IPC International Community magazine an association member publication
Issue link: https://iconnect007.uberflip.com/i/1547121
OCTOBER 2026 I I-CONNECT007 MAGAZINE 27 in. The walls have shifted one last time. You begin to panic, but you search around, find the door just barely open, and you narrowly slip through just before it closes. You gather your thoughts and continue down the hallway. It grows darker and quieter, but at least the walls have stopped moving. Another door comes into view, and you can make out a battered sign hanging crookedly across the front: "The Unmapped Room." Just like the first door, you reach for the handle. Again, the door creaks open on its own. It's completely dark inside. You stretch out your hands in front of you, feeling for whatever might be waiting just beyond your reach. For PCB designers, that is a familiar feeling. Emerging technologies push us into territory where the path forward exists, but it might not be clearly marked or even visible. UHDI, SAP and mSAP, advanced materials, embedded technologies, finer geometries, and AI-assisted design are moving faster than the standards, manufacturing experi- ence, and proven design rules behind them. We feel uncomfortable. We still have to decide on trace widths, spacing, materials, stackups, via structures, impedance, and fabrication tolerances. Those decisions eventually become something physical that must be built and must work. But what if the answers are still evolving? As you feel your way through the dark, step- ping more fully into the room, you hear voices and recognize them as fabricators: "It can be done," says one. "That's too aggressive," says another. In PCB design, this could be referring to a prom- ising new material, but there isn't enough field history to know what surprises may be waiting. It may be a new process that promises incredible density, but the design guidelines are still being written. You hear more voices, with different answers and opinions, and you still have to make the design decision. Walking blindly into something new can result in more than just a quick scare. It can mean a failed prototype, fabrication problem, costly respin, or weeks lost from the schedule. That is what makes this "unmapped" room so frightening. It feels like the scariest room in the house, although it probably isn't. There's something even more sinister afoot. In the Unmapped Room, you feel along the walls until you find another doorway and, oddly enough, you're back into the hallway. For a moment, there is relief, until you squint in the low light and see one more door at the far end of the hall. Unlike the others, this one is already open. It has no flickering lights, moving walls, or strange sounds. There's just nothing, and somehow, that makes it worse. You step into the doorway and peer into the dimly lit room. You can make out that a desk, a few old drawings, a stack of notes, and one empty chair. You stand there for a moment, wondering if someone will appear, but nobody does. Now, a real fear starts to envelop your body. Something happened in this room. Someone used to be here, and now they're gone. To be continued... I-CONNECT007 John Watson is a professor at Palomar College, San Marcos, California. To read past columns, click here. E L E M E N TA RY, M R . WATS O N " This is the PCB Fright House. There are no ghosts, chainsaws, or creepy clowns. You're going to find out that inside this house is much, much worse, especially for PCB designers who like everything just right."