June 2015 IPC-A-610: What’s New

with Rev F?
p.16

PLUS:
Rigid-Flex PCB Right
the First Time—Without
Paper Dolls
p.48

ipc 610 update

The Past, Present, and Future

of IPC-A-610
By Teresa Rowe, page 10

June 2015 • The PCB Design Magazine 1

 June 2015

This Issue: ipc 610 update

Featured Content
IPC-A-610,  Acceptability of Electronic Assemblies  is the most widely used IPC standard. This
month our expert contributors Teresa Rowe of IPC and Leo Lambert of EPTAC discuss the latest
updates to this document, what they mean to product developers, and the various steps in the
revision process itself.

10 The Past, Present, and Future 16 IPC-A-610:

of IPC-A-610 What’s New with Rev F?
by Teresa Rowe by Leo Lambert

4 The PCB Design Magazine • June 2015

 RF/Microwave Materials &
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www.isola-group.com/RF
 june 2015 The optimum
28 TM
volume 4 magazine

number 6 dedicated to

34 thepcbdesignmagazine.com pcb design

Contents

Article Video Interview

48 Rigid-Flex PCB Right the First Time— 40 Polar Talks Impedance and
Without Paper Dolls Insertion Loss Testing
by Benjamin Jordan

Columns
8 All About That Via?
by Andy Shaughnessy Shorts
20 “No-ink” Color
Printing with
22 Stackup Planning, Nanomaterials
Part 1
by Barry Olney

32 Avoiding Overload in
Gain-Phase Measurements
by Istvan Novak 47 Trees Bear Source
for High-Capacity Batteries

36 The Art of Bending and Forming PCBs

by John Coonrod
Highlights
30 PCB007

42 Mil/Aero007

60 PCBDesign007
44 It’s Trade Show Time
by Tim Haag
Extras
62 Events Calendar

63 Advertiser Index
& Masthead

6 The PCB Design Magazine • June 2015

 column

the shaughnessy report

All About That Via?

by Andy Shaughnessy
I-Connect007

Zuken Innovation World tors, Ford, Honda, Toyota, Renault, Iveco, and
Imagine that you support a few PCB design- Freightliner Trucks. Andrei, now based in De-
ers working on cutting-edge applications that troit, joked about the logistics involved in sup-
utilize RF, microwave, and other high-speed porting 1,700 PCB designers and engineers in
design technologies. Some of you may fit this so many countries and time zones. Continental
description. had €34 billion in sales last year.
Now, imagine you’re supporting 1,700 de- The automotive, military, and aerospace seg-
signers across 50 countries, speaking a variety ments make up a good chunk of Zuken’s mar-
of languages. Monica Andrei of the Germany- ket share. Technologists from these areas and
based Continental Automotive Systems doesn’t more were all represented at ZIW. As in years
have to imagine; for her, that’s just a typical day past, when the event was known as ZDAC, I ran
at the office—if you can call that typical. into dozens of Zuken users who really love their
Andrei was one of the speakers at Zuken tools. And I don’t mean the normal love/hate
Innovation World (ZIW), held June 1–3 at the relationship many of you have with your tools.
Coronado Island Marriott Resort and Spa in San Most designers tell me, “I love how my software
Diego. This annual event draws Zuken design- does X and Y, but the way it does Z makes me
ers and engineers from every segment of the pull out what’s left of my hair. I wish my EDA
electronics industry. Zuken usually picks a nice company would listen to me.”
venue for their events, but Coronado Island is At ZIW, I met designers and engineers who
pretty much unbeatable. It was 70 degrees on raved about their tools, like classic car nuts at
the water, with a good breeze blowing. If you a Mustang show. And they also feel that Zuken
have to work, Coronado Island is the place to really does listen to their complaints and com-
be! Big thanks to Zuken’s Amy Clements for ments about the tools. Over the years, I’ve asked
putting this whole thing together. the Zuken folks about this, and they said they
Continental develops electronic systems, just try to listen to their users. It’s nothing fan-
tires, fuel injection systems and more for many cier than that, but it seems to be working.
of the world’s car and truck How many of you go around
makers, including all of bragging about your soft-
the German ware tools and
companies, customer
General Mo- support?

8 The PCB Design Magazine • June 2015

 the shaughnessy report

All about that via? continues

Julie Ellis, TTM Technologies (left) and Matt Isaacs, Broadcom (right) speak at the Orange County Designers Council meeting.

On to the Designers Council Meeting drilled via.” Isaacs found that basic PCBA con-
Next, I fired up my trusty Hyundai rental struction works fine up to 28 Gbps and beyond.
car and headed north to Orange County for a Next up was Julie Ellis, a field application
Designers Council lunch-and-learn. (When did engineer for TTM Technologies and 30-year in-
Hyundais become such good cars? I rented one dustry veteran. Her presentation also focused
once and I had to push it uphill. Not so with on vias, and how tough it is to get consistent
this rocket Elantra.) plating into a blind via, or in a 6 mil via that’s
Though he’s not a designer by trade, you’d three times the thickness of a human hair. Ellis
never know it from talking to Scott McCurdy, explained how reverse pulse plating works, and
longtime president of the Orange County Chap- why that’s often the best choice for achieving
ter of the Designers Council and director of sales uniform coverage in vias.
and marketing for Freedom CAD. Yes, McCurdy Ellis noted that TTM won’t use mechanical
has been a fabricator for decades, but he’s also a drills for any pitch below .8 mils, so they use
big champion for PCB design and designers. As YAG or CO2 lasers instead, or a combination of
chapter prez, he’s mastered the art of herding the two: YAG can pierce copper and dielectric,
cats; the DC meeting on June 3 at Broadcom’s while CO2 bounces off copper. Ellis explained
UC Irvine campus drew over 100 people. that any vias smaller than .8 mils generally
The first speaker was Matt Isaacs, technical di- can’t be built in China.
rector at Broadcom. He discussed a qualification Ellis also discussed a TTM technology used
vehicle that Broadcom had fabricated. His team for fanning out from large BGAs: next-gener-
sent the same PCB design to five different fabri- ation SMV, or stacked microvias. These BGAs
cators, without providing any special directions. with thousands of pins were almost impossible
His group then put the resulting boards to fanout, but with SMV, each pin in the BGA
through a series of electrical tests, and found that has its own layer, connected by microvia. It
every single board was completely different. looks like a nightmare to fabricate, though.
“We saw very little difference with TDR Another big thank you to Scott McCurdy for
looking at just impedance. Trace impedance inviting me to his OC lunch-and-learn. He said
with TDR…everything looked pretty good,” he used to get five attendees; now he has about
said Isaacs. “But once we got to the VNA, [vec- 100 most of the time. I’d be happy to come back
tor network analyzer], looking at attenuation some day! PCBDESIGN
vs. frequency, we really started to see a lot of
surprising data. For some fabs, certain layers
Andy Shaughnessy is
were great and other layers were problematic.”
managing editor of The
But the Number 1 problem for all five fabri-
PCB Design Magazine. He
cators was the via. Isaacs’ presentation included
has been covering PCB
information on tuning vias by using antipads
design for 15 years. He can
and backdrilling. One of the bullet points read,
be reached by clicking here.
“There’s no such thing as a good, partially back-

June 2015 • The PCB Design Magazine 9

 feature

The Past, Present, and Future of IPC-A-610

By Teresa Rowe IPC-A-610 is an essential document in an
IPC electronic assembler’s library. Not only is it nec-
essary to have the proper material and tools,
but it is also important to have clearly defined
IPC-A-610 At-a-Glance acceptance criteria. IPC-A-610 provides that cri-
Since 1983, IPC-A-610, Acceptability of Elec- teria developed and accepted by representatives
tronic Assemblies, has been the standard used by from some of our industry’s leaders.
organizations interested in understanding the Most often, IPC-A-610 is used as a compan-
acceptability criteria for electronic assemblies ion document to other standards. While there
around the world. is much overlap in criteria for these compat-
To understand the ultimate power of IPC- ible standards, each has a unique purpose. The
A-610, you need to first understand what is at development and evolution of IPC-A-610 falls
the core of this standard. IPC-A-610 is a collec- largely on a unified task group, which consists
tion of visual quality acceptability requirements of volunteers who often work together on other
for electronic assemblies. It is utilized as a post- standards as well. It is because of this that so
assembly acceptance standard to ensure that many standards are able to operate as compan-
electronic assemblies meet acceptance require- ion pieces. For example, IPC J-STD-001 is a ma-
ments. terial and process requirements standard that

10 The PCB Design Magazine • June 2015

 feature

The Past, Present, and Future of IPC-A-610 continues

Figure 1: Example of a P-style connection terminal.

is critical for use during manufacturing. The Some significant changes to

volunteers developing these two standards of- IPC-A-610F standard:
ten have synergy meetings where they address • Expanded conformal coating section
changes to both documents at the same time. • Requirements added for two new SMT
Specifically for the ongoing development terminations
and maintenance of IPC-A-610, it is an industry – P-Style terminations
consensus document prepared by subject mat- – Butt/I terminations—solder charged
ter experts from the electronics industry. The terminations
committee consists of more than 200 volun- • Improved language for ease of readability
teers representing their companies, organiza- and understanding
tions, and interests of the industry. It is a truly • Revised soldering requirements for plastic
collaborative project. SMT components
On top of that, IPC-A-610 is a global docu- • New photos added for clarity
ment, readily able to assist electronic assemblies • Class 2 plated through-hole vertical
around the world. For example, previous revi- solder fill requirements revised
sions of IPC-A-610 were translated into as many • Simplified Imperial English dimensions
as 20 languages. This expands the reach of the utilized in the documents
standard, solidifying its usability in the global
market. It is all about sharing knowledge and Training, Certification, and
inspiring growth to create a competitive market Validation Services
within the electronics industry. There is currently a training protocol for
IPC-A-610F available for those who want to par-
Latest Revisions ticipate in an industry-recognized training and
Currently, there are plans to translate the Re- certification program. This training protocol
vision F document. A translation in Chinese is provides Master Trainers (MITs) and Certified
available now, with French, German, and Span- Trainers (CITs) the full complement of course
ish coming soon. During the F revision efforts, materials required for training and certification
language modifications were made in some of individuals at companies within the electron-
instances to ease readability, changes to exist- ics industry. Individuals are trained and take an
ing criteria when data showed that a change exam to be certified on how to use IPC-A-610F
was needed, and criteria for some new surface in their specific roles within their own compa-
mount component types were added. nies. This training and certification of employ-

