OnTrack: The PCB Design Podcast

Today we are joined by Dan Beaulieu, founder and owner of Db Management Group. He and Zach chat about the PCB industry's broad marketing trends including how it's stuck in the past, the declining trade show industry, how sales reps can stay relevant, and much more.

Watch this episode here

• 0:00 Intro to Dan Beaulieu
• 5:48 Sales & Marketing Stuck in the Past
• 9:14 Impacts of the Domestic PCB Base
• 12:59 Is the Trade Show Method Going Away?
• 16:45 How do Reps Stay Relevant?
• 19:27 Focusing on Younger Designers
• 24:30 How Manufacturers Stand Out from the Competition
• 28:42 Designers and Board Shop Conflicts
• 31:42 Importance of Touring Shops
• 33:36 Capital Investment and PCB Shops
• 38:51 Focus on the Customer's Need, Then Provide It

Quality and reliability are a big deal when designing PCB for assembly. Our guest Tony Lentz, Chemist and Field Applications Engineer at FCT Solder will bring us to the PCB manufacturing space while tackling solder beyond basic thermodynamics and composition.

Listen or watch through the end. This is a great opportunity for PCB designers to learn about soldering products that are used for printed circuit board assembly.

Episode Highlights:

• Introduction to Tony Lentz, his background, and role as a Chemist and Field Applications Engineer at FCT Solder

• Tony talks about how they work with their clients to achieve best quality when manufacturing their PCBs

• Diving into the chemistry side of things, Tony tackles about how the blending of different metal alloys, additives, and different inter-metallics to that solder joint composition, the pads, and the components can affect the overall reliability of the PCB

• With the automotive industry’s growing electronic demands, thermal testing cycles are expanding aggressively. Recently between negative 40C to 175 C!

• Tony briefly explains the different worlds involving PCB manufacturing and assembly: solder company, plating company, components manufacturing, board manufacturing, assembly and the list goes on

• What is tombstoning?

• Head on pillow on a BGA is another difficult defect to get rid of, Tony explains what can cause this problem

• Expert Tip: A rule of thumb for large thermal pads is to cut it down somewhere between 60 and 80% of the total area covered with solder paste and then break that deposit up with some window pane type openings going through it

• Are hybrid solder reliable?

• The stability of solder alloys can differ based on the different kinds of metals, components and PCB surface finish

In this episode, we continue the discussion on diversifying the electronic supply chain. Our guest Case Engelen the CEO of Titoma shares his insight about moving some of the manufacturing to other Southeast Asian countries and South America. 

Watch this episode now and check out the show notes and additional resources below.

Show Highlights:

• Case Engelen introduces himself and his company Titoma
• Offshoring, onshoring, and diversifying supply chain, why do the majority of components manufacturing may stay in China for 5 more years?
• Building prototypes and optimizing your design following the factory’s specifications
• Case talks about the importance of component architecture early during the design phase
• The difference between how US and Chinese market their product and their selling strategies
• Diversifying manufacturing in Southeast Asia and South America, Taiwan is a little more expensive than China, but Columbia is more competitive when it comes to cost
• The advanced manufacturing capabilities in China are quite hard to beat
• What is “bifurcation”?
• What does the future of electronics production and sourcing and procurement look like?

Links and Resources:

• Connect with Case Engelen on LinkedIn
• Visit Titoma Website
• Watch the Previous Related Episodes:
  • Mastering Your PCB Design Tool as the Industry Evolves with Stephen Chavez
  • Mitigating Risk Factors for PCB Manufacturing Lead Times
  • Data Security, 5G and Onshore PCB Manufacturing with Dr. Rob Spalding

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Happy Holden, a legend in the PCB Industry and one of our favorite Altium Industry Expert contributors gives us a trip to his 53 years of experience in the industry. From a chemical engineer, and PCB manufacturing expert to an educator with his countless contribution to the PCB industry’s wealth of knowledge through his books, column, and keynote presentations.

Watch this episode now

Show Highlights:

• Introduction to Happy Holden and an overview of his career in the PCB Industry
• What drove the PCB manufacturing off-shore? The printed circuit industry has been all over the map, to begin with
• Happy shares his early years in printed circuit manufacturing
• Comparing CAD tools from the 80s and the present – computers, calculators, and software
• Happy talks about photonic circuits back in 1998 and how it is a hundred thousand times more capable than electronic communication and have no signal integrity issue
• HP’s first notebook computer
• Happy retired from HP and moved to Taiwan
• Happy started working at Gentex Michigan
• The beginning of offshoring the PCB manufacturing and fabrication
• In Asia, the printing circuit board is like printing money. It is the most profitable industry in the region
• Globalization took over the industry – emphasis on profit versus jobs
• Diversifying the supply chain. How to bring some of the manufacturing sides of the industry back to the US?
  • The $52 Billion budget (CHIPS Act 2022) is just a downpayment to bring the 30 years that were lost
• Would companies start manufacturing their own products?
• How did HDI technology come about?

