OnTrack: The PCB Design Podcast

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Wednesday Sep 07, 2022

Electronics Manufacturability and Reliability with QA Guru Cheryl Tulkoff

Wednesday Sep 07, 2022

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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Wednesday Aug 31, 2022

How to Select the Best Surface Finish for Your PCB

Wednesday Aug 31, 2022

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

Connect with Zach on LinkedIn

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Wednesday Aug 24, 2022

What is in the PCB Bill?

Wednesday Aug 24, 2022

In this episode, Representative Moore, one of the co-sponsors of H.R.7677, the Supporting American Printed Circuit Boards Act of 2022, will give us brief but insightful details about the bill.

Show Highlights:

Representative Blake Moore explains the reasons behind the efforts to push the Supporting American Printed Circuit Boards Act of 2022
Rep. Moore briefly touches on the topic of material sourcing and potential environmental challenges
- A potential roadblock concerning raw materials is overcoming challenges coming from the energy and commerce committee
What is the ideal market share for the US in the PCB manufacturing industry?
The CHIPS Act and defining industrial policy
Initiatives in developing a qualified workforce that can fill the new manufacturing jobs and all of the other jobs that come along with it to support the industry
Sign up for the Electronic Design to Delivery Index to help guide you through supply chain turmoil

Links and Resources:

Sign up for the Electronic Design to Delivery Index
Learn more about the Supporting American Printed Circuit Boards Act of 2022
Learn more about the CHIPS Act
Watch the related episodes:
   Data Security, 5G and Onshore PCB Manufacturing with Dr. Rob Spalding
   IPC CEO John Mitchell on the Supporting American Printed Circuit Boards Act
   The Benefits of Diversifying PCB Industry Supply Chain

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Wednesday Aug 17, 2022

The Promising and Challenging Future of 3D Printed Electronics

Wednesday Aug 17, 2022

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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Wednesday Aug 10, 2022

EMC on the Board and Off the Board

Wednesday Aug 10, 2022

We are very delighted to have Dr. Min Zhang in this episode. Min is an independent EMC consultant based in the UK. Today, we'll be talking about EMC, both on board and off the board. It will be a very interesting discussion because we will look a little bit deeper at the system level of the board.

Show Highlights:

Zach met Min at EMCLive 2021
Let’s hear more about Min’s background and his early exposure to EMI issues
- Earlier in his career, he worked with big companies as a motor drive engineer and power electronics design engineer for 10 years
- He started his engineering consulting business, Mach One Design EMC Consultants 2 years ago
- His first experience dealing with EMI issues was at the university while doing research for his PhD
The lack of education in the university in regards to EMI issues is one of the reasons that sparked Min’s interest in EMI
- The university he went to specializes in motor and power converter design, but did not offer any solutions in fixing the EMI issues
- Min recalls being fascinated by his first time seeing an EMI diagnosis kit composed of the spectrum analyzer, lots of ferrites, and cable shooting copper tape in a suitcase
- It was his first time seeing a step-by-step diagnosis and troubleshooting EMI issues - checking the grounding, checking the bonding, and applying ferrites at the right place, performed by his friend’s father who was then a principal engineer in the European Space Agency
Min’s recommendation to design engineers solving EMI issues is to understand the fundamentals – “only when you understand the fundamentals, understand the basics, and the first principle, then you can really design a system” - Min Zhang
What happens when EMI problems exist off the board and they interfere with the system or create so much noise that the system is never going to pass EMC?
- Min answers by recommending Rick Hartley's famous YouTube video about grounding
- He continues with his answer with an example involving a three-phase brushless DC motor drive
How to deal with cables connected to another system that is outside of the shielding?
- Shielding is a good solution, but understanding fundamentals are necessary to avoid increased cost, weight, and also the bending ratio would be affected
Min shares a recent video he did with Robert Feranec which discusses the topic of EMI troubleshooting on immunity
70% of the EMI issues are somehow related to resonance
- For high-speed design, PCB designers really need to understand how the wave propagates
Ferrite is not a 100% inductive component
Min recommends the book by Douglas Smith – High Frequency Measurements and Noise in Electronic Circuits which focuses on the test and measurements in terms of high-speed design
Other experts to learn from in terms of EMI troubleshooting and high speed designs are Eric Bogatin, Steve Sandler and Heidi Barnes

Links and Resources:

