PCB Chat

We welcome back one of our favorite guests, David Schild, the executive director of the Printed Circuit Board Association of America. PCBAA was founded about three years ago to advance US domestic production of PCBs and base materials. The organization is made up of corporate members of all sizes, and includes fabricators, assemblers and suppliers. Schild brings us up to date on the US Department of Defense's National Defense Industrial Strategy, how industrial production is tied to military readiness; the House Select Committee on the Strategic Competition Between the United States and the Chinese Communist Party's December 2023 report on how to staunch the flow of IP offshore and rekindle tech leadership and economic resilience; and whether the US government plans to get into the manufacturing business.

Artificial intelligence is perhaps the most discussed – and least understood – topic in technology today. We in electronics design and manufacturing know, of course, that automation is part and parcel of what we do. But while the landscape has changed, be it the transition from mechanical drawings to CAD tools with their autorouters, or from manual and semi-automatic printers and placement machines to lights-out factories where cobots have replaced operators, the industry still has a long, long way to go in terms of widespread implementation of AI, or even understanding what it all means. Andrew Scheuermann joins Mike Buetow to share some perspective on this emerging technology. Scheuermann, along with his business partner Tim Burke, is cofounder and CEO of Arch Systems, a Silicon Valley-based developer of software tools that collect raw machine data and use predictive analytics to calculate manufacturing key performance indicators, or KPIs. Scheuermann has published numerous scientific papers in the areas of semiconductors, electronics manufacturing, and renewable energy. He has a Ph.D. in Materials Science from Stanford, and is also part of StartX, a startup accelerator for company founders who are affiliated with Stanford that has invested over $200 million across various companies, including 13 now valued over $1 billion. 

Reliability Matters covered the topic of ultrathin conformal coatings back in November. We covered various conformal coating materials from traditional acrylics and silicones to ultrathin parylene coatings. What other coating materials are available? Where do these types of coatings fit within specific applications? Where do health and safety, environmental concerns, and sustainability programs fit in with a coating process? To answer these other questions, Dr. Cassandra Zentner, VP of Health and environment at Actnano, a manufacturer of coating materials, talks with Reliability Matters host Mike Konrad. Dr. Zentner earned a BA from Oberlin College and a Ph.D. in organic materials chemistry from MIT.

EMA Design Automation has for years been the exclusive distributor of OrCAD Cadence in North America. Through acquisitions and internal development, EMA now has a series of its own software products for library management, component supply chain data. And this year EMA announced it would spin off those CAD-agnostic products into a new subsidiary called Accelerated Designs. EMA president and founder Manny Marcano joins Mike Buetow to break down the thinking behind the new company, its products, management and distribution agreement, and gives his take on Cadence's thoughts.

Printed circuit board and multichip module design software revenue soared 24% year-over-year to a record $426 million in the third quarter 2023, according to the ESD Alliance's latest Electronic Design Market Data (EDMD) report. ESD Alliance spokesperson Wally Rhines joins Mike Buetow to explain the latest data trends.

In today's increasingly connected and digital world, PCBs are the unsung heroes that power our devices, from smartphones to spacecraft. Yet, the art and science of designing these crucial components often go unnoticed. That’s where this episode comes in.   Today, we shine a spotlight on the critical role PCBs play in modern technology and explore the best practices that drive innovation and reliability. In this episode, Mike Konrad tries to unravel the mysteries of PCB design, tackle complex challenges, and unlock the secrets to creating high-performance, efficient, and reliable circuit boards. Whether you're a seasoned PCB designer looking to sharpen your skills, a budding engineer eager to learn the ropes, or simply a tech enthusiast curious about the technology that shapes our lives, this episode has something for everyone. He is joined by Dr. Zach Peterson. Zach is a well-known researcher and electronics designer. In 2017, he founded Northwest Engineering Solutions as a technology consultancy and has since grown the company into an innovative design and manufacturing house for advanced electronic products. He conducted his Applied Physics Ph.D. research in ZnO random laser theory and stability and his M.Sc. Physics research in chemisorptive sensors for environmental monitoring at Portland State University. He also received his MBA (Leadership & Finance) from Adams State University. His work has been published in over a dozen peer-reviewed journals and conference proceedings, and he has written 2500+ technical articles on PCB design for a number of companies. He is a member of IEEE Photonics Society, IEEE Electronics Packaging Society, American Physical Society, and the Printed Circuit Engineering Association (PCEA). He previously served as a voting member on the INCITS Quantum Computing Technical Advisory Committee working on technical standards for quantum electronics, and he currently serves on the IEEE P31-86 Working Group focused on Port Interface Representing Photonic Signals Using SPICE-class Circuit Simulators.   He will speak on Signal Integrity in Thin PCB Materials and IC Substrates at PCB East in June.

