A Week-long Industry Extravaganza

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We were back in San Diego, maybe for a “long vacation,” as IPC APEX EXPO is in Anaheim next year. Before we get to Anaheim, though, let’s talk about the show: It was a great week.

I spent Sunday and Monday visiting some excellent Professional Development courses. As you know, this is a fast-changing industry, and we have to keep learning to stay ahead. On Monday, I attended the Microvia Weak Interface/Reliability subcommittee, and on Tuesday, the Ultra-HDI Technology Committee. These turned out to be popular, as over 90 people showed up to the Microvia Reliability meeting and around 85 at the UHDI meeting. Those committees may have many new members soon.

Tuesday’s keynote, given by Emily Calandrelli, was particularly inspiring, and you can read more about it here.

On Wednesday, I attended the “DoD Executive Agent for PCB and Interconnect Technology” (PrCB EA) Programs Update. This was very informative, with speakers updating everyone on the various activities of PrCB EA, the Defense Production Act Title III, the Defense Microelectronics Cross-Functional Team, and Marc Carter’s EMTE education outreach. IPC’s Chris Mitchell and Chris Peters of USPAE provided updates on how both organizations are facilitating government/industry cooperation and projects.

Joe O’Neill, Randy Cherry, David Bergman, and Kelly Scanlon finished off this busy session.

I then ran over to listen to a few of the Technical Sessions. All were excellent; choosing which to listen to was difficult.

I finally got down to the show floor and saw some amazing new products and product improvements, including materials, fabrication processing equipment, and SMTA systems. I spent a lot of time at the new India Pavilion as I had once managed a number of computer automation projects for BHEL in India for HP.

Finally, the week was topped off by two new Thursday morning sessions that I can report were outstanding: Matt Kelly's Special Session on Advanced Packaging had over 100 in attendance (with standing room only) and offered many excellent and valuable presentations by some of the industry's most knowledgeable speakers and panelists.

The e-Mobility/EV Automotive special session, hosted by Brian O’Leary and Udo Welzel, was my second session highlight from Thursday. This session was divided into two sections: marketing trends and challenges, and building a supercomputer on wheels. Speakers highlighted the high recalls for EVs due to electronic problems, mainly due to public chargers that struggle in inclement weather, or design weaknesses.

The IPC standard A-610 is just the start, and EVs have different specs and components than cars with internal combustion engines. The technical challenges for EVS are temperature variation, heavy copper PCBs, density requirements, thermal dissipation, electromagnetics, and vibration/shaking requirements.

Happy Holden is a regular columnist for I-Connect007. To read past columns, click here.

02/28/2023 | Nolan Johnson, I-Connect007

Alpha Circuit is a PCB fabricator located in Elmhurst, Illinois. Given that the launch of a new PCB fab is a rare occasion these days, we caught up with the senior team—Prashant Patel, president and CEO; Steve Smith, general manager; Steve Ryan, sales and direct support—guiding the buildout of Alpha Circuit’s brand new 44,000 square foot facility. They discuss what goes into equipment selection and line design, and the timing couldn’t have been better. At press time, the new facility was on schedule for test production by the end of January 2023.

11/03/2022 | Nolan Johnson, I-Connect007

If you’ve ever experienced an electric car launching from a dead stop, felt the torque and acceleration that a motor made of magnets and copper coils can deliver over a combustion engine, then you’ll have a sense for how this year’s SMTAI took off—both literally and figuratively.

10/26/2022 | Nolan Johnson, I-Connect007

It’s not just automotive and medical devices for which capital equipment manufacturers like BTU International are finding a market. It’s also not just domestic. Bob Bouchard says his company has seen an uptick in sales after the pandemic into more “purpose-built” equipment with sophisticated requirements and very tight process control. It’s meant an increase in sales staff as well. It’s encouraging news ahead of BTU International’s exhibit at SMTA International next week.