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12
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Contents
November 2015
Volume 5
Number 11
the definitive
interactive magazine
dedicated to the
global PCb industry
thepcbmagazine.com
columns Shorts
8 Data, Data and More Data! 34 Interim CEO Jeff McCreary on
by Patty Goldman Changes at Isola
64 Digital Imaging
Revisited
by Karl Dietz
Articles
50 Conducting Very High Currents
Through PCB Substrates at High
Ambient Temperatures 77 Imec and Ghent University Present
by Thomas Gottwald and Christian Rößle Thermoplastically Deformable
Electronic Circuits
Departments
86 Events Calendar
patty’s perspective
It seems that whenever I’m working on a haven’t felt a great need to wear an armband or
magazine topic, suddenly it’s everywhere. So have my front door lock automatically (I don’t
much so that I begin to wonder who was in even like my car’s locks activating automati-
on our topic discussion. It was that way with cally) or have my washing machine start up at
this month’s theme, “The Data Factor(y): The some odd time. I have timers on lamps, and
Power of Data.” Articles suddenly seemed to be I use a few auto sensors for other things. Isn’t
appearing all over the place, especially on the that enough? Apparently, not anymore!
topic of the Internet of Things (IoT). Yeah, they We did a survey on our topic this month,
were always there; I just started noticing them. as we do every month (sent to our subscribers).
Speaking of the IoT, I found myself wonder- You can see some of the results in Figures 1 and
ing, “What does that really mean and how does 2. We also asked an open-ended question about
it affect us?” I read an article at Forbes.com, “A your “largest issues” with data. Your answers
Simple Explanation of the ‘Internet of Things’” seemed to revolve around the accuracy of data
that offered a solid explanation[1], which really collected (and whether it is the right data), lack
helped. Basically, it’s all about connections con- of time, collecting in real-time, and then how to
necting…electronically, of course. Personally, I organize and analyze what has been collected.
www.mutracx.com
patty’s perspective
It is often surprising how closely our science the leap from traditional neural nets and genet-
fiction novels and movies model the future. The ic algorithms written in LISP or Prolog to more
Internet of Things (IoT) and big data may prove modern programming languages like Python
to be an excellent example of this phenome- or Haskell, transition to distributed parallel ar-
non. Coined in 1999 by Kevin Ashton (the RFID chitecture and a bunch of Google programmers
standards pioneer), the IoT is one of the least lead by Jeff Dean, Geoffrey Hinton and Ray-
descriptive monikers of all time for something mond Kurzweil, and you begin to have some-
very important in the history of technology. thing that looks very much like James Cam-
At its core, the IoT (or IoE or IoX) is a catch- eron’s mythical “Skynet” from the 1984 movie
all grouping for a network of interconnected “The Terminator.”
devices across multiple technologies that span
everything from smartphones, to utility sys- What exactly are these devices that
tems, medicine, to vehicles—all of which will will be connected?
collect data and communicate with the cloud In 2015, with 13.4 billion connected devic-
and with each other to make “intelligent” de- es, we are close to saturation on human com-
cisions about their operation within the total puter interface devices such as tablets, mobile
context of the network. phones and personal computers. The connected
Add to this an astounding proliferation of device landscape that is being predicted to drive
sensors measuring everything from tempera- the IoT will see significant growth in other seg-
ture to vibrations, chemicals, and magnetic ments which will span everything from medi-
fields. Drop in some big data analytics, make cal devices, such as glucose sensors and blood
Please visit us at
oxygen monitors (Figure 1), to wearables (Fit- of its IOT initiative explains that “the Econom-
bit, Apple watch), to home automation (Nest ic Impact of the Internet of Things is forecasted
thermostats or Kwikset Kevo Bluetooth locks), by Cisco to grow by $19 trillion between 2014
to self-driving vehicles (Google car, Delphi car) and 2020.”
and even agriculture technologies (Semios [Fig- One key to this is the adoption of the IPv6
ure 2]). device addressing protocol. IPv4 (the current
Each of these devices will collect significant standard, ex: 66.147.252.109) allows for about
data and then upload it to the cloud in either 4.3 billion addresses. In June of this year, John
raw or semi-processed format where analysis Curran, CEO of the American Registry for In-
will be done and machines will make decisions ternet Numbers (ARIN), told attendees at a
based on the results and alert users, make au- conference in Boston that the “ARIN’s IPv4 Ad-
tomated adjustments, or communicate with dress pool has dwindled to 90,000 and [would]
other machines to react to the conditions. be exhausted within two weeks.” He urged IT
Understandably, much of the press surrounds professionals from educational institutions to
consumer devices, however Sam Smith at Juni- “upgrade their public facing websites to IPv6 as
per Research indicates that, “While IoT ‘smart soon as possible.” IPv6 by contrast, will facili-
home’ based applications grab media headlines, tate unique addressing for 4.3x10^38 devices
it is the industrial and public services sector— (ex: 2600:1404:17:18b::19ff).
such as retail, agriculture, smart buildings and
smart grid applications—that will form the ma- Where will this $19 trillion come from?
jority of the device base.“ There are three basic categories of things
There are also varying degrees of adoption. that promise to undergo a significant amount
Countries like South Korea and Denmark lead of growth as a result of this IoT trend:
the field with the largest number of connected
devices, with 37.9 and 32.7 per 100 residents, 1) Sensors and edge devices: These de-
respectively. The United States by comparison is vices will include sensors using Silicon ICs,
at a level of 24.9 connected devices per 100 resi- MEMS technology (Figure 3), printed electron-
dents. All together, it is anticipated there will ics, traditional circuit boards, and even organic
be nearly 40 billion connected devices by 2020. biological sensors. These will include almost
Flavio Bonami, former Cisco Fellow and co-lead anything you can think of, from biometrics
Figure 3: MEMS accelerometer inside iPhone that detects vibration and orientation and can be
accessed by app programmers to measure other physical events. (Source: Chipworks)
amount of borrowing of technology and test mean increasingly tight signal integrity budgets
methods from the RF and analog world is mak- on the circuit boards. This means that low loss
ing its way into the digital design realm. Semico and skew mitigation materials are very impor-
Research hosted an exchange on Oct 13 be- tant. The next generation of designs will likely
tween the silicon and the bare-board industries, require highly specialized materials, and very
discussing how technologists can get to data well-controlled PCB manufacturing processes.
speeds of 56 GB/s per channel with a 112 GB/s This effort will necessitate collaboration, com-
strategy expected to follow. Signal integrity munication and cooperation between fabrica-
experts such as Lee Ritchey of Speeding Edge, tors, designers, materials manufacturers and
Scott McMorrow of Samtech, and Heidi Barnes OEMs on an unprecedented scale.
of Keysight focused on the physics challenges
of pushing copper and PCB production tech- What does all this have to do with
nologies to these speeds. Michael Gay of Isola my bottom line?
explained the manufacturing methods of base The IoT roadmap, if realized, means a sig-
materials and how Isola will provide next gen- nificant amount of growth in all segments of
eration materials to meet these design needs. the North American PCB market.
