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July 2014 • The PCB Magazine 29 is important to understand that electronic de- signers in many cases are not the PCB designers. Printed circuit board designers do not know all the details required to design for manufacturing (DFM) and design for the end-use application where the final electronic device is used. To de- sign for the best technical and most cost-effec- tive solution, close cooperation in the supply chain is a major key for success. Here, a strong impact on cost is given by the fact that PCB so- lution can be manufactured locally during the development phase. It is a common practice that prototype and small series of PCBs are sourced usually at local PCB fabricators (Figure 13). Here, good commu- nications and technical know-how of the PCB fabricators are needed to manage an effective development cycle and to ensure that the elec- tronic devices are working as specified. These development cycles have sometimes been seen as difficult, when language barriers and techno- logical standards as well as different manufac- turing standards are used. In the areas of indus- trial electronics, medical and avionics and space application, the quantities of PCBs that are re- quired are small to medium. These run lengths can be cost-effectively manufactured in Europe. But when it comes to consumer electronics and automotive, the situation is different. In the automotive field, much product de- velopment takes place in Europe, and therefore the prototype PCBs and the start-up production originates in Europe. When larger quantities of products are needed, and the PCB technical re- quirements are well covered by standards, low- cost manufacturing countries are chosen. How- ever, when the demand for the required units gets larger, the in-kind PCB fabrication process may be changed against a not-in-kind (Figure 14). Therefore it is important to understand that different technical solutions can adopt dif- ferent manufacturing technologies. These are the following options: • Organic material solution (PCB) • Ceramic material solution (LTCC) • Silicon technology solution (SiS) Figure 12: Proximity sensor with two assembled inner layers and 90 integrated SMds. all of the parts were made using PcB manufacturing technology and materials and the applied process (aMl) was developed by hofmann leiterplatten in germany [2] . DEvICE EMBEDDING IN PCBS: EvOLUTION OR REvOLUTION? continues