Links and Resources:

• Connect with Happy Holden on LinkedIn
• Read Happy Holden’s Articles on Altium’s Resource Page
• Read Happy Holden’s Biography on HPMuseum.org
• Buy Happy Holden’s Printed Circuits Handbook, Seventh Edition
• Download FREE Ebook I-Connect007 Publishes Automation eBook by Happy Holden
• Watch the Previous Episode with Happy Holden: The Father of HDI PCBs

Expedite your transition from prototype to scale with the help of an experienced PCB broker! In this episode, a returning guest joins us to discuss everything that involves cost-effective PCB manufacturing. Greg Papandrew, a PCB buying and selling expert, gives us a comprehensive understanding of PCB cost drivers and tips on a good supply chain strategy.

Watch this episode here

Show Highlights:

• The process of buying and selling, Greg Papandrew is a PCB broker with 30 years of experience in the industry
• Greg emphasizes the importance of quoting smartly, learning when, where, and how to save money without sacrificing the PCB quality
• What is a good supply chain strategy?
• Greg dives deep into his role as a PCB broker, and his involvement in the decision making involving specs, materials, cost, and more
• Sending too much information can be problematic, and it involves the vulnerability of intellectual property
• Good communication with the PCB manufacturer and fabricator can go a long way; asking the right questions can help with the production of high-quality products with a fair pricing
• What is the anatomy of a complete data package?
  • What's in a File list and a README file 
• Greg answers, at what stage of the process does a PCB designer or manufacturer approach a PCB broker?

Links and Resources:

Connect with Greg Papandrew on LinkedIn
Watch a previous episode with Greg Panandrew: How to Buy PC Boards From a Board Shop
Watch Greg’s video: How to Avoid Self-inflicted PCB Costs
Visit DirectPCB - Better Board Buying website
Connect with Zach on LinkedIn
Visit Nexar website
Visit Octopart website

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Ben Nibali, founder and President of Aptus Design Works, with Connor Richardson, the Electrical Designer, are our guests in this episode. We will discuss how you can plan the cost and lead times to successfully launch your product in the market.

Ben and Connor share some excellent advice for designers and companies to streamline their product development process from prototyping to manufacturing.

Show Highlights:

• Aptus is a design and engineering company, and they’ve been around for about 15 years
  • They handle initial concept development, mechanical development, controls, and mechanical prototyping and help their clients through the launching and manufacturing of their products
• Expecting and avoiding pitfalls comes with experience; in addition, working with trusted vendors and suppliers is huge when honoring set schedules or timeline
• The natural state of every project is over budget and behind schedule. Ben Nibali stresses the importance of effort and discipline to have complete control of the process  and deliver on time
• Some unrealistic expectations by Aptus’s clients typically involve defying the law of physics
  • Other challenges include expectations from not knowing the process and cost expectations based on the higher volume of current products that really can’t be met in a US market-based launch scenario
  • Clients need to realize that there is a proper “cost of engineering”
• There are also misconceptions about 3D printing–in reality, it takes days to print 3D objects
  • You can’t have fast, cheap, and high quality at the same time
• Software guys may often misunderstand that modifications on hardware  are not as simple to execute as they will be on software
  • The “minimum viable product” is a great idea and works exceptionally well in software because you can add, modify, change, and grow something slowly after you deploy. In hardware, it is an entirely different cost structure to make changes once you start making anything physical. 
• “Proof of concept” is often neglected when companies want to launch their products immediately
• Connor Richardson shares the most complex and fun project they did at Aptus
  • Another exciting prototype they created is the cow-milking robot
• Ben gives designers and companies a piece of advice on how to plan cost and lead times when launching their products
  • The most important factor is market research, understanding what this thing that we're going to sell is? How are we going to sell it? Who's going to buy it? What features matter? 
  • The better the client understands the world they're going to try to sell into and how they're going to sell it, the more valuable our work will be and the higher likelihood that they'll make a profit
• Creating high-quality products could mean years of planning

Links and Resources:

Connect with Ben Nibali on LinkedIn
Connect with Connor Richardson on LinkedIn
Visit Aptus Design Works website
Watch How APTUS Designworks uses Altium 365 and Altimade to reduce cost and move more quickly
Altium Story presents Breaking down the barriers to progress - APTUS Designworks

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Matt Kelly is the  Chief Technologist at IPC. In this episode we will discuss all about the technological challenges the industry is facing. Matt will help us understand the “ecosystem” involving the semiconductor industry, advanced packaging, and IC substrates.

