48 The PCB Design Magazine • August 2016
Standard of Excellence: The Future is
in Fine lines
The age of much finer lines and spaces is upon
us. After years of slowly moving towards this
technology our customers are now demanding
that all of us provide them with fine lines and
spaces. Our new trend in electronics is for denser
and denser circuitry on smaller and smaller real
estate.
Weiner's World
The way that I see the problem relates to over
-
capacity for fabricators in the consumer segment
of devices with flat panel displays—mobile and
otherwise—as well as a decline in notebook PCs,
TVs and other household and portable electronic
devices.
Happy's Essential Skills: Understanding
the Concept of Managing Management
Time
You can get the most value out of monkey man
-
agement and one-minute management by us-
ing these principles together. Who knows? With
these techniques, maybe you'll have a chance to
take care of your own work instead of everyone
else's!
Catching up with Sunrise Electronics'
Ashok and Jigar Patel
I had been hearing about Sunrise Electronics for
many years, so when Ashok asked me to come
and see them for myself, I jumped at the chance.
It was one of the most amazing plant tours that
I've been on in a long time. I wanted to know
more, so we sat down and had a chat.
EPTE Newsletter: Transparent Circuits
Gaining in Popularity
Transparent printed circuits were a popular item
showcased at the JPCA Show 2016. Polyethyl
-
ene terephthalate (PET) use to be the dominant
material used for transparent substrates in opti-
cal circuits and devices and generated a huge
amount of sales from touch screen panels.
The Newest Flex Shop in the U.S.
I-Connect007 sales team member Angela Alex-
ander and I recently got a tour of Lenthor's new
Silicon Valley flex board shop and then sat down
with President and CEO Mark Lencioni to discuss
the new flex facility, the markets, management,
and the future.
The 21st Century PCB Factory–Designed
to Eliminate Offshore Cost Advantages
More than 15 years have passed since North
America and Europe ceased being the center of
worldwide PCB fabrication and were supplanted
by a Chinese market with low-cost labor, lax envi
-
ronmental requirements, and strong government
support
Happy's Essential Skills: Design for
Manufacturing and Assembly, Part 1
and Part 2
Advances in interconnection technologies have
occurred in response to the evolution of com
-
ponent packages, electronic technology and in-
creasing complex functions. Therefore, it comes
as no surprise that various forms of printed wir-
ing remains the most popular and cost effective
method of interconnections.
All About Flex: Imaging Methods for
Etch Resist, Part 3: LDI
When LDI technology was first introduced around
20 years ago, throughput was an issue. LDI was
often restricted to low volume or prototype runs.
Subsequent advances in equipment as well as
faster acting photoresist have made it practical
for high volume circuit fabrication.
Against the Density Wall:
Landless Vias Might be the Answer
I saw my first landless via multilayer while visiting
NEC in Japan in 1985. You may not know much
about landless vias. This has been a well-kept se
-
cret for the last 30 years, possibly because it is
not permitted on military boards, and therefore,
discouraged in all IPC standards.
PCB007
Highlights
