By Michael Carano, vice president, technology and business development, RBP Chemical Technology The recent publication of IPC’s 2018 PCB Technology Trends study highlighted several significant trends that will impact the board fabricator going forward over the next five years. Some of the most significant technology trends I see are in the materials segment. We all recognize that laminate materials are the substrates on which circuit boards are built. However, these materials perform critical multiple functions in an interconnect device. Important attributes such as signal integrity, impedance, frequency, ability to withstand high soldering and operating temperatures are just a few. The 2018 survey results indicated the need for speed and low loss as critical functions of the materials chosen. This is the digital age, and with the Internet of Things, virtual and augmented reality, vehicle-to-vehicle communication, etc., the need for low-loss and ultra-low-loss materials continues to grow as a percentage of circuit boards fabricated. The OEMs’ responses suggested that applications for frequencies greater than 20 GHz will almost double by 2023 over 2018. Indeed, there is a small group of OEMs pushing 77 GHz currently. There is discussion that over the next 5-8 years we will see 100 GHz. The survey results also showed a significant uptick in the use and specification of liquid crystal polymer (LCP), PTFE and ceramic-filled materials in order to support the need for higher operating frequencies. These materials must not only provide enhanced electrical properties, but must also provide higher reliability against thermal decomposition, operating temperature extremes and more operating cycles per day. These issues place significant pressure on the material performance. Temperature of decomposition (Td) has assuming more importance going into 2023. As major OEMs continue to push lead-free assembly and require improvements in long-term reliability, thermal decomposition of materials become a significant influence. There is a growing need for Td greater than 340 C. These trends are significant and will require a change in the way PCB fabricators approach processes used to fabricate these circuit boards. Changes will be required in interlayer processing, lamination equipment and parameters, surface preparation and metalization. These higher performance materials become more difficult to process chemically. Thus, operating windows and the need for improved process controls becomes paramount moving into 2023 and beyond.

By Dennis Fritz, Fritz Consulting Some interesting differences showed up in the board property data reported by the OEMs and PCB fabricators that participated in IPC’s PCB Technology Trends 2018 study. By and large, those differences indicate that PCB fabricators are well positioned to meet many of their OEM customers’ technical needs today, and their projections indicate their belief that they can stay ahead of the curve through 2023. One example is the average maximum number of drilled holes per panel. The participating PCB fabricators are drilling more than twice as many holes as the participating OEMs reported specifying. PCB fabricators reported minimum conductor line widths and spaces that averaged 25 to 30 percent smaller than those currently specified by the participating OEMs. Perhaps more significantly, the participating PCB fabricators predict the minimum line width and spacing in 5 years will approach 50 microns, while the OEMs in the survey said line/space requirements would not even get as small as 90 microns. Fabricators reported that they are building boards to mount finer surface mount features than the participating OEMs are specifying. Fabricators reported a minimum pitch of 0.5 millimeters on average for surface-mount packages, while the participating OEMs averaged current minimum pitch above 1.0 millimeter. Board fabricators estimate that by 2023, they will have to make boards to mount 0.3-millimeter pitch on average. OEMs were much less demanding in their expected 2023 specifications. Differences in the samples of participating companies could explain these differences in part. The data might also reflect differences between the roles of the respondents. More than half the OEM respondents work in product development, design or R&D, while the PCB fabricator respondents represented a balanced mix of top management, production, design, quality assurance and engineering. In many cases, OEM and PCB fabricators’ data averages were close, such as in board thickness, maximum number of layers, percentages of boards by layer count, rigid-flex layers, and the use of blind and buried vias. Both segments predict increases in the maximum number of layers and in the use of blind and buried vias over the next five years. Do you think OEMs and board fabricators are singing from the same song-book?