Watch this episode here

OR listen on the go!

Check the show notes and additional resources below.

Show Highlights:

• Matt Kelly’s role as the Chief Technologist at IPC
• The Moore's Law is continuing, but it is economically becoming difficult to maintain, this has become the driving force behind heterogeneous integration 
• What does the CHIPS Act really mean for manufacturers?
• Production of semiconductors is an expensive business–one fabrication infrastructure can cost an average of 20 billion dollars
• Matt stresses the need in the industry to use, and understand the “ecosystem” involving the semiconductor industry, advanced packaging, and IC substrates
• The US has a 20-year market leader, knowhow gap, weak sub-tier supply, skilled workforce shortage, and lack of raw materials
• The industry needs to spend time looking at the big picture, take the bigger messages, and convert them into actual change
• A significant shift in the workforce–PCB designers are a scarce commodity. In the near future, printed circuit board designers may have to double as IC substrate designers
• The global supply chain is alive and well, a change to a regional and global mindset is necessary to overcome most of the industry challenges
  • Matt shares the same scenario with produce shoppers in the summertime, you try to buy your fresh fruits and vegetables locally from your local farmers or whatever, but yet you still go to the grocery store
• IPC’s focus is on increasing workforce skills development in the areas of design and assembly
  • IPC is sponsoring the Advanced Packaging Symposium, Building the Substrate and Packaging Assembly Ecosystem in Washington, DC, on October 11th and 12th

Links and Resources:

Follow Matt Kelly on LinkedIn
Learn more about the IPC’s Advanced Packaging Symposium, Building the Substrate and Packaging Assembly Ecosystem
Watch related podcast episode:
    The Benefits of Diversifying PCB Industry Supply Chain
    IPC CEO John Mitchell on the Supporting American Printed Circuit Boards Act
    What is in the PCB Bill?
Connect with Zach on LinkedIn

Full OnTrack Podcast Library
Altium Website

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Our guest Phil Marcoux is very well-known in the advanced electronic packaging community and currently working as a business mentor in the electronics industry. 

Phil is labeled as the father of SMT by the IPC. He is a Charter member of SMT Council, granted the IPC President's Award, past owner of over 40 integrated circuit packaging and camera module-related patents, and consultant on numerous heterogeneous designs and standards, just to name a few of his excellent achievements.

Today we will tackle the pros and cons of heterogeneous electronic assemblies and what we can do as an industry to move forward with it.

Show Highlights:

• Learn about Phil Marcoux and his upcoming panel discussion at PCB West 
  • The panel will discuss “How Heterogeneous Integration Affects the PCB Industry.”
  • Phil is looking forward to promoting PCEA and the need to embrace education
• PCB designers must recognize what compromises they will have to make to utilize that chiplet
  • One of the challenges is to encourage companies to work together and to agree to a standardized chiplet format
• The funding from the federal government may motivate companies to embrace the heterogeneous type of format and the chiplet format.
• Many defense contractors, military products, and advanced electronic products are now rapidly depending on the need for heterogeneous designs
  • Other significant drivers in the market include medical devices, telecommunications, and 5G products
• Most design software are fully capable of handling heterogeneous integration
  • PCB designers can very quickly jump in. Many structures in a printed circuit board, especially in HDI designs, are also used in advanced packages.

Links and Resources:

• Follow Phil Marcoux on LinkedIn
• Learn more about PCB West 2022
• Visit PCEA website
• Full OnTrack Podcast Library
• Altium Website

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Performance and reliability are big in the automotive industry, especially now that electronically powered and automated vehicles are starting to become more popular.

In this episode, we will learn so much about automotive electronics and the reliability of electronics systems that goes in the vehicle. Our guest Lenora Clark, the director of autonomous driving and safety technology at ESI automotive will share with us the importance of material choices for your PCB can affect the reliability and performance of your vehicle’s system design.