Learn more about Min Zhang and his company Mach One Design EMC Consultants
Watch Min’s Keynote at EMCLive 2021
Watch How a Few Components Make a Big Difference in EMC/EMI with Min and Robert Feranec
Read Min Zhang’s article on SI Journal
Great book recommendation: High Frequency Measurements and Noise in Electronic Circuits
Watch Rick Hartley's famous YouTube video about grounding
Watch previous episodes with EMI and High-speed experts:
   Eric Bogatin Debunks Common Misconceptions About Transmission Lines
   Secrets of PCB Optimization with Rick Hartley
   Being Right Matters! When, Why and What to Simulate with Steve Sandler
   Power Integrity and Simulations with Heidi Barnes

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Sunday Aug 07, 2022

Mitigating Risk Factors for PCB Manufacturing Lead Times

Sunday Aug 07, 2022

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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Sunday Jul 31, 2022

Roughness of the Copper and its Effect on the Signal Integrity

Sunday Jul 31, 2022

I am very honored to have Bert Simonovich, a very well-known expert in the signal integrity community, in today’s episode. Bert developed the "Cannonball-Huray" model used for transmission line loss modeling, which has been adopted in several popular EDA tools.

We will be discussing several topics relating to copper roughness, including different approaches to ensure signal integrity in your PCB design.

Show Highlights:

Bert shares his background and experience
- He did his microprocessor systems back in the late '70s and later worked at Bell-Northern Research in Ottawa, Canada
- In the 90s he transitioned to Nortel from where he specialized in backplane design and signal integrity
- He founded Lamsim in 2009
Bert retrospects using photo tools which is now the photo plotting with Gerbers. His experience helped him understand the mechanics of PCB construction
A client’s demand led to extensive research involving dielectric material comparisons and foil roughness
With various PCB surface roughness models, how to determine which process to move forward with?
- Bert explains the Design Feedback Method
- Cannonball technique is a roughness modeling approach which Bert also described as a heuristic method
- Checkout Bert’s articles on SI Journal
Bert gives a detailed explanation of how copper is being used in PCBs
HDP user group international published a research paper Smooth Copper Signal Integrity in 2016
Bert and Zach agree that PCB construction is complicated and it is highly recommended for PCB designers and SI engineers to learn more about the fabrication process
What does reverse treated foil means, and how does it relate to the power layer?
Read Bert’s DesignCon Paper: A Practical Method to Model Effective Permittivity and Phase Delay Due to Conductor Surface Roughness

Links and Resources:

Connect with Bert Simonovich on LinkedIn

Follow Lamsim Enterprises Inc. on LinkedIn

Visit Lamsim Enterprises Inc. website

Read Bert’s Articles on SI Journal

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Sunday Jul 24, 2022

Design Predictable PCBs through Simberian’s SIMBEOR® Electromagnetic Signal Integrity Software

Sunday Jul 24, 2022

Making electromagnetic analysis accessible to anyone in the industry is what inspired Yuriy to create SIMBEOR^® Electromagnetic Signal Simulator.

Yuriy Shlepnev is the founder and president of Simberian. In this episode, he will tell us about Simbeor simulation capabilities, and briefly educate us on rise times, signal integrity, and solving EMI. He will also show us the simulator in action and how it can be a lifesaver to PCB designers like you.

Tune in, enjoy and don't forget to check the additional resources below.

Show Highlights:

uriy talks about his background in computational electromagnetics and how he got started working on simulations for PCBs and magnetic analysis
- He realized that the byte rates and data rates were increasing, and everything was getting into the microwave domain
- In 2006, Simberian was founded as a project to make electromagnetic analysis accessible to anyone in the industry
- SIMBEOR^® was created to make electromagnetic analysis mainstream
Simulation capabilities accessible to lower data rates, Yuriy discusses rise times, signal integrity, and solving EMI simultaneously
SIMBEOR^® 2022 includes three simulation modes, and one of them is the Fast SI which uses more approximate models for pins, pads, and vias. It is a full wave, but not 3D. It allows simulations to run faster for more mass, included
Simbeor SDK, a built-in software development kit in Altium Designer’s stackup manager. It uses the SFS solver for cross-sectional analysis, and that benefits Altium customers
Yuriy shows us the 3D field solver in action
Simulation of fiber weave effect on PCBs, is it possible?
- Coming soon in Simbeor SDK is the ability to build your own simulation tools
- Monte Carlo analysis is a perfect way to convert numeric model variations into a probability distribution
What is the future of SIMBEOR^® that designers can use to help them expedite important analyses for high-speed and RF designs?