12 The PCB Design Magazine • June 2015

 feature

The Past, Present, and Future of IPC-A-610 continues

Figure 2: Example of a butt/I connection—solder charged termination.

ees to IPC standards provides the added level of quality product as a supplier in the electronics
quality performance companies look for in the assembly supply chain.
electronics industry.
IPC has also embarked on a program, Vali- Conclusion
dation Services, to address the certification of IPC-A-610F is a must-have standard for elec-
a company’s manufacturing assembly practices tronics assemblers worldwide. It is available in
to the IPC-A-610F standard. A Qualified Manu- numerous languages with more translations
facturers Listing (QML) is an assessment/audit planned in the coming months, and many com-
done by IPC of a company’s capabilities to meet panies use it in conjunction with J-STD-001 and
class 1, 2, or 3 of IPC’s standards. The program other IPC standards. Where people and process-
takes certification to the next level for EMS, es bring products to life, it is IPC standards that
ODM, and OEM companies. can bring consistent criteria and communica-
A company’s quality and success is often tion to the electronics community. For informa-
depicted in the form of a pyramid. IPC has tion about IPC-A-610F, click here.
adapted the pyramid as it applies to standards, IPC continually facilitates the evolution of
training/certification and validation for EMS, industry standards, and as the industry moves
ODM and OEM companies. The base of the forward, we anticipate the same for this essen-
pyramid is the use of IPC Standards. The next tial document. PCBDESIGN
level of value delivered is individuals trained
and certified to IPC’s standards for their given Teresa Rowe is IPC’s director
companies. At the highest level of value deliv- of assembly & standards tech-
ered is the QML recognition, which certifies the nology, and staff liaison for
company’s manufacturing and quality process. IPC-A-610. She has more than
By completing all levels of the IPC pyramid, 25 years of experience in the
companies have an opportunity to show their electronics industry and stan-
customers and suppliers, they have a complete dards development activities.

14 The PCB Design Magazine • June 2015

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 feature

IPC-A-610: What’s New with Rev F?

by Leo Lambert
EPTAC Corp.

IPC generates many specifications related

to printed circuit board fabrication, as-
sembly processes and inspection criteria.
The intent of the following article is to
describe how the documents come about
and how they are generated by providing
an overview of the latest changes in IPC-
A-610, Acceptability of Electronic Assem-
blies, hereafter identified as 610. Addition-
ally, there are online courses available that
will go through each one of these changes in
details.

Background
Why are new revisions created? Can’t
IPC just issue updates to the existing revi-
sion? Who defines what the changes are go-
ing to be and who approves of those changes?
Why can’t they make changes for all the new
technologies available? And the best question of
all: Why does my product have some condi-
tions that are not covered in the documents
and specifications?
Taking just one document, 610, and trying
to answer those questions will hopefully pro-
vide a window for customers, users, and man-
ufacturers to see where these documents come
from and how they are put together to upgrade
the products being made, and hopefully im-
prove the quality of those products.
Every five years, a new revision is created for
all the specifications from IPC. This was mandat-
ed for all ANSI approved documents. Since many
IPC documents were ANSI-approved, they had to
be reviewed and updated on a regular basis, in our
case five years. There are multitudes of implications
with the release of new revisions. They include, but
are not limited to: contract negotiations, purchas-
ing of new specifications, and development of new
certification training programs to cover the require-
ments of those documents for the trainers and the
specialist. This is all accomplished by attending the
semiannual meetings of IPC and participating in the
task group meetings, where all the new information
is presented, all the comments are reviewed to correct

16 The PCB Design Magazine • June 2015

 feature

IPC-A-610: What’s New With Rev F? continues

deficiencies in the existing revision, and all con- not the intent of the document, because this is
flicting information is reviewed to verify that an inspection document. Then we added the
complementary documents are in agreement Personnel Proficiency requirement statement to
for criteria information. reflect a synergy issue with the J-STD-001 docu-
Once all the information is reviewed and ac- ment. The ESD section was modified to include
cepted by the committee, a draft is sent to the the information from ANSI/ESD-S-20.20 and

“
IPC community for review and comment. Once other related ESD documents.
again there is a review and dis- Chapter 4 was modified to dis-
cussion on the comments, and cuss torque, which is a new in-
subsequently another draft is clusion into the document in-
created and the process re- Once all the information cluding wire routing, bend ra-
peats itself until all the com- dius, and the use of tie wraps.
ments are resolved and a new is reviewed and accepted Chapter 6 discusses the
document is published. by the committee, a draft importance of wire stripping
Creating updates to the
documents is also handled in
is sent to the IPC community and no damage to the insula-
tion and the wire strands. Ta-
the same fashion, and since for review and comment. ble 6-10 was modified to try
the comments are considered Once again there is a to make the criteria less con-
critical, the review period is fusing when using wire that is
shorten to enhance the speed review and discussion on less than 30 AWG. There were
to which the approval cycle the comments, and also changes in the Swage
is made and then the docu- subsequently another Hardware section for the ter-
ments are published for the minal base to land separa-
user community. This is a draft is created and the tion, which was included to
relatively short process as it process repeats itself until make sure the terminals were
only addresses critical issues not loose on the boards.
to the main body of the doc-
all the comments are Chapter 7 discussed ad-
ument. resolved and a new hesive bonding of compo-
So, what defines the document is published. nents and how it is accept-

”
changes? First, comments able if and when the adhesive
from the user community as goes beneath the component.
found on the comment sheet The important section of this
in the back of every IPC specifi- chapter is 7.3.5 Supported Holes –
cation. Second, submittal from the component Solder. The criteria for solder fill of the plated
manufacturers on new components being intro- through holes with solder for components with
duced for new technology applications. Finally, more than 14 leads. When this was added to the
corrections needed from editorial and technical document, the section for less than 14 leads was
mishaps in the existing documents. left out, and due to that mistake an amendment
is being readied for release to correct this issue.
Introduction to 610 Changes If and when this does come up, the recommen-
The changes from Rev E to Rev F of IPC- dation is to continue using the Rev E criteria.
A-610 are as follows: In section 7.5.6 Jumper Wires Lap Soldered, it
In going through the changes, there are some expands on the assembly of those wires to land
which reflect not necessarily the inspection of areas and surface mount components for the
the product but the skills of the operators/in- type of solder joints which are created when at-
spectors. For example, the first major change is taching jumper wires to the boards.
in the scope of the document where we added Chapter 8 discusses staking adhesives and
the statement “…this standard does not provide changes the criteria for coverage of components
criteria for cross-section evaluations,” as this when applying the adhesive, it also goes into
would be a defect analysis situation and this is changing the definition of low-profile compo-

18 The PCB Design Magazine • June 2015

 feature

IPC-A-610: What’s New With Rev F? continues

nents to plastic components where solder is al- not watched carefully. The criterion for bottom
lowed to climb the lead and touch the body of thermal plane termination was also expanded
the component. This criteria has been in 610 for to clarify the requirement. Finally the addi-
at least four revisions, so to make it a little less tion of criteria for “P” style terminations, a new
ambiguous due to the number of new compo- component being introduced which is applied
nents being introduced it was decided to make by sliding it over the edge of the circuit board
a difference between plastic and other body ma- and soldering the terminations on both sides of
terials being used for the fabrication of compo- the board.
nents. Additionally, since this is the chapter on Section 10 was modified to bring it into line
surface mount components, there are changes with IPC-A-600, Acceptability of Printed Boards.
in the Class 3 requirement for chip components If you’d like to get involved with IPC stan-
to have minimum end overlap expanding on dards such as IPC-A-610, the standards commit-
the definition of billboarding and its acceptabil- tees always welcome new volunteers. Check the
ity for certain size chip components. EPTAC website for more information about IPC-
There is also the new requirement for the A-610 and related training. PCBDESIGN
solder charge terminations, which are a butt
joint component that is being introduced for
use in Class 3 products. Although the debate is
Leo Lambert is vice president
still ongoing, this is a new component which
and technical director of the
may end up being used on Class 3 products.
training company EPTAC
The voiding criteria in BGA balls was changed
Corporation.
from 25, to 30%, and it also discusses cham-
pagne voids at the board to BGA solder ball in-
terface which will impact product reliability if

“No-ink” Color Printing fabrication process known as focused ion beam

milling.
with Nanomaterials The researchers created a scaled-down tem-
plate of the athletic logo and drilled out tiny perfo-
rations on the top layer of the metamaterial struc-
Researchers at Missouri University of Science ture. Under a scanning electron microscope, the
and Technology are giving new meaning to the template looks like a needlepoint pattern of the
term “read the fine print” with their demonstra- logo. The researchers then beamed light through
tion of a color printing process using nanoma- the holes to create the logo using no ink – only the
terials. interaction of the materials and light. This allowed
The researchers describe their “no-ink” printing researchers to create different colors in the reflect-
method in the latest issue of the journal Scientific ed light and thereby accurately reproduce the S&T
Reports and illustrate their technique by reproduc- athletic logo with nanoscale color palettes.
ing the Missouri S&T athletic logo on a nanome- “Unlike the printing process of an inkjet or laserjet
ter-scale surface. printer, where mixed color pigments
The researchers’ printing surface are used, there is no color ink used in
consists of a sandwich-like structure our structural printing process – only
made up of two thin films of silver different hole sizes on a thin metallic
separated by a “spacer” film of sili- layer,” says Dr. Jie Gao, an assistant
ca. The top layer of silver film is 25 professor of mechanical and aero-
nanometers thick and is punctured space engineering at Missouri S&T
with tiny holes created by a micro- and a co-author of the paper.

