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34 PCB007 MAGAZINE I AUGUST 2018 en in the "prognostics and health" prediction for new electronics systems. One of the emerging challenges for high-re- liability boards, especially ones for defense, is outlined in IPC WP-23 "Via Chain Reflow Con- tinuity Test: The Hidden Reliability Threat— Weak Microvia Interface." This is evidenced in boards with multiple levels of stacked micro- vias, which are increasingly needed for mount- ing high-density boards for large I/O count in- tegrated circuits. While this stacked microvia reliability activ- ity is currently focused within the IPC Tech- nology Solutions committee, it is expected that more information will be forthcoming at both SMTAI in Rosemont, Illinois, and IPC APEX EXPO in San Diego. For a synopsis of the recent high-reliability forum held in Mary - land, see the article by Happy Holden on page 36 of this magazine [2] . PCB007 References 1. National Research Council of the National Academy of Science, copyright 2015. 2. "The IPC High-Reliability Forum for Mil- Aero and Automotive Sectors" by Happy Hold- en, PCB007 Magazine, August, 2018. Dennis Fritz was a 20-year direct employee of MacDermid, and has just retired after a 12 years as a senior engineer at SAIC, Inc, supporting Naval Surface Warfare Center, Crane, Indiana. He was elected to the IPC Hall of Fame in 2012. A new manufacturing technique uses a process similar to newspaper printing to form smoother and more flexible metals for making ultrafast electronic devices. The low-cost process, developed by Purdue Universi- ty researchers, combines tools already used in industry for manufacturing metals on a large scale, but uses the speed and precision of roll-to-roll newspaper printing to remove fabrication barriers to making electronics faster than they are today. Cellphones, laptops, tablets, and other electronics rely on their internal metallic circuits to process information at high speed. Current metal fabrication techniques tend to make these circuits by getting a thin rain of liquid metal drops to pass through a stencil mask in the shape of a cir- cuit, like spraying graffiti on walls. "Unfortunately, this fabrication technique generates metallic circuits with rough surfaces, causing our elec- tronic devices to heat up and drain their batteries fast- er," said Ramses Martinez, assistant profes- sor of industrial engineering and biomedical engineering. Future ultrafast devices also will require much smaller metal components. "Forming metals with increasingly smaller shapes requires molds with higher and higher definition, until you reach the nanoscale size," Martinez said. "Adding the latest advances in nanotechnology requires us to pattern metals in sizes that are even smaller than the grains they are made of. It's like making a sand cas- tle smaller than a grain of sand." This so-called "formability limit" hampers the ability to manufacture materials with na- noscale resolution at high speed. Source: Purdue University Future Electronic Components to Be Printed Like Newspapers