90 DESIGN007 MAGAZINE I JANUARY 2020
Worldwide Wearables Surge 94.6% in 3Q
Led by Hearables Market, Says IDC E
Global shipments of wearable devices totaled
84.5 million units in the third quarter of 2019
(3Q19), a year-over-year increase of 94.6%
and a new record for shipments in a single
quarter, according to IDC.
Meet Super PCB at IPC APEX EXPO 2020 E
Super PCB plans to exhibit at IPC APEX EXPO
2020, scheduled to take place February 4–6 at
the San Diego Convention Center in Califor-
nia. The team will display samples of a num-
ber of Super PCB products for the fast-moving
PCB industry, including single-layer, two-lay-
er, multilayer rigid PCBs, flexible PCBs, rigid-
flex PCBs, aluminum PCBs for LED and Rog-
ers PCBs for RF applications, HDI, and others.
AltiumLive Frankfurt 2019:
Carl Schattke Keynote E
"How many here can remember manually taped
artworks?" No more than three hands were raised
in an audience of over 230 at the AltiumLive 2019
European PCB Design Summit in Frankfurt, Ger-
many, as IPC Advanced Certified Interconnect
Designer Carl Schattke introduced his keynote,
entitled "Making and Breaking the Rules."
Toray Creates Revolutionary PPS Film
for 5G Circuit Boards E
Toray Industries has created a polyphenyl-
ene sulfide (PPS) film that maintains the out-
standing dielectric characteristics, flame retar-
dancy, and chemical robustness of that poly-
mer while remaining thermally resistant at
40°C higher than conventional counterparts.
Employing the new film in flexible printed
circuits offering 5G and other fast data rates
would offer several benefits.
Insulectro Works to Bridge the
Fabricator/Designer Gap E
Barry Matties sat down with Insulectro's Me-
gan Teta and Mike Creeden to discuss trends
they see in the materials market and how
they're working to bridge the gap between fab-
rication and design, including helping design-
ers understand what they can do to make a
board more manufacturable.
Decreasing Bend Radius and Improving
Reliability, Part III E
Many flex novices will design a circuit that
calls for bending the flex in too tight of a bend
radius, which can cause damage to the circuit
and lower the reliability of the end product.
This is the third and final installment in a se-
ries of articles that will focus on the seven key
aspects to consider when designing for maxi-
mum durability and maximum flexibility.
Is 3D Printing the Future of
Battery Design? E
One of the enabling technologies of our 21
st
-
century lifestyle is the lithium-ion battery.
These energy packs make possible mobile
phones and electric cars, laptops, and health-
care devices, robots and remotely operated
sensors, and much more.
Eurotech Expands With Acquisition
of Lyncolec E
U.K. PCB manufacturer The EuroTech Group
has acquired Lyncolec, based in Poole, Dor-
set. The deal will see the enhancement of Eu-
roTech's manufacturing capability to include
flex and flex-rigid PCBs. This complements its
current offering and will facilitate EuroTech's
strategy to provide a more diverse product
range to its customers.