20 The PCB Design Magazine • June 2015

 coulmn

beyond design

Stackup Planning, Part 1

by Barry Olney
In-Circuit Design Pty Ltd

The PCB substrate that physically supports reduce edge rates, thus putting the materials
the components, links them together via high- selection process under tighter scrutiny. Ensur-
speed interconnects and also distributes high- ing that your board stackup and impedances
current power to the ICs is the most critical are correctly configured is a good basis for sta-
component of the electronics assembly. The ble performance.
PCB is so fundamental that we often forget that So where do we start? Over the years, I have
it is a component and like all components, it found that many engineers and PCB design-
must be selected based on specifications in or- ers do not understand the basic structure that
der to achieve the best possible performance of makes up a substrate. We all know that multi-
the product. Stackup planning involves careful layer PCBs consist of signal and plane layers,
selection of materials and transmission line pa- dielectric material and soldermask coating, but
rameters to avoid impedance discontinuities, there is a lot more to it.
unintentional signal coupling and excessive The most popular dielectric material is FR-4
electromagnetic emissions. and may be in the form of core or prepreg (pre-
The complexity of electronics design is impregnated) material. The core material is
undoubtedly going to increase in the future, thin dielectric (cured fiberglass epoxy resin)
presenting a new set of challenges for PCB de- with copper foil bonded to one or both sides.
signers. Materials used for the fabrication of For instance: Isola’s FR406 materials include 5,
multilayer PCBs absorb high frequencies and 8, 9.5, 14, 18, 21, 28, 35, 39, 47, 59 and 93 mil

Figure 1: A typical 8-layer PCB stackup used for high-speed design.

22 The PCB Design Magazine • June 2015

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 beyond design

Stackup Planning, Part 1 continues

cores. The copper thickness is typically 1/3 to state) and a decomposition temperature (Td)
2 oz. (17 to 70 µm). of 294°C (the temperature at which the sub-
The prepreg (B-stage) material is comprised strate breaks down or decomposes). The peak
of thin sheets of fiberglass impregnated with reflow temperature for lead-free solder is
uncured epoxy resin which hardens, when 260°C, which is only held for 20 seconds, to
heated and pressed, during the PCB fabrica- reflow solder the surface mount components
tion process. Isola’s FR406 materials include to the substrate. RF-4 can be used for designs
1.7, 2.3, 3.9 and 7.1 mil prepregs that may be up to 1 GHz.
combined to achieve thicker prepreg. The Rogers materials (RO4350 & RO4003)
The most common stackup is called the are another common dielectric that can with-
foil method. This features prepreg with copper stand higher temperatures (Tg >280°C and Td
foils bonded to the exterior on the outermost = 425°C), and they are ideal for high-speed de-
layers (top and bottom). Core then alternates signs up to 10 GHz. But this is somewhat more
with prepreg throughout the substrate. An expensive than FR-4.
alternate stackup is known as the capped The total substrate thickness is general-
method, which is the opposite of the foil ly 62 mil (1.6 mm), but may vary according
method and was used by old-school military to the application: 20, 31, 40, 47, 62, 93 and
contractors. 125 mil are a few other not-so-typical thick-
FR-4 has industry approvals of IPC-4101B nesses. Backplanes, for instance, will typically
and is Underwriter Laboratories (UL) rec- use the thicker substrate to ensure mechanical
ognized for product safety. FR-4 has a glass support.
transition temperature (Tg) of 170°C (the One of the steps of the PCB fabrication
temperature at which the resin begins to process is lamination. Core materials are
flow and the substrate changes to a viscous pinned together in a lamination book with
sheets of prepreg separating copper layers.
The prepreg basically glues the core materi-
als together. Outer layers are made of a foil of
copper, which is etched last in the process, so
the outer layers of prepreg act as cured core.
Horizontal alignment is critical. The stack is
pinned between two heavy metal plates and
put in a heated hydraulic press for about two
hours, until cured.
In Figure 3, the left stackup has a total
thickness of 9 mil. However, when the board
is cured the resin in the prepreg (green) flows
around the signal traces below (as in the right
diagram). This envelopes the trace completely,
and also thins the prepreg material. As the sig-
nal trace becomes closer to the above plane,
the impedance drops.
So, here are a few effects of the prepreg be-
ing cured:

a) The total board thickness reduces, by

the thickness of the signal layer copper, as the
trace is totally enveloped in resin from the pre-
preg. The resin also flows into the antipads of
the nearby planes and oozes from the sides of
Figure 2: The PCB lamination process.
the lamination book.

24 The PCB Design Magazine • June 2015

 beyond design

Stackup Planning, Part 1 continues

Figure 3: Total board thickness.

Figure 4: Typical stackups. (source: Advanced Circuits)

b) The impedance of the signal trace reduc- d) Buildup layers—the outer most prepreg
es as the resin flows out of the prepreg around and copper—are etched last in the fabrication
the traces and makes the prepreg thinner. This process so the resin does not flow around the
results in the trace becoming closer to the outer layer copper traces. In this case, the trace
plane. thickness is added to the total board thickness
and the impedance does not change.
c) The edge of the PCB can have less resin The stackups of Figure 4 are typical stackups
than the centre (and therefore slightly differ- for 62 mil substrates, although they may vary
ent impedance) due to resin flowing out of the between PCB fabricators as they may stock dif-
edge of the lamination book. The resin/glass ferent materials.
percentage, across the entire panel, determines Please note the following:
the impedance—the more resin the higher the
impedance. • The outermost dielectric is prepreg.

26 The PCB Design Magazine • June 2015

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 beyond design

Stackup Planning, Part 1 continues

• The outer prepreg has a copper foil Points to Remember

coating. • The PCB substrate is the most critical
• Prepreg layers may be combined with component of the electronics assembly.
(multiple) sheets of prepreg separating • Ensuring that your board stackup and im-
them. For instance, two sheets of 1080 pedances are correctly configured is a good ba-
and one sheet of 106 prepreg material sis for stable performance.
may be required to achieve the desired • Dielectric material may be in the form
thickness. of core or prepreg (pre-impregnated) material.
The core material is thin dielectric (cured fiber-
So where do we start in an attempt to build glass epoxy resin) with copper foil bonded to
the perfect stackup for our project? Initially, one or both sides. The prepreg material is thin
virtual materials are used to get the rough sheets of fiberglass impregnated with uncured
numbers. Obviously, every digital board will epoxy resin which hardens when heated and
require 50 ohms impedance and generally a pressed.
100 ohm differential pair. This is our target im- • The total substrate thickness is generally
pedance. However, multiple technologies are 62 mil (1.6 mm) but may vary according to the
often used on complex designs. application.
Keep these tips in mind when planning the • When the board is cured, the resin in the
board stackup: prepreg flows around the signal traces below,
thus enveloping the trace completely and also
• All signal layers should be adjacent to, and thinning the prepreg material. This alters the
closely coupled to, an uninterrupted impedance of the signal traces.
reference plane, which creates a clear return • To construct a stackup: Initially, virtual
path and eliminates broadside crosstalk. materials are used to get the rough numbers
• There is good planar capacitance to then exact materials from the library are intro-
reduce AC impedance at high frequencies. duced to improve accuracy. PCBDESIGN
Closely coupled planes reduce AC
impedance at the top end and dramatically References
reduce electromagnetic radiation. 1. Barry Olney Beyond Design columns:
• High-speed signals should be routed Material Selection for SERDES Design, Material
between the planes to reduce radiation. Selection for Digital Design, The Perfect Stack-
• Reducing the dielectric height will result up for High-Speed Design.
in a large reduction in your crosstalk 2. Henry Ott: Electromagnetic Compatibil-
without having a negative impact on ity Engineering.
available space on your board. 3. Bob Tarzwell: Controlled Impedance.
• The substrate should accommodate a 4. The ICD Stackup and PDN Planner: www.
number of different technologies. For icd.com.au.
example: 50/100 ohm digital, 40/80 ohm
DDR4, 90 ohm USB.

Unfortunately, not all of these rules can Barry Olney is managing

be accommodated on a four-layer or six-layer director of In-Circuit Design Pty
board simply because we have to use a buffer Ltd (ICD), Australia. The compa-
core in the center to realize the total board ny developed the ICD Stackup
thickness of 62 mil. However, as the layer Planner and ICD PDN Planner
count increases, these rules become more criti- software, is a PCB Design
cal and should be adhered to. Service Bureau and specializes in board level
Part 2 of the Stackup Planning series will con- simulation. To read past columns, or to
tinue detailing the construction of typical, high contact Olney, click here.
layer-count stackups and build-up technology.