The collaboration with the silicon designers First, there will be a significant development
helps everyone understand what is important in ASICs, FBGAs and other silicon products that
to each group in order to realize these speeds in will require burn-in boards and automated test
the entire chip-to-chip signal chain (chip-pack- equipment boards (Figure 6). Companies like
age-interposer-linecard-connector-backplane- Gorilla Circuits, TTM, Sanmina and Multitest
return). In some cases, chip designers have the will be see good opportunities in this business
silicon space on the ASIC to build pre-compen- supporting companies like Qualcomm, Xylinx
sation or eye-opener circuits in the die. How- and Altera, as well as numerous Semiconduc-
ever, for most applications, these speeds will tor OSATs (outsourced semiconductor and
test) who will be building
ASICS and packaging for a
new generation of IoT ori-
ented fabless semiconduc-
tor players.
Second, there will be
the edge devices in both
the PCB and printed elec-
tronics space. This will
mean a significant num-
ber of prototypes of new
technology systems for
shops like Flex Intercon-
nect, Lenthor Engineering
and Protech. These will
include prototypes for the
household name mobile
phone and tablet makers
as well as a litany of new
companies, some of them
well-funded startups,
making novel sensor pack-
ages in spaces like medi-
cal, wearables and home
Figure 6: A burn-in board for ASICs. (Source: Micro Control Company) automation. The Flexible
Hybrid Electronics Manufacturing Innovation are not possible today. Materials science heavy-
Institute in San Jose California, a project for weights such as DuPont are already working on
IPC’s Government Relations Committee, was materials to make next generation high-speed
announced in September and will receive $75 flexible circuits, high-temperature circuits’ mate-
million in funding from the U.S. DoD and will rials and even copper-based inks to print anten-
be overseen by the Flex Tech Alliance, as a con- nas for these next generation designs (Figure 7).
sortium of 96 companies, 11 laboratories and Then there is the Internet backbone that will
non-profits, 42 universities, and 14 state and re- drive a significant share of the investment. OEMs
gional organizations. The FHEMII will develop like Cisco, Juniper, Alcatel-Lucent, Ciena, Bro-
next generation materials and manufacturing cade and HP will pave the way for more telecom
methods for flexible electronics. infrastructure with ultra-high-speed backplane
Innovation in novel materials such as gra- and daughter card systems. Cisco maintains a
phene and PEDOT will create new devices that team of industry experts to test and characterize
materials and manufacturing methods to achieve
these next generation speeds. Team members
like Scott Hinaga work diligently to devise new
test methods and construction strategies to char-
acterize materials that will allow copper circuits
to push the physics envelope and maintain digi-
tal reliability up to 56 Gb/s per channel.
The fabricators who will see growth in this
segment will include companies like TTM, San-
Figure 7: RF antennae printed with DuPont’s mina, WUS, Gold Circuits, ISU Petasys and Am-
copper ink. phenol. Those who will truly stand out, will
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“
math is the easy part of SPC due to the abun-
dance of inexpensive statistical software avail-
The answer is really able to do the number-crunching heavy lifting.
Instead, I would challenge you to concentrate
quite simple: In addition to the on the theory, benefits and practical application
performance-related issues of statistical tools as a path to SPC without tears.
From a fundamental standpoint, SPC is sim-
that reach a customer, like late ply “making sense of experience,” and the skill-
delivery and defective product, set needed is one that has already been honed
over the course of your normal day-to-day ac-
the cost of inefficiencies in any tivities. For example, this summer my wife and
process are directly passed along I were driving past a corn field when she ob-
to the customer in served, “There must have been a lot of rain here
”
this summer because the corn is higher than
some form. normal for this time of year.” What my wife had
just done was make a subconscious statistical
comparison of a current data set (this summer’s
corn crop) to a historical data set (past summer’s
process are directly passed along to the custom- corn crops), and formed an educated guess as
er in some form. Scrap (or overrun to cover an- to the cause for the difference (excessive rain).
ticipated scrap), rework and inefficient process- From a conceptual viewpoint, statistics are no
ing are factored into the pricing model, so the more difficult than this.
lower the efficiency, the higher the total cost to
the customer. And as we all know, “It’s always Identify Critical Processes to
about the dollars.” Avoid Useless Data
Early in my career, a wise old mentor told A common mistake many companies make
me, “Steve, never argue about what can be mea- is to try to statistically monitor and control
sured.” Being an engineer by trade and Ger- every single variable in every one of their pro-
man by lineage, he knew a little about precision cesses. Show me a company that proudly boasts
craftsmanship. This advice has stuck with me, that they have 127 control charts in their SPC
and in the quest for continuous improvement program and I will show you a company that
has translated into “How can we get better if just doesn’t get it. Customers do not want to
we don’t know where we are now?” followed by see wallpaper; that many processes cannot pos-
“How can we know where we are now without sibly be controlled and managed properly, nor
metrics?” An effective SPC program should be should they need to be. Use the technical re-
a key metric of continuous improvement and a sources at your suppliers to help determine
valuable management information system. the specific critical aspects of the process that
should be controlled. They can also be instru- Special Cause: Also called assignable, these
mental in determining the appropriate process causes of variation are not a normal part of the
specification limits; for example, a chemical process, does not affect every part, and can be
supplier should know the optimum operating identified to a specific, special cause. It means
parameters for the product they are supplying. that something about the process has changed
Again, and I can’t say this enough, customers and has been created by a non-random event
want to see the processes controlled that you leading to an unexpected change in the process
have deemed critical to your business; no one output. The effects are intermittent and unpre-
else can made that determination for you. dictable, and thus dangerous. If special causes
of variation are present, the process output is
Variation not stable over time and is not predictable. Us-
The one constant about any process is that ing the above example, a special cause would
there is inherent variation within it; in other be a weather-related delay on the drive to work.
words, variation is a given. No two things are
exactly alike, and our personal experience Control vs. Capability
proves this out on a daily basis. We often use The word “control” often has a negative
the expression “Like two peas in a pod” to de- connotation surrounding it, which in some us-
scribe two things that, on the surface, appear ages is well deserved. However, from a statistical
to be the same. But if we took this literally and standpoint, control refers to the consistency of
opened the pod, close examination would find a process; the ability to produce repeatable prod-
differences in the size, shape, color, texture and uct within certain predetermined limits. As we
blemishes of the two peas. Now the critical as- learned above, all processes have variability, and
pect of this is “Does this variation really mat- a process is deemed to be “in statistical control”
ter?” If the only requirement is tasty peas, than
this variation absolutely does not matter.
“
Although no two things are exactly alike,
when talking about a process the goal should
be to reduce the amount of variation between The word “control” often
parts as much as possible. To do this, it is impor-
tant to understand the difference between the
has a negative connotation
surrounding it, which in some
”
two causes of variation; common and special.
