EIPC extends an invitation to researchers, academics, technical experts and industry leaders around the world to submit abstracts for the 12th Electronic Circuits World Convention taking place November 9-11, 2011, at the Taipei Nangang Exhibition Centre, Taiwan.

The workshop aims to discuss new design options for improved technologies, new basic materials for higher reliability, new components and component types for miniaturization and future developments and trends in the rigid and rigid-flex PCB industry.

IPC has announced the July findings from its monthly North American PCB Statistical Program. Rigid PCB shipments were up 23.9% while bookings increased 34.4% in July 2010 from July 2009. Flexible circuit shipments in July 2010 were up 38.2%, and bookings were up 28.8% compared to July 2009.

IPC is inviting researchers, academics, technical experts and industry leaders worldwide to submit abstracts for the 12th Electronic Circuits World Convention taking place November 9-11, 2011, in conjunction with TPCA Show 2011, in Taiwan.

Sisvel US and the RFID Consortium today announced that ETRI has joined the RFID Consortium and will participate in the Consortium's joint licensing program for patents essential to the UHF RFID standard.

PCBs sales in Germany slid in May, according to data from ZVEI PCB and Electronic Systems, but were still a 40% improvement from May of last year. Cumulatively, sales for the first five months of this year were up 32% and incoming orders also reached record highs in May, jumping 137% year-on-year.

IPC has just released the B revision of IPC-7351, Generic Requirements for Surface Mount Design and Land Pattern Standard. IPC-7351B gives designers and board makers updated information on the diverse requirements of land pattern geometries for active and passive components designed for surface mounting.

Printed electronics offers a wide range of opportunities that cannot be realised using conventional electronics manufacturing approaches and, as a result, there is a rapidly expanding global effort to both develop the technology and to bring to market new products covering a wide range of novel applications.

IEEE, the world’s largest association for engineering and technical professionals, will begin offering a new electronic membership (e-Membership) option to individuals in developing nations, when its 2011 membership year begins on 16 August.

Jonathan Davis becomes president, Semiconductor IC Business Unit; Karen Savala assumes role of president, SEMI Americas

IPC has announced the July findings from its monthly North American PCB Statistical Program. Rigid PCB shipments were up 23.9% while bookings increased 34.4% in July 2010 from July 2009. Flexible circuit shipments in July 2010 were up 38.2%, and bookings were up 28.8% compared to July 2009.

Is North America falling behind the rest of the world in HDI technology development? Not if Dan Smith can help it. "The New Mr. HDI" is putting together the first IPC HDI certification course and exam. We caught up with him and discussed the HDI course, what it takes to be an instructor and Happy Holden's 400-gig "data dump."

Guest Editors Mark Thompson and Kelly Dack discuss techniques and materials for improving heat dissipation on PCBs, as well as the challenges designers face in trying to accurately calculate heat dissipation.

A new bill, the Financial Reform Bill (HR 4173), has been recently signed, wherein Sec. 1502 states that manufacturers are required to report annually to the SEC if their products contain "conflict minerals" from the Democratic Republic of Congo.

As frequencies get faster and designs get more complex, the electrical and thermal properties of PCBs are becoming a more critical factor in system designs. Many board developers don't realize that moisture in boards can significantly alter their performance.

IPC and Canon Communications have joined forces to produce Electronics Midwest, an exhibition and technical conference for the assembly and PCB design and manufacturing industries. Providing business and technology solutions that save time, energy and money, the event will bring the best of the global electronics industry together, September 28-30, 2010.

The new symposium will help attendees get up to speed on the latest regulatory developments from around the globe, including chemical regulations in Asia, changes to REACH and RoHS, implementation of system for labeling chemicals, the Canadian Chemicals Management Plan and California's Green Chemistry Initiative.

Stephen Marshall details his experience during this month's IPC Executive Market and Technology Conference and Capitol Hill Day in Washington, D.C. The dual events provided both business and technology perspectives from OEMs in major market segments and ensured that Congress is listening to the needs and concerns of the industry.

Paul Reid reviews the Reliability Workshop Bonus Program at EIPC Nuremberg 2010. Yes, he was one of the speakers, but read on--you'll learn something. However you approach it, reliability testing is more critical than ever now, especially if you're designing or fabricating cutting-edge PCBs.

The IPC SPVC believes that, based on solder manufacturers' position in the value chain, smelters and mines are in the best position to develop and implement a system to ensure mineral traceability from the exporter back to the mine site and to develop chain of custody data.

