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I-Connect007 Editor’s Choice: Five Must-Reads for the Week
April 23, 2021 | Andy Shaughnessy, I-Connect007Estimated reading time: 2 minutes
This week, we bring you a wide swath of news, columns, and articles from the past week. Altium announced a new cloud platform that connects design stakeholders with users of its Altium 365 environment. Cadence Design Systems has acquired a company that develops computational fluid dynamics technology to help expand its system analysis offerings.
Columnist Michael Ford clarifies what the term “smart” means, and what it doesn’t. And Hu Yang of Zhongtai Securities has written a great feature that delves into the worldwide price increase of copper-clad laminates, which he predicts could rise to 20% in early 2021. Finally, we bring you the 2020 “Just Ask” Compilation, which features all your questions for some of our experts: Happy Holden, John Mitchell, Joe Fjelstad, Tara Dunn, and Heidi Barnes, as well as their answers. Don’t forget to bookmark this handy compilation!
I-Connect007 'Just Ask' Q&A Compilation Available Now
Published April 21
Last year, we asked readers to send in questions for a who’s who of industry experts: Happy Holden, John Mitchell, Joe Fjelstad, Tara Dunn, and Heidi Barnes. Now, we have compiled all of your questions and the experts’ answers into one handy compendium for your easy access. And don’t forget to pose your questions for our next “Just Ask” series expert, “Trouble in Your Tank” columnist Mike Carano.
Altium’s New Cloud Platform Connects Electronics Industry Ecosystem
Published April 20
Altium continues to expand the technology around Altium 365. The new cloud-based platform Nexar allows design stakeholders to provide their software and services to existing users of Altium 365. After joining the Nexar community, fabricators, EMS companies, and component distributors and manufacturers can offer up-to-date information to PCB designers and engineers during the design cycle.
Cadence Acquires Pointwise to Expand System Analysis Offerings
Published April 16
Cadence moves further into system analysis with its acquisition of the computational fluid dynamics (CFD) development company Pointwise. The Pointwise mesh-generation technology reads in data from the leading CAD formats and will build upon Cadence’s Clarity and Celsius product line.
Time, Space, Structure, and Model Analysis of CCL Price Increase
Published April 19
Hu Yang of Zhongtai Securities Research Center authored this investigative article for our partners at PCB China Magazine. As Hu explains, prices of materials are expected to increase, possibly up to 20%, in 2021. He also describes the considerable bargaining power that our industry has regarding material cost.
Smart Is Not A Binary Concept
Published April 21
For all the talk about “smart” technology and processes, there’s still a lot of confusion about exactly what the term entails. Michael Ford comes to the rescue with this column that describes what “smart” is and what it is not. He provides a smart process IQ test to measure the intelligence of smart technologies, starting with the smartphone and continuing up through industry processes such as IPC-CFX.
Suggested Items
Trouble in Your Tank: Supporting IC Substrates and Advanced Packaging, Part 5
03/19/2024 | Michael Carano -- Column: Trouble in Your TankDirect metallization systems based on conductive graphite or carbon dispersion are quickly gaining acceptance worldwide. Indeed, the environmental and productivity gains one can achieve with these processes are outstanding. In today’s highly competitive and litigious environment, direct metallization reduces costs associated with compliance, waste treatment, and legal issues related to chemical exposure. What makes these processes leaders in the direct metallization space?
AT&S Shines with Purest Copper on World Recycling Day
03/18/2024 | AT&SThe Styrian microelectronics specialist AT&S is taking World Recycling Day as an opportunity to review the progress that has been made in recent months at its sites around the world in terms of the efficient use of resources:
Matrix to Exhibit at IPC APEX EXPO 2024 in Anaheim, CA
03/05/2024 | MatrixMatrix will be exhibiting at IPC APEX EXPO 2024, to be held on April 9-12, 2024, at the Anaheim Convention Center, Anaheim, CA.
The Chemical Connection: Getting to Know Your Vendor
02/16/2024 | Don Ball -- Column: The Chemical ConnectionAfter working for a capital equipment supplier for almost 50 years, I’ve found that the most important part of getting to know your vendor is good communication among all parties. While contact between fabricators of a constantly changing product line and the designers of those products may occur daily or weekly, conversations between you and your equipment supplier may be years apart. That lengthy gap often means that previous contacts may have been promoted, retired, or moved on to other opportunities. You may have also migrated to a new supplier with whom you have little or no history. In either case, you will be interacting with someone you are unfamiliar with (as they are with you). Therefore, it is essential for both sides to communicate clearly so expectations will align.
EIPC Winter Conference 2024, Day 2: A Closer Look at Global Trends
02/14/2024 | Pete Starkey, I-Connect007The opening session of the second day’s conference proceedings focused on global PCB trends and was introduced and moderated by Dr. Michele Stampanoni, vice president of strategic sales and business development at Cicor Group in Switzerland. He opened the session with Dr. Hayao Nakahara’s knowledgeable and enlightening video presentation on the IC substrates industry.