Common Cause: Also called random or usages is well deserved.
normal, this variation is inherent in the process,
affects every part, is repeatable, and most im-
portantly, is predictable. Common cause varia-
tion is created by many factors that are part of
the process and are acting totally at random when it is affected only by common cause varia-
and independent of each other. Their origin tion. In contrast, capability refers to the ability
can usually be traced to the key elements of the of a process to produce output that meets speci-
system within which the process operates (ma- fications, in other words, shippable parts. There
terials, equipment, people, environment, meth- are various levels of capability which we will dis-
ods). If only common causes of variations are cuss a bit later, but in general a process is said to
present, the output of the process forms a distri- be capable if nearly 100% of the output from the
bution that is stable over time. An example of process is within the specifications. The goal of
common cause variation would be the amount statistical process control is to develop a process
of time it takes you to drive to work. Taking the that is both in control and capable.
same route every day, there would be variations A key point that may often be hard to un-
in time that are due to which stop lights you derstand is that a process can be statistically in
make or miss, minor traffic fluctuations, and control but not capable. This means that the
how closely you follow the speed limit. normal variation in the process will not allow
the process to repeatedly and reliably meet the Data Collection, Sample Size & Pre-Control
product specifications (Figure 1). In this situa- Once the processes, and aspects for each
tion, you would need to take steps to improve that need to be controlled, have been estab-
or redesign the process. If this cannot be done, lished, the next step is to begin your data col-
the only remaining solution would be to present lection phase. One very successful data collec-
your capability study (more on capability stud- tion strategy is to take five measurements per
ies later) to the customer, quantitatively dem- day, which will be then be averaged. A standard
onstrating that their specifications are outside SPC control chart can be modified to use during
of the current process capabilities and request the data collection phase, as long as it is clearly
a specification adjustment based on your study. labeled as “Data Collection” and not “SPC.”
It is important to note here that creatively A better choice may be to use a tool that is
expanding the specification limits to artificially called a pre-control chart. A pre-control chart
improve the capability numbers will not only is a “visual process stoplight” and an excellent
fool no one, but will also not provide any true precursor to a full-blown SPC control chart. Pre-
capability improvement. control is effective because it uses (stoplight)
For a process to be both in control and color-coded zones (green, yellow, and red) to
capable, the process must meet the following make control chart interpretation very easy
criteria: for operators. Pre-control limits are established
• Must remain stable over time based on the following and again, by collabo-
• Must operate in a stable and consistent rating with your key suppliers:
manner (in control)
• Must be set at the proper level (centered) 1. The middle 50% of the chart is the green
• The natural process variation must not zone, which makes up 50% of the
exceed the product’s specified tolerance specification tolerance for the feature
(capable) being measured.
2. The yellow zone on either side of the per and lower control limit; and 3) an upper
green zone makes up the remaining 50% and lower specification limit. Data between the
of the specification tolerance (25% for control limits and the specification limits signal
each yellow zone) that a process adjustment is needed. Data ex-
3. The red zone is everything outside of the ceeding the specification limits would be con-
specification limits; in other words, the sidered out of acceptable limits and defective.
zone where you are making bad parts. The most common form of control charts is the
X-Bar and R chart. X-Bar refers to the average
Control Charts of the data in each sample and plotted in the
The minimum number of samples needed top half of the chart. “R” stands for the range
to be able to perform any meaningful statisti- of the data in each sample and is plotted in the
cal analysis is 30, which per the above sample bottom half of the chart. The range of the data
size methodology would be 30 days of data col- sample is simply the difference between the
lection and pre-control. That being said, it is highest and lowest value in the sample of five.
important to note that the more data available
to analyze, the more accurate a picture of the Normal Distribution
process you will get. However, this needs to be In a stable process, data will be randomly
balanced with real world expectations to avoid centered on the process mean and contained
Paralysis by Analysis. The length of data collec- within the control limits. This is called a nor-
tion will depend on the specific process and out mal distribution, or bell-shaped curve, and is
of the box stability, but a 30-90-day duration is probably the most recognized and most wide-
reasonable. ly-used statistical distribution. The reason for
this is that many physical, biological, and social
parameters obey the normal distribution, and
“
thus are said to behave normally. When data
takes on a normal distribution, it simply means
The length of data that most of the data will fall around the cen-
ter, or mean, and that the remaining data will
collection will depend on the fall progressively farther from the mean with
specific process and out of the decreasing frequency.
box stability, but a 30-90-day
”
Cpk Analysis
duration is reasonable. Every product has an optimum value, and
because every process has variation, it also has
a tolerance. This is defined as specification lim-
its, with both an upper and lower spec limit
After the data collection period, if the pre- (USL, LSL) surrounding the optimum value. To
control results appear to be able to stay within review, when a product or process is outside of
the green and yellow zones, the next step is to either of these spec limits, bad product is be-
move the process into the control chart phase. ing produced. How well the process variation
Control charts are a graphical representation is centered on the mean and contained within
of the current state of a process, and should be these spec limits is called process capability. The
implemented at the operator level to maximize relationship of this variation to the mean and
effectiveness. A control chart’s true function is spec limits is the process capability, or Cpk. The
to provide real-time feedback to control and less variation in a process, and the closer the
improve a process, which means that the data variation is to the mean, the higher the Cpk
displayed on the charts must help front-line op- number.
erators make better process decisions. Again, with all the statistical tools available,
All control charts have three basic compo- the formula is not important for this purpose,
nents: 1) a process center, or mean; 2) an up- but what is important is recognizing what this
industrial.panasonic.com/ww/electronic-materials
feature
number means. It is generally accepted that a of the process to meet customer requirements.
Cpk of less than 1.33 would indicate a process To determine process capability, collect process
that is not capable of consistently meeting cus- data as you would if you were setting up a con-
tomer requirements, and a Cpk of 2.0 would trol chart, calculate the process mean and varia-
represent a six sigma level. Calculating process tion, and then compare the relationship be-
Cpk levels is not a one-time occurrence, it must tween these values and the specification limits.
be performed on a regular basis (quarterly is Any SPC software, or even Excel, can calculate
usually sufficient). the Cpk of a process data set. Figure 2 shows the
various levels of process capability.
Capability Studies Once the baseline capability study has been
The capability of the process needs to be es- completed, a final study should be performed
tablished to use as a baseline for future improve- again to verify the effectiveness of the process
ment comparison, and is accomplished through improvements that may have been implement-
Cpk analysis. As discussed earlier, a Cpk value is ed to improve the process capability. As men-
an index representing the ability, or capability, tioned earlier, using a minimum Cpk of 1.33 is
a good start, as this indicates a process that is above the standard job function and opera-
capable of consistently meeting customer re- tional training all employees receive. Statistical
quirements. As with most things, process ca- theory and methods, process capability, and
pability is a continuous improvement journey control chart maintenance, interpretation, and
and future goals should be to move up to the reaction are key topics to be covered in depth.
next Cpk milestones of 1.66, 2.0 and beyond.
