The committee passed the annual defense appropriations bill, also known as H.R. 4350, by a 57-2 margin on Sept. 2. The $744 billion bill includes a provision for improved printed circuit board supply chains. It tightens restrictions on the acquisition of certain printed circuit boards for which supply chains may be susceptible to interference by the Chinese government and directs the Secretary of Defense to investigate whether to extend the prohibition to other uses.

“The Secretary [of Defense] shall use the report to determine whether any systems (other than defense security systems (as defined in section 2533d(c) of title 10, United States 16 Code)) or other types of printed circuit boards should be subject to the prohibition in section 18 2533d(a) of title 10, United States Code.

“These provisions will reduce supply chain risk in critical defense systems, and will encourage development of reliable, effective, and efficient sources of printed circuit board technology in the United States and its allies and partners,” the NDAA summary says. (MB)

In August, Creation announced plans to acquire IEC later this year.

“The addition of the Computrol team will significantly enhance our ability to serve customers. Computrol shares our values of providing exceptional customer service and outstanding quality,” said Stephen P. DeFalco, chairman and CEO, Creation Technologies.

Creation said the acquisition expands its capabilities in the medium volume/high reliability segment servicing Aerospace & Defense, Medical, and Tech Industrial customers. It adds locations in Meridian, and Westminster, CO, offering seven highly automated state-of-the-art SMT lines and over 100,000 square feet of production space.

As a result of the acquisition, Creation will establish a New Product Realization Center by moving its design services team from Golden, CO, to Computrol’s Westminster site. The center will feature Creation’s Launch with Excellence to Advanced Production (LEAP), a stage gate NPI process that improves the ability to rapidly launch new designs. (MB)

Since late June, Infestos has had a standing offer of €14.55 in cash for all issued and outstanding ordinary shares in Neways, a premium of about 33.5% over Neways’ closing price on Apr. 29, and a premium of 65% over the average daily volume weighted price for the six months prior to that date.

Neways’ management board and supervisory board said in a statement they fully support the transaction and unanimously recommend the deal to shareholders. A shareholder vote will take place this month.

The offer is subject to certain conditions, including a minimum acceptance level of 60% of the shares, or such lower amount as determined by Infestos in consultation with the boards but with a minimum of 50.01% of the shares.

• Smartphone shipments are expected to grow 7.4% in 2021, reaching 1.37 billion units, followed by 3.4% growth in 2022 and 2023, respectively. (IDC)
• The US PC market grew 17% year-over-year in the second quarter, with total shipments of desktops, notebooks, tablets and workstations reaching 37 million units. (Canalys)
• Worldwide PC shipments are expected to grow 14% to 347 million units in 2021. Tablet shipments are expected to grow 3.4%. (IDC)
• DRAM suppliers’ second quarter revenue reached $24.1 billion, up 26% sequentially. (TrendForce)
• Global wearables shipments grew 32% year-over-year as volumes reached 114.2 million during the second quarter. (IDC)

Case in point: A common television ad of late for a fairly high-tech product. The message was about the quality that goes into “making” these devices. So far, so good. But the ad fades to a man decked in a flannel shirt, blue jeans and the obligatory well-groomed beard, eyeing with pride some woodworking project. I get it: Pride in workmanship. The skilled craftsman produces a fine item. The message and imagery are ageless. One problem, though: That’s not how it goes!

It’s been decades since I purchased an item that is not the result of vigorous, data-driven engineering, followed by a slew of process, manufacturing, quality, and even finance folks obsessed with the analyses, measurement, inspection and costing of every piece of anything that gets even close to the product. While I’d like to think some flannel-shirted woodworker hand-built a device, the reality is data, and more data, and a little data on top of that, are what it takes to turn a concept into a successful product.

If we use that gate agent analogy to describe the program manager’s dilemma in today’s chaotic materials situation, the plane is running four hours late; the passengers who were loaded an hour ago now need to be told the crew needs to deplane because they’ve exceeded their legal flight time limits, and there are no alternate flights because a bad storm has shut down the entire East Coast. The state of imbalance between supply and demand in today’s materials market is so bad, the issue isn’t whether customers will be disappointed but how badly they will be disappointed. Program managers are the point people in delivering that bad news.

