From the Column’s Chairman:
My name is Stephen Chavez. As a current Designers Council (DC) Executive Board member, and a longtime active IPC member, I have been nominated by those DC Executive Board members who attended the recent board meeting held at PCB West 2018, in Santa Clara, CA, to be the focal point (chairman) of the newly created DC Communication subcommittee.
As chairman, I will be main point of contact, but will be working with other local area IPC chapter leaders for the content published in this new column. As a PCB Designer with 28 years of experience and 15 years of active IPC DC activity, my goal in this new role is to continue to foster professional development, continue to promote participation within IPC, and to continue to promote positive synergy for designers, by designers, or any individual having direct involvement in the creations of PWBs or PWAs.
This column was created to enable more communications and the sharing of industry knowledge for designers, electrical engineers or any individual having direct involvement in the creations of PWBs or PWAs. We will provide status updates for all active IPC local area DC chapter. This will allow the respective chapters to publish their current and up and coming activities. The intent of this is for individuals that don’t have a local IPC chapter in their area, an opportunity to stay up to date with the current active chapters. To get an opportunity to get on the mailing list of any of the active chapters so that they can receive all available content being shared to their respective local members. We will also support any individual who wishes to start their own local area IPC chapter and be a great resource for support in their effort. In the end, we want to utilize this column to help spread the IPC DC Executive Board’s intent like a “virus.” A virus that consist of positive synergy, industry knowledge sharing of content and best practices, local area chapter activities, and DC Executive Board activities to include support with any and all who chose to be a part of the global collective.
This column’s typical content will consist of a diverse variety of PCB and IPC chapter content such as updates and activities from the DC Executive Board, local area chapter news/activities in their respective regions of the world. This column’s content will also consist of industry news, educational opportunities, professional development opportunities, and a monthly guest write up featuring any individual wishing to share their recent PWB/PWA activities or topics of interest they’d like to share publicly.
-- Stephen Chavez
Chapter Status Reports
This column will showcase all the current active local area IPC chapters. It will provide their current status, their chapter’s activities, their chapter’s future planned meetings and events, and most importantly, list each chapter’s leadership for a point of contact, respectively.
Up-And-Coming Meetings/Events/Seminars/Conferences/Workshops:
This column, will list up-and-coming chapter meetings, chapter events, industry seminars, industry conferences, and industry workshops to help promote continued professional development opportunities.
Coming events:
Rick Hartley - PCB 2 Day Seminars - Control of Noise, EMI and Signal Integrity in High Speed Circuits and PC Boards
o Course Abstract:
It is quite common for parts to be miniaturized in today’s world in order to get the most possible function and information into small spaces on very dense boards. HDI technology will help designers by enhancing their ability to fanout and route those small, dense parts with narrow traces, spaces and via sizes while maintaining impedance control, small board size, and low layer count on their boards.
Whether designers are currently using HDI or not, this class is packed with ideas about the overall setup, planning, routing, and DfM needs of HDI, and we will discuss the overall benefits to the boards. Since we may all be forced into using HDI technology soon as the small parts become the only ones available, it is a good idea to understand the changes the technology may require in the way we design our boards
o Content:
Steve Sandler - 2-day Hands-on Workshop - Power Integrity Workshop
For more details you may contact Lucy Iantosca at Sierra Circuits: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. / www.protoexpress.com/blog/
PCB Carolina – All Day Event
Remaining IPC CID and CID+ Certifications within the US:
CID Certification date and locations:
Lastly, this column will spotlight a monthly guest write up featuring any chapter or individual wishing to share their activities or topics of interest regarding PWBs/PWAs they’d like to share publicly. This month’s spotlight is: Research Triangle Park (RTP) North Carolina Chapter
Chapter Point of Contacts:
The RTP Chapter’s big event, PCB Carolina, occurs each fall. This premier electronics tradeshow offers free access for all attendees to the Showroom floor, Keynote Address, all Technical Sessions, food & drinks and door prizes. Vendors pay for the privilege of a table and can purchase other promotional perks (ad hoc) or via sponsorship. This event revenue is, by far, the major contributor to the chapter’s annual budget.
The RTP Chapter also offers two half day Hands-On Soldering Workshops as a fee-based service through Circuit Technology. In conjunction with this show IPC is offering a fee-based full day course on “Designing Boards with HDI Technology” by Susy Webb and EPTAC is offering fee-based IPC Designer Certification Programs (CID / CID+) on the days following this event.
This year’s event will be held at North Carolina State University’s McKimmon Center for Continuing Education on November 7th. This event always brings in a big crowd. This year will include:
• 75 vendors
• Keynote Speaker (Rick Hartley)
• 16 Technical Sessions
• Hands on Soldering Workshops (Circuit Technology – Angel Deluna )
• CID/CID+ Training (EPTAC – Dave Seymour/Gary Ferrari)
• IPC Technical Education (IPC – Susy Webb)
• Continental breakfast (Sponsored by Better Boards)
• Buffet lunch
• Evening reception with food, beer & wine (Sponsored by Mentor)
• Lots of door prizes
• Free tote, free T-Shirt and free show guide
• 900-1000 attendees (expected registrations)
Our chapter maintains open communications with area engineering and tech schools, including North Carolina State University, Wake Technical Community College and Coastal Carolina Community College. We hold PCB Carolina at NC State and occasionally invite their professors to speak at the tradeshow. We often get volunteer support from local community colleges for the tradeshow to help set up, fulfill duties during the event and some stay to help teardown. Getting the local community colleges involved gives them access to the experience of the show, access to industry vendors, job scouting, technical training and the ability to network with people they might never have access to meet. They love the experience and we keep getting volunteers year after year.
Our community is fortunate to have access to such a fulfilling tradeshow with a wide selection of training opportunities. The RTP Chapter and the local tradeshow would not be possible without endless volunteer hours donated by the RTP Chapter of the IPC Designers Council.
This year’s show will also be awesome – don’t miss it! www.pcbcarolina.com