Is North America falling behind the rest of the world in HDI technology development? Not if Dan Smith can help it. "The New Mr. HDI" is putting together the first IPC HDI certification course and exam. We caught up with him and discussed the HDI course, what it takes to be an instructor and Happy Holden's 400-gig "data dump."

Guest Editors Mark Thompson and Kelly Dack discuss techniques and materials for improving heat dissipation on PCBs, as well as the challenges designers face in trying to accurately calculate heat dissipation.

Stephen Marshall details his experience during this month's IPC Executive Market and Technology Conference and Capitol Hill Day in Washington, D.C. The dual events provided both business and technology perspectives from OEMs in major market segments and ensured that Congress is listening to the needs and concerns of the industry.

Paul Reid reviews the Reliability Workshop Bonus Program at EIPC Nuremberg 2010. Yes, he was one of the speakers, but read on--you'll learn something. However you approach it, reliability testing is more critical than ever now, especially if you're designing or fabricating cutting-edge PCBs.

Chipmakers like BTC because it's inexpensive, while electronic engineers like this package style because the distances signals have to travel are short and there's usually a good thermal connection because the parts touch the board.

From ESC Silicon Valley 2010: Circuit Design ECOsystem partners Jeff Blauser of NXP, Duane Benson of Screaming Circuits, Bhavesh Mistry of National Instruments, and Nolan Johnson of Sunstone Circuits explain how ECOsystem helps design engineers work as if they were part of a cross-functional team.

Disparate demands drive changes in approaches to testing and technologies. These disparate demands drive a number of changes in approaches as well as technologies. For instance, in some fields, the inclusion of RF devices is becoming a limiting factor that's altering test strategies.

IPC's Fern Abrams discusses the importance of efforts in Washington, D.C.: After five long years of lobbying on Capitol Hill, IPC's members finally feel as though Congress understands how vitally important our industry is to national security.

Bill Bader, iNEMI CEO, sat down with Editor Ray Rasmussen at last month's APEX to discuss the many initiatives his organization working on in packaging, energy, roadmaps and the environment--including a new effort on carbon footprinting.

Pyrolytic what? Yash Sutariya, VP of Saturn Electronics, and Mark Breloff, technical sales manager for Minteq, discuss a thermal packaging solution that combines the heat dissipation benefits of a graphite material with the mechanical benefits of FR-4, resulting in a cost-effective mounting material.

Is North America falling behind the rest of the world in HDI technology development? Not if Dan Smith can help it. "The New Mr. HDI" is putting together the first IPC HDI certification course and exam. We caught up with him and discussed the HDI course, what it takes to be an instructor and Happy Holden's 400-gig "data dump."

Stephen Marshall details his experience during this month's IPC Executive Market and Technology Conference and Capitol Hill Day in Washington, D.C. The dual events provided both business and technology perspectives from OEMs in major market segments and ensured that Congress is listening to the needs and concerns of the industry.

It looks like the economy is on the mend. Momentum is building in all markets. Daily, news reports from around the world carry a similar upbeat message. Is the economic cloud finally lifting, or are we engaging in more false hope?

In the run-up to IPC APEX Expo 2010, we're going to focus on some of the workshops taking place in Las Vegas on Designers Day, April 8, 2010. This week, we'll talk to Dan Smith about his course "HDI: 21st Century Design" and Ruth Delker regarding her "10 Things Every Designer Should Know" class.

DesignCon's first-ever PCB Summit provided PCB design engineers a seat at the "grown-up table." Is PCB design finally getting its share of consideration in the industry?

Perhaps no other organization in our industry polarizes people like IPC. For some, the association can do no right; others behave more like Obama volunteers walking lock-step with the president no matter what public approval ratings and unemployment statistics say.

The list of replacements for eutectic tin-lead keeps growing, and now, over three years after implementation of the lead-free mandate, new alloys are still being developed. How do you cut through the clutter and find the right alloy?

As 2010 approaches, I-Connect007's European Editor, Pete Starkey, decided to take a look back at the year's top technical articles--compiling a list of the most popular articles across the site.

It was a star-studded conference with fabricators looking to the government for support to develop the technologies needed along with commitments to strengthen the supply chain, while the government looked to the industry for solutions to its counterfeit components, reliability and supply chain security.

Editor Barry Matties returns from the 2009 HKPCA & IPC Show in China with a look at more than just the usual "show buzz."