It’s almost inevitable that a component that works well and lasts a long time will eventually be put on a list of parts not to be specified for mass production. Newer, better parts are on the way. The thinking goes that the microcontrollers and other devices on a board are already fine-pitch, so another one can be accommodated. That’s how we end up with those five-pin regulators with a tiny diamond-shaped pin trapped between four beveled rectangles.

Advantage: Component-to-component spacing. The via-in-pad trick enables high component density by enabling routing that is 100% internal to the board, with no exposed traces. The space normally set aside for the fan-out via can be used for the next component with the following stipulations:

• Test access is maintained
• Rework clearance (for desoldering)
• Electrical isolation (shielding)
• Thermal considerations (heat sink, heat pipe)
• Mechanical interference (headroom)
• Pick-and-place accuracy.

It seems the electronics trade show industry had been shrinking the past year only to swell with a sudden, extreme realization venues are opening and plans that went dormant last year are coming back to life. August provided a swell of relief in the form of DesignCon. DesignCon was held Aug. 16-18 at the San Jose Convention Center, and PCEA was happy to participate with its first-ever trade show booth (FIGURE 1). A special nod from the PCEA executive staff to Eriko Yamato, our events coordinator, on design, coordination and delivery of our booth and some very special giveaway t-shirts for show attendees. Michael Creeden, PCEA vice chairman and treasurer/coordinator of our PCEA sponsors manned the booth throughout the show, with help from PCEA media coordinator Tara Dunn (FIGURE 2). Mike reports that while the show numbers seemed down a bit, the show had the spirit of a family reunion, and quite a few attendees were interested in hearing about the value of joining PCEA.

As technology trends toward smaller, faster, cheaper, the challenges around good PDN design get more difficult. With multiple requirements needed from many disciplines, the PDN’s demands will only increase and become harder to maintain.

Over the past few months, we have discussed elements essential to power delivery and PDN requirements. Now that we have a better understanding of this, it’s time to explore what is needed to create the ideal PDN product, and who is best equipped to bring together all the elements of the PDN.

What is a good PDN design, and how do you achieve it? Power-related design objectives tend to be similar in nature for all PCBs: to provide sufficient current at a stable voltage to each device. What does vary widely is complexity, however. Said objectives can range from simple single-supply, powering a solid power plane, to a multi-source, hot-swappable, self-monitoring, thermally sensitive, complex design that accounts for most components and a large amount of copper on the PCB. Simply put, good PDN design delivers power adequately and reliably.

Arthur C. Clarke once said, “Before you become too entranced with gorgeous gadgets and mesmerizing video displays, let me remind you that information is not knowledge, knowledge is not wisdom, and wisdom is not foresight. Each grows out of the other, and we need them all.”

Today, we’re all familiar with gorgeous gadgets, and not only those we carry in our pockets, wear on our wrists or help us drive our cars. The factories we work in are dripping with sensors and automation, which is increasingly robotized, bringing a level of dexterity, efficiency, and reprogrammable flexibility that previous generations could only dream of.

We are fortunate to live in this period we now call the fourth industrial revolution, although we should recognize our predecessors have been working toward this for generations. It’s simply human nature. Since the beginning of industrialization, people have been making analyses – of processes, end-products, and how things are done – to achieve some improvement. Often, the goal is to increase productivity and quality but also to ensure safety and reduce environmental impacts. Recently, of course, reducing pollution and energy consumption, while addressing issues like recyclability, has become increasingly important.

To start, there are several ways to insulate circuits in the flex world. These include solder mask, coverlay and coverfilm. In most cases, the designer may simply note solder mask per IPC-SM-840 and leave the rest to the fabricator. This allows the fabricator to use the proper mask in the proper setting.

When making a design decision, first differentiate between rigid-flex and true flex circuits.

Let’s cover the easiest one first: rigid-flex. Typically, a rigid-flex construction will have solder mask applied to the external rigid layers to insulate all external traces, as well as define surface mount or BGA pads. It may also provide mask dams between pads to reduce the potential of solder shorts at assembly. This solder mask usually is classified under IPC-SM-840 as a type H solder mask, which denotes a high-reliability solder mask. These are the most common solder masks. Normally green in color, they can be modified for other colors, as desired. It is worth noting that if the color deviates from the as-formulated green option, there may be feature resolution and web size tradeoffs. This is because the additives used to change the color impact how the mask material absorbs light energy during the imaging process. As a result, the fabricator may need to ask for some relief for other colors.

