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October 2014 • The PCB Magazine 33 PCBS FOR AUTOMOBILES: WHAT TO WEAR TO THE PARTY? continues goal was to provide quality-related products to the automotive manufacturing base. The most important product created by the IATF was the TS 16949 global automotive quality systems specification. Being recognized by all major au- tomotive OEMs, it resulted in the obsolescence of the QS9000 standard and continues to be the de facto QMS for the automotive supply base. Therefore, in order to begin targeting the au- tomotive electronics market, the initial hurdle will be to create and execute a proper QMS that meets the TS 16949 criteria. Once established and executed, you would need to achieve certi- fication from an accredited registrar. I detailed the primary steps towards creating an effective TS 16949 system in a past article on automotive electronics. Not much has changed since then in case you would like to reference it as a start- ing point. Capability Let's assume you've gone through the steps of breaking down and rebuilding your QMS and are now TS 16949 certified. Now that you've gotten into the party, don't assume that some- one is going to want to dance with you just for walking in through the door. You've got to ac- cessorize in order to find a date. The reason why accessorizing is important is because while there aren't many TS certified PCB fabricators in North America, there are hun- dreds of them in China that collectively supply the vast majority of PCBs used in automobiles. One driving factor is that, historically, PCBs for the automotive market didn't really even come close to pushing the envelope for technology. These would typically be single through 6-layer PCBs made of standard FR-4. Accordingly, what you've got to do is target the segments of that market that are not only a good fit for your company, but for which your company is recip- rocally a good fit. One way to do this is to think about elec- tronic automotive systems and their underlying technologies. Once you have a handle on what technologies those products use, you've got to build the capability for producing those tech- nologies in your company. We'll discuss a few as examples as we don't have enough room in this paper for a truly ex- haustive list. Not to mention that at the cur- rent rate at which technology for automobiles is evolving, such a list is sure to be obsolete within a short period of time. Technology: collision avoidance/anticipatory braking Essentially, these applications use a form of near-field radar that enables the safety sys- tems to react accordingly to external events. As those suppliers to the military market know all too well, these systems can use a wide variety of high-speed, low-loss materials. Typical suppli- ers are Arlon, Nelco, Rogers, and Taconic, who provide materials made of specialized FR-4, ce- ramic based, and PTFE/Teflon-based materials to achieve the desired properties and function. Unfortunately, you can't just change the material type on the traveler and expect every- thing to turn out right. Let's take PTFE materials as an example and identify the processes that need adjustment. • Drilling: Unique feeds and speeds are definitely required, and you can't just go by the datasheet. I had a wonderful experience last year in which a customer wanted to try a design but built in two different materials, one from Rogers and one from Taconic. In reading their datasheets and comparing to our standard PTFE feed and speed tables, we found that there was a wide range of chiploads. This was odd since both materials were PTFE based, implying they would drill similarly. Long story short, we end-