Show Highlights:

• • Lenora is Chemist by education. She joined MacDermid, now MacDermid Alpha Electronic Solutions, as a bench top chemist, developing chemicals for PCB manufacturers
    • Her focus was on surface finishing helping PCB fabricator improve their process from a chemical standpoint to enhance the performance and reliability of PCBs
    • From working with surface finishing, she worked her way up and became the project manager, product line director for surface finishing, and later the Director of OEMs
    • She is now a director at ESI automotive
  • Chips don’t float, they are anchored to a PCB to work
  • Lenora briefly described her role and emphasis on enhanced reliability to meet the end users' needs
  • There is so much happening in the automotive space towards reinventing themselves and keeping up with the amount of innovation that's happening right now
    • One of the challenges in the industry is extreme miniaturization
    • Miniaturization is not just the board itself and the packaging but also feature density
    • Other than the heat, electromagnetic shielding is also a concern with enclosure designs
  • Lenora emphasizes that her current role is to make recommendations based on a material perspective, both for liability and for enhanced function
  • ECUs (Electronic control unit) manages data transmission between different parts of the vehicle

• I think the future of the vehicle architecture is not completely defined yet. I do think it will be less complex than what we see today - Lenora Clark
• Collaborators like Mobileeye by Intel are working with makers to bring an entire system where there are different, sensors and a central computing unit to help make the decision – autonomous driving

Links and Resources:

Connect with Lenora Clark on LinkedIn

Visit ESI Auto website

Related Podcast Episode:

How to Select the Best Surface Finish for your PCB

Electronics Manufacturability and Reliability

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Let’s talk about Electronics reliability with the QA guru Cheryl Tulkoff.

In this episode Cheryl and I will talk about risk assessment, planning for not only success but also a failure, and understanding the difference between quality and reliability. This discussion is going to be very informative for every PCB designer who wants to get ahead of their game. Watch through the end, and make sure to check the additional resources below.

Watch this episode here

Show Highlights:

• Cheryl shares her rewarding career experience in the electronics industry
  • She worked at IBM where she was immersed in electronic manufacturing from beginning to end
  • She also worked at DfR Solutions and National Instruments where she learned all the skills and knowledge in electronics manufacturability, quality & reliability consulting
• To produce a successful electronic product it is important to have the awareness to resolve every problem, from the chip level, board level, system level, and the environment level
• Cheryl explains why unique or non-aligned standards exist in the industry – no one size fits all
• A great piece of advice for all PCB designers is to know what you are designing and who you are designing it for, look at the risks, and then manage them appropriately
• Planning for success may also include celebrating failures. Budget for failure analysis is often disregarded due to the “success-driven roadmap” mentality
• Failure should be part of design management
• Cheryl and Zach talk about the “Startup Culture”
• Software reliability and hardware reliability go hand in hand
• What rate of failure is tolerable? Defining what is quality and reliability separately for the product you are designing
• Manufacturers can not ensure reliability for you
• Cheryl shares her experience being involved in litigation as an expert witness
• Redundancy practices in the industry, is it typical?
• What can designers do to mitigate failures?
  • Understanding what you are designing and who you are designing it for
  • Collect as much feedback as possible – from users, industry experts, and professional organizations

Links and Resources:

• Connect with Cheryl Tulkoff on LinkedIn
• Read Cheryl Tulkoff articles on Research Gate
• Checkout Cheryl Tulkoff book Design for Excellence in Electronics Manufacturing
• Connect with Zach on LinkedIn
• Full OnTrack Podcast Library
• Altium Website

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You would not want to miss this informative, knowledge-packed conversation with Dr. Kunal Shah. Dr, Kunal generously gives us all a crash course on surface finishes and understanding different types of materials that could affect signal integrity, reliability and electronic shelf life. He will also tackle in detail the pros and cons of various types of nickel-free finishes.

Watch this podcast episode now or listen on the go. Make sure to check the notes and additional resources below.

Show Highlights:

• PCB Designers must be knowledgeable of various manufacturing processes and materials
• One of the things that makes liloTree unique is its innovation in materials development and ensuring better and robust reliability of the electronic assembly
  • liloTree offers eco-friendly solutions (organic surface finishes) that enhance reliability and offer better performance in terms of signal integrity
• Dr. Kunal shares his background and how he founded liloTree
• Manufacturers are trying to find alternatives for ENIG (Electroless nickel immersion gold) due to nickel causing signal integrity loss in the high-frequency application
• There are several nickel-free surface finish, but designers must understand selection criteria – pros and cons of each types of materials
  • immersion tin does have higher insertion loss
  • OSP (organic solderability preservatives) is an organic-based surface finish. It provides good signal integrity, but has low shelf life issues
  • Hard Gold has good signal integrity but very costly
  • Electro-less palladium, immersion gold or autocatalytic gold it includes cumbersome process and need to babysit it
• A PCB must have both good signal integrity, great performance, and extended shelf life
  • Designers must realize the impact of the supply chain issues on the PCB manufacturing life cycle
  • Shelf life is critical. Boards are getting manufactured in one part of the world and it may take a few months before they get assembled in another side of the world
• LiloTree has developed the best nickel-free option, specifically designed from a signal integrity perspective, reliability perspective, and cost effectiveness perspective
• Another challenge of nickel based finishes is overplating and the skip plating in the PCB pads that could lead to micron scale level failures
• The liloTree nickel free solution includes a “barrier layer” which has multiple benefits including slower growth of intermetallics, delaying of natural embrittlement and eventually an extended shelf life
• How to overcome multiple reflow issues?
• Dr. Kunal explains the different ways they offer their solution to the market
  • They offer their prototype lab where manufacturers and OEM can apply liloTree technology to evaluate and test it
  • PCB manufacturer from OEM or assemblies feedback, the solution will be shipped directly to the manufacturer and set it up in their existing plating line
  • Sending the boards to liloTree’s in-house plating line

