Issue link: https://iconnect007.uberflip.com/i/1085192
10 DESIGN007 MAGAZINE I FEBRUARY 2019 asked our expert contributors to share their in- sight into printing circuits on alternative ma- terials. In our lead feature article, columnist Barry Olney of iCD explains why all PCB substrates are not created equal, and why designers need to avoid "flat-earth thinking." Next, Dan Gamota of Jabil discusses some of the off-the- wall substrates he has worked with over the years, and why materials such as toughened glass could be great substrates. Columnists Anaya Vardya and John Bush- ie of American Standard Circuits discuss mi- crowave bonding methods and their various effects on loss and dielectric constant. Next, John Coonrod of Rogers Corporation explains how designers are moving past microwave fre- quencies to millimeter-wave frequency ranges of 30–300 GHz, and why flexible circuits may be the answer. And we have a great article by CF Yee of Keysight Technologies that focuses on the influence of metal plating on PCB chan- nel loss and impedance. We also bring you columns from our regular contributors such as Mark Thompson of Pro- totron Circuits, Stephen Chavez with the IPC Designers Council, Bob Tise and Dave Baker of Sunstone Circuits, and Jade Bridges of Elec- trolube. As always, we'd love to hear from you. Shoot us an email by clicking here and let us know what you think. Until next month, have a good one! DESIGN007 Andy Shaughnessy is managing editor of Design007 Magazine. He has been covering PCB design for 18 years. He can be reached by clicking here. U.S. government has ruled out using Huawei systems in its 5G networks, fearing that Hua- wei equipment could be used to spy on Amer- icans. This marked the first year that I can remem- ber where DesignCon and IPC APEX EXPO took place during the same week. It was a fair- ly constant topic of conversation at Design- Con. Having been involved in planning a trade show, I understand how it is; some- times, you don't get much of a choice of dates, and you take what you can get. IPC and UBM cer- tainly didn't want their shows to run opposite each other. I ran into a half doz- en "road warriors" on the second day of DesignCon—engineers who had just flown in after attending the first few days of IPC APEX EXPO in San Diego. The mood at DesignCon was upbeat. Com- pany owners and managers were optimistic about the industry and the future and excited about the possibilities this new technology may bring. Quite a few managers said their compa- nies were doing better than ever. I met some new graduates and a few other new hires; sev- eral companies predicted they would be hiring this year or in 2020. All of this brings us to the current issue of Design007 Magazine. With all of these techno- logical advances, OEMs are now putting print- ed circuits on all kinds of substrates including materials not even considered substrates. We