By Sharon Starr, director, IPC market research The North American electronics manufacturing services (EMS) industry continued to enjoy positive year-to-date growth in the first quarter of 2019, but growth rates for both sales and orders are slowing, according to IPC’s first-quarter 2019 North American EMS Market Report. Order growth contrasts sharply with last year’s business results. EMS orders in 2018 were 13.5 percent above the previous year. In Q1 2019, orders were up just 1.0 percent year over year. Rapidly slowing growth is also in the forecasts for the industry in 2019 and 2020. The report contains IPC’s own four-quarter sales forecast and a North American market forecast from New Venture Research, and their prognoses as of Q1 2019 are consistent. The first-quarter data showed some interesting differences between markets. First-quarter sales growth was strong for box build and other production, but modest for PCB assembly. Among the industry’s vertical markets, first-quarter sales to the military and aerospace market was up 25 percent this year to date. Sales growth to the lighting and medical/instrumentation markets was also strong. This year the IPC North American EMS Statistical Program began collecting data on sales and orders of wire harness and cable assemblies by EMS companies. Although growth data from this new segment will not be available until next year, we noted with interest that this type of business is heavily concentrated in the smallest company size tier. Among the EMS companies in IPC’s survey sample, wire harness and cable assemblies accounted for nearly 14 percent of the quarter’s sales for companies with annual sales of less than $10 million. No revenue from this type of production was reported by the largest-company size tier in Q1 2019. The quarterly North American EMS Market Report is available free to participants in IPC’s EMS Statistical Program. It is available to others by subscription in IPC’s online store. We welcome your feedback and insights about what may be driving the industry’s business results. Is box-build becoming a larger part of your business? What about vertical markets? Last year, automotive grew the most. This year, mil/aero is off to a roaring start. Are more military equipment makers outsourcing assembly? There is always lots to discuss in this ever-changing industry. For more information on IPC’s market research services, go to www.ipc.org/IndustryData, or contact the market research team at MarketResearch@ipc.org or +1 847-597-2868.

By Chris Mitchell, IPC vice president of global government relations [caption id="attachment_4678" align="alignleft" width="300"] IPC member company executives gathered in DC last week for a round of advocacy meetings.[/caption] Top executives from electronics companies across the United States were in Washington, D.C., last week to call on the Trump administration and Congress to support policies that will drive the electronics industry’s future growth in North America and worldwide. IPC’s government relations team works year-round to advance the industry’s interests in North America, Europe, and Asia. But policymakers are very interested in hearing directly from their constituents – the “real people” who are affected by their policy debates. That is why IPC convenes events like IMPACT Washington, D.C. 2019 and IMPACT Europe, where industry leaders to come together and make our united voice heard in the halls of government. One of the highlights of this year’s IMPACT Washington program was a new report – commissioned by IPC and written by noted economist Shawn DuBravac – which concluded that the USMCA would be a positive step for the electronics sector and should be approved by the U.S. Congress this year. Attendees had a chance to hear directly from the USMCA study author and share their own thoughts on U.S.-Mexico-Canada trade with senior congressional staff who handle trade matters, as well as Daniel Watson, the Deputy Assistant U.S. Trade Representative for North America and one of the chief negotiators for the USMCA. As a follow-up, the House Ways and Means Committee has asked that we recommend individuals from the business community who may want to participate in hearings on USMCA. If such an opportunity interests you, please contact me. That’s just one example of how IPC works with our members to bring our advocacy efforts to life and have a real impact; and there are many more. During the D.C. event, attendees also met with other leading policymakers to discuss the electronics supply chain, EPA regulations, and workforce education. As a group, the executives met with: • Eric Ueland, Deputy Director of the White House Domestic Policy Council, and Scott Stump, Assistant Secretary for Technical, Career and Adult Education at the U.S. Department of Education, both of whom are interested in IPC’s growing workforce education programs; • Mike Molnar, Director of the Office of Advanced Manufacturing (OAM) at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), who briefed us on the Trump administration’s Strategy for American Leadership in Advanced Manufacturing and our industry’s role in it; • Henry Darwin, Acting Deputy Administrator, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), who is working to reduce regulatory burdens and implement leaner, more efficient operations at the EPA; • Majority and Minority staff of both the Senate Finance Committee and House Ways and Means Committee, who will oversee congressional consideration of the USMCA; • Former Indiana senator Joe Donnelly, who has worked with IPC and DOD on defense supply chain issues; and • Former Virginia congressman Tom Davis, a consummate Washington insider. On Capitol Hill, members met with their own elected officials including Reps. Jack Bergman (R-MI) and Lance Gooden (R-TX), as well as influential staff members in the offices of Sens. Bob Casey (D-PA), John Cornyn (R-TX), Ted Cruz (R-TX), Dianne Feinstein (D-CA); Gary Peters (D-MI), Debbie Stabenow (D-MI), Pat Toomey (D-PA), and Reps. Lou Correa (D-CA); John Larson (D-CT), and Eric Swalwell (D-CA). Member executives also had the opportunity to hear from Indiana Senator Joe Donnelly, who praised electronics companies for helping to ensure the safety and success of U.S. military service members; and from former Virginia congressman Tom Davis, a consummate Washington insider, who delved into the forces shaping the politics of 2019 and 2020. Participating member companies included Calumet Electronics of Calumet, Mich.; Chemcut of State College, Penn.; Eagle Circuits of Dallas, Tex.; Juki Automation Systems of Fremont, Calif.; Heller Industries of Florham, N.J.; Lockheed Martin of Orlando, Fla.; Summit Interconnect of Anaheim, Calif.; STI Electronics of Madison, Ala.; TTM Technologies of Sterling, Va.; Uyemura International of Ontario, Calif.; VirTex Enterprises of Austin, Tex.; and Zentech Manufacturing of Windsor Mill, Md. To all who participated, thank you! Your active engagement has made a huge difference in advancing our industry’s future success. We’ll be in touch with follow-up activities. To those of you who missed this opportunity but want to be in the loop on IPC’s government relations efforts going forward, please check out these options and let us know your interests. We have a robust, year-round agenda of advocacy activities, and your participation in those efforts would be welcomed and valuable. VIEW PHOTO GALLERY