Links and Resources:

Connect with Dr. Kunal Shah on LinkedIn
Visit liloTree website
Connect with Zach on LinkedIn

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The business development manager of J.A.M.E.S., Alexandre Schafer talks about the organization’s vision to push the Additively Manufactured Electronic technology to become more accessible to the industry.

Show Highlights:

• What is J.A.M.E.S. and how did Alexandre become involved in the organization?
  • J.A.M.E.S (Jetted Additively Manufactured Electronic Sources) is an online community of professionals, stake holder, manufacturers who share the same vision of accelerating the AME technology
  • Alexadre’s AHA moment was seeing a drone’s PCB created through AME process
  • The current technology readiness level is currently between experimental and demonstration pilot phase
• Introducing new technology to the industry has it’s challenges:
  • Influencing engineers’ mindset
  • Which design tool to use? In an ideal world a tool with both ECAD and MCAD design capabilities is necessary–a fully working 3D auto router will be amazing
  • Design standards are inexistent at the moment
• On another note, the lack of design standards opens up to wider creative possibilities. Standardation is the enemy of freedom -Zach Peterson
• Moving forward to future plans: Scaling up, manufacturing of the equipments and creation of additive process design rules
• Availability of resources and current efforts to educate PCB designers through AME Academy

Links and Resources:

Follow J.A.M.E.S on LinkedIn

Connect with Alexandre Schafer on LinkedIn

Access Register to AME Academy

Visit J.A.M.E.S website

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How to deal with nuances in PCB design and manufacturing? In today’s episode, Dave Young the owner of Young Circuits Design and founder of BlueStamp Engineering, and I will discuss mitigating risk factors early in the stage of electronic design.

Dave will also tell a story about his path to entrepreneurship as an engineer and his inspiration behind founding BlueStamp Engineering, a hands-on engineering program for high school students to design and create technology projects that they get to keep, from scratch!

Listen, watch enjoy, and make sure to check the additional resources below.

Show Highlights:

• Dave’s background, and the early days of his now 12-year designing firm
  • He learned most of his skills from his previous position as a Senior Design Engineer at Keithley Instruments
• The world of innovative electronic design and hardware – the software, firmware, and hardware
  • Expectations vs. reality in manufacturing
  • Designers must know what’s going on in PCB manufacturing, know what’s reasonable to ask your manufacturer
• How to deal with nuances in PCB design and manufacturing? Not only identifying risks but also mitigating all the risks
  • How to deal with hardware level risk?
  • Dave’s insight on the extent a manufacturer could step up and modify the design to make it manufacturable
• Zach recalls his conversation with Kelly Dack regarding the solder mask being modified by the manufacturer to ensure accurate assembly
• An electrical engineer’s path to entrepreneurship
  • Dave shares that he found his happy place working with small teams
• Career challenges for engineers coming from academia
  • Zach emphasized the focus on the “value you can create” as an engineer
  • Is freelancing the classic route to enter the PCB design industry
  • The best path to entrepreneurship – start doing it!
• A risk mitigating tip in PCB design – review all parts and address where you messed up (right away)
  • There is no fool-proof footprint
• Challenges of CM (contact manufacturer) overseas
  • What should be manufactured domestically?
• Educational programs such as BlueStamp Engineering could help address the workforce shortage in the Electrical Engineer Industry
  • How do engage the next generation of engineers to become more involved and interested in innovation and creating new things?
• Firmware vs. software engineering – the good, the bad, and the headaches

Links and Resources:

Connect with Dave Young on LinkedIn

Visit Young Circuit Designs Website

Learn more about the BlueStamp Engineering programs

Related podcast with Kelly Dack: How to Panelize Your PCB Design with EMS Expert Kelly Dack 

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Have you heard of assembly without solder? In this episode, Joseph (Joe) Fjelstad, founder and president of Verdant Electronics, talks about the Occam process. 

