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Current IssueBreaking High-speed Material Constraints
Do you need specialty materials for your high-speed designs? Maybe not. Improvements in resins mean designers of high-speed boards can sometimes use traditional laminate systems. Learn more in this issue.
Level Up Your Design Skills
This month, our contributors discuss the PCB design classes available at IPC APEX EXPO 2024. As they explain, these courses cover everything from the basics of design through avoiding over-constraining high-speed boards, and so much more!
Opportunities and Challenges
In this issue, our expert contributors discuss the many opportunities and challenges in the PCB design community, and what can be done to grow the numbers of PCB designers—and design instructors.
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The Challenges, Opportunities, and Future Specialties of PCB Design
March 19, 2024 | Stephen V. Chavez, Siemens EDAEstimated reading time: 1 minute
We’ve witnessed a progression of the various roles in PCB design over the decades due to the ever-evolving field of electronics. These roles, which are key to PCB design, can be described as the all-encompassing domain of printed circuit engineering (PCE), which involves multiple disciplines and their respective domains, and plays a pivotal role in shaping the technology landscape. As technological advancements accelerate, the multi-disciplines within PCE face myriad challenges while simultaneously encountering exciting and promising opportunities.
What were once specialties have become more generalized over time—PCB designers must learn about design automation, signal integrity (SI), electromagnetic compatibility (EMC), complex high-speed design, mechanical design, and manufacturability/producibility. Design engineers must learn about layout, simulation, and supply chains—and in their place new specialties have emerged, like multi-gigabit SerDes channel design, advanced manufacturing, IoT, and multi-physics system verification. Across the board (no pun intended), good engineering teams have learned to collaborate outside their siloed specialties, which increases their individual and collective value. Yet, it’s not only designers grappling with this evolution but also numerous tech companies across several industries that must bolster their engineering resources to close the growing talent gap.
To read this entire article, which appeared in the March 2024 issue of Design007 Magazine, click here.
Suggested Items
The Shaughnessy Report: Unlock Your High-speed Material Constraints
05/15/2024 | Andy Shaughnessy -- Column: The Shaughnessy ReportThe world of PCB materials used to be a fairly simple one. It was divided into two groups: the “traditional” laminates, often called FR-4, and the high-speed laminates developed especially for high-speed PCBs. These were two worlds that usually didn’t collide. But then traditional laminates started getting better, and high-speed designers and design engineers took notice and started to reconsider what FR-4 could be used for.
Standard of Excellence Collaboration—The Right Path to Innovation
05/15/2024 | Anaya Vardya -- Column: Standard of ExcellenceNow more than ever, as new and innovative technologies for printed circuit boards are in demand, we need collaboration between PCB designers, fabricators, and assemblers. Close partnerships with PCB designers and assemblers are key to developing and producing PCBs with boards with new and innovative technology. These collaborative partnerships, along with the partnership with the end customers, are more critical than ever before.
A Potpourri of Design PD Classes
05/14/2024 |What is invention without innovation? What is innovation without capability? Kelly Dack addresses these questions and more in this review of the Professional Development courses at IPC APEX EXPO, including the flex course lead by "Flexperts" Mark Finstad and Nick Koop.
Real Time with… IPC APEX EXPO 2024: Precision Tools and Problem-solving With Perfect Point
05/14/2024 | Real Time with...IPC APEX EXPOIn an interview with Guest Editor Dan Beaulieu, Alex Girardot, a field applications engineer with Perfect Point, shares his experiences with precision tooling. Alex also discusses a challenging project involving thick boards and small diameter holes in which Carbonite tools with a hybrid design were used. They also discuss the trend toward smaller hole sizes.
Breaking High-speed Material Constraints: Design007 Magazine — May 2024
05/14/2024 | I-Connect007 Editorial TeamDo you need specialty materials for your high-speed designs? Maybe not. Improvements in resins mean designers of high-speed boards can sometimes use traditional laminate systems instead of high-speed materials, saving time and money while streamlining the fab process. In the May 2024 issue of Design007 Magazine, our contributors explain how to avoid overconstraining your materials when working with high-speed boards.