Links and Resources:

Connect with Yuriy Shlepnev on LinkedIn
Visit Simberian website and learn more about SIMBEOR^® Electromagnetic Signal Integrity Software
Read Yuriy’s Articles in SI Journal
Watch a related podcast episode: Simberian’s 3D Field Solver in Altium Designer

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Sunday Jul 17, 2022

10-Ounce Copper PCBs and Design Library Migration

Sunday Jul 17, 2022

When you hear about 10-ounce copper PCBs, high current and high voltage come to mind. In this episode, we will have a deep dive discussion on designing heavy power boards with Mario Strano. Mario is the senior PCB designer at Nikola and also president of ECAD Central. He will share with us his 16 years of experience in PCB design and the migration services he provides through ECAD Central.

Watch this episode or listen on the go. We’ve touched on many other interesting topics, such as setting up clearance and creepage rules and a 57-ounce copper board.

Show Highlights:

Mario’s background and professional path as PCB Designer and Component Engineer
- He is currently the only PCB designer at Nikola
- His expertise includes but is not limited to designing 10-ounce copper boards, real heavy power boards, HMI boards, human-machine interface boards
Setting up creepage and clearance rules for heavy copper was a challenge to Mario during his transition from SQL Semiconductor to Avnet
Mario and Zach discuss more 10-ounce copper PCBs
Zach was amused to hear about Taiyo Kogyo’s 57-ounce copper
- The Japan-based company developed proprietary processes that allow them to do things like Bus Bar Embedded PCB
Mario briefly shares his experience as a component engineer at Avnet for six years
The two discuss the tantalum capacitor shortage in 2018 and compare it to the current semiconductors shortage, which started in 2020
- How is the supply chain shortage affecting PCB designers, and how are they working around it?
ECAD Central, an Altium 365, Concord Pro, and Altium NEXUS Database service provider – setup and configuration, database migration
- Mario compared migrating data to “like moving mountains”
- Is mirroring parts between two systems possible? Mario explains what can be done. Definitely not a simple drag and drop operation, though!

Links and Resources:

Connect with Mario Strano on Linkedin
Visit the ECAD Central website
Learn More about Taiyo Kogyo and their 57-ounce copper boards
Watch related podcasts:
Easily Find Electronic Components for Your Next PCB Design
The Benefits of Diversifying PCB Industry Supply Chain

Connect with Zach on LinkedIn
Full OnTrack Podcast Library
Altium Website

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Sunday Jul 10, 2022

PCB Design Education Through Content Creation

Sunday Jul 10, 2022

In this OnTrack episode, Zach and Phil of Phil’s Lab Youtube channel exchange ideas on how they can stay on top of their PCB design game or learn new things. Phil Salmony, a successful youtube creator with 64.6K subscribers, shares with us how he was introduced to PCB design, his early career, and what got him to start his own Youtube channel. This is a fun episode. Watch it through the end and check out the additional resources below.

Subscribe to Phil’s Lab YT Channel

Show Highlights:

Whiteboard – an essential piece for PCB design-related content
PCB design education from the university, theories, and ideologies versus PCB design for the real world
Phil shares that DSPs (Digital signal processors) are the coolest thing, and he has a dedicated section of them on his channel
Zach and Phil exchange opinions about their consultation and PCB design jobs
How do you go about learning new things? Zach and Phil have their share of different ways to acquire information to help them better their skills
- Learn through well-documented samples or PCB design projects and reverse engineer
- Seminars with experts and attending conferences
- Taking online courses like the IPC - CID (Certified Interconnect Designers) and PCEA CPCD course
- Youtube videos and keynote presentations, e,g, How to Achieve Proper Grounding By Rick Hartley
One of the most asked questions in PCB design is about grounding. Phil and Zach suggested a couple of books supplement for PCB design
- Electromagnetic Compatibility Engineering by Henry Ott
- Grounds for Grounding: A Circuit to System Handbook by Kai-Sang Lock
Phil talks about how he got started with PCB design
Designs and chip shortages and supply forecast, what to expect in the next few years?
The value of connecting with your (youtube channel) audience for content ideas
Altium Academy and Phil’s Lab history on Youtube and future projects

Links and Resources:

Connect with Phil on LinkedIn

Visit Phil’s Lab Website

How to Achieve Proper Grounding By Rick Hartley

Watch Podcast Episodes with Rick Hartley

Electromagnetic Compatibility Engineering by Henry Ott

Grounds for Grounding: A Circuit to System Handbook by Kai-Sang Lock

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Tuesday Jun 28, 2022

IPC CEO John Mitchell on the Supporting American Printed Circuit Boards Act

Tuesday Jun 28, 2022

Supply chain security and having access to trusted manufacturers in the US would be an ideal outcome of the Printed Circuit Board Act.