Let’s hear about Joe’s 50 years of experience in the electronics industry and how he got started with solderless assembly for electronics.

Altium 365: Where the World Designs Electronics

Watch the video, click here.

Show Highlights:

• Joe talks about his background and previous roles in the industry, including his position as the educational director in the IPC and Kurchatov Institute of Atomic Research in the Soviet Union
• “Assembly without solder” Joe recollects how he arrived at the idea of a better way to build electronics – build a component board and put circuits on it.
• Joe shares how he came up with the Occam process and its benefits “It absolutely doesn't need to be for everything, but it can be for a lot of things, and it can make products that will be at once cheaper, better performing, lighter, more environmentally friendly.”
• Download Joe’s book for free: Solderless Assembly for Electronics: The SAFE Approach
• More about the Occam Process
• Did Joe coin “Design with Manufacturing”? He shares his efforts in promoting solid work relationships between PCB designers and manufacturer
• Occam Process vs. 3D printing, could 3D printing bypass solderless assembly? Read Joe’s article Putting 3D interconnection technologies into perspective from chip to system
• Joe commended the microvia technology, “they know how to build these things”

Links and Resources:

Connect with Joseph Fjelstad on LinkedIn
Visit Verdant Electronics website
Read Joe Fjelstad Interview: Breaks Down His Occam Process
Download Joe’s book for free: Solderless Assembly for Electronics: The SAFE Approach
Connect with Zach on LinkedIn

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Altium 365: Where the World Designs Electronics

To develop a resilient ecosystem, understanding the root cause of the PCB industry supply chain shortages is a must.

In this episode, Travis Kelly, president and CEO of Isola Group will help us understand what is going on with the current supply chain in the electronics industry. Travis will also give us his insight into the new legislation introduced in the US Congress: Bipartisan Bill to Bring Electronics Manufacturing to America and Strengthen Supply Chains.

Tune in, or listen on the go. Stay up to date with the latest discussion in the PCB Industry.

Altium 365: Where the World Designs Electronics

Watch the video, click here. t

Show Highlights:

• Travis's introduction and a brief overview of PCB manufacturing and fabrication in the United States
  • About 20 years ago, the US produced roughly 26% of the world's PCBs; today, that number is down to 4%
  • There used to be over 2000 fabricators in the late 1990s and early 2000 to less than 140 today
• What are the main drivers of the PCB industry supply chain shift?
• The industry recognizes the benefits of working in a global economy; Travis explained the need to diversify manufacturing capabilities in certain regions
  • Identify what makes sense to have a robust supply chain domestically, e.g., 5G, 6G, medical, aerospace, obviously defense, banking infrastructures
• Travis stresses that there are ways to reduce the overall cost of PCB and electronics production and still manufacture domestically
  • Looking at the entire ecosystem and pointing out vulnerabilities outside of just chips and advanced packaging, how to address each one?
  • Focus on a balanced approach, not over-indexing; strategically, where does it make sense to build brick and mortar to have a resilient, robust, and trusted supply chain?
• What does it mean to bring manufacturing onshore?
• Building a strategic and competitive PCB industry ecosystem requires more than just automated facilities; it’s also essential to invest on:
  • Workforce development – hiring and building up a talented workforce domestically
  • Promote STEM in schools
  • Create awareness of PCB industry design and manufacturing as part of the sought after career in tech
• Travis gives insight into the new legislation introduced in the US Congress: Bipartisan Bill to Bring Electronics Manufacturing to America and Strengthen Supply Chains
  • He emphasizes the importance of understanding the root cost of the imbalanced supply chain vs. addressing just the symptoms
  • Continue to educate the Whitehouse on understanding the issue extensively and not just focusing on the semiconductor shortages
  • Considering the cost of the end products (for consumers) when navigating and drawing solutions
• The role of the Printed Circuit Board Association of America (PCBAA) in the industry: educate, advocate and legislate

Links and Resources:

Connect with Travis Kelly on LinkedIn
Follow PCBAA on LinkedIn
Visit Isola Group’s  website
Eshoo & Moore Introduce Bipartisan Bill to Bring Electronics Manufacturing to America and Strengthen Supply Chains
Connect with Zach on LinkedIn

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Altium 365: Where the World Designs Electronics

In this episode, we will continue with the topic of Design WITH Manufacturing, and joining us is Mike Vinson, the Chief Operating Officer at Averatek. Mike will help us understand Averatek’s advanced PCB manufacturing processes, including the technology and chemistry behind A-SAP and 3D printing.

Altium 365: Where the World Designs Electronics

Watch the video, click here.

