Issue link: https://iconnect007.uberflip.com/i/1520492
80 I-CONNECT007 I REAL TIME WITH... IPC APEX EXPO 2024 SHOW & TELL MAGAZINE the manufacturing standards. That would be the IPC-2220 series—the IPC-2221, IPC- 2222, and the IPC-6010 series for fabrica- tion. That's how we'll come up with our grading for this. How long did it take you to lay out the board in preparation for the competition? Moyer: Between placement and the routing, I was able to route this board to comple- tion in four and a half hours. The contes- tants have five hours to complete the design because I know it can be done. We didn't require them to create design rules. All they have to focus on is placement and routing. Now you're here supervising the competi- tion. Are the competitors allowed to ask questions? Moyer: Yes, and I just had a question earlier from Paul Brionez, who took third place in last year's event. I merged several different design schematic pieces together to make this design for the competition, and there was a leftover floating text note on one schematic page that referenced a capaci- tor, and it didn't reference it correctly any- more. Paul asked, "What does this mean?" I explained what it was. But they are abso- lutely allowed to ask questions. The con- testants are all on mute, except for the one gentleman in the room who's live onsite. We tell them, "Just open your mic and ask a question, and we'll come answer your ques- tions." What's the judging process? Moyer: As soon as they're done, they will submit their projects to Patrick. Once we have all five projects, Patrick, me, and the other judges will all meet in the same room, and we'll just go through our rubric right there on the spot. We should know by the end of the day today who the winner is, and then on Thursday, we'll make the announce- ment. What do they get for winning in addition to bragging rights? Patrick Crawford: There is a cash prize asso- ciated with winning. Design007 Magazine usually has coverage of the winners, and every contestant gets a shout-out. The IPC Design Competition is a great way to get your name out in front of the industry. They get their name in lights, and it's always good to have your name known in the industry. Crawford: Sure, it's definitely a résumé- enhancer, especially if you're one of the winners. Kris, as a teacher, you must love watching this design competition. You're seeing them learn things on the fly, and you get to see how different designers approach things. There isn't just one way to do this design, is there? Moyer: There's never one right answer. As I tell my students, there's no one right answer to anything when it comes to board design. Have the competitors surprised you at all so far? Moyer: I'm already surprised just watching how some of these competitors have placed parts vs. how I chose to place them. One was vastly different, and I'm thinking, "Wow, that is an interesting design choice. I would not have done that." But we'll see. You touched on the use of standards earlier. How do the contestants incorporate the IPC standards into what they're doing? Moyer: I predefined the design rules in the Altium tool based on the standards. If you