Printed Circuit Design & Fab Circuits Assembly - August 2024

PCB Design. No Humans Required. Are margins designers build into PCB designs excessive? Sergiy Nesterenko, the founder and CEO of Quilter, a startup software company that aims to fully automate circuit board design, thinks so. And, he thinks Quilter’s AI-driven, physics-based platform has the fix.
Young Guns. As the industry continues to worry about the mass exodus of experienced design engineers who are working into their retirement ages, this year’s PCD&F/CIRCUITS ASSEMBLY Designers Salary Survey found a new age group at the top of the workforce. But while the ages skewed younger in this year’s results, compensation has continued to rise.
‘A Legacy of Innovation’. Since its founding in the early 1930s as a means to identify the first commercial applications of indium metal, Indium Corporation has continued to innovate and break new ground as it has grown into a premier manufacturer and supplier for the PCB, semiconductor and thermal management industries. As it looks back on the past 90 years of innovations, Indium is also continuing to look to the future to carry on that legacy and prepare for the new technologies that are on the horizon.
Stretching Solder Capabilities. Stencil printing has been the dominant method for dispensing solder paste, but it does have limitations, chiefly among extremely small or large components. Advanced dispensing technologies can offer more flexibility and the ability to produce both minuscule and substantial deposits while seamlessly integrating into the existing SMT process.