28 The PCB Design Magazine • June 2015

PCB007
Highlights
A Conversation (and Day) U.S. Circuit Celebrates 30 Years of
with Joe Fjelstad PCB Fabrication
I-Connect007 Publisher Barry Matties and industry President Mike Fariba has built U.S. Circuit into a
veteran Joe Fjelstad, CEO and founder of Verdant successful business through his guiding principles of
Electronics, recently spent a day together enjoy- hiring the best people, providing the customer with
ing the Oregon community of McMinnville (home high quality products and service, and using the lat-
of the Spruce Goose), where their conversation est leading edge technology, all with a commitment
ebbed and flowed between a wide variety of top- to continuous improvement.
ics. The result is this five-part interview series that
covers a lot of ground, from the war on process PCB Industry to Achieve CAGR of
failure and the future of the electronics industry, 4% over 2015-2020
to political shenanigans, the direction of lead-free, The major drivers of the PCBs market are grow-
and more. ing demand for 3C applications (communication,
computer/peripheral, and consumer electronics),
Design Considerations: advancement in PCB technologies, and increased
Flexible Circuit vs. Traditional PCB demand of aerospace and defense products.
The tactics for flexible circuit design don’t dif-
fer much from that of traditional PCBs. All of the AT&S Hits Record Revenues in
typical specifications still apply and we add a Preliminary Results 2014/15
few more things that require special attention. “We saw a disproportionately high benefit from the
Cover layers require bigger openings than tradi- strong growth in the area of mobile devices, especial-
tional solder mask, trace directions matter in the ly smartphones, and from the constantly increasing
flex areas and miters should be round instead of share of electronics in the automotive sector through-
angular. out the year. This led to the highest revenue in the
company’s history to date,” says Andreas Gerstenmay-
Impact 2015: An In-Depth Look er, chairman of the management board of AT&S AG.
IPC understands that presenting a unified voice for
the electronics industry is essential for advancing TTM Posts Q1 Results, Sees Benefits
policies that affect the industry’s long-term future from Acquisition of Viasystems
and strengthens the U.S. and global economy. “We are pleased to report strong operating results
That is why 22 IPC member-company executives in the first quarter, with revenue at the high end
descended on the nation’s capital for  IMPACT and non-GAAP earnings above our initial guidance
2015: IPC on Capitol Hill, IPC’s annual advocacy ranges,” said Tom Edman, CEO of TTM. “Viasystems
event. will bring TTM meaningful strength in the automo-
tive end market and will complement our position
AT&S Boosts Investments in Chongqing in other end markets, enabling us to continue to
China Plant broaden our product portfolio to address an in-
AT&S is one of the globally leading manufacturers of creasingly diverse set of end markets.”
high-end HDI and any-layer printed circuit boards.
Key trends in this industry include the ongoing min- Continental PCB Technology
iaturisation and increasing modularisation. Receives PACE Award
Designed for transmission control units, the bare
German PCB Sales Up 2.6% in March die high-density-interconnect (BD-HDI) printed cir-
March PCB sales in Germany went up by 2.6% com- cuit board substrate technology from Continental
pared to the same period last year, mainly driven by replaces traditional ceramic solutions with high-
the industrial electronics sector, according to ZVEI temperature resistant materials and significantly im-
PCB and Electronic Systems. proves technical and cost performances.

30 The PCB Design Magazine • June 2015

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 coulmn

quiet power

Avoiding Overload in
Gain-Phase Measurements
by Istvan Novak
Oracle

Today, most of our printed circuit boards best suits our needs, chances are that we want
have at least a few DC-DC converters, and to keep the output voltage regulated against
some boards have many. We have a large changes in input voltage and load current,
choice when it comes to deciding what to use: which in turn calls for one or more internal
we can design and build our own converter control loops.
from discrete parts (called voltage regulator There is a well-established theory to design
down or VRD) or we can buy one of the off- stable control loops, but in case of power con-
the-shelf open-frame or fully encapsulated verters, we face a significant challenge: Each
voltage regulator modules (VRM). For low application may require a different set of out-
currents we can use linear regulators; for me- put capacitors coming with our loads. Since
dium and high current we are better off using the regulation feedback loop goes through
a switching-mode topology. Whatever circuit our bypass capacitors (shown as a single Cout

Figure 1: Block diagram of a typical DC-DC converter and gain-phase test setup.

32 The PCB Design Magazine • June 2015

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 quiet power

Avoiding Overload in Gain-Phase Measurements continues

Figure 2: Typical gain-phase plot with the phase margin identified.

in Figure 1), our application-dependent set of the left vertical axis and it shows the loop gain
capacitors now becomes part of the control magnitude in dB. The gain magnitude reach-
feedback loop. Unfortunately, certain com- es unity (zero dB) at slightly above 100 kHz.
bination of output capacitors may cause the There is a large dot at this frequency on the
converter to become unstable, something we thin green curve, indicating the crossover fre-
want to avoid. This raises the need to test, quency on the horizontal axis and the phase
measure and/or simulate the control-loop sta- margin on the right vertical axis. The phase
bility. margin in this case is around 45 degrees, which
Figure 1 shows the block diagram of a is usually considered as acceptable.
switching-mode step-down DC-DC converter To measure the phase margin, we need
(also commonly called a buck converter) to- to inject a test signal into the control loop.
gether with the usual connections and setup A suitable location is the top of the feedback
for measuring the loop stability. This is also voltage divider, where it connects to the out-
called the gain-phase measurement, because put voltage. We cut the loop open at this point
we are mostly interested in the phase of the and insert the test signal in series to the volt-
loop gain as a function of frequency. The age divider. The top side of the signal injec-
phase value where the gain magnitude drops tion faces the converter output, which is low
to unity is called the phase margin. A typical impedance, whereas the low side of the injec-
measured data set is shown in Figure 2, where tion impedance faces the upper voltage divid-
the labels identify the phase margin. er resistor, which is usually in the hundreds of
The heavy blue line on the chart goes with ohms range or higher.

34 The PCB Design Magazine • June 2015

 quiet power

Avoiding Overload in Gain-Phase Measurements continues

Figure 3: An example of gain-phase plot showing the result of error-amplifier overloading.

Inserting the test signal at such a loca- If, on the other hand, we preemptively
tion guarantees the lowest possible alteration try to select a very low injected test signal
of loop characteristics by the measurement. level, our output data may be buried under
Since the injection point sits at the DC out- noise.
put voltage, we need an isolation transform- How to maintain the proper injected level
er as shown in Figure 1. We can measure the to be above the noise floor, yet avoid control-
loop gain as the complex ratio of the voltages loop saturation, will be explained in a future
at the two sides of the injection transformer column. PCBDESIGN
with respect to ground. There are dedicated
instruments for this purpose, called frequency References
response analyzers. 1. Dynamic Characterization of DC-DC
There is one remaining challenge though, Converters, DesignCon 2012, Santa Clara, CA,
which leads us to the title of this article. As January 30–February 2, 2012.
you can see on the chart, the loop gain can
vary by orders of magnitudes as frequency
changes; usually it is in the 40–70 dB range
at very low frequencies. Unless the converter Dr. Istvan Novak is a distin-
is our discrete component design, we may guished engineer at Oracle,
not know exactly what circuitry we have working on signal and power
along the control loop, so it may be hard to integrity designs of mid-range
guess the proper level of the test signal. If servers and new technology
we are not careful and use too large a test developments. With 25 patents
signal, we can easily overload the control to his name, Novak is co-author of “Frequen-
loop. This in turn will create invalid results. cy-Domain Characterization of Power Distri-
An illustration of such a case is shown in bution Networks.” To read past columns, or
Figure 3. to contact Novak, click here.

June 2015 • The PCB Design Magazine 35

 column

lightning speed laminates

The Art of Bending and Forming PCBs

by John Coonrod
Rogers Corporation

Flexible circuits are designed to be bendable, LCP circuit materials are quite suitable for
but bending rigid PCBs is a little unusual. How- applications where bending, forming and flex-
ever, many applications that do not use flex cir- ing is necessary, and they offer very good high-
cuit technology will also require bending and frequency electrical performance as well. These
forming the circuit. Some of these applications materials are made as relatively thin laminates,
use high-frequency circuit materials to create a typically less than 5 mils. This thinness aids in
circuit in a form that enables improved anten- the successful bending of the circuits.
na functionality. Another application involves However, another set of high-frequency ma-
wrapping a circuit around a structure, which terials has been on the market for many years
sometimes functions as an antenna as well. and used in forming applications: PTFE-based
Bending and forming a circuit with dynamic laminates, without glass reinforcement. These
flexing action will require understanding a few materials typically use fillers with the PTFE sub-
basic principles, regardless of the circuit materi- strate to help lower the high CTE of PTFE, and
al used. Of course, the circuit material used can this does not detract from the material’s bend-
make a huge difference in the success of form- ing capabilities.
ing circuits without causing conductor or mate- The basic idea of bending circuits is based
rial fracturing. As a general statement with a few on mechanical beam composite theory. As an
exceptions, a circuit material used for bending, example, a simple double-sided circuit will be
forming and flexing cannot have woven glass used to demonstrate the concepts. This circuit
reinforcement. Because of this, typical FR-4 ma- will be considered a microstrip transmission
terials with woven glass are not recommended. line with a signal conductor on the top con-
Several materials used in high-frequency rigid ductor layer and ground plane on the bot-
board applications do not have glass reinforce- tom as shown in Figure 1.
ment and have been used successfully for bend- The beam composite concept con-
ing, forming and flexing. siders the cross-sectional area of a

36 The PCB Design Magazine • June 2015

 lightning speed laminates

The Art of Bending and Forming PCBs continues

Figure 1: Double-sided PCB used to demonstrate mechanical beam composite theory.