The ongoing quest for improvement is a perfect Let Data Drive Your Decisions
opportunity for collaboration between your in- With the abundance of data available to
house subject matter experts (SMEs) and those business managers, it is important to filter out
of your key suppliers. the data that does not have a major impact on
the business and focus on what does. Statistical
A Note on Operator-Level Involvement techniques are an excellent tool to identify how
There is a tendency for companies to relegate your processes are really operating, and can be
the SPC program to a process-engineer or other implemented to provide real-time feedback to
staff function, which may not always be real- base your day-to-day decisions on. PCB
time. While this can be moderately effective,
the greatest benefit would be achieved through
active participation of the personnel actually Steve Williams is the president
running the process and producing product. A of The Right Approach Consulting
control chart’s true function is to provide real- LLC and the former strategic
time feedback to control and improve process- sourcing manager for Plexus Corp.
es. The program will fail if the data displayed He is the author of four books,
on the charts do not help front-line operators including Quality 101 Handbook
make better process decisions to actually moni- and Survival Is Not Mandatory: 10 Things Every
tor, adjust and control their processes. CEO Should Know about Lean. To read past
Whatever the level of participation, SPC columns, or to contact Williams, click here.
requires specialized formal training over-and-
Interim CEO Jeff McCreary ing about the company’s stability. He stated
that the company has remained profitable but
on Changes at Isola has suffered revenue-wise in the past few years,
due in part to a general market slump in Asia.
By improving on their manufacturing utilization
In a recent interview with I-Connect007, rate in the U.S. (savings in the millions) along
Isola’s interim President and CEO Jeff McCreary with more focus on the Asian market, McCreary
discussed the impetus for the recent person- sees the company as highly competitive going
nel reduction and plant closing that took place, forward.
mainly in the U.S. With a realignment towards McCreary also shared his bullish view on the
the Asian market and im- electronics industry in gen-
proved plant utilization in the eral and on what the industry
U.S., Isola expects to become may expect from Isola going
more internationally competi- forward. In addition, he ex-
tive and improve revenue. plained what the company
McCreary explained that, is looking for in a new CEO,
with long-time president Ray which should be announced
Sharpe stepping down fol- in the next few months.
lowed by the reductions, To read the entire inter-
many are probably wonder- view click here.
Manufacturers of flexible circuits use several remove (strip away) the resist that defined
chemical processes for fabrication. These pro- the circuitry.
cesses are generally located in a common area of • Copper plating: This is typically an
the plant because of facility requirements and electro-chemical operation. Metal is elec-
environmental considerations. These chemical trodeposited onto the base metal surface
operations are referred to as wet processes. thereby creating a thin, robust coating.
Some of the specific processes that would be Electroplating of copper is the most com-
characterized as wet process in circuit fabrica- mon example and is used to create electri-
tion: cal connection between traces on the top
and bottom of the insulating dielectric
• Develop-etch-strip: Photosensitive re- film.
sist is developed so the unneeded resist is • Shadow plating: A laminate of met-
washed away, leaving a pattern of resist al-dielectric-metal is initially drilled,
that defines the circuitry. The subsequent punched, or laser ablated to form the
etching operation removes the base metal vias. In order to initially create an elec-
(normally copper) that has been exposed trical connection between the layers of
by the patterned resist. The last step is to metal, the dielectric must be coated with
a conductive material. Shadow plating
coats graphite inside a via and is a chemi-
cal process commonly used by flexible
circuit manufacturers.
lenges. The following techniques should be constant within a controlled range, allowing for
used for controlling the wet process operations: a more statistically valid control system.
Process parameters: Process parameters
• Statistical process control on chemistry may include dwell time, conveyor speed, bath
• Control of process parameters temperature, spray pressure, voltage and cur-
• Preventative maintenance rent. Each of these parameters is controlled
• Monitoring of process outputs within a set range, and the exact parameter set-
tings are based on a recipe card for each prod-
Chemistry: Statistical process control tech- uct family. Parameter settings for recipes are
niques are frequently used for controlling criti- best when statistically determined by designed
cal chemistry parameters. Consistent output experiments; recommendations from material
is maintained by tightly controlling chemical suppliers are a good starting point and should
bath compositions. In a high product-mix envi- be combined with data gathered during process
ronment, copper thicknesses with varying treat- development.
ment types can change several times during a Preventative maintenance: A total pre-
shift. This will necessitate adjustments in pa- ventative maintenance program (TPM) should
rameters such as conveyor speed, but chemistry be developed based on analysis of equipment
and chemical properties are monitored to stay performance and designed to keep machines
running within ideal process parameters, as op- • Bare board electrical testing: These circuits
posed to a program that is merely designed to without components often undergo an
keep a machine from breaking down. electrical test designed to catch all opens
Output monitoring: Critical outputs are and shorts. This can be done with a bed-
monitored and recorded at the source. Measure- of-nails test fixture or with a point-to-
ments include plating thickness, etch ratio, trace point flying probe tester.
width, metal composition, via wall integrity, • Populated board electrical testing: Circuits
and other numerical measurements. Discrepan- with connectors, passive components
cies found should generate a “non-conforming and/or active components may also un-
material report.” Non-conforming material re- dergo a functional electrical test.
ports should be regularly reviewed, corrective • Populated board AOI: Optical inspection
actions identified, and results tracked. This on- machines also are used to examine popu-
going corrective action system becomes a closed lated circuits to ensure all components are
loop system of “plan-do-check-act” as part of present, orientation is correct, and loca-
an effective continuous improvement program. tion accuracy is proper.
Similar systems for process control have proven • Quality audits: In-process inspection and
effective in achieving desired quality levels at ac- testing are done to a statistically based
ceptable yields across a wide range of industries. sample of a production work order.
Effective process controls are a critical, but • Customer specific audits: Unique data
incomplete, method for insuring proper custom- gathering is often required by certain
er product quality. The addition of strategic in- customers or within specific industries,
spection and monitoring operations also play a especially those involving high-reliability
role. Within the world of printed circuit boards, applications. Specific features are verified
several containment methods are common: or test data is generated to insure quality
conformance. These requirements can be
• Bare board automated optical inspection as varied as the applications within our
(AOI): Any discrepancy in conductor wonderful world of electronics.
width and spacing is flagged by this test.
All layers should undergo this 100% in- Printed circuit fabrication involves process-
spection. ing through a long list of sequential operations.
Producing a completed part might involve drill-
ing, imaging, etching, resist removal, cover film
attachment, lamination, surface treatment, and
many other individual processes. In many cases,
fabrication involves 40 or more unique process-
ing steps. A 99% yield at every process would
result in a final lot yield of less than 67%, which
would likely be too low to sustain the business.
