When/Where/Will PCB Technology Hit a Plateau?
Within one of the presentations last week at the IPC Technology Interchange in Washington D.C., the question was raised of whether printed circuit board technology will reach a plateau or whether it will continue to keep pace with the technological demands and innovations to come. Restated, the question could be: as trace widths get smaller, nanotechnology improves, and demand for greater performance continues to increase – when/where/will PCB technology hit a plateau?
This is a complex question with a large number of factors. One focus of the discussion could be on the pure technical limitations which will be reached according to the laws of physics, or you may consider the unlikelihood that we will ever meet a need that PCB’s can’t handle due to the high costs which would surround that new technology.
I hope to hear your input and comments. Where do you see the technology going and needing to innovate? How do you see system-in-a-package and 3D Integration being a factor? I don’t even have all of the appropriate questions surrounding this topic, but I hope that the comments below will be full of insight and discussion.
Thanks!!
P.S. Someone should add to the wikipedia article about system-in-a-package. It could use some help.
Liam – great question. As a software vendor in the PCB design space, Intercept saw the plateau coming some years ago and branched into Hybrid and RF board design. PCB technology isn’t going away, but it’s definitely migrating. While PCB design as we know it has begun to stagnate, we are seeing it redefined into many smaller and more specialized needs. PCB designers now need more detailed software support such as the low frequency/wireless/RF, the smaller hybrid boards, dense high speed boards, and the very large panel arrays or boards with replicated circuits (such as an industrial sized network card). To handle these needs, Intercept has provided flexible shape/fill manipulation along with strong interfaces to RF analysis tools, specialized hybrid layers for z-axis design, a wirebond breakout generator, and our broadly utilized block technology.
In addition to these specializations, it is important to recognize that the industry has gotten smarter. Time is money, and the trial and error approach has been redefined into highly advanced interfaces that analyze circuitry to ensure its success in manufacturing – we value our partnerships with people such as yourself very highly, because those partnerships are necessary to provide our designers with what they need to be successful. We are happy to be working with you to forge a stronger interface to manufacturing needs, just as we work with many technical partners to create a successful hand-off to whatever other analysis software they need to use.
In this industry, the job doesn’t go away – it just changes. And it’s people like yourself who help figure out how it’s changing and where it needs to go so that we can all support the needs of our customers effectively. So thanks for asking your question – I look forward to seeing what kind of responses you get.
Plateau? Depends who you are talking to. For example, if talking to the “D’s” in R&D, they could say that, BUT the “R’s” say different. Take automotive for a minute. In many ways the car of the future hybrid/electric/plugged is similar to 10 years ago with proven technologies coupled with innovations in how the “car is packaged around the engine” so it will be with how the PCB (the car)IS PACKAGED around the electronics (the engine). “D’s working in different paradigm constrained by tools and economics and industry that has transitioned to non-captive process technology and IP is with who? R&D is with who? Moore’s Law continues, agree? D’s are working on the engine’s with yesterday’s tools and equipment and it has gotten us down the road in the past decade to > 10 Gb on copper. Ten years ago the D’s said “no way” the R’s said “I have a better idea” …right so far? I do not know the answer to this question but I would bet the “future car will drive the engine” and there will be joy in Mudville as the “PCB drives the electronics” to new technology plateaus. I am not finished, because there is a “wild card” which is the “human factor” and density of some of the world greatest people in the USA that drive the business beyond the ability of the tools. And so, the “D’s” will not be forgotten, instead challenged to run their engines to catch the car and a new paradigm will be born.
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