Kitchener, Canada — Voltera, a global leader and manufacturer of additive and printed electronics technology, has announced the launch of NOVA, a groundbreaking manufacturing platform for printing flexible hybrid electronics. NOVA uses direct-write technology to print circuits on soft, stretchable, and conformable surfaces.

“This first-of-its-kind benchtop machine unlocks rapid flexible hybrid electronics prototyping and the ability to experiment with custom inks and a wide variety of substrates,” said Alroy Almeida, CEO and co-founder of Voltera. “NOVA is already being used to innovate how humankind explores deep space, to develop printed, on-skin sensors for medical imaging, and to prototype clothing that can measure your heart rate yet can go through the gentle cycle in your washing machine.”

NOVA’s precision extrusion technology makes it easier and faster to conduct research and develop the products of the future by enabling rapid benchtop iteration, leading to more reliable results, faster development times, and lower costs.

"With NOVA, we can make devices and align them to sub 10-micron precision, which is essential to everything that we do,” said Alex Kashkin, Graduate Researcher, Velasquez Group at MIT, who is using NOVA to develop printed electron sources for neutralizing ionic thruster plumes in low-earth orbit. “If we have a 20-micron deviation, our devices explode. We need a lot of precision, we need to have tuned materials, and NOVA enables both."

Technological advancement involves pushing the boundaries of what is known. NOVA crosses the bridge between what researchers can do and what they wish they could do.

“I think where this sort of technology, NOVA, will shine is in applications that were not possible before. You shouldn't fight or try to compete with silicon chips or PCBs. You should try to make something that's impossible with those technologies,” said Gerd Grau, Director of the Electronics Additive Manufacturing Lab at York University, who is using NOVA to develop on-skin biomedical tattoo electrodes.

While subtractive methodologies are great for traditional electronics, the future of electronics is flexible — and that means the future of electronics is additive. As a direct-write, digital printer, NOVA enables innovation without requiring the tooling and high costs associated with screen printing. This allows for rapid design iteration while offering higher performance than other additive prototyping options, such as inkjet. It is also better for the environment because there is significantly less waste and material contamination, and NOVA can print circuits on eco-friendly materials, such as biodegradable substrates.

Other features of NOVA include:
• Materials freedom: Simply fill NOVA’s Smart Dispenser cartridge with the desired material and use its semi-automated calibration procedure to start printing in minutes.
• Quick-swap work areas: Mount flexible substrates using the Vacuum Table module, or mount rigid substrates using custom fixturing.
• Precision dispensing: Print high-resolution features with realtime, closed-loop pressure feedback — no tooling or screens required.
• Integrated vision system: Align, print, and inspect quickly using an intelligent camera-based alignment and AR print overlay features.
• Modular platform: Built to include two quick-swap module ports, drop-in fixturing, and optional ethernet/USB/WiFi connectivity. Two modules are currently available with additional modules on the product roadmap.

For more information on NOVA, please visit voltera.io/nova.

About Voltera:

Voltera is a rapidly scaling and profitable Canadian tech company that is driving substantial change in the additive electronics industry. Its inaugural product, the V-One desktop PCB printer, modernized circuit board prototyping by exponentially increasing the pace of innovation and decreasing long lead times caused by supply chain disruptions.

With the recent addition of NOVA into Voltera’s product line, innovation is no longer limited by materials — or the technology required to print with them. Voltera makes tools for every electronics project and enables innovation at the desks and in the labs of organizations and academic institutions all over the globe.

October 10, 2022 – Ventec International Group Co., Ltd. (6672 TT) is pleased to announce that Chad Wood has joined the company’s US team. As Director OEM Sales & Business Development, Chad will drive business development, sales & support services for OEM customers predominantly in the Western region of the USA. His focus will be on Ventec’s core automotive, mil/aero, medical, lighting and network technology market segments, which typically require reliable thermal management materials (such as Ventec’s tec-thermal range) as well as high-speed and high-frequency material solutions (tec-speed).

Chad joins Ventec as an experienced technical sales leader who has worked in the electronics and semiconductor industries for more than 28 years. Since 2009, Chad has been involved in developing industry leading thermal solutions for the most demanding applications that require sustainable and reliable materials that optimize product performance for tier-1 OEMs in the automotive, lighting, power and industrial, and telecom/datacom markets. From his home base in southern California, Chad will focus on bringing design wins and qualifications for all Ventec products from customers in the western region of the USA. He will also be responsible for Ventec's manufacturer rep sales teams on the west coast.

