PCB Chat

While it may seem like an untimely topic given the current supply chain shortages, storage systems for electronic components are an important part of the electronic assembly industry. While we are still in the midst of a supply chain crisis, sooner or later this will be solved and the question of where to put all of our components will be waiting for us to answer. It's often said we don't have time to work on the important because we're so busy working on the urgent.

Mack Technologies is one of the largest privately held US-based EMS companies. It recently moved into a 164,000 sq. ft. facility in Juarez, effectively doubling its footprint there.

President Will Kendall and VP of operations, Juarez Oscar Gonzalez speak with PCB Chat host Mike Buetow on the demand behind the expansion, the local employment situation, and moving product over the US-Mexico border.

Tombstoning is a reflow issue causing components to stand up, creating opens. FCT Solder's Tony Lentz discusses the causes and mitigation techniques to illuminate tombstoning.

In January Rochester Institute of Technology launched a hands-on program focused on printed circuit board design. The first offering is one the first true PCB design classes available at a major university in the US to be taught by an experienced design engineer.

Dr. James Lee (pictured), acting chair of the Electrical and Computer Engineering Technology department at RIT, and Chris Banton, director of marketing at EMA Design Automation, join Mike Buetow to explain the new program.

One of my favorite subjects is the electrification of automobiles, not just electric cars, which are with us now, but completely autonomous vehicles., says Mike Konrad. In the 1960s, we were promised flying cars by the year 2000. While that goal was not met, the real prospect of autonomous vehicles in our lifetime is extremely exciting, terrifying, and realistic.

Brian Leary and Mike Konrad discuss the future of the automobile industry and what's required for the electronics industry and the world.

Wally Rhines, ex chairman of Mentor and spokesperson for the ESD Alliance, joins PCB Chat host Mike Buetow to discuss the latest data for the printed circuit board and semiconductor design software market. Led by big gains in analysis and physical design, PCB tools turned in another solid quarter. Rhines shares the data, along with observations on key end-markets and why electric vehicle designs are sometimes misunderstood.

In July 2021, in response to two decades of a declining US market, a group of printed circuit board fabricators and suppliers established the Printed Circuit Board Association of America, or PCBAA.

The organization seeks market fairness and a level playing field on which US PCB manufacturers can compete against competitors subsidized by foreign governments.

Travis Kelly, president and chief executive of Isola, the materials developer, and chairman of the PCBAA, joins PCB Chat host Mike Buetow to discuss the new consortium's outlook and strategy.

Today, we discuss Fit for Use solder paste inspection. As we've repeated several times on this show, it is said most reliability problems begin at the printer. Our industry utilizes a lot of materials in order to produce a circuit assembly. If the materials, specifically the solder paste is out of spec, that can affect reliability. Unfortunately, in most cases, one cannot simply open a jar of solder paste and easily determine visually if the solder paste their applying to the stencil is fit for use, or if it has gone bad, or is out of spec.

Mike Konrad's guest will discuss what solder paste fit for use means, and how we can provide methods for determining its fit for use right on the production floor. On a completely unrelated topic, but maybe even more interesting, he also has experience in wearable electronics in temporary tattoos. You bet we ask him about that!

Lorain County Community College, located in northeast Ohio, about 30 miles west of Cleveland, became in 2018 the first community college to offer an applied bachelor’s in microelectronic manufacturing. And a year ago, it formed the Manufacturing Electronics & Rework Institute for Training, or MERIT, which the hands-on training lab. Last spring, the program graduated its first students.

Johnny Vanderford, the director of MERIT and an assistant professor of MEMS at LCCC, and Courtney Tenhover, program developer, Engineering, Business, and Information Technologies, join Mike Buetow to discuss how industry companies shape the program curriculum and its potential for adoption by other colleges.

Larry Marcanti, executive director of the High Density Packaging User Group (HDP), and Madan Jagernauth, marketing director and project facilitator, talk with Mike Buetow about the trade consortium's recent semiannual meeting and its recently finished projects, including one for SIR.

HDP  (hdpusergroup.org) is a consortium of more than 50 global companies that conceives and runs projects on electronics packaging and reliability. It has completed more than 50 such projects over the course of its 25 years.