Michael Carano, IPC’s technical consultant, will present some of the key findings from IPC’s latest PCB Technology Trends study, published this past October.

BACK BY POPULAR DEMAND -- John Watson explores how artificial intelligence (AI) is revolutionizing printed circuit board (PCB) design in this must-attend webinar, "The AI Advantage in PCB Design: Tools and Trends." This session will provide a deep dive into the transformative impact of AI on the PCB design process, helping engineers and designers tackle challenges with greater efficiency and innovation. The webinar begins with an introduction to AI's fundamental role in modern PCB design. Participants will learn how AI enhances traditional workflows, offering capabilities beyond human limitations. From circuit optimization to error reduction, AI enables faster, smarter, and more precise design outcomes. Through real-world examples, the session will highlight how AI is being used to solve common PCB design challenges, such as managing complex routing patterns, improving thermal performance, and reducing the time spent on iterative design revisions. These case studies will show how companies have integrated AI to address bottlenecks, reduce costs, and accelerate product development timelines. Additionally, this webinar will explore the potential hurdles of adopting AI technologies in PCB design. Topics will include data preparation, the need for effective collaboration between engineers and AI systems, and the importance of validating AI-driven recommendations. Attendees will also get a glimpse into the future of AI in PCB design, including its role in fully autonomous design systems and its integration with next-generation technologies like augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR). What Participants Will Learn 1.    How AI is transforming the design process in general. 2.    The benefits of using AI are in improving efficiency and accuracy. 3.    Key features and capabilities of AI-powered tools. 4.    Real-world examples of AI solving design challenges. 5.    Common challenges when adopting AI technologies. 6.    Exciting future possibilities for AI in design and engineering.

Bryan Erwin, former Director of the Trade Advocacy Center in the Obama Administration, Founder/Managing Partner at BlueWave Merchant Partners, and current member of IPC’s Thought Leaders program, will provide information on how best to leverage these assets to augment your company’s sales. Erwin will also walk through how using these assets can affect policy outcomes here in the United States.

This webinar will provide an overview of the new one-time EPA reporting rule on PFAS under the Toxic Substances Control Act. The new rule will have a significant impact on electronics producers and importers, because of (a) the widespread use of PFAS within the electronics supply chain; (b) the very expansive definition of PFAS in the rule, which includes commonly used polymers; and (c) EPA’s decision to include imported articles within the scope of the rule.

At the midpoint of 2025, the global economy remains caught between resilience and risk. Inflation is elevated but hasn’t spiked as sharply as some feared following the latest round of tariffs, at least not yet. Meanwhile, hopes for aggressive interest rate cuts are fading as the Fed remains cautious, labor market data is softening, and trade tensions remain high as new policies ripple across supply chains.

Join IPC President and CEO John Mitchell and alliantgroup’s Jenn Groff for an informative session and discussion on the latest updates to powerful tax credits and incentives for IPC members, manufacturers, and suppliers.

My colleague Happy Holden famously stated that only about 10% of design packages received by PCB fabricators are complete and accurate out of the gate. This means unnecessary time and cost are going into the other 90% of jobs. What it also means is that design success and product reliability are in jeopardy if these issues are not identified and addressed.  Early engagement between a PCB fabricator and a PCB designer is essential to avoid common design issues that will impact the success of any PCB design. Getting the PCB fabricator's engineers together with the PCB designers to understand manufacturing capabilities and collaborate on the optimum design solution for a particular application is mission-critical to the success of the project. This webinar will cover:  •    Customer service representatives are not engineers; why all technical questions cannot be addressed during the quoting stage. •    What happens when the customer's netlist does not match the customer's Gerber/3d data. •    Customer impedance requirements don't match the drawings/data.  •    Picking the appropriate material set for a given design application. •    Customized CAM adjustments for manufacturability.  •    The impact of a PCB designer not understanding fabricator capabilities. •    Unmanufacturable designs. •    Inheriting designs from another PCB fabricator. •    Overdesigning a project from a complexity and cost standpoint.  •    Early and often engagement; it's all about time and cost.

Bring your questions for this expert panel to explore how your organization can mirror these successes and make training a central lever for growth—not just compliance.

Real discussion on the “digital tools of the trade” to realize Industry 4.0 in a systematic approach, with focus on the business case ROI, real time connectivity, and predictive AI-enabled technologies for Maintenance 4.0 and Quality 4.0

IPC and iNEMI convened electronics industry experts in person on June 17 to discuss circularity challenges at the workshop, "There’s no end to a circle. A workshop on how to address circularity challenges in electronics manufacturing" at the Electronics Goes Green conference in Berlin. The fundamental goal of the workshop was to scope industry solutions to address pressing circularity challenges. Please join us on July 17 at 10:00 AM EDT to learn more about the results of the workshop and next steps that will lead to work by iNEMI and IPC.

4.00 PM: Welcome Address by Mr Rajiv Nath, Forum Coordinator, Association of Indian Medical Device Industry (AIMED) & Mr. G V Subrahmanyam, Jt. Coordinator, EVG, AiMeD

We are delighted to welcome expert panelists to discuss what automakers, startups, and T1s are demanding from their supply chains in terms of sustainability. Panelists will weigh in the top 3 challenge areas beyond current regulatory reporting and what may be coming next.

Review historical timeline of the research in this area. Join Dr. Syed Sajid Ahmad, Ph.D summarize and present pertinent results including the means & actions proposed and tried to alleviate the adverse effects of the Kirkendall voiding caused by the phenomenon. What promotes purple plague. How to control its formation and growth. Observation and measurement methods. Interface analysis techniques. Methods of failure analysis.

In this webinar, we will dive into the Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation (ESPR) and Digital Product Passports (DPPs), providing a clear explanation of what they are and how they work.

The proliferation of electronics into harsh environments has however, highlighted the well-established link between process residues and electro-chemical migration (ECM) caused failures. Higher operational voltages, increased component densities, and assembly miniaturization, and increased reliability expectations increase the relationship between clean assemblies and long-term reliability.

Bottom termination components (BTCs) are becoming increasingly common in assemblies due to their low cost and high performance. There are varying types of BTCs in the electronics industry, such as QFN, SOIC, and LGA, all of which are typical on assemblies. The defining characteristic of these components is that the terminations are flat on the bottom, therefore relying on solder paste to make the component to board connection. This means that the height of the solder is primarily determined by the volume of solder paste and the finished assembly might not have visible solder joints to inspect. As you can imagine, this makes BTCs very challenging to inspect, often leading to X-ray analysis for process control. Are you using BTCs on your assembly?  Looking to understand the inspection process of BTCs? Having trouble inspecting your BTC?  In this webinar we will take a deep dive into the inspection of Bottom Termination Components utilizing visual, X-ray and cross section analysis.