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10 The PCB Magazine • March 2017 final finish including solder reflow and wetting. Bringing up the rear this month is IPC's John Mitchell with an inspiring column on advocacy. After explaining IPC's Global Policy Framework in some detail, he tells us what we all need to do to get involved. You've heard it here before, but I'll mention it again: One of the most important events is IPC's IMPACT Washington, DC, this year to be held at the beginning of May (see our Events page at the back of this magazine). There has never been a better time to get your congressperson's ear and make our collective voice heard (numbers do count in Washington, especially those of small business owners). And, as we keep hearing, "If you're not at the table, you're on the menu." I'm sure you know what that means! So, that's it for March. Spring is showing a few weeks early here in Pennsylvania— Punxsutawney Phil got it wrong this year. (Of course, much can happen weather-wise in the next two months.) Next month our topic is high-speed materials, certainly a critical part of the PCB puzzle as the race for more speed continues. A special callout to Gary Ferrari, FTG Circuits, my very good friend and colleague, who received the Dieter W. Bergman IPC Fellowship Medal at this year's IPC APEX EXPO conference in San Diego. Congratulations Gary! PCB Patricia Goldman is a 30+ year veteran of the PCB industry, with experience in a variety of areas, including R&D of imaging technologies, wet process engineering, and sales and marketing of PWB chemistry. Active with IPC since 1981, Goldman has chaired numerous committees and served as TAEC chairman, and is also the co-author of numerous technical papers. To contact Goldman, click here. he advocates taking the time to test, document and adjust laser processes for specific materials and constructions to build a process library that reflects your company's business goals. It is unusual to have two articles by the same author or company in one issue, but this next column was just too perfect to pass up. So, we have a second piece by Becker, this one on dimensional stability in flex circuits, certainly one of the most challenging aspects of flex manufacture, especially as feature sizes and tolerances continue to shrink. Did I mention that PCB designers are learn- ing more about designing flex? What could be more perfect than a new e-book on just that subject, which brings me to our next article. In a short interview with the authors we learn about The Printed Circuit Designer's Guide to… Flex and Rigid-Flex Fundamentals, which pub- lished March 1. The interview includes a link for downloading your own free copy. As one would expect, nothing in electronics ever holds still. New processes, new equipment, and new materials are constantly being devel- oped to address new products with new perfor- mance requirements. One of those new tech- nologies is stretchable electronics. Andy Behr of Panasonic Electronic Materials gives us a great overview of the technology and also introduces a novel stretchable thermoset material that is being developed by his company. Switching gears, we have both a column and article on final surface finishes. First, Mike Carano, of RBP Chemical Technology, discusses corrosion resistance of two final finishes, ENIG and immersion silver, and a new development that shows promise in preserving solderability and minimizing corrosion. Following this is a MACFEST article by Tom Jones of Heriot Watt University (UK), whose research project was carried out at Merlin Circuit Technology. The project involved using ionic liquid technology in place of other, more dangerous chemistries in the ENIPIG plating process. Several tests were performed on the STAY FLEXIBLE!