IPC President and CEO John Michell talk about how the organization helps shape the current bipartisan proposal to help bring back PCB manufacturing in the US and how this can contribute to a globally resilient supply chain.

Watch the podcast here

Show Highlights:

John Mitchell briefly talks about his background and dives right into the topic, the Supporting American Printed Circuit Boards Act
John emphasizes the role of the IPC as the voice of the electronics industry
Supply chain security and having more trusted PCB manufacturers in the US would be a great outcome of the Printed Circuit Board Act
- Adapting the existing legislation on manufacturing defense products to broader use, especially with electronics
- Raise awareness of the different aspects of the electronics supply chain shortages and other issues related to it
- Eradicate the notion that PCBs are just a piece of plastic, but an essential piece in every electronic
The IPC's influence on shaping laws relating to the electronics
- John explains IPC's role and involvement, which includes solving industry problems related, but not limited to, the workforce, supply chain, and advanced packaging issues
- The IPC SEA Tools: Standards, Education, and Advocacy
John stresses that having manufacturers in different regions is a key to a resilient supply chain
- Identify what electronic products to manufacture where
The Printed Circuit Board is a 60 billion industry globally, and only 3-5% of volume comes from the US
John explains the impact of the changing administrations in the US on the current progression of different bills and legislations relating to the electronic industry

Links and Resources:

Connect with John Mitchell on LinkedIn
Visit the IPC website here
Learn more about the Supporting American Printed Circuit Boards Act of 2022
Watch John Mitchell’s previous episodes:

Watch a recent related episode: The Benefits of Diversifying PCB Industry Supply Chain

Read Gabriel Goldstein’s Blog Articles on LinkedIn

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Tuesday Jun 21, 2022

The Electronics Behind a Haunting Attraction

Tuesday Jun 21, 2022

In this episode, a returning guest Gabriel Goldstein shares the electronics behind the thrills in escape rooms. He also generously gives some valuable advice on finding your niche and starting your own electronics business.

Gabriel was the former owner of Anidea Engineering and Escape Room Tech. Listen to this episode and be inspired by how he married two industries together and become the master of this very unique niche.

Watch the episode here

- Gabriel’s background, he is the former owner of Anidea Engineering and Escape Room Tech
- The business of producing low-volume products - his first big project is an ARM9 with 16 mb of RAM, a PDA style learning device
- The fascinating technology in the escape room includes off-the-shelf surveillance cameras, keyboards, and maglocks. Gabriel describes the technology behind the “magic doors”
  - They use RFID and developed their RS45-based networking system
- A successful escape room requires an extreme collaboration of multiple skill sets that include electronics guys, theater guys, and game theory team just to name the least
- The escape room industry is a marriage of electronics and haunt industry
- Creating a small, showpiece project could be a gateway to a PCB design career
- Software engineers have GitHub, while PCB designers have Arduino and Raspberry Pi
- Gabriel wrote blogs to educate his customers about the business of producing products that sell
  - He became Mr. Networker hanging out at the Angel Forum groups and the venture capital groups
  - For about 6 years he was out there in the community to help out, give back and help build a business
  - He recommends a book from Martin Gerber – Awakening the Entrepreneur Within

“If you're going to take off the engineering hat and try to turn this into a business, please learn how to run a business because it's a completely different skill set”
Ending the conversation with a little anecdote from Gabriel, an inspiration to be in the business mindset and going for the American Dream

Resources:

Connect with Gabriel Goldstein on LinkedIn

Visit Escape Room Techs website

Read Martin Gerber’s Awakening the Entrepreneur Within

Watch the previous episode with Gabriel Goldstein - How to Build a New Data Management System

Connect with Zach on LinkedIn

Altium 365: Where the World Designs Electronics

Wednesday Jun 15, 2022

Occam Process: Assembly without Solder

Wednesday Jun 15, 2022

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.

Full OnTrack Podcast Library
Altium Website
Download your Altium Designer Free Trial
Learn More about Altium Nexus

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

Altium 365: Where the World Designs Electronics

Wednesday Jun 08, 2022

The Benefits of Diversifying PCB Industry Supply Chain

Wednesday Jun 08, 2022

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.