Chris Hanson, Global Head IMS Technology at Ventec comments: ‘Chad brings with him strong relationships with decision makers at the OEM and fabricator level. To support our continued growth, driven by a significant rise in demand for our solutions in the USA and beyond, our expanding team ensures that we continue to provide industry-leading technical support services. We are delighted to welcome Chad to Ventec as our latest member of the OEM sales team.’

Ventec International is a world leader in the production of polyimide & high-reliability epoxy laminates and prepregs and a specialist provider of thermal management and IMS solutions. Further information about Ventec’s solutions and the company’s wide variety of products is available at www.venteclaminates.com.

About Ventec International Group

Ventec International Group Co., Ltd. (6672 TT) is a premier supplier to the Global PCB industry. With volume manufacturing facilities in Taiwan and China and distribution locations and manufacturing sites in both the US and Europe, Ventec specializes in advanced copper clad glass reinforced and metal backed substrates. Ventec materials, which include high-quality enhanced FR4, high-speed/low-loss- & high-performance IMS material technology and an advanced range of thermal management solutions, are manufactured by Ventec using strict quality-controlled processes that are certified to AS9100 Revision D, IATF 16949:2016 and ISO 9001:2015, and are backed by a fully controlled and managed global supply chain, sales- and technical support network. For more information, visit www.venteclaminates.com.

SAN FRANCISCO, CA (September 28, 2022) - Today, SnapEDA, the first search engine for electronics design is launching the SnapEDA Syndication Network. This ecosystem of over 30 distribution partners, includes electronic component distributors, printed circuit board (PCB) tool makers, and engineering media sites.

The SnapEDA Syndication Network connects the electronic designers and engineers who are at the heart of the electronic industry with design content for millions of electronic components.

This content helps engineers design faster, grows revenue and loyalty for distributors, and allows chip and component manufacturers to get valuable design wins.

Over 80% of engineers that download SnapEDA’s design content purchase the product. This creates a competitive advantage for electronic component distributors and manufacturers that are a part of SnapEDA’s network, enabling them to win sales earlier in the design process.

Global spending on digital transformation is expected to reach an all-time high of $6.8 trillion in 2023. As a result of the global pandemic and a heightened demand for self-serve component selection tools, component manufacturers are increasingly investing in digital demand generation technologies. In addition to helping engineers find the parts they need, SnapEDA uniquely translates this demand into seamless design-ins, securing the win for component manufacturers.

“Before meeting SnapEDA we were very reactive with our CAD models and only provided them once they were requested. In today’s self-service approach to design, that strategy is no longer effective. SnapEDA has helped us to not only proactively provide CAD models for over 1 million of our products, but also to reach millions of engineers worldwide via their Syndication Network” Said Daniel Williams, CIO at Samtec.

“At SnapEDA, our mission is to help engineers design electronics faster so they can spend more time innovating. By providing our trusted design content everywhere - including the world’s leading distributors and PCB tools - we’re able to boost productivity for even more engineers worldwide for a frictionless design flow” said Natasha Baker, CEO and Founder of SnapEDA.

Partners in the network include Digi-Key, Autodesk Fusion360, RS Components DesignSpark, Cadence, Mouser, Zuken eCADSTAR, Distrelec, Online Components, Master Electronics, Octopart, DipTrace, Proteus, TraceParts, IHS Markit, PartsBox, Semikart, Devicemart, ExpressPCB, TARGET 3001!, Cadenas, Electronics Lab, Seeed Studio, Inventhub, OEM Secrets, Cofactr, Sourceability, Endeavor Business Media and PCBWay. Five new partners are signed and scheduled to launch in the coming months.

Engineers can also auto-import CAD models with SnapEDA plugins for Altium, KiCAD, Eagle, and PCB123. Supported content includes schematic symbols, PCB footprints, and 3D mechanical models for millions of manufacturer’s parts. This content is compatible with over 20 PCB design formats.

Learn more and join the SnapEDA Syndication Network at https://insights.snapeda.com/syndication.

About SnapEDA

SnapEDA helps engineers design electronics faster by removing barriers. Over one million electronics engineers and PCB designers use its search engine for electronics design each year, creating everything from medical devices to automotive electronics. By providing ready-to-use building blocks for design, including symbols and PCB footprints, its library shaves days off product development, allowing designers to focus on optimization and innovation. SnapEDA’s models are created using proprietary and patented creation, verification, and translation technology. Learn more at www.snapeda.com.

