Printed Circuit Design & Fab Online Magazine

NEWS

AT&S Celebrates Plant Construction Milestones

02 June 2023

LEOBEN, AUSTRIA – The exterior shell of AT S' new R D and IC substrate center here has been erected just 14 months after groundbreaking, and the company's new p... Read More...

Smartphone Market Recovery Delayed by Weak Consumer Demand, Reports IDC

01 June 2023

NEEDHAM, MA – According to a new forecast from the IDC Worldwide Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker, global shipments of smartphones will decline 3.2% in 2023, tota... Read More...

IDC: Hardcopy Peripherals Shipments Increase 2% in Q1

01 June 2023

NEEDHAM, MA – Worldwide shipments of hardcopy peripherals grew 2.2% year over year to 22.8 million units in the first quarter. Shipment value also expanded 14% ... Read More...

Global Electronic Vehicle Market Reached Nearly 11M Units in 2022, IDC Finds

01 June 2023

BEIJING – The worldwide EV market reached almost 11 million units, with a penetration rate of 14% in 2022, according to the latest report from IDC's Worldwide S... Read More...

Icape Group Acquires German PCB Distributor HLT

31 May 2023

FONTENAY-AUX-ROSES, FRANCE – Icape Group has acquired the operating assets of HLT, a German PCB distributor that generated revenue of €4.1 million ($4.4 million... Read More...

Schmid Group Aims for SPAC Listing on NYSE

31 May 2023

FRANKFURT – Germany's Schmid Group plans to list in New York via a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) in a deal estimated to give the technology firm a ... Read More...

IPC: North American PCB Industry Sales Up 12% in April

26 May 2023

BANNOCKBURN, IL – Total North American PCB shipments in April were up 12.1% compared to the same month last year, IPC’s North American Printed Circuit Board Sta... Read More...

North American EMS Industry Up 14% in April

25 May 2023

BANNOCKBURN, IL – Total North American EMS shipments in April were up 14.3% compared to the same month last year, according to the findings from IPC's North Ame... Read More...

JEDEC Publishes Major Update to JEP30 PartModel Guidelines

25 May 2023

ARLINGTON, VA – JEDEC Solid State Technology Association has announced significant updates to the JEP30 PartModel Guidelines, including all reference documents ... Read More...

Nano Dimension Launches Special Tender Offer to Stratasys Shareholders

25 May 2023

WALTHAM, MA – Nano Dimension announced that it has commenced a special tender offer to purchase between 38.8% and 40.8% of the outstanding ordinary shares of St... Read More...

ECIA GIPC Launches 2-D Barcode Review

24 May 2023

ATLANTA – ECIA's Global Industry Practices Committee has launched a five-year review of its 2-D Barcode Specification, which published its last revision in 2018... Read More...

PCB West 2023 Opens Technical Conference Registration

22 May 2023

PEACHTREE CITY, GA – The Printed Circuit Engineering Association today announced registration is open for the technical program for PCB West (https://pcbwest.co... Read More...

Electronics Supply Chain Coming into Balance in H2, Says Supplyframe

19 May 2023

PASADENA, CA – Lead times and prices are expected to drop toward historical norms in the second quarter, while inventory reductions and corrections will continu... Read More...

Semiconductor Industry Downturn to Bottom in Second Quarter, SEMI Reports

18 May 2023

MILPITAS, CA – The current global semiconductor manufacturing industry contraction is expected to moderate in the second quarter and give way to a gradual recov... Read More...

Eltek Sees 18% Revenue Hike

18 May 2023

PETACH TIKVA, ISRAEL – Eltek reported revenue of $11.5 million for the first quarter, an 18% increase from last year's first quarter. Read More...

FEATURES

Reflections from Discontinuities

Models for predicting the effects of signal-destroying reflections. An ideal digital interconnect is a lossless transmission line with characteristic impedance... Read More...

'A Solution for Anybody in North America'

Following its acquisition of ACI, APCT head Steve Robinson is bullish on what's ahead. APCT in February completed the acquisition of Advanced Circuits Inc. (AC... Read More...

Understanding Electroless Nickel Thickness in ENIG and ENEPIG

The actual phosphorus content in the deposit must be considered. While the current focus in the electronics industry is chips, components and microelectronics,... Read More...

How Interconnects Work: Characteristic Impedance and Reflections

Understanding reflections caused by transmission line characteristic impedance and termination impedance mismatch. Analysis of “digital interconnects” is the a... Read More...

Permittivity vs Permeability: What’s the Difference?

Some areas of physics have considerable impact on PCB designs. PCB designers have had exposure to electronics (some more than others). And most of what we do f... Read More...

A Quick Fix for Fillet Starvation

Not enough solder? Blame the via design! Vias in pads can be “solder thirsty” and suck up solder from pads at terminals during reflow, creating what may appear... Read More...

Statistical Process Control Charts: Sampling Frequency, Subgroups and Plans

Taking the confusion out of determining appropriate data collection parameters. In 1924, Dr. Walter Shewhart was working at Bell Telephone Laboratories. On May... Read More...

Protecting Connectors on Zero Edge Clearance Boards

Not leaving enough clearance is a design oversight that can have costly consequences. As PCB designers, fabricators and assemblers, we wear a lot of hats at Ru... Read More...

Practices for Sustainability in PCB Metallization

A comparison of energy, water and chemical use for two common processes. “We will make decisions based on sustainability, Lenora.” I heard the words clearly. I... Read More...

DfM: The Devil is in the PCB Design Details

A design can look good on paper, but has it been vetted for manufacturing? Printed circuit board assembly: What comes to mind when you hear, read, or think tha... Read More...

Why I4.0 and Reshoring Go Hand in Hand

The path to digitize a factory is both closer and cheaper than most engineers realize. Reshoring has been a buzzword for a few years now. But when supply chain... Read More...

NTI 100: The Unsinkable, Unstoppable PCB Market

Political and supply-chain issues could not slow printed circuit growth in 2021. The author attended his first IPC meeting in 1966. At that time, the consen... Read More...

Making Technology-Specific Design Charts

IPC-2152 is an important baseline for determining current carrying capacity, but further work must be done for individual applications. In response to recent c... Read More...

Minimizing the Effects of Vias on Very High-Speed Digital Signals

Unwanted capacitance hanging off signal traces can cause unwanted resonances and excessive attenuation. Data rates for very high-speed data links keep climbing... Read More...

Can PCB Fabrication Processes Keep Up with Design Demands?

New hole formation technologies and low-cost low-loss materials are needed. Ed.: This is the fourth of an occasional series by the authors of the 2019 iNEMI Ro... Read More...