Yields of 100% at most processes are required
for profitability, and good process controls are
required to achieve this level of product robust-
ness and predictability of the output. PCB
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feature
The Power of Data: The Most Important Questions Any Leader Must Ask
to guide anyone toward “right” action—the real low. In handoffs, whatever is handed off from
purpose of good/meaningful data. a system is usually the first 15% (inputs) to the
next system. If you don’t get this right, there
Identifying What to Measure is no chance of fully optimizing the receiving
Our experience in the field indicates that a system.
good starting point for deciding what to mea-
sure is to look at the systems that most impact How to Measure
your customers, your people, and your suppli- Even if you identify correctly what to mea-
ers. These three areas are the three legs of the sure, if you don’t measure properly, the data
stool we call business. Importantly, you will will take you in the wrong direction, buoyed by
want to identify the 20% of the systems in each faulty conclusions. While it takes a little more
area that are producing 80% of the problems or time on the front end to get your data collection
issues you are experiencing. Once these systems correct, there is a huge payoff in your systems
have been identified you can begin to create optimization efforts. I have a little saying I use
to describe leaders and managers who are great
firefighters: “No time to do it right; plenty of
“
time to do it over.” In quality and systems im-
provement, the slow road becomes the fast road
One reliable way to and vice versa. It takes time to create a check
sheet where the complexity is in the tool, not
identify stressed systems is in the hands of the data collectors. Yet, once the
to measure the stresses proper data collection tool is created and people
trained in its use, we get both the data we need
imparted onto people who and people using the tool correctly.
work in or are directly affected
”
Now comes a critical question. Who is re-
sponsible for what and how we measure? This
by poor systems. should be the people doing the work: frontline
staff, marketing and customer service personnel,
the receptionist, the guy sweeping the floors on
third shift. You get the idea. If your quality or IT
departments are responsible for what and how
priorities. Remember, we can’t fix everything things are measured, you will get more of what
all at once, nor should we try. One reliable way you have now within a range. For sustainable
to identify stressed systems is to measure the quality and systems improvement, a systems-
stresses imparted onto people who work in or based approach for doing work must become
are directly affected by poor systems. the way you and your people work. Yes, for
In setting priorities, look for systems that leaders and managers, too. Basically, the depth
are “early” in the process. For example, fixing of change in any organization will be gated by
design or manufacturing engineering will gen- the amount of growth in leaders and managers.
erally produce greater overall benefit than fix- No growth = little sustainable change.
ing shipping. Functions early in the process will
tend to leverage good stuff throughout the or- Starting with Something Different
ganization. than SPC
Second, look at the handoffs between de- If you are Toyota, Honda, or another com-
partments, shifts, key employees and so forth. pany that is steeped in systems-based leadership
Normally you will see that your biggest prob- and management, forget about everything I’m
lems are in the handoffs. This is because the about to share. However, if you’re having dif-
first 15% of any system is the most critical to ficulty creating and maintaining your quality
its function, both good and not so good. If culture and systems, what follows may be quite
you get the first 15% right, the rest will fol- helpful.
The Power of Data: The Most Important Questions Any Leader Must Ask
AS9100 is the quality management standard specifically written for the aerospace
and defence industry, to satisfy authorities such as the Federal Aviation
Administration, ensuring quality and safety in the "high risk" aerospace industry.
Wherever technology takes you, we deliver.
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Conducting
Very High Currents
through PCB Substrates
at High Ambient Temperatures
by Thomas Gottwald and Christian Rößle development efforts towards efficient, cost-ef-
Schweizer Electronic AG fective and reliable power electronics.
conducting very high currents through pcb substrates at high ambient Temperatures
Challenges for Electronic Substrates conductivity and thickness of the insulator play
Electronic substrates for power electronics a crucial role.
applications must support the requirement for
a high efficiency of the entire system. There- Increasing Conductor Cross-sections
fore, the losses on this level must be mini- Increasing the conductor cross-section is
mized. an effective method to reduce the ohmic resis-
The second requirement is the support for tance. In many cases, there is no alternative to
thermal management of the assembly, in which this. However, it must be considered that in-
the electronic substrate often plays an impor- creasing the cross-section leads to additional
tant role. weight, which is undesired in electric mobility
In addition to that, electronic substrates in applications as any increase in weight decreases
power electronics must obviously support all the driving range of the electric vehicle. The
functions of electronic substrates in conven- conductor cross-section design must in turn
tional electronics. satisfy the specifications regarding heat gen-
eration. The heat generation depends on the
thermal conductivity of the substrate and its
“
connection to a suitable heat sink. The higher
the temperature stability of the insulator, the
Electronic substrates for higher the permissible heat generation in the
conductor for system design.
power electronics applications For these reasons, determining the required
must support the requirement conductor cross-section has evolved into a com-
plex task. The conventional methods and rules
for a high efficiency of the
”
for layout design as described in IPC or FED can
entire system. no longer be applied in many cases as they do
not take these new boundary conditions into
account.
conducting very high currents through pcb substrates at high ambient Temperatures
Organic PCB materials do not have these re- ever, this technique is slowly being replaced by
strictions with regard to structure and number Cu wire bonding. After assembly, the bonds are
of layers, however, the thermal conductivity of often stabilized by sealing them with a highly
the epoxy resins used is significantly lower than viscous silicone gel.
in ceramic materials. The required logic control and driver elec-
A big advantage of PCB substrates is their tronics are implemented via a separate substrate
significantly lower cost, which is why the use (usually a PCB) and are often interconnected
of ceramic substrates is limited to those power with the power electronics via press-fit contacts.
electronics that cannot be implemented with- Most entire systems of power electronics ap-
out the properties of ceramic materials. plications have a large number of different as-
sembly and interconnection technologies that
Assembly and Interconnection Technology must meet the required targets regarding reli-
for Power Electronics Systems ability and costs on their own as well as in com-
The conventional processing technology for bination.
PCBs is the fully automatic assembly of SMD
components. The through-hole assembly is Reliability Aspects of Assemblies
mostly limited to DC-link capacitors, if these
have not yet been replaced by SMD components. Adjustment of the Expansion Coefficients
In ceramic substrates, the bottom side of Due to their coefficient of expansion (CTE),
bare semiconductors is connected to the sub- organic PCBs are well-adjusted for components
strate in the electrical, mechanical and thermal in housings such as QFP or DIP. Assembly of bare
sense by means of conductive adhesives, solder- semiconductor components such as flip chips,
ing, silver sintering or diffusion soldering. however, is critical. Depending on their struc-
The conventional way of connecting the top tural design, ceramic chip capacitors can also be
side is via aluminum heavy-wire bonding, how- critical as they have significantly lower CTEs.
Figure 1: IGBT module power electronics based on DCB ceramics with power busbars in plastic hous-
ing. (Source: www.enacademic.com)
conducting very high currents through pcb substrates at high ambient Temperatures
www.schmid-group.com
article
conducting very high currents through pcb substrates at high ambient Temperatures
Heavy Copper T²
Heavy Copper T² is based on convention-
al heavy copper technology. In conventional
heavy copper technology, the PCB design is
characterized mainly by etched areas that must Figure 6: Cross-section of the Power Combi
be filled with large resin volumes released by Board.
the prepregs used during the lamination pro-
cess. Due to the large amount of resin used,
multiple prepregs must be used, leading to The Power Combi Board
large insulation thickness between the outer The Power Combi Board uses a combined in-
layer and the inner heavy copper layer. This ner layer with heavy copper areas used for high-
means that the microvia technologies such as current conduction. However, the same level
laser-drilled blind holes could not be used with also has copper layers with a standard thickness
heavy copper technology due to the large insu- of 18 or 35 µm that help to ease the routing for
lation thickness. Furthermore, the insulation the use of complex components.
thickness increases the thermal resistance of With this technology, the power and logic
the printed circuit board and decreases its re- parts of an application can be implemented
liability as interconnections of thicker circuits with just one circuit board, whereas previously,
are subject to more stress during cyclic thermal two circuit boards were necessary, which had to
loads. be connected with a plug connector.
