Printed Circuit Design & Fab Online Magazine

NEWS

NCAB Finalizes Acquisition of B&B Leiterplattenservice in Germany

12 June 2025

MITTWEIDA, GERMANY – NCAB Group has completed its acquisition of B B Leiterplattenservice GmbH, following the initial agreement signed on April 23. The deal clo... Read More...

Doosan Begins Flex Laminate Production at New Plant in Korea

10 June 2025

SEOUL – Doosan Corp. has launched mass production at its new flexible copper-clad laminate (FCCL) plant in Gimje, North Jeolla Province, targeting the fast-grow... Read More...

Global Semiconductor Sales Climb 23% YoY in April

06 June 2025

WASHINGTON – The three-month moving average semiconductor sales rose 22.7% in April from a year ago, reaching $57 billion, the Semiconductor Industry Associatio... Read More...

Chinese EDA Company Responds to US Tool Ban, Offers Free PCB CAD

05 June 2025

SHANGHAI -- Saying it is responding to US government bans selling American-made design software tools to China, Shanghai Hejian Industrial Software Group today ... Read More...

MacDermid Enthone Backs RM Plating Expansion in Mexico

03 June 2025

IRAPUATO, MEXICO – MacDermid Enthone Industrial Solutions deepened its relationship with Recubrimientos Metalicos de Mexico through a strategic investment in RM... Read More...

ECST May Survey Shows Stabilizing Sales Sentiment Amid Tariff Uncertainty

03 June 2025

ATLANTA, GA – After a steep projected decline in April, component industry sentiment stabilized in May, according to just-published results from ECIA’s Electron... Read More...

IDC Slashes 2025 Smartphone Growth Forecast to 0.6%

29 May 2025

NEEDHAM, MA – IDC this week sharply reduced its global smartphone shipment forecast to 0.6%, down from 2.3% projected earlier this year. The downgrade reflects ... Read More...

IDC Lifts PC and Tablet Forecasts

29 May 2025

NEEDHAM, MA – IDC has raised its global PC forecast, projecting shipments will grow 4.1% year-over-year to reach 274 million units. The upgraded outlook follows... Read More...

PCB Management Forum to Debut at PCB West 2025; Gene Weiner and Mike Buetow Comment

28 May 2025

SANTA CLARA, CA – The Printed Circuit Engineering Association (PCEA (https://pcea.net)) today announced the debut of the PCB Management Forum at PCB West (https... Read More...

North American EMS Industry Shipments Up 0.2% in April

28 May 2025

BANNOCKBURN, IL – North American EMS shipments rose 0.2% in April compared to the same month in 2024, according to IPC data released this week. Shipments dipped... Read More...

North American PCB Industry Shipments Down 6.8% in April

27 May 2025

BANNOCKBURN, IL – North American printed circuit board shipments fell 6.8% in April from the same month last year, IPC reported today. Despite the year-over-yea... Read More...

PCB West 2025 Technical Conference Announced

27 May 2025

PEACHTREE CITY, GA – May 27, 2025 – The Printed Circuit Engineering Association (PCEA (https://pcea.net)) today announced the technical program for PCB West (ht... Read More...

Bipartisan Bill Reintroduced to Boost US PCB Manufacturing

27 May 2025

WASHINGTON, DC – Representatives Blake Moore (R-UT) and Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-IL) last week reintroduced the Protecting Circuit Boards and Substrates Act, a bi... Read More...

SEMI Forecasts Mixed Semiconductor Outlook

20 May 2025

MILPITAS, CA – The global semiconductor industry followed traditional seasonal trends in the first quarter, but uncertainty surrounding new tariffs is expected ... Read More...

AT&S Grows Revenue Amid Industry Headwinds

16 May 2025

LEOBEN – AT S reported revenue of $1.72 billion for the year, up from $1.68 billion from the prior year, despite continued global pricing pressure and weak indu... Read More...

FEATURES

AI in Electronics Manufacturing: What’s Working Now, What’s Not (But Should Be)

Artificial intelligence is superb at corralling volumes of data but still lacks the flexibility needed for many engineering tasks. AI is transforming electroni... Read More...

Fundamentals of PCB Stack-up and Signal Integrity

A summary of how to order layers to achieve target impedance values. Printed circuit boards are becoming highly dense, hosting all kinds of high-speed interfac... Read More...

Bluetooth Circuit Board Design Guidelines

Six steps for limiting interference and data loss. Printed circuit boards (PCBs) utilizing Bluetooth technology can encounter issues like interference, lost da... Read More...

Component Land Patterns: A Primer

A manufacturer’s perspective on determining parts layout. A land pattern refers to the footprint or layout of surface-mount components on a printed circuit boa... Read More...

For Design Tools, Another Record. Can It Last?

If a recession is indeed ahead, Wally Rhines thinks the PCB design software industry is a “great place to hide.” The figure tells the story: sales of printed c... Read More...

Are You Using Too Many Vias?

Conventional wisdom regarding via count is wrong. Here’s the proof. Conventional wisdom has suggested: The cross-sectional area of a via should have at least ... Read More...

What is the Best Material for a High-Speed PCB?

Consider return loss and insertion loss – but don’t stop there. Material selection for high-speed printed circuit board design (http://www.PCBwest.com) is one ... Read More...

Sequential Lamination in PCB Manufacturing

Higher layer count boards with mechanically drilled blind or buried vias may be built separately, then laminated together. Sequential lamination is a fundament... Read More...

Characterizing Etchback and Dielectric Loss Tangent

Fabrication-aware simulations to aid PCB design success. As engineers design printed circuit boards (PCBs) to operate at higher data rates, the system’s signal... Read More...

Can Thailand Pad its PCB Gains?

2023 saw only a handful of fabricators gain ground, but SE Asia is primed to boom. Small it was, but the Thailand Electronics Circuit Asia exhibition held in B... Read More...

Fundamentals of Signal Integrity at Various Frequencies

Tips and tricks for applications of all speeds, from 1MHz to gigabit level. How do you know a high-speed design application from an ordinary one? What qualifie... Read More...

PCB Design. No Humans Required.

An electronics startup is developing AI-driven design software that lessens manual intervention. The role of artificial intelligence in PCB design is a growing... Read More...

AI: The Shiny New Tool in the Engineer's Toolbox

Searching for components and automating schematic capture are just two of the ways AI will be implemented in PCB design. During the past 10 years, artificial i... Read More...

‘Everybody is Growing’

The East Coast trade show brings news of a steady industry, while puncturing myths about AI. Members of the electronics community gathered in the Boston suburb... Read More...

Measuring Quality Over Time

Using the Weibull distribution to model gold wire bonding on ENEPIG. The most used distribution in reliability analysis may be the Weibull distribution. Its ge... Read More...