LISLE, IL – Molex, a global electronics leader and connectivity innovator, has released a new report on miniaturization in product design that highlights the cross-disciplinary engineering design and manufacturing expertise required to integrate an onslaught of increasingly sophisticated features and functionality into constantly shrinking device footprints. The report, "Mastering Miniaturization, Expert Perspectives," offers insights on how to navigate top trade-offs when meeting the cost and space requirements of densely packaged electronics amid the increasing demand for lighter, smaller products.

"Design engineers must 'think big to go small,' especially when applying high-speed connectors onto printed circuit boards (PCBs) reliably," said Brian Hauge, SVP and president, Consumer & Commercial Solutions, Molex. "Cross-functional expertise in electrical, mechanical and manufacturing process engineering is needed to deliver microelectronic interconnects that operate at higher speeds without sacrificing long-term reliability, while still remaining commercially viable Molex's industry-leading miniaturization capabilities are backed by a legacy of delivering the smallest, densest and most advanced connectivity solutions available today."

As miniaturization continues to permeate every industry and application category, product desigers must balance competing factors, including:

• Power and thermal management
• Signal integrity and integration
• Component and system integration
• Mechanical stress and manufacturability
• Precision, volume manufacturing and costs

The report addresses miniaturization trends in consumer devices and medical wearables, as well as demand for smaller, lighter electronics and connectors in automotive, data center and industrial applications. Observations from experts across different sectors also shed light on how miniaturization is impacting factories, data centers, automobiles, medical wearables, smartphones, the evolution of 5G, and more.

Miniaturization Redefines Innovation

Examples of new and game-changing Molex solutions help underscore the various ways that miniaturization is redefining innovation by reducing size, weight and placement of components and connectors, including:

• Quad-Row Board-to-Board Connectors. The world's smallest board-to-board connectors have staggered-circuit layout for 30% space savings to support smartphones, smartwatches, wearables, game consoles and Augmented Reality/Virtual Reality (AR/VR) devices.
• Next-Generation Vehicle Architectures. Molex is driving development of zonal architectures, which replace traditional wiring harnesses with zonal gateways that group vehicle functions by location using fewer, smaller, more powerful and ruggedized connectors.
• Flex-to-Board RF mmWave 5G25 Connectors. Micro-connectors combine compact size and superior signal integrity to deliver step-changes in performance to meet demanding 5G mmWave applications up to 25 GHz.
• NearStack On-the-Substrate (OTS). Direct-to-chip solution places NearStack connectors directly on the chip substrate package, enabling high-density interconnects supporting 112 Gbps transmission over longer distances.

Molex Market Insights

• Kyle Glissman, global product manager, Molex Transportation Division:
  "The ability to move toward 0.5-millimeter terminals has a compounding effect as there's much better density to fit more content and capabilities in a smaller space."
• Kenji Kijima, director of mobile solutions, Molex Consumer & Commercial Solutions:
  "With 5G, you need more antenna modules and RF functionality inside the phone, as well as bigger batteries for greater power, which creates pressure to shrink other components."
• Brett Landrum, VP, Global Innovation & Design, Phillips-Medisize, a Molex company:
  "Miniaturization is driving usability while taking human-connected design to the next level."
• Gus Panella, director of interconnect technology, Molex Data Specialty Solutions:
  "Applications are driving I/O density, which is stretching limits of the material physics for the PCB, which has led to moving connectors onto the silicon substrate."

SILICON VALLEY – Zero Defects International [ZDI] has received notice of compliance with and renewed registration for ITAR, the International Traffic in Arms Regulation. The continuation of this conformance status enables users of each of the two ZDI services to maintain access to both services. The first is the outsourcing of printed circuit board [PCB] front-end engineering CAM services. This continues to be a very popular practice within the North American printed circuit board manufacturing industry but access to specific product design and technical information requires that ZDI and applicable users operate within parameters set by ITAR.

The second of these services involves the printed circuit board assembly [PCBA] testing that ZDI performs for customers in Silicon Valley as well as for companies in all regions of the United States. ITAR compliance is essential in order to utilize the necessary engineering data for test purposes.

ATLANTA – The Global Industry Practices Committee (GIPC) has published an Executive Summary with results of two surveys conducted by its core team of subject matter experts (SME) led by Brad Waisanen, VP, Global Cyber Security at TTI, Inc. ECIA member companies were surveyed with the goal of learning how the industry is responding to this serious threat to businesses.

Participants in the first survey represented the three ECIA constituencies as follows: Manufacturers (41%); Distributors (39%) and Manufacturers Reps (20%). The questions covered where organizations were turning to for guidance; whether they had risk management programs in place and for how long; reporting structure of the cybersecurity teams; perceived risks and metrics; costs of insurance; prevention measures and more.

Participants in the second survey represented the three ECIA constituencies in a similar measure: Manufacturers (39%); Distributors (39%) and Manufacturers’ Reps (23%). The questions in the second survey focused on ransomware readiness.

