JANUARY 2024 I DESIGN007 MAGAZINE 75
We asked Stephen Chavez, senior product
marketing manager with Siemens, to dis-
cuss the company's approach to designing
embedded components. He also explains
how designers can take advantage of
today's ECAD tools, which feature greater
integration with the MCAD tool environment.
Once a CAD tool is chosen and
the basics understood, the thought
process should then shift toward
the manufacturing of the PCB,
before applying electrons to the
screen. Let's get the "bad news"
out of the way first. Perfection is
an unattainable goal. Don't expect manufactur-
ing to be perfect. There will always be variations
from optimum at every step of every manufac-
turing process.
One of the significant impacts of innova-
tion on PCB shapes is the move away
from conventional rectangular and
square boards toward more customized
and irregular shapes. These uncon-
ventional shapes cater to the specific
requirements of diverse applications,
such as wearables, IoT devices, automo-
tive electronics, and more.
I've worked on some LED light board
designs with very complex geometry,
particularly in my days designing
boards for the gaming industry. Hit-
ting the "auto-dimension" button on a
design with so many arc origins and
spline features would surely yield
catastrophic documentation.
American Standard Circuits is an early adopter of
Averatek's A-SAP process for its ultra-high density
interconnect (UHDI) products. I had the opportunity
to sit down with industry veteran John Johnson to
discuss this. John previously worked at Averatek
and is now vice president of business development
at American Standard Circuits where he oversees
quality. We will be discussing and sharing photos,
slides, and materials with permission from both
ASC and Averatek.
We asked design instruc-
tors Kris Moyer and Kelly
Dack to discuss the chal-
lenges related to design-
ing odd-shaped PCBs, as
well as some solutions for designing today's
boards that are anything but rectangles.
What's the craziest-shaped board you've
ever worked with?
For the latest news and information, visit PCBDesign007.com
Elementary, Mr. Watson:
Consider Physics When
Designing Non-traditional
Geometries
Book Excerpt: 'The Printed Circuit
Designer's Guide to... Designing
for Reality,' Chapter 2
EDA Tools and Unconventional
Geometries—Designing
Embedded Components
Unconventional Geometry
Design Techniques
Target Condition:
Designing Unconventional
Geometries
UHDI Fundamentals: Talking UHDI
with John Johnson, Part 2