Show Highlights:

• Mike Vinson's background
• Mike explains what is an Additive Process
  • A-SAP–a semi-additive process used to make very fine features for high definition, and high density interconnects on print circuit boards.
  • The ability to add metalization other than copper, such as platinum, gold, palladium
  • 3D printing–a fully-additive process where all of the material is just added on, and nothing is subtracted away
• Averatek’s business’s scope
  • Licensing the technology and selling the chemistry
  • The current clientele is North America
  • Efficient and secure prototyping
• Is the 3D surface solderable?
• MIDs or molded interconnect devices, are cool, but are they affordable?
• Tara Dunn, Averatek’s VP in Marketing, is the primary point of contact for licensing
  • Tara is also one of Altium’s Industry Expert contributor
  • What’s in the Averatek’s IPC Paper
• What does the economy look like for A-SAP technology? Will it be accessible, and cost-effective?
• Mikes talks about the scalability of materials set in A-SAP technology
• How can PCB designers take advantage of the A-SAP capabilities so that they can create more compact, smaller features, more advanced products?
• How about a transparent substrate? Averatek has worked with transparent polyimides and has done some other transparent substrates
• What are the things to look forward to in additive processes and the additive manufacturing realm in general?

Links and Resources:

Connect with Mike Vinson on LinkedIn
Visit Averatek's website
Check out Tara Dunn’s Articles on Altium Resource Hub
Watch Previous Episode Mike Vinson:
    Sub-25 Micron Traces with Averatek ASAP Technology
    Semi-Additive Process Technology at Averatek
Connect with Zack on LinkedIn
 

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Altium 365: Where the World Designs Electronics

Let’s talk about the future of printed circuit board prototyping. Sean Patterson, the President of Nano Dimension USA is here to introduce the technology behind DragonFly IV^®, the multi-material 3D printer for electronics fabrication. He will walk us through its current capabilities, what it can do and what we may expect from it in the future.

Sit back, relax and enjoy this episode. Make sure to listen through the end and check the show notes with the additional resources below.

Altium 365: Where the World Designs Electronics

Watch the video, click here.

Show Highlights:

• Sean talks about the growing company.
  • They have 39 members in the US, and 500 globally. There are still plenty of roles available, visit Nano Dimension’s website here
  • Started as an additive manufacturing company, specifically for circuit boards to now multi-material, and multi-layer 3D printing option for electronics through 
• Sean excitedly shares all the exciting things that the DragonFly IV can do.
  • Faster electronic prototyping and proof of concept
  • Environmental and sustainability advantages
  • A manufacturing plant in the office
  • An electromechanical structure that's functionally, mechanically, and electrically, to solve a problem
• The evolution of electronic manufacturing offers a solution that works–there are many better ways, weight reduction, and size reduction
  • Nano Dimensions is helping the electronics industry ecosystems systems get prepped now, to support the adoption of this technology
• DragonFly IV uses FR4-like, and the conductive ink is a silver nanoparticle
• What’s the future look like for Nano Dimensions?
  • What materials will be available in the future?
  • What will be the ultimate capability of the DragonFly?

Links and Resources:

Connect with Sean Patterson on LinkedIn 
Visit Nando Dimension’s website here 

Connect with Zack on LinkedIn

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Altium 365: Where the World Designs Electronics

Welcome to the very first podcast of the year! Altium has been very serious about designing WITH manufacturing, and so our guest for today is Amit Bahl, the director of sales and marketing at Sierra Circuits. We will talk about his passion about promoting the level of sophistication in the PCB manufacturing floor. Watch or listen on the go, this will be fun!

Altium 365: Where the World Designs Electronics

Watch the video, click here.

Show Highlights:

• Amit first exposure in the PCB industry
  • He grew up around printed circuit board (PCB)
  • First to install a DFM tool called Valor
  • First to install a LDI machine or a laser direct imaging machine
• PCB is the backbone of electronics
• The PCB designer must see a pcb factory. Sierra offers a virtual tour of the PCB factory.
• The PCB manufacturing level of sophistication, and high standards are driven by customers
  • PCB designers must push the envelope and to be more courageous with their design, while understanding the maximum capability of their manufacturers to receive better products
  • Equipment vendors need more motivation to make improvements
• Sierra Circuits offers PCB Fabrication, Assembly, & Components
  • Connecting the dots in technological and logistical standpoint
  • Semi-automated Customer portal - a real time feedback to customer on how to improve their designs
  • DFA and DFM starts when complete data is on hand
• The most common feedback or mistakes in the PCB manufacturing floor
  • Aspect ratio of plating a via - what is the fabricator’s capability?
  • Drilling copper - where do you drill? Optimizing the drill to the material movement.
• A good fabricator will know the best material to use
• Getting the available stackup early on - knowledge base of the standard materials on stocks
• Manufacturing tools and resources for designers
  • 99% success rate - eliminating nuances
  • Impedance tool
• PCB Manufacturing Pro tip: Talk to your fabricator and understand the details - take the time!
• Sierra Circuit’s new website and good knowledge base
• AltiumLive Connect was successful! If you miss it, you can still sign-up to virtually attend the AltiumLive EMEA here

