UP Media Group Inc. (Atlanta, GA) has announced the details for two technology presentations that will take place at the 13th annual PCB Design Conference West (PCB West) on March 15-19 at the San Jose Convention Center in San Jose, CA.

To kick-off this year's conference, the PCB Technology Forum and Welcome Luncheon will take place on Monday, March 15, from 12-1:30 p.m. Joseph Fjelstad, co-founder of Silicon Valley startup SiliconPipe and author of An Engineer's Guide to Flexible Circuits, will make a technical presentation on "The Benefits of Three-Dimensional Partitioning of Printed Circuit Signal Routing."

According to Fjelstad, it is often assumed that copper is just too slow for electronics applications requiring high speeds; however, the truth is that copper can transmit signals at near the speed of light if properly configured. Fjelstad's presentation will focus on an innovative process being developed at SiliconPipe. This creative destruction involves splitting an integrated circuit (IC) package I/O by launching high-speed signals through the bottom of the package, while routing lower speed power and ground signals through the bottom of the package. Signal strength and integrity should be improved, and with the high-speed I/O more accessible, the IC can be tested with full parametrics at full speed.

Conference attendees taking one of six Professional Development courses taught on Monday, March 15, may attend the PCB Technology Forum and Welcome Luncheon for free. All others who wish to attend the event may do so for a fee of $25.

A second technology presentation will be held on Thursday, March 18, from 11: 15 a.m. to 12:15 p.m., and attendance is free to all registered conference and expo-only attendees. Eric Hills, the applications engineering manager at Endicott Interconnect Technologies, will make a technical presentation on "Meeting the PCB Needs for High-Speed Data Transmission."

According to Hills, achieving data rates of up to 10 Gb/s requires close attention to transmission line geometries, dielectric properties and via utilization, as well as a physical design awareness that is not usually required. His presentation will address the methods for ensuring that the interconnections are suitable for high speeds, and how to accomplish this with traditional (i.e., cost-effective) techniques that provide maximum wiring efficiency. Special focus will be placed on the advantages that certain transmission line and via structures provide for such high-speed connections.

Before founding SiliconPipe, Fjelstad was with Tessera, where he was the company's first fellow. He is the author, co-author or editor of several books and numerous articles on electronic manufacturing. Fjelstad is also a prodigious inventor, with more than 150 U.S. patents issued or pending.

Formerly the product manager for PCBs at EIT, Hills has held positions at IBM as applications engineering manager for ceramic packaging and as new products program manager for PCBs and electronic assemblies. He has a B.S. in chemical engineering from Penn State.

UPMG is a privately held company that specializes in magazine publishing and trade show and conference production. UPMG currently publishes two high-tech magazines: Printed Circuit Design & Manufacture (www.pcdandm.com) and Circuits Assembly (www.circuitsassembly.com). In addition, UPMG produces two annual conferences and trade shows for the design and manufacture industry—PCB Design Conference West (www.pcbwest.com) in the Silicon Valley area, and PCB Design Conference East (www.pcbeast.com) in the Boston, MA, area. UPMG also hosts the PCB Design Conference Road Series (www.pcbshows.com) of courses in cities throughout the U.S.

www.pcbwest.com

Copyright 2004, UP Media Group. All rights reserved.

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