circuit that is made from different layers of ma- again and try to imagine the stresses at differ-
terials. One property critical to understanding ent thicknesses within the metal sheet. First, the
bending is modulus; in this case, modulus is the metal at the inside of the bend radius and those
measurement of how stiff the circuit is. A high layers of the metal sheet will try to compress and
modulus is stiff, and low modulus is soft. When will thus have stress due to compression. Then,
bending a circuit, softer material will generate consider the outside layers of the metal sheet;
less stress within the circuit and when there is those layers of metal will try to rip apart or will
less stress, the different layers are less likely to suffer stress due to tension. Somewhere in the
fracture. bend area, there is a transition in the metal, from
Bend radius is another very important issue. A stress as compression to stress as tension. That
simple way to think about this: If it is necessary to small transition area that has no stress is called
bend a metal sheet that is 1/8” thick without frac- the neutral axis. Ideally, when a circuit is formed,
turing the metal, then having a large bend radius if there is a conductor on the neutral axis it would
will be advantageous and, of course, a small, tight not fracture, even considering a circuit with a
bend radius is more likely to cause metal fractur- very tight bend radius, because there would be no
ing. The small bend radius causes more internal stress within the conductor.
stress on the metal and is prone to fracturing. The neutral axis is usually considered while
Another concept to consider is the neutral modeling bending, forming and flexing circuits;
axis of the composite beam (or the circuit). The the idea is to keep the critical copper layers as
neutral axis is the plane within the circuit with close to the neutral axis as possible. In the case of
no stress. Consider bending the 1/8” metal sheet the microstrip circuit shown in Figure 1, the neu-

38 The PCB Design Magazine • June 2015

 lightning speed laminates

The Art of Bending and Forming PCBs continues

tral axis will be located somewhere between the copper grain boundary difference and may be an
ground plane and the signal plane. That means issue for cracking when the circuit is bent. Plated
there will be stress as compression on the ground through-holes in the bending area are problem-
plane and stress as tension on the signal plane. atic and the type of copper used on the laminate
If a different structure is considered, such as a can be critical.
three-layer stripline circuit with a copper layering If more information on bending, forming and
scheme of ground-signal-ground, then the neu- flexing of rigid circuits is required, it is best to dis-
tral axis can be very close to the signal conductor cuss these issues with your material supplier, or
layer. The top and bottom ground layers will have contact a technologist familiar with flexible cir-
stress as tension and compression respectively, cuit technology. Many times, bending, forming
but the signal layer in the geometric center of and flexing a high-frequency circuit board will
the cross-section may have very little or no stress. follow the same basic principles of flexible cir-
Due to this, the stripline circuit may be formed ef- cuit technology. Even though the two technolo-
fectively without damage to the inner signal con- gies differ electrically, the mechanical aspects are
ductor; however, it is likely to cause some damage similar. PCBDESIGN
on the outer ground plane layers. A thin stripline
circuit would minimize the stress on the outer
John Coonrod is a senior market
layers and minimize the risk of fracturing.
development engineer for
There are many fabrication variables to con-
Rogers Corporation. To read
sider as well. One is that nickel is very brittle
past columns, or to reach
and can easily initiate cracking of the conductor
Coonrod, click here.
layers. Another issue is copper plating over the
laminate copper, which has a potential to have a

Video Interview

Polar Talks Impedance and Insertion Loss Testing

by Real Time with...
IPC APEX EXPO 2015

Product Specialists Michael

Bode and Geoffrey Hazlett join
Guest Editor Dan Feinberg to
talk about the company and
its products and solutions.
They also discuss some of the
Click
technologies being enabled
by Polar, including controlled realtimewith.com
impedance and insertion loss
To View
testing.

40 The PCB Design Magazine • June 2015

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Mil/Aero007
Highlights
Stretchable Inks: Changing the fully evaluated with Freescale® Semiconductor
Wearables Market and the Landscape radar ICs.
of Manufacturing
I-Connect007 Publisher Barry Matties and DuPont’s Commercial Avionics Systems Market
Steven Willoughby and Michael Burrows spoke re- Driven by Modernization
cently and discussed a new material for wearable The commercial Avionics Systems Market was
electronics: stretchable inks. Wearable electronics estimated at $15,748.26 million in 2014, at a
is a fast growing sector of the electronics indus- high CAGR of 7.06% from 2014–2020, to reach
try that is inspiring new and exciting products, as $23,715.24 million by 2020.
well as changing the requirements for becoming
an electronics manufacturer. OKI Technology Enables Mass Production
of High-Frequency Boards
American Standard Circuits Attains OKI Circuit Technology, an OKI group company
UL Approval for Isola’s I-Tera Laminate responsible for printed circuit board business, has
and Prepreg Family successfully developed design and mass produc-
American Standard Circuits has obtained UL ap- tion technologies for multi-layer printed circuit
proval for the I-Tera laminate and prepreg family, boards that support high speeds and high fre-
which includes I-Tera MT, a very low-loss laminate quencies based on copper coin insertion.
engineered for high-speed digital applications
made by Isola. Military Communications Market
to Hit $40B
OM Group Satisfied with Q1 Armed forces throughout the globe rely on com-
Financial Results munication systems to enable information sharing
“The year started off as planned and first quarter and securely stay in constant contact. The role of
results are in line with our expectations,” said Joe these systems continues to grow in importance,
Scaminace, chairman and CEO of OM Group. “We with new mission areas such as the control of un-
are making progress on our enterprise initiatives manned vehicles and time-critical targeting that is
and fully expect to see benefits from these actions heavily reliant on network connectivity.
ramp up beginning later this year.”
NASA Unveils Latest Technology
Innovative Circuits Installs New Roadmaps for Future Agency Needs
WISE Clean Line NASA has released the agency’s 2015 technology
Innovative Circuits, of Alpharetta, Georgia, recent- roadmaps, laying out the promising new technol-
ly installed a new Wise clean line. The Chemstar ogies that will help NASA achieve its aeronautics,
chemistry clean line will be used for surface treat- science and human exploration missions for the
ment preparation of inner-layer and outer-layer next 20 years, including the agency’s journey to
panels before dry film lamination and soldermask Mars.
coating.
Global Biometrics Market Revenue
Isola’s Astra MT Materials Successfully to Hit $67B by 2024
Evaluated with Freescale Radar ICs Tractica forecasts that the global biometrics mar-
Isola Group, a market leader in copper-clad lami- ket will increase from $2.0 billion in 2015 to $14.9
nates and dielectric prepreg materials used to fab- billion by 2024, with a compound annual growth
ricate advanced multilayer PCBs, announced that rate (CAGR) of 25.3% and cumulative revenue for
its Astra MT laminate materials have been success- the 10-year period totaling $67.8 billion.

42 The PCB Design Magazine • June 2015

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 column

tim’s takeaways

It’s Trade Show Time

by Tim Haag
Intercept Technology

Like many of you, I am one of the “trade which allows me to bypass the slow-moving se-
show guys” at my company. When we’re exhib- curity line. An hour later, we are lifting off the
iting at a trade show, I’m likely to be one of the runway and headed south. Look out Phoenix!
people heading to the show to man our booth I’m headed your way for the International Mi-
and show off our latest design software. Today crowave Symposium, also known as IMS 2015.
is one of those days. For companies involved in RF and microwave
It’s Monday mid-morning; my work is fin- applications, this show is a must-attend.
ished and I’m packed and ready to go. I take a The plane arrives in Phoenix after a fair
moment to go out to the backyard to say good- amount of bumps on the way in. Not enough
bye to my dog. True to form, he doesn’t really to make me sick, but enough to discourage a
care that I’m going to be gone for four days, he’s meal anytime soon. I meet up with one of my
only interested if I’ve brought him some sort of co-workers, who has just arrived, and we head
treat or if I am going to play with him. Since out the door to find the third member of our
I’m doing neither, he stretches and goes back to group, the one with the rental car. The team is
sleep; so much for man’s best friend. now complete. Since we all work in different
Leaving him to his nap, I hop into the truck geographical offices, there is a lot of catching up
and head to the airport. The shuttle driver tak- to do. What’s new with the kids? Where are you
ing me from the parking lot to the terminal going for vacation this year? I miss these people
wishes me well as I exit his van and hurry in- and it is great to reconnect with them again.
side to the security checkpoint. Once again I am Our first stop is the convention center to
very thankful for my “known traveler number” check in and finalize the Intercept booth setup.

44 The PCB Design Magazine • June 2015

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 tim’s takeaways

It’s Trade Show Time continues

We have a new booth this year and it’s always meet-and-greet event. Not only does it afford
fun to work with something new. A few tweaks the opportunity to talk shop, but we also swap
here and there and we are set. Next on the agen- stories and make new friends with people from
da is dinner, and since my stomach has finally other companies from all over the world. This
returned to a level state I am ready to sample event is on the rooftop of a downtown building
some of the area’s finest. Phoenix doesn’t dis- in Phoenix and the weather was made to order.
appoint and we have a delicious meal before A pleasantly warm temperature combined with

“
checking in to the hotel for the night. great food mixes in perfectly with the
Everyone is set for the next day company and we all enjoy it.
and the opening of the show. The second day of the show is
The morning weather is It’s 5:00 pm and much like the first. Once again
beautiful and we strategize we are working with confer-
over breakfast. Since we are the first day of the ence attendees, showing them
debuting some advanced func- show is over, but we how our applications can help
tionality at this show, there’s them with their design needs.
a lot to plan for and we are
aren’t done yet. Some of our technology part-
all pretty excited to see how Off we go to a ners come by the booth, and
it will be received. We head meet-and-greet even some of the new friends
over to the convention cen- that we met last night show
ter, check in and set up. Data event. Not only does up. And while we are work-
sheets and pamphlets are laid it afford the opportunity ing the booth at this show, our
out, the video is cranked up, co-workers back in the home
to talk shop, but we
and demo designs are readied office continue their work.
to show. Bring on the show at- also swap stories and These engineers are some of
tendees, because we are ready. make new friends the greatest around and this
At first the show traffic is morning they surprise us with
light. Some of the attendees with people from new software enhancements
are in meeting rooms for their other companies from that we are able to put to good
classes and presentations. But all over the world. use at the show.