Links and Resources:

Connect with Amit Bahl on Linkedin
Visit Sierra Circuits Website here
Experience Sierra Circuits Virtual Factory Tour
Register to Join AltiumLive Connect EMEA
ALTIMADE Design to Manufacture, Made Easy | Request Access Now
 

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Altium 365: Where the World Designs Electronics

The aerospace industry has driven the high-reliability design in the center focus. Juan Frias, our guest for today, is a very experienced PCB designer who has designed for Aerospace, Military, Industrial, Semiconductor, Communications, Medical, and Automotive; he will be sharing the tips for a successful design for manufacturability. We will also tackle Flex and Rigid-Flex design. This conversation will be fun and insightful, so watch through the end and make sure to check the additional resources below.

Altium 365: Where the World Designs Electronics

Watch the video, click here.

Show Highlights:

• High-Reliability Design WITH Manufacturing, how did the Aerospace industry influence this focus?
• The advantages of working closely with the manufacturing team
  • Focus on improving the design process and eliminating back and forth communication and miscommunications
  • Understanding what will work BEST for your manufacturer
• Working with flex and rigid-flex designs
  • Space savers
  • Reliability  and stability advantages
  • Choosing between flex versus a rigid-flex board, what are the considerations?
• Can you use BGA on Flex?
• How does the manufacturer influence the material selection
• Board-spin on existing design–the systemized process of ordering materials that are running low
• The design preparation process for fabrication
• What do designers need to know about stiffener
• The importance of creating a prototype to save time and money
• PCB Validation, test and Inspections, who does what?
  • Typically the customers are the only ones who can do a test with the product because they have the entire system on their end
  • PCB designers perform the electrical tests and control impedance lines
• Identifying a good designer to do business with–-local vs. overseas
• See you at the AltiumLive 2022. Register here

Links and Resources:

AltiumLive 2022 Connect: Now open for registration
E-Book: Navigating PCB Manufacturing: Part 1
Three Common PCB Design Mistakes You Can Spot in Your Gerbers
How to Successfully Design a BGA
Connect with Zach Peterson on LinkedIn
Watch Zach’s latest Altium Academy courses on Youtube
Read Zach’s articles on Altium’s resource hub
 

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Altium 365: Where the World Designs Electronics

High-density designs, simplified. Averatek offers a disruptive solution for complex electronic design.

We are very fortunate to have the powerhouse executive team from Averatek Corporation, a company that develops and licenses advanced manufacturing processes for a variety of electronic products including very high density printed circuit boards, semiconductor packaging, and RF and millimeter-wave electronics. 

Haris Basit, Averatek’s CEO together with Mike Vinson the COO, and Tara Dunn the VP of Business Development and Marketing will share with us some exciting breakthroughs in miniaturization technology.

Altium 365: Where the World Designs Electronics

Watch the video, click here.

Show Highlights:

• Introductions, and Averatek Technology Overview
  • Founded out of SRI in Silicon Valley
  • PCB Industry in North America is ripe for disruption
• Definitions: MSAP, ASAP and Subtractive processes
  • ASAP is Averatek semi-additive process and is achieved with a liquid metal ink catalyst and plated up from the seed layer
• PCB design benefits of Averatek technology
  • Simplify the design
  • Reduction in number of layers and lamination cycles
  • Increased density and miniaturization
  • Signal integrity improvements
  • Applications are military, medical and communications
• Material suitable for ASAP high-performance design:
  • Epoxy-based substrates
  • High-frequency materials (including Teflon)
  • High-speed materials
  • Some flex materials
  • Thin materials
• Shorten the learning curve for PCB designers with Tomas Chester design project in partnership with Averatek coming soon on Altium Resource Hub
• Example design optimization:
  • Smaller footprint, increased panel usage
  • 12 layer board became 8 layer board
  • 3 lamination cycle to 1 lamination cycle
  • Simplified design, increased reliability, significantly lower costs

Links and Resources:

Averatek Website
Fabricators offering Averatek:

• Calumet Electronics
• American Standard Circuits (ASC)
• FTG Circuits

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Altium 365: Where the World Designs Electronics