Issue link: https://iconnect007.uberflip.com/i/1475604
34 DESIGN007 MAGAZINE I AUGUST 2022 Well, if you went to 2-mil lines and spaces and had half the number of signal layers, you would also need fewer power and ground layers. Unfortunately, currently in North America, if you can't route the board with 4-mil lines and spaces, you add more layers, you make the thing more complicated, and use more materials. You don't go back and reconsider: Should I use 3/3? No, you just slap in more sig- nal layers. Well, that's great, but what if your vendors can't buy the material? at's not a solution. North America is particularly bad at that. You've got to start looking at other solutions because doing it the same old way (SOW) that we did 40 years ago will not work. When we have a material crisis, you can't get copper foil. You can't get prepreg. Well, stop using copper foil. Stop using as much prepreg. Extend what you have. Morgan: Or use less. e message you're giv- ing, Happy, is one that we've heard before, which is that you must get to the designers and explain because if you don't get the designers on board, they won't design the boards that way. Many of us have spent our working lives talking to designers. Of course, there are a lot of them and every time we've talked to one set, there's a new batch of designers coming along. ey need to understand what this is all about, because they would never come to that kind of conclusion naturally—to make the board thinner. ey would never come to that conclusion because they don't understand. But in the space of a short presentation, you could probably give designers a huge amount of information and help them make the change. Maybe this will be the catalyst for designing for conservation (DFC), because we haven't seen the worst of it. I'm certain of that. Maybe it will be the catalyst that will drive some proper change. Happy, you and I know what some of the possibili- ties are if we can get design- ers to think in terms of mate- rial conservation. I'm not saying that we know every- thing, but we know some things that could work, and this might be the time. is may be our chance to actu- ally do something to reduce material consumption, start- ing with board design. First, you must break the status quo. en you can make the changes you want to make and move on toward the kind of vision you have for the future. en you set it again. One positive thing about now is that we've pretty much broken the model, and when the model is broken, then you can change things. When things are running normally, you can't change much. "Oh, I get this stuff. Why should I bother?" But when it's broken and they can't get the materials, then they'll be forced into making changes. And now is a good time, and we should take advantage of it. If we don't make the changes now, all we'll do is have the same issue in a few years. We have a chance now to change the way designers look at design and layout. We really need to get the message out, and quickly. I don't mean just taking out one layer of glass but taking out half the layers or two-thirds of them and getting down to what we actually need. Stop designing boards the same old way. I know it's tough to break away from the SOW, but now we're in a perfect position. Designers, you're standing at the precipice. Matties: You may be right, Alun. ank you for the inspiration. Always a pleasure. Morgan: e pleasure is mine, Barry. DESIGN007 Alun Morgan