”
soon they start to filter in and Trade shows usually put
we talk with them, answer- on some sort of reception,
ing their questions and show- and IMS is no exception, so
ing them what’s new. Since this as the show wraps up on the sec-
show specializes in RF and hybrid design, we ond day the convention staff starts wheeling
get a lot of interest in how our applications can out the trays of food and drink. A little while
help with these specific design scenarios. Scan later we are on our way to another meet-and-
a badge, exchange business cards, explain the greet event, and once again we have another
software, and answer some questions. It’s a pro- opportunity to mingle with other people in
cess that will continually repeat itself through- our industry. Stories flow and still more food
out the three days that the exhibit hall is open. is served. These shows are not the most ideal
While the show is going on, there is still time to try to lose weight!
regular work that needs to be attended to in the As expected, the third and final day of the
real world. So each of us will take time away show is slower than the first two, which gives
from the booth to answer phone calls or e-mails us the opportunity to roam around the show
and help out where we can. Yes, it can be a jug- floor to see what’s going on and network with
gling act at times, but this is what we do. I am other businesses. There are hundreds of booths
so proud to work with these people; they are here representing different companies and their
some of the best folks in the business. products and services, and it is difficult to see
It’s 5:00 pm and the first day of the show it all. While walking around, I notice a group
is over, but we aren’t done yet. Off we go to a of 100 or more middle-school students listen-

46 The PCB Design Magazine • June 2015

 tim’s takeaways

It’s Trade Show Time continues

ing to a presentation about future careers in the ness partners and made some new friends as
industry. well.
Many booths give out free samples or eye- Soon I am on the plane and headed for home.
catching novelties while others serve candy or After touching down in Portland, Oregon, I re-
treats, all in an attempt to get the show attend- trieve my truck and drive through a lightning
ees to remember them for future business rela- storm laced with heavy rain. I am worn out and
tionships. It is tempting to stock up on some of happy to finally pull into my driveway. Once
these free giveaways, but I don’t want to pack it upstairs, I find my dog at the foot of the bed
all home. (Those who pick up these tchotchkes guarding my sleeping wife. The dog rolls over
for their kids and grandkids refer to this last lap and gives me his “Oh, it’s you” look and per-
around the show floor as the “loot run.”) Later mits me to rub his tummy before he rolls back
in the day a group of high school kids touring over and goes to sleep.
the show stop by our booth, and we talk with The saying “It’s comforting that some things
them about careers in software development. in life never change” echoes through my mind
And then, the show closes and it is all over. as my head hits the pillow and I too surrender
Well, it’s not quite over for us; we still have to sleep. But before too long, I’ll be heading to
to disassemble the booth and pack it up. The the airport for another trade show.
disassembly goes quickly but we have to wait Let’s face it: I enjoy working trades shows
a couple of hours for the convention staff to and meeting new people. I have a great job and I
bring out our shipping boxes. But once that is can’t really complain, and no one would listen if
complete we head out for our final dinner to- I did! But I’m always glad to be home. PCBDESIGN
gether. We enjoy another fine meal followed by
the trip to the airport where we say goodbye to
each other until the next show.
Tim Haag is customer support
My flight is delayed so I have plenty of time
and training manager for
to reflect over the last several days. The show
Intercept Technology.
was a success for us; we met with a lot of people
and were able to show them how our software
could help them with their design needs. We
also spent time with our customers and busi-

Trees Bear Source for The process for creating the material begins
with breaking down tree fibres, making them
High-Capacity Batteries roughly one million times thinner. The nanocel-
lulose is dissolved, frozen and then freeze-dried
A method for making elastic high-capacity bat- so that the moisture evaporates without passing
teries from wood pulp was unveiled by research- through a liquid state.
ers in Sweden and the US. Using nanocellulose In terms of surface area, Hamedi compares
broken down from tree fibres, a team from KTH the material to a pair of human lungs, which if
Royal Institute of Technology and Stanford Uni- unfurled could be spread over a football field.
versity produced an elastic, foam-like battery ma- Similarly, a single cubic decimeter of the battery
terial that can withstand shock and stress. material would cover most of a football pitch,
“It is possible to make incredible materials from he says.
trees and cellulose,” says Max Hamedi, who is a re- “You can press it as much as you want. While
searcher at KTH and Harvard University. One ben- flexible and stretchable electronics already exist,
efit of the new wood-based aerogel material is that the insensitivity to shock and impact are some-
it can be used for three-dimensional structures. what new.”

June 2015 • The PCB Design Magazine 47

 article

Rigid-Flex PCB
Right the First Time –
Without Paper Dolls
by Benjamin Jordan 1) The paper doll does not also model
Altium the 3D thickness of the rigid and flex
sections
Abstract 2) The paper doll does not include 3D
The biggest problem with designing rigid-flex models of the electronic components
hybrid PCBs is making sure everything will fold mounted on the PCB
in the right way, while maintaining good flex- 3) A physical sample of the final enclosure is
circuit stability and lifespan. The next big prob- needed, which may not yet be available
lem to solve is the conveyance of the design to 4) If the mechanical enclosure is custom
a fabricator who will clearly understand the de- designed, a costly 3D print will be required
sign intent and therefore produce exactly what for testing. This adds much time and
the designer/engineer intended. Rigid-flex circuit expense to the project. As cool as 3D
boards require additional cutting and lamination printers are, it’s not a sensible use for
stages, and more exotic materials in manufactur- them if the modeling can be done
ing; therefore, the cost of re-spins and failures are entirely in software.
substantially higher than traditional rigid boards.
To reduce the risk and costs associated with rig- This paper discusses practical steps in two
id-flex design and prototyping, it is desirable to approaches to solve these problems, contrast-
model the flexible parts of the circuit in 3D CAD ing against the traditional paper doll approach
to ensure correct form and fit. In addition, it is above.
necessary to provide absolutely clear documenta- In the first scenario, a 3D MCAD model of
tion for manufacturing to the fabrication and as- the PCB assembly can be created in the MCAD
sembly houses. package where a sheet metal model can be gen-
The traditional attempt most design teams use erated for the PCB substrate model. This sheet
to mitigate these risks is to create a “paper doll” metal model can be bent into shape in the
of the PCB, by printing out a 1:1 representation MCAD software to fit the final enclosure and
of the board and then folding it up to fit a sample check for clearance violations. This is not the
enclosure. This presents a number of issues: best approach, but it is better than paper dolls.

48 The PCB Design Magazine • June 2015

 article

Rigid-Flex PCB Right the First Time – Without Paper Dolls continues

In the second scenario, a significant part of flex circuit may not be discovered until boards
the enclosure or mechanical assembly model is are in pick-and-place (PNP) or during final
brought from the MCAD package into the PCB prototype assembly into the target enclosure.
design software, where the rigid-flex board out- These issues dramatically increase the risk and
line can be designed specifically to fit with it. potential costs of developing a successful prod-
Rigid-flex layer stack sections can be defined uct around a rigid-flex PCB.
and then flexible circuit areas have bending
lines added. In the PCB design tool’s 3D mode, Rigid-Flex PCB Construction
the folds are then implemented to reveal where To best understand the problems discussed
potential clearance violations and interference in this paper it is necessary to offer a very brief
occurs. The PCB design can then be interac- overview of typical rigid-flex PCB construction.
tively modified to resolve the problems and This subject matter is treated lightly here but a
check right away—without having to build any more thorough discussion can be found in the
further mock-ups or translate design databases author’s guidebook[1].
from one tool to another. The most common method of flexible print-
ed circuit production is to begin with polyimide
Introduction (PI) film sheets, typically 2–4 mils in thickness,
Rigid-flex can have ample benefits, and which are pre-coated with laminated or electro-
many designers who never had to do so before deposited copper foil, on one or both sides.
are now considering it. PCB designers are fac- Laminated foil is adhered to the film using a
ing higher pressures to build evermore densely thin (typically 2 mils) adhesive layer. The cop-
populated electronics, and with that come ad- per pattern on this flexible substrate is etched
ditional pressures to reduce costs and time in using the same process as rigid PCB substrates,
manufacturing. Rigid-flex PCB technology of- using a photolithographic process. Figure 1 il-
fers a solution that is viable for many product lustrates the construction of a typical single lay-
designs facing these challenges. er flexible printed circuit (FPC). After etching,
However, there are aspects of rigid-flex tech- additional adhesive sheets and PI film layers are
nology that could potentially be potholes in laminated onto the FPC to protect the copper,
the road for newcomers. So it’s wise to first un- known as coverlays.
derstand how flex circuits and rigid-flex boards Components can be mounted on the FPC,
are actually made and the challenges of mak- with component land patterns (pads) being ex-
ing sure everything will fold in the right way, posed for soldering through openings in the
all while maintaining good flex-circuit stability coverlay film. Thus, coverlay also forms a sol-
and lifespan. dermask in most cases. Usually, the areas of the
In addition, design hand-off to the fabrica- FPC that have components mounted require
tor is fraught with risk, especially for those less stiffeners, or fully rigid PCB substrate (using FR-
experienced (either in design or manufacture).
First, there must be absolutely clear documen-
tation concerning what is required. Such doc-
umentation includes layer stack and material
definitions, fabrication drawings, and design
notes. If these items are not accurate and com-
plete there will be production delays at best,
and scrap prototypes at worst. Second, the PCB
layout and design is still traditionally carried
out in 2D CAD systems where it is difficult to vi-
sualize or model how the components mounted
on the final PCB assembly (PCBA) will fit in 3D
space when the rigid-flex circuit is in operation.
Third, problems with assembly of the folded Figure 1: Single-layer FPC construction.

