Issue link: https://iconnect007.uberflip.com/i/1276973
12 DESIGN007 MAGAZINE I AUGUST 2020 When we started planning this issue on fab notes, we knew we'd have to speak with Dana Korf and Kelly Dack. Dana is the former chief PCB technologist for Huawei and a front-end director for PCB board manufacturers, such as Multek, Sanmina, HADCO and Zycon. Dana has made a point of working with designers and helping them provide accurate fab notes and documentation each time. Kelly Dack has been dealing with (and correcting) error- filled and incomplete fab notes for years. In this wide-ranging discussion, Dana and Kelly explain some of the challenges they encoun- ter with fab notes, and what designers can do to create better documents and head off that dreaded phone call at 5:30 p.m. Friday. Andy Shaughnessy: Dana, why don't you give us an overview of what manufacturing notes are and their main function in the design pro- cess. Dana Korf: When we talk about fab notes, to me, the fab print is the main document, along with the graphical data, which has critical informa- tion like the stackup, drill tables, some dimen- sioning and tolerancing, and then—down the left-hand side—a series of notes where people talk about a lot of things. The fab notes will reference materials, solder mask type, lami- nate types, copper maybe, reference off their acceptability specs, and then some miscella- neous comments about the design—all telling the fabricator or assembler what to do or not to do. Shaughnessy: They all fit under the umbrella term of manufacturing notes, correct? Korf: I'd say most of the notes are manufactur- ing-related. "Here's what to do or not to do." Very rarely do you get design-related notes. Probably the most common ones I've seen are around signal integrity. "I want this Dk at 8 gigahertz." That's more design-related because you don't test it at 8 gigahertz. Typically speak- ing, they're more related to manufacturing or what I call acceptability. Deciphering Fab Notes Feature Interview by the I-Connect007 Editorial Team