2015 Magazine Archives

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FEATURES

SIMULATION
Field Solvers for Transmission Line Analysis: How Similar Are They?
An essential element in circuit board design is engineering the stackup to achieve specific transmission line properties, like characteristic impedance and crosstalk. The best tool for this is a field solver, either a 2D or 3D. But with so many commercially available, the question is always which one to use? A study of six commercial field solver tools evaluates the relative precision and compares their predictions.
by Gaurav Narula and Dr. Eric Bogatin

HOLE RELIABILITY
Conductive Inks vs. Nonconductive Inks for Via Fill
Just 15 years ago, filling a via was considered a specialty process limited to a small group of product applications and almost exclusively to one material: conductive ink. Today, many nonconductive inks are superior in performance, and much less expensive, than their conductive cousins.
by Roy Akber

RETROSPECTIVE
In Memoriam
A look back at friends and colleagues who left us in 2015.
by Mike Buetow

FIRST PERSON

• CAVEAT LECTOR
  At Productronica, rise of the machines?
  Mike Buetow

MONEY MATTERS

• ROI
  Sharpen your profitability plan.
  Peter Bigelow
  

• FOCUS ON BUSINESS
  Sizing up the strategic vs. tactical model conundrum.
  Susan Mucha

TECH TALK

• DESIGNER’S NOTEBOOK
  Flex circuits: On the edge of good design.
  Gregory Beers
• TECH TIPS
  Paste viscosity, and its effect on solder performance.
  Tim O’Neill and Karl Seelig