IPC’s Emerging Engineer program provides mentoring and training to assist engineers early in their careers. John Mitchell, IPC president and CEO, explains the benefits in this new video. https://youtu.be/QqdtqkPfDU8

By Denny Fritz, Fritz Consulting We keep hearing that Asia is all consumer and automotive electronics and North America and Europe are all high reliability/long life. The findings in IPC’s PCB Technology Trends 2018 study show that these regions are not as different as expected, and the differences we do see are interesting. There are small differences in rigid board layers, line widths and materials. A bigger difference shows up in flexible circuits where there is more low-layer count flex going into consumer electronics. True, North America and Europe have more rigid construction boards going into long-life (11 to 25+ years) products, pushing reliability. HDI construction is larger in Asia, as expected, but certainly not unknown in North America and Europe. North American and European OEMs specified significantly more buried vias than Asia. This could reflect either better acceptance of sub-laminations or more “any layer via” construction(not needing sub-laminations) in Asia. But, as Asia produces eight times as many boards as North America and Europe, Asian fabrication is quite capable of meeting the buried via needs of the other regions. The study also shows that investment in direct imaging and AOI are the top two capital equipment investment priorities of the industry in both regions for the next two years. Likewise, reliability and cost were the top two technical challenges for the industry in both regions. Are these findings consistent with your experiences of making or specifying PCBs in different regions? Do you think the regional differences are getting smaller? We welcome your comments.      

IPC announces the addition of Michael Stone as senior director of sales to its staff at IPC headquarters in Bannockburn (Chicago), Ill. As IPC’s senior director of sales, Stone is responsible for managing IPC’s sales efforts and growth goals. Essential functions of his role include planning, reporting, sales process optimization, sales training, sales program implementation, and recruiting and selection of IPC’s sales team talent. A seasoned leader with more than 25 years of experience in sales management, account development and building highly effective sales teams, Stone was most recently vice president, non-profit sales at Liturgical Publications Inc. where he was responsible for leading all facets of the non-profit sales department to promote revenue growth and account level profitability. “Mike is a passionate sales leader who has built and developed highly effective sales teams during the course of his career,” said Brian Knier, IPC vice president of member success and chief marketing officer. “Mike has embraced the successful sales leader philosophy of clearly understanding his organization’s mission, and dedication to providing the exceptional customer value with every interaction. We are thrilled to welcome Mike to the IPC team.” Stone can be reached at MikeStone@ipc.org or + 1 847-597-2866.