Is it worthwhile to design printed circuit boards with the smallest component package available today: the 008004? And how do you do it correctly?

Several months ago, a hardware engineer in a high-tech company that is developing virtual reality headsets approached me. “These are special glasses that can integrate into game consoles in hundreds of millions of homes worldwide,” he said with excitement. “This is innovative technology that will enable a totally different viewing and gaming experience than what’s available at present.”

Later in the conversation, he noted they are developing a common electronic circuit board for a project that, after successful programming, has been proved by means of an evaluation board.

On the surface it seems promising. He then qualified their progress, however, adding that because this circuit board has a wide range of applications but a very small footprint, there is no room on the board to place all the needed components. After I received the technical details of the circuit board and parts list, I understood the possibility of building this assembly, provided we use the smallest component package. This is a component with dimensions of quarter of a millimeter by an eighth of a millimeter, known in the industry as an 008004.

In part one³ of this series we showed the voiding, solder spread and thickness of the high-reliability Innolot alloy compared with SAC 305 alloy solder pastes using five different surface finishes. Part two discusses thermal cycling effects on the growth in IMC thickness and solder joint strength. This study included two commonly used solder alloys in paste form:

1. SAC 305 (96.5%Sn, 3%Ag, 0.5%Cu) powder size distribution (PSD) type 4 with novel “CVP-390” paste flux
2. Innolot (91.95%Sn, 3.8%Ag, 0.7%Cu, 3.0%Bi, 1.4%Sb, 0.15%Ni) PSD type 4 with the novel paste flux and five variations of surface finishes, including
1. Organic solderability preservative (OSP) (MacDermid Enthone Entek Plus HT) using two thickness levels
2. Immersion tin (Ormecon CSN)
3. Immersion silver (MacDermid Enthone Sterling)
4. Electroless nickel/immersion gold (ENIG) (MacDermid Enthone Affinity).

• All prior routing operations passed.
• Valid test program is loaded on the machine.
• Test start- and end-times and test results are captured.
• Failed printed circuit boards (PCB) cannot advance in the production routing and must enter rework loop.

One of the fundamental features of an MES system is routing enforcement. A machine can perform an operation only if the MES system verifies all prior operations have passed and the correct test program is loaded. All PCBs must be serialized to capture the highest level of traceability. The MES verifies that PCBs entering the AOI machine belong to the program loaded on the machine. Once the operation is approved, the AOI machine performs the test, and it sends board-in and board-out events and test results to the MES. The MES collects test results into a central database, which permits factory-level reporting, avoids having to locate results on individual machines, and protects against data loss. The MES also controls the routing flow and prevents a panel that fails AOI test from moving to the next operation. The panel must enter a rework loop, and defects must be fixed or the panel scrapped. In addition, the MES can analyze the test results and provide automatic feedback and program modification for pick-and-place machines to eliminate problems that occur in the component placement operation. This was not in the scope of this project.

The WLP this year will focus on the success stories of women who have created varied career paths, applying core technical strengths to a variety of areas and succeeding consistently. Hear how their diverse career experiences have contributed to their long-term success. Our two distinguished speakers have blazed unique career paths and will share their stories with the audience.

Material. In the early days of SMT, squeegee blades were predominately made from polyurethane (rubber), as the very first surface-mount printing processes used mesh screens. As the industry transitioned to metal-etched stencils and then laser-cut, stainless steel squeegees became standard. However, there are applications – such as heavily stepped stencils (say a 75µm step down on a 150µm-thick stencil) – where the compliance of a polyurethane squeegee is beneficial. The vast majority of squeegee blades today, though, are stainless steel. And not just any stainless steel; to be sure, a tremendous amount of IP and proprietary alloy formulation is in today’s sprung steel compounds used to manufacture high-quality blades. They keep a good sharp edge and provide excellent consistency for the pressure and force applied, which delivers the aperture filling necessary for a repeatable process.

The microsection (FIGURE 1) shows a plated through-hole that has been soldered with the nickel layer and through-hole copper visible. Normally, customers would accept the plating standards offered by the fabricator, or define their own, which may or may not impact the price. The nickel layer is part of the nickel/gold surface finish with the very thin gold of less than 1µm consumed during soldering and not visible. The remaining nickel is 5µm, and the copper is around 32µm. This is generous on many circuits board produced today and soldered very easily in production.