IPC International Community magazine an association member publication
Issue link: https://iconnect007.uberflip.com/i/1547121
20 I-CONNECT007 MAGAZINE I OCTOBER 2026 The End of FLAT THINKING BY M I C H A E L G L E AS O N , G R E E N S O U RC E FA B R I CAT I O N B U I L D I N G F O R W H AT 'S N E XT Editor's note: We're excited to introduce a new column by Michael Gleason, director of product development and strategic growth at GreenSource Fabrication. Michael will challenge engineers to think beyond today's design conventions, explore new possibilities in PCB fabrication, and rethink how they approach designing for the future. The column will appear monthly in I-Connect007 Magazine. A dvanced PCB design increasingly brings elec- trical performance, thermal behavior, mechani- cal requirements, material selection, and man- ufacturability into the same conversation. The board sits within a larger physical system, and each decision can influence how that system performs. Looking at those relationships together creates more opportunity to optimize the design as a whole. The key is understanding where each design constraint comes from. Physics, reliability, and process capability establish some boundaries, while others may carry forward from an earlier design or a manufacturing process that has since evolved. Understanding the reason behind a rule gives designers and fabricators a stronger founda- tion for determining the best path forward. We see this with customer-designed stackups. These can come in with overly complex via struc- tures, unbalanced constructions, suboptimal mate- rial selections, and copper thicknesses that are inappropriate. Taken at face value, they can be unmanufacturable. Working with the customer to understand the design intent, key attributes, perfor- mance expectations, etc., can, more often than not, provide a path forward to deliver a manufacturable stackup that meets the customer's desired outcome.