Heavy Copper T² technology overcomes The new solution helps increasing the reli-
these disadvantages by filling the etched areas ability and making optimal use of the required
of heavy copper circuits in a special manufactur- installation space.
ing step. Therefore, thin prepregs can be used in
the subsequent lamination process. This results The Inlay Board
in the following advantages: Printed circuit boards with pressed-in cop-
per coins are well-known in the area of thermal
• Lower overall thickness of the printed management. The main disadvantage of this
circuit board technology is the challenging thickness adjust-
• Lower clearances between the copper ment of the copper coins to the circuit board.
layers While the coins have very low tolerances, mul-
• Increased reliability in cyclic thermal loads tilayer circuit boards have a thickness tolerance
• Increased thermal conductivity in the of up to 10% due to the manufacturing process-
Z-axis (through plane) of the design es. Therefore, flush fitting of the circuit board
CONTACT YOUR
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Applications
Dale Doyle
Applications
TODAY Development
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article
conducting very high currents through pcb substrates at high ambient Temperatures
conducting very high currents through pcb substrates at high ambient Temperatures
Figure 10: Connection of gate/source pads with Figure 12: Exploded drawing of the Smart p²
conductor track structures. Pack functional layers.
conducting very high currents through pcb substrates at high ambient Temperatures
Which technology is suitable for auxiliary units must be installed in the installa-
which task? tion space that has always been very limited.
The technology to be used is determined by This trend requires electronic substrates ca-
the requirements of the application. pable of handling very high electric power at
For example, the number of grids carrying very low losses. Due to the limited installation
high currents determines whether a heavy cop- space, locations with high ambient tempera-
per board (many grids) or an inlay board (few tures must be used as well, resulting in more de-
grids) will be used. manding temperature requirements.
If a combination of logic and power circuitry With the new highly temperature-resistant
is to be implemented in a single circuit board, the materials and high-current technologies de-
Power Combi Board is available for this purpose. scribed, future applications can be increasingly
The Smart p² Pack is the perfect solution if based on circuit board technology. PCB
very limited installation space is available, cir-
cuit losses must be minimized and maximum
electric and thermal performance is required in Thomas Gottwald is director
limited space. of innovation at Schweizer
Electronic AG.
Summary
Power electronics have entered the high-vol-
ume market as a result of increased electrification
of the power train and auxiliary units in motor Christian Rößle is vice president,
vehicles. This has pushed the demand for minia- sales & marketing, and director
turization and cost reduction as an electric drive of embedding/systems with
has to be installed in addition to the combustion Schweizer Electronic AG.
engine and as many useful additional electric
The advantages of digital circuitization tech- For years, laser direct imaging (LDI) was syn-
niques have been described in detail by suppliers onymous with digital imaging. While most ear-
of equipment and photoresist. Since phototool ly, commercially successful digital processes in-
generation and conditioning are omitted, there volved the use of lasers, other more recent pro-
is the advantage of shorter lead time. Small lots cesses use non-laser light sources such as LEDs
can be customized at no extra cost (e.g., with (light emitting diodes), or various types of mer-
added date and lot number information). There cury lamps, making use of more than one wave-
may be an advantage in fine-line imaging of length. Others use inkjet technology to build
surfaces with poor co-planarity because of the image patterns such as legend print, soldermask
depth of focus of the laser beam. But the biggest or etch resist. They all have in common the
advantage may be the ability to “scale” (i.e., building of a pattern, pixel by pixel, and they
to change the dimension of each individual employ digital on/off switches to form the pat-
exposure for best fit to reference points on an tern. The switch might be an optical modulator
underlying pattern of a multilayer structure). or an array of LCPs (liquid crystal polymer cells)
However, early digital imaging systems had sub- that can be rendered translucent or opaque by
stantial drawbacks, such as Orbotech’s DP100, addressing it with an electrical pulse.
which used an argon ion laser with limited radi- Or the switch might be micro-mirrors on
ation power, high power usage, and high cool- a chip, such as Texas Instruments’ Digital
ing requirements. Micromirror Device™ (DMD), whereby tiny
mirrors are addressed with an electric pulse so HAN’s Laser is the only Chinese supplier of
that the mirror is either tilted to direct the light direct imagers to the best of my knowledge.
to the substrate or away from the substrate. Or, The Japanese direct imager suppliers ADTEC,
in the case of ink jetting, it could be a piezo- DNS, ORC and Via Mechanics continue to in-
electric membrane that changes its shape upon troduce improved systems.
receiving an electrical pulse, thus causing the The Swiss supplier PrintProcess introduced
formation of an ink droplet, or it could be a dig- its Apollon DI-A11 direct imager that offers au-
itally modulated electrical field that selectively tomated loading and unloading. It offers auto-
deviates electrically charged ink droplets from a matic image scaling and resolves reliably 1 mil
continuous stream of droplets. features.
KLEO Halbleitertechnik GmbH, Germany,
has supplied direct imagers since 2009, with
“
systems in production in Germany and
Switzerland. The KLEO-LDI-System CB20HV-
They all have in common Twinstage uses a 405 nm wavelength laser di-
the building of a pattern, pixel ode. The 405 nm radiation source is dominant
in Asia. Photoresists (dry film and liquid) suit-
by pixel, and they employ able of exposure at 405 nm are available from
digital on/off switches to form
”
Hitachi, DuPont, Atotech, Eternal, Kolon and
Elga Europe.
the pattern. The UV-P100 UV-LED direct imager by Li-
mata GmbH (Germany) was developed for pro-
totype and short run production. It can use con-
ventional dry film and soldermask. Light source
More recently, additional developmental life exceeds10,000 hours. Max panel size is 650
and commercial digital imaging systems have x 540 mm2. Resolution of 50 micron features is
been marketed. obtained. Automated load/unload is available,
The French supplier of imaging systems, and side-to-side registration is achieved with
Altix-Automata-Tech, first introduced its ADIX- cameras and registration target holes.
System at productronica 2013. It is based on Orbotech’s Nuvogo DI System is designed
an advanced high-power LED radiation source for mass production of advanced HDI/flex and
(ALDS), a dual multi-wavelength UV-LED, and rigid-flex applications, according to Orbotech.