by Chris Mitchell, IPC vice president, global government relations The U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) has published the official Federal Register notice increasing tariffs from 10 percent to 25 percent on another $200 billion worth of Chinese products, effective at 12:01 a.m. on Friday. Meanwhile, the USTR also has added more products to the list of exclusions from the first round of tariffs. The list includes numerous codes for items used in manufacturing, including spools of aluminum and steel and coils; push-button switches; DC electric motors and AC electric motors. U.S. and Chinese officials have met regularly since January to resolve long-standing trade issues with the goal of de-escalating trade tensions and easing the tit-for-tat tariff increases that took effect last year. Officials from both countries have reported progress in negotiations over the past few months, but the U.S. posture changed abruptly last week. U.S. officials, according to news reports, felt that Chinese officials had “backtracked” on key commitments, including IP and technology transfer reforms. In response, President Trump personally decided to increase tariffs this week. Meetings between senior U.S. and Chinese trade officials are scheduled to resume today. We are unlikely to see an agreement this week, as had been the goal. President Trump has suggested that he may also impose new or increased tariffs on all Chinese products imported into the U.S., but a decision that bold would hinge on the President’s estimation of whether a deal can get done and what pressure is necessary to strike it. The Chinese have promised retaliatory tariffs. As always, please contact me if you have concerns, insights or questions.

By Ken Schramko, senior director, North American government relations U.S. export control rules have changed significantly over the last decade, and more changes are expected as policymakers tackle the treatment of new and foundational technologies and respond to geopolitical developments. To help electronics companies comply with these rules and stay abreast of developments, IPC recently held three training workshops in California, Illinois, and Virginia, with the California and Virginia workshops sponsored and hosted by TTM Technologies. Featured speaker Gary Stanley – president of Global Legal Services, PC, and one of the nation’s top legal experts on export controls – gave an in-depth presentation that covered the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR), Export Administration Regulations (EAR), and Defense Federal Acquisition Regulation Supplement (DFARS) cybersecurity, with a focus on printed circuit boards and electronics. Among the key points that Gary stressed were the following: • Correctly determining the commodity jurisdiction (State Dept./ITAR versus Commerce Dept./EAR) and the commodity classification (U.S. Munitions List versus Commerce Control List) is the most critical step in complying with U.S. export controls, because only then will you know what licensing requirements apply. • Communicate, communicate, communicate! Open lines of communication within your company's functional areas, e.g. legal, sales, procurement, IT, HR, as well as you’re your customers and suppliers, is essential to avoiding export control mistakes. • Measures relating to Trusted Suppliers, DFARS cybersecurity, and export controls certainly overlap, but each regulatory area has its own special requirements. • The most effective export control managers typically display intellectual curiosity, attention to detail, extroversion, and political skills. The last trait is important because export control managers must occasionally say “no” to their CEOs and colleagues, while maintaining their cooperation and support. The workshops also featured remarks by Special Agents from the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Industry & Security, Office of Export Enforcement, who addressed, among other things, “red flags” to be aware of when approached by a potential customer, especially if that potential customer is new, foreign, and/or unknown to your company. Other speakers at the workshop presented on IPC-1791, Trusted Electronic Designer, Fabricator and Assembler Requirement; supply-chain risk management within the U.S. Department of Defense printed-circuit-board supply chain; and the DoD Executive Agent for Printed Circuit Board and Interconnect Technology. It is the responsibility of the company to understand all export control rules and regulations and ensure that they are in compliance. That’s why IPC will continue to make educational opportunities available on this topic, and why we encourage you to ensure that your company has solid export-control-compliance measures in place.