“The results of these two surveys were very enlightening and provide the GIPC Cybersecurity SME with concrete guidance on where to place our efforts going forward,” explained Don Elario, ECIA’s Vice President of Industry Practices. “There were clear differences in how the three constituencies have responded to these types of threats. Not surprisingly, larger companies have more mature cyber risk management programs than smaller companies and we see this as an opportunity for this work group to provide a baseline of cybersecurity best practices, among other initiatives.”

View the results of the two surveys here: Cybersecurity Executive Summary.

CAMBRIDGE, UK – The next generation of telecoms technologies, 5G, is not fully deployed yet; in fact, the exciting high-frequency bands of mmWave 5G are not set to take off for another several years, according to IDTechEx forecasts. Still, people are already considering the next-next generation of telecommunications - 6G. While 5G will enable society to control more devices remotely in applications where real-time network performance is critical, 6G will bring much richer connectivity to the physical world, using advancements in AI and computing to enhance the machine-human interface. So, although 6G spectrum will not be standardized till 2027 at the earliest, researchers and OEMs like Huawei are already exploring the technical advancements needed to facilitate 6G.

Low-Loss Materials: The Essential Building Block for 6G

As with any new technology, material innovations act as essential building blocks on which other technical advances can develop. This is no different with 6G. While transmission loss and atmospheric dispersion is bad enough at high frequency 5G bands, affecting the range and signal integrity of mmWave 5G networks, it will be even worse at 6G bands like the D-band (110-170GHz). Thus, the world's 1st consortium for 6G technology development, 6Genesis Flagship Program 2018, identified the development of new low-loss materials as a critical technology enabler for 6G. Therefore, it is important to investigate the potential dielectric performance required for 6G technologies, which is spurring current research into ultra-low-loss materials for 6G by many important players.

The key players developing in this field include materials suppliers like Taiyo Ink and ITEQ Corporation and research institutions like the USA's Georgia Institute of Technology, South Korea's Yonsei University, and Germany's Fraunhofer IKTS (Institute for Ceramic Technologies and Systems). Some approaches for low-loss materials for 6G involve commercially established materials like PTFE, PPE, and glass fiber-reinforced thermosets with novel architectures or molecular compositions. Other approaches involve less conventional materials, like low-cost thermoplastics, silica foams, or even wood-based composites.

The development of these dielectrics is challenging on many levels. First, there is no clear dielectric performance target for these materials to hit. IDTechEx expects the loss tangents of current commercial ultra-low-loss laminates to be the minimum performance standard for 6G devices, and it is difficult now to see how much lower loss tangents will need to be for 6G devices.

It is also tricky to even characterize dielectric materials at terahertz frequencies, which iNEMI (the International Electronics Manufacturing Initiative) is researching with their 5G/6G MAESTRO project. Lastly, none of this considers the cost and manufacturability of such ultra-low-loss materials, which will significantly affect the economic viability of 6G devices. Suffice to say, there is a lot of work to be done to advance low-loss materials enough to support 6G communication networks.

What Low-Loss Materials Can Enable: Reconfigurable Intelligent Surfaces (RIS)

With the right innovations, low-loss materials will support some critical 6G technologies, like reconfigurable intelligent surfaces (RIS) made of metamaterials. Metamaterials are structures consisting of a periodic regular pattern that is designed to interact with an incident wave; RIS are artificial surfaces that can produce unique wireless communication capabilities. RIS integrates passive or active metasurfaces to redirect and (occasionally) amplify telecommunication signals. The primary factor distinguishing RIS from existing technology are their cheap, almost passive panel of unit cells; these have reflective functionality when entirely passive but can steer/amplify the beam if active. RIS can be used in many 6G wireless telecommunications applications, from beam amplification at base stations to active direction of signals to users. Not only can RIS enhance signal quality and coverage, but they also offer other benefits like reduced energy consumption and increased security compared to existing steering technologies. There is a tradeoff to be made, but the use of more RIS can enable fewer base stations for the same coverage, lowering costs for the same network coverage.

Critical to RIS are low-loss radio frequency metamaterials. With operating frequencies between 95GHz and 1THz, minimizing transmission loss from metasurfaces is essential to maximizing their performance for RIS. Current research and development in low-loss materials for 6G are integral to implementing not only RIS but other impactful 6G applications.

Market Forecasts for Low-Loss Materials for 5G and 6G

IDTechEx's report, "Low-loss Materials for 5G and 6G 2023-2033", explores these technology and market trends driving low-loss materials for next-gen telecommunications like 6G. IDTechEx forecasts future revenue and area demand for low-loss materials for 5G while carefully segmenting the market by frequency (sub-6 GHz vs. mmWave), six material types, and three application areas (smartphones, infrastructure, and CPEs) to provide sixty different forecast lines. For further information on low-loss materials for 5G and 6G, including material benchmarking studies, player analysis, market drivers and barriers, and granular 10-year market forecasts, please visit www.IDTechEx.com/LowLossMats.

For the full portfolio of 5G/6G related research available from IDTechEx, please visit www.IDTechEx.com/Research/5G.