Episode 134 - 2023 Podcast Season Wrap-Up On this episode, I have no guests as this is the final episode of the Reliability Matters Podcast for the 2023 season. Instead, let's review what happened on the podcast this year. A special thanks to my guests and listeners/viewers for making this podcast so successful.   Chapters: 00:00:00 - Introduction to Reliability Matters Podcast 00:00:12 - The Electronic Assembly Industry Techniques 00:00:26 - Review of the 2023 Season 00:00:43 - Liquid Metal in Electronic Circuits 00:00:56 - Instant Solidification of Liquid Metal 00:01:14 - Counterfeit Component Detection 00:01:31 - Making Sense of Big Data in the Electronic Assembly Space 00:01:49 - IPC Apex Expo: Supply Chain Challenges 00:02:07 - Circuit Assembly Failures and Big Data Analysis 00:02:22 - Interview with David Raby on High Liability Contract Manufacturing 00:02:37 - Training for Effective and Entertaining Reliability 00:02:53 - "Fire Your Hiring Habits" with President and CEO of IPC 00:03:08 - Introduction to Highly Accelerated Life Testing 00:03:25 - 3,600 Mile Solo Kayak Journey Down the Missouri River 00:03:42 - Moisture Mitigation Best Practices 00:03:59 - Life as a Technical Consultant 00:04:14 - Network Reliability and Cybersecurity Threats 00:04:30 - Innovative Approaches to Education and Industry Icons 00:04:46 - Conformal Coating Materials with Lisa Rizzo 00:05:01 - Introduction to Wireless Wearable ESD Monitoring Device 00:05:16 - The Reliability of Circuit Assemblies 00:05:32 - Reliability of Circuit Assemblies and Emerging Technologies 00:05:47 - Increasing Challenges in Electronics Engineering 00:05:59 - The Silver Tsunami and Retirement 00:06:31 - Motivation for Starting the Podcast 00:06:45 - Gratitude for Support and Encouragement 00:06:59 - Gratitude for the Subject Matter Experts 07:13:00 - Acknowledging EMS Industry Experts 00:07:27 - Subscribe to the Podcast or YouTube Channel 00:07:39 - Release Schedule 00:07:55 - PCB Chat and Accendo Reliability 00:08:11 - Suggestions and Contact Information 00:08:26 - Wishing You a Joyous Holiday Season  

We are all aware of the damage electrostatic discharge can wreak on components and electronic products. We mitigate ESD damage through various forms of monitoring. We wear wrist and heel straps, stand on ESD-safe flooring, utilize ESD workstations, and more. We even have ESD testing locations that will test a human standing on a specialized testing station. But what happens the moment that person steps off the tester? My guests today are Dr. Daan Stevenson and Dr. Jonathan Tapson of IONA Tech, a manufacturer of a novel wearable ESD monitoring device that provides constant real-time ESD monitoring. Normally, we don’t talk about specific products on the show. We usually limit our conversations to best practices. This is a bit of an exception to rule. From time to time, a product is introduced that is so novel, it's worthy of a conversation. And that’s the case here.  Dr. Daan Stevenson is chief executive officer of IONA Tech. Dr. Stevenson has a background in mechanical and aerospace engineering. During his doctoral research, he studied the high voltage charging of spacecraft, which are electrical capacitors in the same way that the human body is. While working to design an automated ground station for UAVs, he frequently damaged electrical components from electrostatic shocks. This motivated the creation of IONA Tech, with the goal of advancing technology in ESD mitigation. Our other guest is Dr. Jonathan Tapson, chief technology officer of IONA Tech. Dr. Tapson was professor of electrical engineering at Western Sydney University before moving to Colorado in 2016. He spent his early career conducting sensor and instrumentation research, with a strong industrial focus. During this time he spun out three companies from his research, all of which are successful today. His specialties include low-noise circuits and systems design, mechatronic design and the integration of machine learning into real-time systems.

David Schild is executive director of the Printed Circuit Board Association of America. PCBAA was founded in 2021 to advance US domestic production of PCBs and base materials.  We discuss major investment announcements by US PCB companies, industry funding from the Defense Appropriations Subcommittee, the need for intense engagement at every level of government, and the latest on the Protecting Printed Circuit Boards and Substrates Act of 2023.

Robert Feranec is a hardware designer with over 20 years’ experience in the electronics industry, and specializes in PCB design, signal integrity and high-speed digital design. In addition, he is also a self-described passionate content creator on YouTube, where he has developed a large series of help-guides for PCB design and electronics engineering. His company, FEDEVEL Academy, also provides courses on electronics design. We talk about autorouting, simulation tools and teaching board design concepts on this edition of PCB Chat.