Why Andrew Scheuermann thinks AI will be the assistant every engineer has needed.

We in electronics design and manufacturing know automation is part and parcel of what we do, but while the landscape has changed, be it the transition from mechanical drawings to CAD tools with their autorouters or from manual and semiautomatic printers and placement machines to lights-out factories where cobots have replaced operators, the industry still has a long, long way to go.

To help with perspective on this emerging technology, we interviewed Andrew Scheuermann in February. Scheuermann, along with his business partner, Tim Burke, is cofounder and CEO of Arch Systems, a Silicon Valley-based developer of software tools that collect raw machine data and use predictive and analytics to calculate manufacturing key performance indicators or KPIs.

Design and manufacturing considerations for HDI PCBs.

High-density interconnect (HDI) technology has been a major enabler of advancement in the electronics industry, providing the dense interconnections and intricate circuitry needed to create state-of-the-art electronic devices that are tightly packed with miniaturized components and 2.5-D/3-D semiconductor packages.

Miniaturization at the semiconductor level has driven miniaturization at the PCB level, with manufacturers striving to shrink the size of devices while maintaining or enhancing their capabilities. This has led to the development of compact smartphones, slim laptops, and wearable gadgets that seamlessly blend into our daily lives (Figure 1). Alongside miniaturization has been a constant push for faster processing speeds. As technology evolves, the processing power of electronic devices has skyrocketed, enabling quicker data processing, seamless multitasking, and smoother user experiences.

Chicago’s EMS companies place an emphasis on responsiveness.

While major manufacturing centers in Mexico, plus the more than 250 EMS companies in the Silicon Valley, draw much of the attention when it comes to electronics assembly, the greater Chicagoland area is alive and well.

CIRCUITS ASSEMBLY visited a trio of EMS companies last fall, each of which specializes in different niches. The firms, which include Imagineering, BEST and BESTProto, have taken different paths to success, but they have a common recognition of the need for responsiveness in a demanding customer environment.

Mitigation techniques to eliminate wire breakage failures.

Wirebond technology has long been used in semiconductor manufacturing because of its inherent flexibility, considered a major advantage as an interconnect method. With wirebonding, electrical interconnections or wirebonds are created between the silicon die and its leadframe or substrate using fine bonding wires made of gold, aluminum, copper, silver alloys or palladium-coated copper composites. These wirebonds are delicate though flexible, and in semiconductors, are usually encapsulated by buffer materials such as resin or mold compounds, giving them a measure of durability and the ability to resist damage from vibration. That measure of durability is lost in open-air applications, however, including EV battery packs where there is no molding or encapsulation material to protect the wirebond from the effects of vibration.