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

Full OnTrack Podcast Library
Altium Website
Download your Altium Designer Free Trial
Learn More about Altium Nexus

Altium 365: Where the World Designs Electronics

Tuesday May 31, 2022

Easily Find Electronic Components for Your Next PCB Design

Tuesday May 31, 2022

What is the current state of the electronic industry? Dan Schoenfelder joins us today to discuss the most extreme problems the PCB design industry is currently facing: supply shortages, particularly the semi-conductor products and microcontrollers.

Tune in, or listen on the go. Learn how to keep up with the industry challenges through Nexar and Octopart.

Full OnTrack Podcast Library
Altium Website
Download your Altium Designer Free Trial
Learn More about Altium Nexus

Show Highlights:

Dan shares his background and role his role at Octopart and now as the Head of Nexar sales
Problems with the supply chain continue; how are companies coping with the shortages in semi-conductor products and microcontrollers?
- What is lean manufacturing, and what drives an inflexible supply chain?
- The effect of the pandemic on manufacturing facilities is still very apparent and may continue through 2013
Dan discusses the many benefits of utilizing Octopart to find and access electronic components data easily
- Octopart is the search engine for electronics and makes a great tool to integrate into PCB design workflows
- Dan shares Octopart’s new features, including the ability to filter and search by specs
How does the Nexar API help with democratizing information in the electronics industry?
- Ability to obtain information through the Nexar API programmatically and incorporate that into native workflows inside the users’ businesses
- Nexar works with the RAI to ensure that all data collected can be trusted
Dan talks about the Electronic Design to Delivery Index (EDDI), which is meant to provide users with free insight into what's happening in the electronic space in general
Supply Chain Resilience tools – help designers build thoughtful designs and build BOMs (Bill of Materials) that are resilient to unforeseen challenges
What’s coming next for Nexar?

Links and Resources:

Connect with Dan Schoenfelder on LinkedIn
Search electronic parts, visit Octopart.com
Design with the PCB Community, learn more about the Nexar ecosystem
Learn more about the Electronic Design to Delivery index (EDDI)
Watch Previous Episode with Dan Schoenfelder: Supply Chain Intelligence from Octopart
Connect with Zach on LinkedIn

Altium 365: Where the World Designs Electronics

Tuesday May 24, 2022

Making Codes Tangible Through Electronic Projects

Tuesday May 24, 2022

Learn by doing is what Bill Kolicoski, the creator of Taste the Code Youtube Channel advises everyone who wants to jump into the electronic design. Bill is a software developer passionate about making electronics design and engineering fun.

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Show Highlights:

Bill shares how he got started with his Youtube Channel, Taste the Code
- Bill recognizes that designing and building electronics is a perfect way to understand software or coding – making the code more tangible
Making electronic design accessible for everyone is one of Bill’s missions in creating his channel
- Jumpstart to electronics design through learning by doing
Software and hardware coexist–a software engineer should have an understanding of how hardware works
- It’s the eureka moments that help students understand how things work
- Understanding what happens in the code and the chip to make things come to life
Bill emphasizes improving your design skills by exploring all possibilities how you can improve your finished product
Reference design for hardware developments and reverse engineering is a great way to make electronics and hardware more understandable
Bill shares what drove him to pursue software vs. hardware
- Software is a lot easier to outsource
- Location/ country can be a determinant of pursuing a specific career in tech
Having fun doing electronics
Getting hands dirty and jumping right into the design process; this and more tips from Bill on how to get into the electronics design and how you can improve your skills
- Search for videos with a specific solution
Invest time in building projects
Make your work public and get feedback from the community and professionals
Rubber Duck Debugging is a software jargon meaning explaining a challenging scenario to yourself to develop a solution

Links and Resources:

Subscribe to Bill’s Channel Taste to Code
Making electronic design easy, visit Upverter website
Register at Altium Education for Free
Altium Designer Free Student License
Connect with Zach on LinkedIn

Altium 365: Where the World Designs Electronics

Wednesday May 18, 2022

Landing a Full-Time Engineering Career at NASA

Wednesday May 18, 2022

This episode will learn how a childhood dream can turn into reality through hard work, determination, and networking. Andrew Hartnett dreamt of working with NASA at a very young age. He will share with us exactly how he landed his Computer Engineer position in this very sought-after agency.