Smaller circuits with greater functionality are possible with the advanced circuit materials developed by Isola Group and being shown at the PCB West 2022 Exhibition on Wednesday, October 5, 2022 at the Santa Clara Convention Center in Santa Clara, CA. Combining laminate and prepreg materials optimized for power, RF/microwave, and high-speed-digital (HSD) circuits results in miniaturized and efficient multilayer mixed-signal assemblies that can fit the tightest places and provide the high performance and diverse functionality needed for modern electronic products. Isola’s representatives will offer guidance on the most effective use of their materials, whether for high-volume commercial applications or aerospace and defense (A&D) systems chasing reduce size, weight, and power (SWaP) requirements.

For more than 30 years, the PCB West Conference & Exhibition has linked suppliers and users of printed-circuit-board (PCB) materials. The 2022 edition features the one-day exhibition as well as a highly educational conference scheduled from October 4-7, 2022 aimed at both designers and manufacturers of analog, digital, and hybrid mixed-signal PCBs. More than 2500 visitors are expected to attend the one-day exhibition to gather information from more than 100 exhibitors. Isola Group has reserved Booth #XX on the PCB West 2022 exhibition floor.

With manufacturing facilities in Europe, Asia, and multiple sites in the U. S., Isola is truly a global circuit material developer and manufacturer offering assurance of consistent and dependable supply chains. Backed by robust design and manufacturing service capabilities, the company is constantly evolving and enhancing its product lines for greater ease of manufacturing even for hybrid, mixed-signal designs, employing straightforward baseline FR-4 manufacturing processes for many of its circuit materials. Laminate and prepreg materials cover a wide range of applications spanning aerospace and defense, automotive and transportation, communications, computing, industrial, medical, RF/microwave, and test and measurement systems.

Isola materials at the PCB West 2022 Exhibition include circuit materials that are designed to be used together in hybrid mixed-signal circuits but also to be processed tother with well-established methods, such as material processes used for FR-4. Examples include lead-free-compatible (RoHS-compliant), standard-loss 370HR materials and I-Tera® MT40 low-loss materials for higher-frequency circuits. Based on a patented, multifunction epoxy-resin formulation, 370HR materials support compact circuit designs with high-density interconnections while delivering high thermal reliability from -55 to +125°C. It has a typical dielectric constant (Dk) of 4.17 through the thickness (z-axis) at 1 GHz, decreasing lightly with frequency to 3.92 at 10 GHz. 370HR materials exhibit standard loss, with dissipation factor of 0.0161 at 1 GHz and 0.0250 at 10 GHz

For multilayer circuits requiring lower loss at higher frequencies, I-Tera® MT40 circuit materials has lower Df of typically 0.0028 at 2 GHz and 0.0035 at 10 GHz, with typical Dk through the z-axis of 3.45 at both 2 and 10 GHz. Its thermal characteristics are like those of 370HR, and it can be transformed into PCBs with standard FR-4 manufacturing processes. For extremely low loss at higher frequencies and in HSD circuits, Astra® MT77 has Dk of typically 3.00 at 2 and 10 GHz which remains at that value even with large swings in temperature. It has low Df of 0.0017 at 2 and 10 GHz and is manufactured with the same FR-4-like processes applied to 370HR and I-Tera MT40 materials.

These are several examples of the manufacturing-process-compatible circuit materials on display at the Isola booth at the PCB West 2022 Exhibition. The materials are available as laminates with a wide selection of copper weights and as prepregs, as dielectric materials without metallization. Compatible with FR-4 manufacturing processes, the materials maintain consistent performance across operating temperatures from -55 to +125°C with the high interconnect density needed tor modern circuit miniaturization. For more information about any of these materials, please see Isola at the PCB West 2022 Exhibition on October 5, 2022 or visit the Isola website at www.isola-group.com.

About Isola

Isola Group (www.isola-group.com) is a leading global developer and supplier of advanced electronic circuit materials for high-voltage, high-power, high-speed, and high-frequency PCBs. By performing ongoing R & D on emerging circuit applications, such as military radar and EW systems, commercial 5G communications networks, and vehicle electronification, and operating a network of global factories, Isola provides cost-effective, high-performance solutions for the most challenging electronic single-layer and multilayer PCB applications.