Issue link: https://iconnect007.uberflip.com/i/1202019
JANUARY 2020 I PCB007 MAGAZINE 59 far as the Super Bowl is concerned. But don't let it deter you from still coming to profession- al development and the standards meetings. Johnson: How many papers do you expect? Sandy-Smith: There are about 80 papers, and then all of the special sessions. Johnson: Do you see any general trends or things standing out in the papers? Sandy-Smith: There are a lot of cool papers about board fabrication with topics such as copper treatments, making the copper smooth- er and better for RF and signal integrity, etc. There are also some special sessions on semi- additive processes, starting with a very thin copper layer and essentially 3D printing and building up the circuit instead of starting with the copper and etching it away to get your cir- cuit. This technology could be revolutionary for microelectronics and HDI; I haven't yet seen it work, personally, but it's amazing, and I want to hear more about it. We also have several sessions that interface between organizations. AIEG is an automo- tive organization that we partnered with to represent some content, and they will be at IPC APEX EXPO to do a two-part profession- al development course on the fundamentals of problem-solving. That may sound simple and broad, but knowing that it's coming from AIEG, it's going to be good content, and you'll want to be there. And then we have a couple of sessions from iNEMI, talking about new tech- nology drivers and materials, etc. Something different is that we're partner- ing with an organization called the Women's Business Enterprise National Council (WBE- MC), which is an organization that advocates for women-owned businesses. We're going to have a whole session with them about why building diversity into your supply chain and having lots of different kinds of companies in- to services are so important. We're broaden- ing the horizons into social responsibility in the electronics industry and how we can make more robust supply chains as well as how we can support diverse companies. Johnson: Thanks, Brook. Sandy-Smith: Thank you. PCB007 Brook Sandy-Smith, IPC's technical conference pro- gram manager, provides an overview of networking opportunities, including the Newcomers' Network- ing Reception, the Women in Electronics Reception, and the Trivia Networking Night. Click the image to watch the video. (Source: IPC) IPC APEX EXPO 2020 Networking Events