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58 DESIGN007 MAGAZINE I DECEMBER 2024 Spend a half-century engaged in any kind of manufacturing technology, and you will see a boatload of change, especially in the realm of printed circuits. I can attest to this from per- sonal experience. While the precise date is contested, Paul Eisler is oen credited with the invention of circuit boards in the 1930s, but the patent was suppressed for strategic reasons in the run-up to World War II. It was a military application (prox- imity fuses for mortar shells) that ushered in the mass production of printed circuits. Since then, the rapid advancement of technology (oen still in service of the military's needs) has altered the landscape of PCB design over the years. We have shared and codified what we have learned into industry standards. e once tried, tested, and relied-upon "rules" are now being challenged by the ever-increasing complexity of electronic systems, driven by the pursuit of higher perfor- mance, smaller form factors, and lower power consumption—all at lower costs. We all read from the same technology scrip- tures and sing from the same design hymnals that serve the global congregation of printed circuit manufacturers and users, though there are still a few iconoclasts and heretics to chal- lenge them in the service of largely positive change. Even subtle changes are hard to effect. People, especially those in manufacturing, do not like change because it disrupts the manufac- turing floor routine. However, change, as even the ancient philosophers knew, is constant and required for continued growth and evolution. Here are some factors that have influenced and driven design rule changes: Miniaturization: Small has long been a hall- mark of electronics because it is the watershed from which flows almost every other ben- efit that we desire in our electronic products. Smaller is convenient, lighter, requires less energy, is higher performing because of prox- imity, and is more environmentally friendly. Power/thermal management: Miniaturiza- tion is desirable but comes at a cost. Pack- ing more electronics in closer proximity may improve size and per- formance and even battery life in portable products, but it also increases energy den- sity and, therefore, heat generation, which needs to be managed. Heat is the product of Another PCB Design Paradigm Shift in the Works Flexbile Thinking by Joe Fjelstad, VERDANT ELECTRONICS