50 The PCB Design Magazine • June 2015

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 article

Rigid-Flex PCB Right the First Time – Without Paper Dolls continues

Figure 2: A typical hybrid rigid-flex layer stack cross-section.

4, for example). This gives rise to the term “rig-

id-flex PCB,” where some areas of the board are
flexible and others are rigid where components
are mounted.
The rigid sections may include additional
cores, pre-pregs and copper layers or may sim-
ply have blank FR-4 or thick PI film adhered to
one side as a stiffener. Figure 2 shows an illus-
trated cross-section of an adhesiveless rigid-flex
hybrid PCB layer stack.
Author’s note: Lamination of adhesiveless
boards is becoming more common, in order to
avoid Z-axis expansion problems with the older
adhesive-based approach. Because adhesive lay- Figure 3: PCB paper doll using cardboard,
ers tend to expand greatly during solder reflow, mounting posts and connectors[2].
they can adversely affect assembly production
yield due to cracked via barrels.
the mechanical fit of a carrier PCB with a daugh-
The Traditional Paper Doll Approach terboard.
Design clearance issues can be mitigated us- Immediately, one can begin to see the limi-
ing paper dolls. A paper doll is a scaled (usually tations of this approach. While it is cheaper and
1:1) printout of the 2D PCBA outline, cut into faster than actually building a prototype, it is
its final shape with scissors, so named after the extremely difficult to accurately model the en-
children’s activity of cutting a folded piece of tire PCBA with component interferences. One
paper into a doll shape and then unfolding it to method is to glue the bulky components to the
form a string of connected doll shaped cutouts. cardboard or paper so a reasonable appreciation
Paper dolls have traditionally been used exten- of the 3D fit can be obtained. This is tedious
sively in PCBA development, and not only for and wasteful.
flexible electronics. Figure 3 shows an example An example of a paper doll for a rigid-flex
of a typical cardboard paper doll used to model design is shown in Figure 4. A 1:1 printout of

52 The PCB Design Magazine • June 2015

 article

Rigid-Flex PCB Right the First Time – Without Paper Dolls continues

Figure 4: A paper doll of the rigid-flex design of a stepper motor controller to be mounted in a movable
part of the mechanical assembly.

the PCB layout design is cut out of the paper great deal of additional effort for skilled MCAD
and folded in the way that the flexible portions operators to use sheet metal models to repre-
of the circuit should go in the final product sent the rigid-flex PCB.
installation. For a more accurate feel of how
things will fit, cardboard which approximates Sheet Metal Model Method in MCAD
the thickness of the rigid portions of the final In the sheet metal method, the process is
board should be cut out and glued to the areas relatively straightforward but has many steps.
of the paper doll which represent the rigid areas The initial MCAD model of the product is de-
of the design. signed along with a sheet metal component,
This approach is tedious and time-consum- which forms part of the assembly. One or more
ing, and it is very difficult to make the paper fixed tabs are used to model rigid sections (or
bend naturally in the same way that PI film of flex with stiffener). Figure 5 shows a subset as-
the final product will bend. Therefore, it’s diffi- sembly of a product where the rigid-flex PCB
cult to get a clear idea about the fatigue or natu- substrate sits atop a stepper motor model.
ral folding properties of the design. This is a nice clean way of discovering what
Additionally it does not allow for proper area is available for the PCB substrate, but it is
checking of the various layer stack regions, and still necessary to get this shape into the PCB
hence there’s no guarantee that the design— editor’s workspace. Generally, MCAD software
even if the paper doll fits and folds correctly—is packages that model sheet metal have an “un-
actually manufacturable. bend” or “unfold” feature which is usually used
To save time and guarantee a proper fit, be- for generating the sheet metal stamping out-
fore the expense of costly prototypes, it is de- puts needed for sheet metal fabrication. In this
sirable to model the rigid-flex design in CAD case however we need to generate a model suit-
software. Since the product is initially designed able for import into the PCB editor. The unfold-
using mechanical CAD (MCAD) tools, it is not a ed sheet metal model of the board is shown in

June 2015 • The PCB Design Magazine 53

 article

Rigid-Flex PCB Right the First Time – Without Paper Dolls continues

Figure 5: Stepper motor model and rigid-flex. Figure 6: Here’s the flattened 2D sheet metal shape
to be exported to ECAD.

Figure 6 and areas subject to bending are high- supported largely by the use of 3D STEP models
lighted, which can assist in planning for com- of the components and mechanical enclosure
ponent placement regions known as “rooms” or parts thereof.
later on. ECAD software with 3D functionality is not
This sheet metal model can be exported to intended to replace dedicated mechanical CAD
the PCB design software (ECAD) as either IDF systems. At least, not until engineering affords
or DXF in its simplest form. The PCB editor im- such a multi-disciplinary approach. Meanwhile,
ports this board shape or outline from which it is a major step forward in terms of improved
the PCB shape is actually created. workflow, and reduced waste of time and mate-
Components are placed in the PCB editor rials. High-end PCB design tools allow for Native
and then an IDF file is generated to transmit the 3D PCB design: this includes not only 3D visual-
PCB shape and component locations back to the ization of the PCBA, but also full 3D modeling of
MCAD database, where the mechanical designer the PCB including dielectrics and copper. Such
can re-fold the board substrate. However in most 3D models can also be exported for thorough
cases this is an unwieldy task, with some manual thermal and electromagnetic investigations.
effort involved in maintaining the placement as- With additional tools for native 3D model-
sociations of the components on the rigid board ing of the board materials, components, and
sections in their folded positions. mechanical object such as the enclosure, proper
The overall process involving both MCAD clearance checking and animation of flexible
and ECAD domains is illustrated in Figure 7. circuit elements is possible, offering some guar-
The advantage of this method is that both me- antee that the final rigid-flex design will fit in
chanical and PCB design specialists get to work the designed enclosure and function according
in their native software environments, focusing to specifications.
on what they do best. It is still beneficial for the MCAD designer
to generate a 3D model of the rigid-flex board
Direct ECAD 3D Model without components, and import this as a 2D
As the name suggests, in this new method outline into the ECAD software. The overall ex-
the PCB layout design, rigid-flex folding design, tents of the PCB are generated from this. Alter-
and mechanical assembly are all modeled to- natively, this step is performed directly within
gether directly within the ECAD software. Ad- the PCB design tool.
vancements in most modern PCB design tools Once the PCB outline has been generated,
enable proper 3D visualization at a minimum, the layer stacks for each region of the PCB de-

54 The PCB Design Magazine • June 2015

June 9 October 13–15
ITI & IPC Conference on Emerging & Critical IPC Europe Forum: Innovation for Reliability
Environmental Product Requirements Essen, Germany
Fort Lee, NJ, USA Practical applications for meeting reliability
challenges like tin whiskers, with special focus on
June 9–10 military-aerospace and automotive sectors

IPC Technical Education October 26–27

Chicago, IL, USA
IPC Technical Education
Professional development courses for engineering staff
and managers: Minneapolis, MN, USA
• DFX-Design For Excellence (DFM, DFA, DFR and more) Professional development courses for engineering staff
• Best Practices in Assembly and managers:
• Advanced PCB Troubleshooting • DFX-Design For Excellence (DFM, DFA, DFR and more)
• SMT Problem Solving • Best Practices in Assembly
• Advanced PCB Troubleshooting
June 10 • SMT Problem Solving

ITI & IPC Conference on Emerging & Critical October 28–29

Environmental Product Requirements
Des Plaines, IL, USA IPC Flexible Circuits-HDI Conference
Minneapolis, MN, USA
June 12 Presentations will address Flex and HDI challenges in
methodology, materials, and technology.
ITI & IPC Conference on Emerging & Critical
Environmental Product Requirements November 2–6
Milpitas, CA, USA (San Jose area) IPC EMS Program Management Training
and Certification
September 27–October 1 Chicago, IL, USA
IPC Fall Standards Development Committee
Meetings November 4
Rosemont, IL, USA PCB Carolina 2015
Co-located with SMTA International Raleigh, NC, USA
September 28
December 2–3
IPC EMS Management Meeting
IPC Technical Education
Rosemont, IL, USA
Raleigh, NC, USA
Professional development courses for engineering staff
October 13 and managers:
IPC Conference on Government Regulation • DFX-Design For Excellence (DFM, DFA, DFR and more)
Essen, Germany • Best Practices in Assembly
• Advanced PCB Troubleshooting
Discussion with international experts on • SMT Problem Solving
regulatory issues
December 2–4
International Printed Circuit and APEX South
China Fair (HKPCA & IPC Show)
Shenzhen, China

Questions? Contact IPC registration staff at [email protected] or +1 847-597-2861

 article

Rigid-Flex PCB Right the First Time – Without Paper Dolls continues

Figure 7: Process flow with ECAD and MCAD tools having separate database.

sign (rigid and flexible) must be defined (Figure rapidly converge on a solution.
8) and then assigned to the areas of the board Figure 10 shows the 3D mode view of the
that will contain those layer stack subsets (Fig- sample stepper motor drive board, with flex re-
ure 9). Once the board regions have had the gions folded into the in-situ shape of the final
various layer stacks assigned the bending and mechanical assembly. The entire PCBA file can
folding areas for the final product are defined be re-exported as a STEP model back into the
also (Figure 9). MCAD software, for final mating with the me-
After the board regions and bending lines chanical design.
are defined the flex regions can be folded and The modified process for rigid-flex design
examined in the software model to ensure cor- without paper dolls is shown in Figure 11. By
rect form. At this stage it can quickly become enabling layer stack regions and folding simula-
apparent if the flexible extents are too short or tion in the ECAD environment, final clearance/
too long and adjusted accordingly. interference checking can take place visually
The components are then laid out, along during the design process, making it possible to
with physically bulky objects with STEP mod- do “right first time” design of rigid-flex boards
els—connectors, heat sinks, LEDs, light pipes, every time.
and other parts. At this stage it is beneficial to At the end of the design process, further
have the final enclosure model imported into time savings are realized in that a STEP file 3D
the ECAD environment using a STEP file, and model can be generated from the entire PCBA
interference checks can then be interactively in both folded and unfolded states, includ-
executed in real-time, or a batch processed de- ing partially folded states. This has great ben-
sign rule check (DRC). Interferences can then efits in terms of design documentation on the
assist in the proper relocation of components to MCAD side, but also allows for clear assembly

56 The PCB Design Magazine • June 2015

 article

Rigid-Flex PCB Right the First Time – Without Paper Dolls continues

Figure 8: Layer stack definitions to be assigned to flex and rigid board regions.

