. This subject of process failure turns out to be quite broad and affects essentially everyone in our industry, from the raw material suppliers to the circuit designer to the PCB processor to the assembly folks and on to the OEM. [...]