DMDs. The system is suitable for rigid and flex The Nuvogo™ 800 is compatible with nearly all
substrates and has automatic handling options. resist types. The MultiWave Laser Technology™
Earlier systems using DMDs include: uses a multi wavelength laser beam of high in-
tensity so that lower cost resist with standard
• ORC’s DI-Impact (formerly by Pentax) photosensitivity can be used for high through-
• Hitachi’s DE imagers DE-H, DE-S, and put (up to 7,000 panels/day/line) with optimal
DE-F series line structure. PCB
• MIVA Technologies GmbH, Germany,
Miva 2600X Direct Imager
• Maskless Lithography’s DMD-based Karl Dietz is president of Karl
system (USA), using a mercury arc Dietz Consulting LLC. He offers
light source consulting services and tutori-
• Aiscent Technologies Inc. (Canada) als in the field of circuit board &
substrate fabrication technology.
The Korean company AJUHITEK entered To view past columns or to reach
the market with its EP digital imager series that Dietz, click here. Dietz may also be reached
is using a laser diode radiation source with the by phone at (001) 919-870-6230.
wavelength of 405 nm.
As Vias Shrink,
Opportunities
for Laser Drilling
Expand
by Dirk Müller, Ph.D.
Coherent Inc.
around the drilled hole, limiting how close it CO2 laser of the same power. (Since the CO laser
can be placed to other features. As a result, the has roughly half the wavelength of the CO2, it
practical lower limit on via diameters for CO2 forms a spot size that is half as big, and which
lasers is about 70 µm. But what if the hole di- therefore has one-quarter the area, or four times
ameter needs to be smaller than 70 µm? the power density.) Conversely, achieving a
given power density requires only one-fourth
CO Lasers the total output power with a CO laser as with
This is where carbon monoxide (CO) lasers a CO2 laser. Depending upon the exact param-
come in. This type of laser was first developed eters of a particular via drilling task, this makes
about 50 years ago, but lifetime and reliability it possible to use a much lower power CO laser
issues prevented this technology from becom- for a specific job. This lowers the cost of the la-
ing commercially viable. However, in the past ser and the cost of the electricity and reduces
year, the advent of new technology is making the carbon footprint for the process.
CO lasers practical, yielding products with very In addition to the optical benefits, there are
high output powers, and which demonstrate also differences in light absorption character-
lifetimes in the thousands of hours range. The istics at the shorter wavelengths. This can be
reason that CO lasers are of interest is that they especially true in the case of polymers, which
output over the 5–6 µm spectral range, or about have an infrared absorption spectrum that con-
half the CO2 wavelength of 10.6 µm, allowing sists of numerous sharp peaks. As a result, some
for a smaller focused spot. polymers exhibit high absorption at 10.6 µm,
For via drilling, this shorter wavelength and much less in the 5 µm to 6 µm band, and
provides several important advantages. For vice versa.
example, it lowers the minimum via diameter Another important material which exhib-
that can be produced down to about 35 µm its very different absorption characteristics at
(due to diffraction). But even when producing 10.6 µm and 5 µm is glass, a material now of
larger diameter vias, the CO laser has an edge great interest for interposers in 2.5D and 3D
over CO2. Specifically, the focusing lens used to advanced packaging techniques. Specifically,
achieve a 70 µm diameter via with a CO laser although glass has much lower absorption at
has twice the focal length of the lens required the shorter wavelength, the use of the shorter
to achieve the same via size with a CO2 laser. wavelength actually produces superior results.
This longer focal lens provides greater depth This is because the lower absorption enables the
of focus, which increases the field of view. The CO laser beam to penetrate farther into the ma-
longer focal length and increased depth of field terial. Together with the superior focusing abil-
facilitate an increase in scanning speed, and ity of the 5 µm wavelength, this enables very
therefore faster via production, with the shorter small holes with high aspect ratios to be drilled
wavelength CO laser. in glass with precise depth control. The photo
Because the CO laser can be focused to a shows 35 µm diameter vias drilled in glass. Vias
smaller spot, it’s easier to reach higher power of this size and quality simply couldn’t be pro-
densities with it than with a longer wavelength duced with a CO2 laser in glass.
Figure 1: A 50 µm-thick glass substrate drilled with successively more pulses from a CO laser
demonstrates the ability of this source to drill glass interposers. CO2 drilling of this material typically
results in heat-related cracking.
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Excimer Lasers
Excimer lasers are an-
other, even deeper UV source
(usually at 308 nm or 248
nm), although they have
vastly different output char-
acteristics than DPSS lasers,
leading them to be employed
for microvia drilling in a very
Figure 2: Schematic illustrating the difference between the direct different manner. Specifical-
write and mask-based writing technique for laser via drilling. ly, the pencil-shaped beam
Figure 4: Varying laser fluence enables manipulation of feature side-wall angles, which can be
important in subsequent deposition steps.
Imec and Ghent University light emitting diode (LED) technology is becoming
the sustainable light source for the 21st century. But
Present Thermoplastically in addition, it also allows to design unprecedented,
Deformable Electronic Circuits innovative lighting solutions. Imec and CMST’s new
thermoplastically deformable electronic circuits now
add a new dimension to the possibilities to fabricate
At the recent meeting of the International Micro- novel lamp designs as well as smart applications in
electronics Assembly and Packaging Society (IMAPS ambient intelligence and wearables.
2015), imec and CMST (imec’s associated lab at The production process was developed in col-
Ghent University) presented a novel technology for laboration between the industrial and academic
thermoplastically deformable electronics enabling partners involved in the FP7 project TERASEL: imec,
low-cost 2.5D free-form rigid electronic objects. The CMST (Ghent University), ACB, Holst Centre, Nie-
technology is under evaluation in Philips bling Formtechnologie; Sintex NP and
LED lamp carriers, a downlight luminaire Philips Lighting BV. TERASEL is a Euro-
and an omnidirectional light source, to pean effort focusing on the develop-
demonstrate the potential of this technol- ment, industrial implementation and
ogy in innovative lighting applications. application of large-area, cost-effective,
Thanks to its energy-efficiency, excel- randomly shaped electronics and sensor
lent light quality, and high output power, circuit technologies.
Can
Technology
be Too
Disruptive?
by Doug Bathauer Recent history is full of major companies
Integral Technologies and sectors that were met and leveled by disrup-
tive technology. Just a few examples include the
Steve Jobs said, “Innovation distinguishes video rental business usurped by digital stream-
between a leader and a follower.” The procession ing, the traditional print publishing world dis-
of new technologies continues at a breakneck rupted by online publishing and the conven-
pace, resulting in a world that is more connect- tional power industry challenged by the rapid
ed than ever. From the Internet, smartphones, growth of the solar and energy storage sector.
hybrid cars, and autonomous vehicles, to 3D But when is new technology too disruptive?
printing, energy storage and so much more, in- Does new technology ever debut before its time?
