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

We’re even more committed to being your best source for industry news and tips and tricks of the trade. To that end, I’m sharing my favorite news items of the week. They range from reports on quarterly earnings to Dan Feinberg’s coverage of CES and some harsh reality from marketing expert Dan Beaulieu. If you missed it on Monday, be sure to read it again here. It’s well worth your time.

NAMICS Brings Innovative Thermoset Materials to PCB Fabrication

At PCB Carolina, Matt Lake and Ken Araujo of NAMICS Technologies spoke with Andy Shaughnessy about the introduction of an innovative thermoset material to PCB fabrication. This groundbreaking material, originally developed for the semiconductor packaging industry, addresses a longstanding demand for unreinforced thermoset films that enhance dielectric properties in PCB applications and allow for manufacturing the very finest of features, 0.002" and below.

Hot Off the Press: Explore the New Issue of IPC Community

The latest digital copy of IPC Community is now ready to view. Each quarter, IPC Community provides exclusive interviews and practical tips on what’s happening with IPC and its members. Find stories on IPC student leadership, successful women in business, the trouble with tariffs, the inside workings on an IPC mentorship duo, standards updates, and so much more.

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

In the past couple of weeks, we’ve had some big industry news. In the automotive world, Honda and Nissan merged to form the largest car manufacturer in Japan. Before President Biden left office, he made sure to distribute more CHIPS Act money to bring some measure of electronics manufacturing back to the U.S. And former President Jimmy Carter died at the age of 100 and was honored on Thursday, reminding us all what true integrity looks like. 

Data Paints a Picture—Can You See It?

Andrew Kelley is CTO of Xact PCB, a company founded by engineers with firsthand experience in PCB fabricators. Xact PCB has developed a cutting-edge system to monitor and predict the registration of inner layers through advanced registration control systems. By leveraging data collected from various production stages, Xact PCB’s GX tool enhances precision. It minimizes errors, ensuring that the final products meet their customers' exact specifications while eliminating the need for costly pilot lots.

Expansion, Retirement, and New Leadership at FCT

In the dynamic landscape of interconnect solutions, Flexible Circuit Technology (FCT) is making waves through significant leadership changes and expansion initiatives. Vice President Carey Burkett, newly appointed executive vice president Ray Cottrell, and marketing director Abby Meyer share their vision for steering the company toward innovative growth. FCT has a robust focus on diverse markets such as medical, automotive, consumer electronics, and HDI (high density interconnect). They are accelerating FCT’s mission to provide exceptional value and service to customers throughout the product lifecycle.

Welcome to the Newest I-Connect007 Columnist Prashant Patel

The American PCB industry is on the brink of transformation, and at the forefront of this evolution is Prashant Patel, the visionary founder and president of Alpha Circuit. In his groundbreaking new column, Facing the Future, Patel invites readers to journey with him into the future—one year, five years, and even three decades ahead. This isn’t just another industry column; it’s a blueprint for what’s to come in North America’s PCB sector.

I-Connect007 Editor’s Choice: Top Five New Year's Resolutions for 2025

The diet starts tomorrow! At least that’s what Americans say on New Year’s Day.  But it turns out that losing weight is not the No. 1 New Year’s resolution in the United States. For this week’s list, I checked with Statista Consumer Insights, a company that tracks statistics of all kinds. Here, then, are the Top Five New Year’s resolutions made by American adults heading into 2025. 

BOOK EXCERPT: The Printed Circuit Designer’s Guide to... High Performance Materials, Chapter 4

In Chapter 4, Michael Gay discusses the two main types of copper foil used for PCB boards today: electrodeposited (ED) foil and rolled annealed (RA) foil. He also explains the pros and cons of each, and provides an update of the latest innovations in copper foil technology.

Happy New Year From I-Connect007 

As I-Connect007 observes the New Year’s Day holiday, we also wish you and yours a prosperous new year. We will be back covering the news of the industry tomorrow, January 2, 2025, according to the Gregorian calendar.

IPC Hall of Fame Spotlight Series: Highlighting Gene Weiner

Over the years, IPC members who have contributed significantly to IPC and our industry have been awarded with the IPC Raymond E. Pritchard Hall of Fame Award. Though many early HOF members have passed away and are unknown to today’s IPC membership, their contributions still resonate. Over the coming months, I look forward to researching and reporting on IPC Hall of Fame members and their contributions. This month, I highlight Gene Weiner.

Does China Plus One Really Make a Difference? (Part 2)

In this article, we consider the industrial regions benefiting from investment outside China, and what all this might mean to manufacturers and their customers. According to Prismark, more than half of the world’s $70 billion printed circuit boards were manufactured in China in 2023 (Figure 1). When you add Taiwan-headquartered companies to the huge manufacturing capacities in Mainland China, two-thirds of all PCBs are manufactured in greater China.

I-Connect007 Editor’s Choice: Five Must-Read ‘Ugly Sweaters’ of the Week

In commemoration of the holiday week, we look at what has become a popular tradition in both the U.S. and England: the ugly Christmas sweater. This fabulous tradition has grown in recent years to encompass not only ugly sweaters but sweatshirts, cardigans (a type of sweater), pajamas, and even headgear. For the sake of simplicity (and far too many options from which to choose), we will stick with sweaters. As we round the bend on Christmas 2024, wade halfway into Hannukah, and look toward the New Year, let’s relish “the ugly.”