Figure 9: Board regions are assigned the required Figure 10: Native 3D model of rigid-flex
layer stacks for rigid and flexible areas to be and mechanical part assembly (right) and
defined, and bending lines are added. re-imported folded model of entire PCBA in
MCAD software (left).

June 2015 • The PCB Design Magazine 57

 article

Rigid-Flex PCB Right the First Time – Without Paper Dolls continues

Figure 11: Streamlining the process further by performing all DFM checks in the PCB design tool.

instructions and communication of the steps Flexible Printed Boards, IPC-2223C, IPC, Ban-
to be taking during final installation of the nockburn, Illinois.
PCBA into the product enclosure. 3. Thermal Conductivity Polyimide Film
Using this new integrated method, at least 2013, Shinmax Technology Ltd., Taiwan, viewed
50% of the time normally taken to verify and 25 October 2013.
validate PCB shape and folds can be saved, due 4. TCM125-OE, Zhuhai Smartech Electronics
to the interactive and instantaneous feedback & Machinery, China, viewed 25 October 2013.
nature of the approach. 5. Machined Class A Die Coverlay 2011, GC
Further time and error is reduced for final Aero Inc., United States, viewed 25 October 2013.
assembly, as clear images and video can be 6. Fine Blanking Die SKD11 / Din1.2379 for
generated from the folding steps of the rigid- Flex Printed Circuit Board 2013, Haoji Stamping
flex PCBA to discover the optimal assembly Tool & Die Co. Ltd., China, viewed 31 October
sequence. This video or image output can be 2013.
utilized in both assembly and product service 7. 1.6 mm Immersion Gold FR-4 & PI 6 Layer
documentation. PCBDESIGN Rigid Flexible Board/Multilayer Printed Circuit
Board 2013, YYUXING Shenzhen Electronics
References Co., LTD., Korea, viewed 25 October 2013.
1. Jordan, B., 2013, Rigid-Flex PCB Design –A
guidebook for designers, Altium Inc., La Jolla,
CA. Ben Jordan is senior product
2. Esden, 2009, The twisted world of Esden manager for PCB design and 3D
(Blog), viewed 13 October 2014. modeling products at Altium.
3. Coombs, C.F. 2008, Printed Circuits Hand-
book, 6th ed, McGraw-Hill, New York, NY.
2. IPC 2011, Sectional Design Standard for

58 The PCB Design Magazine • June 2015

Top
Ten
Recent Highlights from PCBDesign007

1

Mentor Graphics Unveils
FloTHERM XT with EDA
That is why 22 IPC member-company executives
descended on the nation’s capital for  IMPACT
2015: IPC on Capitol Hill, IPC’s annual advocacy
Connectivity
event.
Mentor Graphics Corporation has announced the
newest version of the FloTHERM XT software prod-
uct with advanced thermal management capa-
bilities for electronic systems, printed circuit board
4

Design Considerations:
Flexible Circuit vs.
(PCB) and packages of any geometric complexity.
Traditional PCB

It’s understandable that there are still questions

2

Shax Engineering:
The Biggest Little Board
about flexible circuit design vs. traditional PCB
design based on the number of PCBs vs. flexible
Shop in the Bay Area circuits manufactured worldwide, annually. How-
ever, those of us in the flexible circuit fabrication
Publisher Barry Matties recently had the chance market are often asked even the simplest of ques-
to sit down for an interview with Isam Shakour, tions: what kind of software do I need to design a
founder and president of Shax Engineering. This flexible circuit? 
little San Jose, California company is a complete
turnkey operation, providing PCB layout, fabrica-
tion, and assembly services. They discussed the
company’s growth since its 1998 founding, and
5

Zentech Acquires Colonial
Assembly & Design;
Shakour’s plans for Shax going into the future.  Launches ZenPRO

Zentech Manufacturing, Inc. is pleased to an-

3

IMPACT 2015:
An In-Depth Look
nounce the acquisition of Colonial Assembly &
Design, LLC. (CA&D). Located in Fredericksburg,
Va., Colonial Assembly & Design has a thirty+ year
IPC understands that presenting a unified voice for legacy of outstanding performance in support
the electronics industry is essential for advancing of the Department of Defense (DOD), military
policies that affect the industry’s long-term future primes, our nations warfighters and the commer-
and strengthens the U.S. and global economy. cial aviation industry.

60 The PCB Design Magazine • June 2015

6

Mentor Reports 1Q FY 2015
Revenues of $272M
(played by Bill Murray) confronts his psychia-
trist (played by Richard Dreyfuss) and emotes, “I
need! I need! I need! Gimme! Gimme! Gimme!”
It’s tough figuring out how to make PCB materials
“The first quarter was strong for Mentor Graphics,
that meet all the “I need!” and “Gimme!” require-
substantially exceeding financial guidance,” said
ments in this industry.
Walden C. Rhines, chairman and CEO. “In addition
to more than 50% bookings growth in three of our
four product categories, our automotive business
was very strong, driven by a major win with a lead-
ing automotive OEM. We also initiated a strategic
9

Intercept Enhances Advanced
Design System Interface
and geographic realignment of resources. First Functionality
quarter results provide a solid start to the year.”
Intercept Technology Inc., a leading EDA soft-
ware developer for PCB, RF and hybrid design

7

Cadence Strengthens Allegro
Technology Portfolio
solutions, has announced enhancements to the
Keysight Technologies Advanced Design Systems
(ADS) Board Link interface functionality within
Pantheon.
Cadence Design Systems, Inc., has unveiled the
Allegro 16.6 portfolio, which features several new
products and technologies. Included in this release
is the new Allegro PCB Designer Manufacturing Op-
tion, which can shorten the time to create manu-
J

Pulsonix and Ucamco
Collaborate to Fully Integrate
Gerber X2 in Pulsonix 8.5
facturing documentation by up to 60 percent, and
several key technology updates catered to increase
efficiency, control and productivity for designers. WestDev Ltd., the EDA company delivering tech-
nology-leading PCB design solutions, has an-
nounced the completion of its Gerber X2 output.

8 Material

Witness: How About
that Technical Roadmap!
Working closely with Ucamco, the developer of
the Gerber format, Pulsonix has successfully im-
plemented Gerber X2. The output has been fully
You may remember the movie What About Bob?  verified by Ucamco, who confirm it conforms to
If you do, you may recall the scene in which Bob the X2 specification. 

PCBDesign007.com for the latest circuit design

news and information —anywhere, anytime.

June 2015 • The PCB Design Magazine 61

 calendar

Events
For the IPC Calendar of Events, click here.

For the SMTA Calendar of Events, click here.

Upper Midwest Expo & Tech Forum
June 25, 2015
For a complete listing, check out Minnetonka, Minnesota, USA
The PCB Design Magazine’s event calendar.
SEMICON West
July 14–16, 2015
San Francisco, California, USA
SEMICON Russia
June 17–18, 2015 Ohio Expo & Tech Forum
Moscow, Russia July 16, 2015
Cleveland, Ohio, USA
Philadelphia Expo & Tech Forum
June 18, 2015 PCB West 2015
King of Prussia, Pennsylvania, USA September 15–17, 2015
Santa Clara, California, USA
Symposium on Counterfeit Parts and
Materials—Tabletop Exhibition SMTA International 2015
June 23–24, 2015 September 27–October 1, 2015
Hyattsville, Maryland, USA Rosemont, Illinois, USA

62 The PCB Design Magazine • June 2015

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June 2015, Volume 4, Number 6 • The PCB Design Magazine© is published monthly, by BR Publishing, Inc.

A d v er t i s er I n de x Coming Soon to
ANS................................................................. 39 The PCB Design
Candor Industries............................................ 45
Dibble4Leaders............................................... 49
Magazine:
Downstream Technologies.............................. 37
Dymax............................................................ 27
Eagle Electronics.............................................. 13 July:
EMA/EDA Design Automation......................... 11
Supply Chain
Fast Interconnect............................................. 15
Freedom Cad.................................................... 7 Management
In-Circuit Design Pty Ltd................................... 2
Intercept......................................................... 19
IPC.................................................................. 55 August:
Isola.................................................................. 5 The War on
Mentor............................................................ 29
Failure
Miraco............................................................ 51
Multilayer Technology..................................... 21
Oak Mitsui...................................................... 23 September:
Prototron........................................................ 25
Pulsonix.......................................................... 41 Cars: A Driving
Rogers............................................................. 43 Force in the
Sunstone Circuits............................................ 17
Electronics
The PCB List................................................ 3, 59
US Circuit........................................................ 31 Industry
Ventec............................................................. 33

June 2015 • The PCB Design Magazine 63