novation disrupts and advances our world. In the book, “The Innovator’s Dilemma: When
“But since the Industrial Revolution of the New Technologies Cause Great Firms to Fail,”
late 18th and early 19th centuries, technol- by Clayton M. Christensen, the author writes
ogy has had a unique role in powering growth that “outstanding companies can do everything
and transforming economies,” reports McKin- right and still lose their market leadership—
sey Global Institute in a report titled, Disrup- or worse, disappear altogether.” Focusing on
tive Technologies: Advances that will Transform “disruptive technology,” Christensen’s book is
Life, Business and the Global Economy. “Technol- about the “failure of companies to stay atop
ogy represents new ways of doing things, and, their industries when they confront certain
once mastered, creates lasting change, which types of market and technological change” and
businesses and cultures do not unlearn. Ad- why many companies miss out on new waves of
opted technology becomes embodied in capi- innovation. Whether in electronics or retailing,
tal, whether physical or human, and it allows a successful company with established products
economies to create more value with less input. will get pushed aside unless managers know
At the same time, technology often disrupts, when to abandon traditional business practices.
supplanting older ways of doing things and ren- Outside of the plastics sector, the world of
dering old skills and organizational approaches conductive plastics/polymers, first produced
irrelevant.” several decades ago, is not widely acknowledged
as disruptive, but there is no doubt that cells, flexible transparent displays, electromag-
breakthrough technologies and novel usage of netic shielding, stealth aircraft coatings and
conductive polymers is occurring. Conductive more.
plastics conduct electricity in comparison to The automotive industry has been subject
normal insulating plastics. Conductive plastics to dramatic disruptions since the first steam
are used in countless applications in many in- powered automobile debuted in 1768. A prime
dustries because they are easy to extrude or in- example of a disruptive trend is the Ford Mod-
jection mold into desired shapes and sizes. el T. When the Model T was first available to
“Conductive polymers are already used in the public in 1908, the market for horse-drawn
fuel cells, computer displays and microsurgical carriages diminished, and the market for auto-
tools, and are now finding applications in the mobiles took off. Today an average new car has
field of biomaterials,” reports Acta Biomateria- 30 computer processors with assisted parking,
lia magazine. “These versatile polymers can be voice recognition, and GPS functions more and
synthesized alone, as hydrogels, combined into more common. Hybrid and electric cars are on
composites or electrospun into microfibres. the rise and automotive design is benefitting
They can be created to be biocompatible and from modern materials and improved metals.
The automobile companies that will thrive
in the coming decades are the ones that embrace
“
technological advances. Consumers now crave
a vehicle loaded with all the electronic goodies
The automobile companies it can hold. To satisfy this craving, manufactur-
ers have been loading up even standard models
that will thrive in the coming with on-board GPS systems, hands-free phone
decades are the ones that consoles, wireless Internet, satellite radio, cam-
eras and DVD monitors. In the process, they are
embrace technological advances. also packing on the pounds. At the Consumer
Consumers now crave a vehicle Electronics Show, Ford CEO Mark Fields said
“we view ourselves not just as a car and truck
loaded with all the electronic
”
company but also as a mobility company.”
goodies it can hold. Today, the trend of lightweighting holds
heavyweight importance. Analysts predict that
lightweighting, the process of reducing weight
for improving performance and improving fuel
efficiencies, will become a $300 billion annual
biodegradable. Conductive polymers are be- market as global trends point to CO2 reduction
ing used as biomaterial for tissue engineering. and resource efficiencies as being vital to meet-
“Their conductive nature allows cells or tissue ing regulatory and industry mandates in the
cultured upon them to be stimulated, the poly- transportation sector. New materials develop-
mers’ own physical properties to be influenced ment will be the driver in this trend.
post-synthesis and the drugs bound in them re- For example, Ford’s 2015 model F-150,
leased, through the application of an electrical which accounts for 1 in 20 cars sold in the U.S.,
signal. It is little wonder that these polymers are is now 700 pounds lighter than its 2014 model
becoming very important materials for biosen- with aluminum alloy replacing the heavier steel
sors, neural implants, drug delivery devices and frame. The federal government’s new Corporate
tissue engineering scaffolds.” Average Fuel Economy standards (CAFE) require
To date, conductive polymers have had few automakers to raise the average fuel efficiency
large-scale applications; however, advances in of new cars and trucks to 54.5 mpg by 2025.
the technological development of conductive The electrically assisted vehicle can certain-
polymers are leading to their incorporation in ly meet or exceed the CAFE requirements, but
batteries, super capacitors, biomaterial, solar these vehicles carry their own weight issues, as
immediate results.
batteries and electrical systems add hundreds of in the previous 100” and that these “disruptive
pounds to the vehicle. innovations are coming from companies out-
More electronics add another problem that side the traditional automotive ecosystem. The
needs to be addressed: electromagnetic interfer- car as a computer on wheels is disruptive and
ence (EMI). Conductive resins will play an ever enables the emergence of a completely new eco-
increasing role in the lightweighting industry. system and value chain.”
Certain companies are fighting automobile obe- Disruptive innovation creates new markets,
sity by utilizing conductive hybrid plastics as disrupts existing markets and replaces prior
EMI shielding solutions. Integral Technology’s technology, thereby enabling existing markets
patented material utilizes long fiber technology to be productive, sustaining and value-driven.
shields high-voltage components and has also While new technology disrupts the status quo,
developed numerous applications for connec- technology can never be too disruptive. As Pres-
tors, covers, and enclosures. Other measures are ident Obama said, “Change will not come if we
the joint development of shielded cable with wait for some other person or some other time.
Delphi Automotive. We are able to provide the We are the ones we’ve been waiting for. We are
same shield effectiveness as the aluminum or the change that we seek.” PCB
cast aluminum parts while providing on aver-
age a 60% weight savings. Who says you can’t
Doug Bathauer is CEO of
have your Bluetooth cake and eat it too?
Integral Technologies.
Evangelos Simoudis, managing director at
Trident Capital, in an article on Enterprise Ir-
regulars, states that “in the next 10 years we
will create more innovations that will impact
the automotive industry than we have created
Walking Robot Developed at humans opens the door to entire new indus-
Oregon State University tries, jobs and mechanized systems that do not
today exist.
The findings on spring-mass walking have
A study by engineers at Oregon State Univer- been reported for the first time in IEEE Transac-
sity suggests that they have achieved the most tions on Robotics, by engineers from OSU and
realistic robotic implementation of human walk- Germany. The work has been supported by the
ing dynamics that has ever been done, which National Science Foundation, the Defense Ad-
may ultimately allow human-like versatility and vanced Research Projects Agency and the Hu-
performance. man Frontier Science Program.
The system is based on a concept called The technologies developed at OSU have
“spring-mass” walking that was evolved from intense studies of
theorized less than a decade ago, both human and animal walking
and combines passive dynam- and running, to learn how ani-
ics of a mechanical system with mals achieve a fluidity of motion
computer control. It provides the with a high degree of energy
ability to blindly react to rough efficiency. Animals combine a
terrain, maintain balance, retain sensory input from nerves, vi-
an efficiency of motion and es- sion, muscles and tendons to
sentially walk like humans do. create locomotion that research-
As such, this approach to ro- ers have now translated into a
bots that can walk and run like working robotic system.
November
November 2015
2015 • The PCB Magazine 85
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November 2015, Volume 5, Number 11 • The PCB Magazine© is published monthly, by BR Publishing, Inc.
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