Revolutionizing Inner Layer Registration

In this interview with Anthony (Tony) Faraci, founder and president of DIS, we delve into enhancing inner layer accuracy and yields, pivotal to boosting profitability in the circuit board industry. Tony has extensive experience in the development of tooling technology over the decades, which ultimately led to his founding DIS. From his beginnings at Multiline to tackling the challenges of registration accuracy, Tony's insights clearly lay out the complexities of modern manufacturing and the innovations in shaping the future of inner layer registration.

Merry Christmas from I-Connect007!

Though a modern Christmas typically brings to mind vivid images of a jolly Santa Clause, excited children opening gifts on Christmas morning, and huge feasts on festive looking holiday tables, the great holidays in every culture and religious tradition comes with an interesting historical context. 

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

Hey, wait a minute, this is the lead-up to the penultimate holiday week, so why is the news cycle so busy? Normally, this period of time—what with all the holiday distraction—is when companies either go quiet or publish press releases covering those throwaway news items. Instead, this week brought in so much important news that I had to be quite discerning in my choices. Newsletter subscribers definitely got a lot of news this week. 

The Effects of Copper on a Transmission Line

As technology advances, our substrates become increasingly smaller, and chip technology has progressed to where HDI and UHDI are household terms. Ten years ago, this new design architecture would strike fear in the hearts of any plating engineer. Unfortunately, North American and European manufacturing has lagged due to excessive offshoring of commercial and some high-reliability product lines. Fortunately, most of the military and aerospace product has remained controlled. But in doing so, the designs utilized by the mil/aero and medical sectors’ reliability lines were corralled into the manufacturing capabilities of the North American and European providers.

Statistically Testing Inner Layer Yield Improvement Projects 

Can we trust our measurement system to give us reliable data? Is it accurate, repeatable, and reproducible? Measurement is the foundation of quality. We measure for two primary reasons: to make decisions on product quality and to provide data that will inform continuous improvement projects. We can engage in continuous improvement projects if we are confident in our measurement systems.

Sayonara to the Last Standing Copper Foil Plant in North America

In July 2021, PCB007 Magazine published an interview with Michael Coll and Chris Stevens of Nippon Denkai about the new acquisition by Nippon Denkai of the last-standing ED foil manufacturer in North America. The plant in Augusta, Georgia, was formerly owned by Oak Mitsui, Inc. and had been purchased by Nippon Denkai the previous March, after which significant investment was made with the expectation of providing more jobs.

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

This week, Peter Tranitz discusses the upcoming Pan-European Electronics Design Conference, set for Jan. 29-30 in Vienna, Austria. Pete Starkey brings us a review of the most recent EIPC Technical Snapshot webinar, which featured a global PCB maker update by Dr. Hayao Nakahara. Don't miss our interview with Manfred Huschka, who explains how companies can begin their own China Plus One plan. Stan Farnsworth breaks down photonic soldering and discusses its use in soldering materials that are not typically compatible. I also enjoyed Dan Beaulieu’s discussion on the value of consistency, and why just showing up for work is half the battle, especially in an inconsistent, evolving industry like ours.

EIPC Technical Snapshot: Factors Driving the Fluctuating Demand for PCBs

EIPC continued its series of online Technical Snapshots with a webinar on Nov. 21 presented by Dr. Hayao Nakahara of N.T. Information Ltd, who summarised world PCB production and shared his vision of the market over the next five years. With information gathered from many sources, Nakahara examined factors driving the increasing demand for printed circuit boards. 

Real Time with... electronica 2024: STARTEAM GLOBAL Meeting Challenges Head-on

STARTEAM GLOBAL CEO Daniel Jacob and CTO Martin Schneider speak with Pete Starkey at electronica 2024 about their global presence in China, Thailand, and Europe, and how additive manufacturing and inkjet printing are keeping this PCB manufacturer at the forefront of technology. They’re excited about sustainability, the future, and competing on the world stage.

Does China Plus One Actually Work?

We all know of the current geopolitical challenges between the U.S. and China, which have motivated companies to investigate shifting supply chains to other countries, including Vietnam, Thailand, Mexico, India, and Malaysia while continuing to source mainly from China. This strategy is being referred to as China Plus One. In this two-part article, I will summarize the current economic trends in China, and look at the trends in wider Southeast Asia.

Has the Time Finally Come for Tin-nickel Plating?

In the 1980s, Electrochemicals, Inc. (now Electrochemical Products) made a significant shift from furniture and industrial goods to electronics and manufacturing. During this journey, a tin-nickel plating alloy was developed. In 1984, Mike Carano, a young engineer, published a paper on tin-nickel plating alloy, but after some initial attention, the plating solution fell into obscurity. Today, PCB fabrication looks largely the same, yet changes are afoot, chiefly due to the demands for very fine feature capability on printed circuit boards, as well as environmental sustainability. So, in this fascinating conversation with Mike Carano and Happy Holden, we take another look at tin-nickel and its advantages in both performance and sustainability.

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

This week’s must-reads include a discussion on innovation and embedded components within the layers of a PCB with Accurate Circuit Engineering. We revisit the real cost to manufacture in a case study on how a seemingly small design error can have a dramatic effect on your end customer’s costs. Dan Beaulieu provides this month’s book review highlighting the criticality of fostering creativity in the workplace. Bert Horner of The Test Connection discusses his decision to launch a new, complimentary business venture, The Training Connection; and Ramon Roche of NCAB talks about electric vehicle charging.
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