I see a variety of similarities between Tin whiskers… and my own: Elusive, thin, short, and never helpful.  And there is always the random single hair that frustrates you to no end.

Unfortunately, the costs associated with tin whiskers in the electronics, defense, health, and aerospace industries are astronomical compared to my need to shave once every two weeks.  Failure of products due to tin whisker growth can undermine an entire mission, scrap a program, or take a life.  I think about electronic pacemakers, our men and women traveling to space, or our servicemen and women flying at Mach speeds thousands of feet above the ground.

There has yet to be a definitive ruling made concerning the cause/prevention of whiskers, although pure tin components and plating seem to exhibit the highest likelihood of developing them.  Best practices at this time are to use a tin/lead mix with no greater than 97% tin.  However, RoHS regulations are throwing a wrench into this with its demands for lead-free products.  Some RoHS frequently asked questions are answered here.

This issue received significant attention at the IPC Technology Interchange this last December.  Also, the Center for Advanced Life Cycle Engineering at the University of Maryland (CALCE) and The Institute of Scientific and Industrial Research at Osaka University (ISIR) are putting on another International Symposium on Tin Whiskers this June.  The call for papers is still out.  Read more about this at PCB007. Proceedings from past Symposiums can be found here.

For a great overview of tin whiskers, be sure to check out the resources provided by NASA.  The pictures in this article have all been sourced from NASA.

Have you dealt with tin whiskers in your products/designs? What types of damage have they caused?  What are some of the things you have done to diminish the likelihood of them?

Homepage Image Original found here

Education?
The first question that you might ask yourself is whether this is something for which you can go to school.  I approached Bill Brooks of Datron World Communications, who in the past has taught classes at Palomar College in PCB Design and Advanced PCB Design.  He was introduced into the field because his father owned a board shop where he worked until he was nineteen.  Bill echoed what I have heard from many:  that traditionally designers do not have college degrees.  A four-year degree, let alone a Masters, is not needed to be successful.  However, the technology continues to advance and designers must be much more rounded and have a greater understanding of a wide variety of variables than they did even only ten years ago.  I also spoke with Rick Hartley of L-3 Communications.  He is an accomplished designer and teaches technical seminars at various trade shows around the country.  He echoed the same sentiment.

Although various classes are available, the most valuable training is found within a mentorship relationship.  Rick learned how to design because a co-worker and mentor took the time to teach him.  Do you wonder where you can find a mentor, or the academic resources to succeed?  Fortunately there are a variety of places for you to go where you can receive training and meet designers who would love to teach you, especially if you are a younger entrant into the field.

If you are truly interested in making it in the field of PCB design, you must immerse yourself and strive to become an expert.  Let’s break it down into three approaches.  You need to network with current designers and find a mentor(s), you need to attend technical workshops and training sessions, and there are a few must have books that you ought to read.  Let’s start with networking.

Networking
The IPC is a very well recognized organization worldwide and they host online communities called Designer Councils which are divided up geographically.  Some of the most active councils are in Orange County and Portland.  You have a great opportunity to connect with and meet in person designers who would love to help you learn.  Although slightly archaic in their technology (they use list server technology), this is a very valuable tool and will allow you to connect with thousands of professionals.  the IPC recognizes the need to cultivate new designers and is actively pursuing programs to do just that.  Also, check out the article Best and Worst LinkedIn Groups for PCB Enthusiasts.  Use the connections within those groups, the discussion boards, the Q&A section, etc to meet and interact with experts.

Technical Training
Board design has gotten more complex as the devices they power have pushed the limits.  Although the printed circuit board has not changed significantly in its build over the last 35 years, the environment into which it is placed has.  Designers must understand electronic theory at a technician level, understand the PCB fabrication process, mechanical stress and how to prevent failure modes, the assembly process, testing processes, what the board is going to end up in for additional variables, and must also be cost conscious when it comes to materials.  Does this sound overwhelming?  Fortunately there is a plethora of design shows where you can attend technical sessions pertaining to all of these issues.  There are the IPC and Design Conferences, UP Media group’s PCB shows, designer council meetings, webinars, blogs, and companies that offer training courses.  Follow the various links and explore the opportunities to receive training.  The best training Rick ever recieved was a week long session about “board design for productibility.”  Seek out similar courses and seminars, and  you will do great.

Read, Read, Read!
If you want to be the best, you need to read from the best.  I have taken suggestions from several experts regarding what books they feel are the best for you to read if you’re seeking to expand your knowledge of the field.  I have listed them in the bookstore section of HotPCB.  Do us a favor, if you purchase through our links we might make a dollar.  That’d be cool.

I ended  all of my interviews asking if they had any predictions of where the industry was going, or what they would say in closing to someone just getting started.  Rick made the point that there are going to be a lot of available jobs and to get into it now.  In the long run it will pay off.  He took a pay cut when he first went into design, but quickly surpassed his former income.  Many designers are going to be retiring in the next 10 years, but PCB’s aren’t going anywhere.

I have been blessed with the opportunity to speak during the afternoon sessions at PCB Atlanta on October 22.  UP Media has always been very kind to us and have now provided me with this opportunity.

The seminar I will be teaching will be on the topic of marketing yourself using the social media and online tools that are currently available online.  Below is the abstract I submitted when I approached them with the idea.

Are you trying to find a way to stand out among the crowd?  The field of marketing and advertising continues to rapidly change as more and more attention shifts toward Social Media and Online marketing techniques.  A new generation of decision makers and customers who have grown up with these tools is close at hand.  In order to remain current and successful, it is crucial that you have, at the least, a basic understanding of the tools being used.

The Online and Social Media Marketing workshop will give an overview of various online tools and services currently available to help you market yourself and drive business.  You will learn how and where to network with potential customers and ways to develop a strong presence on the web.  Whether you are a novice user, or consider yourself proficient, this workshop is designed to help you develop a comprehensive personal online marketing plan.  Topics covered will include: how to take full advantage of the top social networking sites, making sure you can be found easily online, and creating a pull-marketing campaign.

Do you plan on attending the show?  If you haven’t thought about it, you should.  I do believe that it will be very beneficial to you.  I won’t be as forward as to recommend that you attend the session I will be leading, however, it should be a good time.

If you’re going and you plan on attending this, please feel free to get in touch with me or to comment below with questions you have.  I want to make sure that I address the questions and needs of the people who attend.  Getting your feedback and a feel for your questions beforehand will help me to prepare and provide a more comprehensive and applicable presentation.

The more authors we have, the more dynamic and informative the site will be.  I hope that over time we will have about 15 independent contributors who are able to provide a short 250-500 word article once every couple weeks.

If you are interested in taking on this small, but essential role within the development of HotPCB.com, please feel free to get in touch with us. We can talk about the various potential topics. This site is still very dynamic and your contributions and ideas will help it develop into a great resource.

Call Liam Morris at (800) 217-0202 x13 or email at lmorris@hotpcb.com

We have all experienced that moment where we open our email again even though we just minimized it and there was nothing new.  Or we have refreshed our facebook/twitter to see if anything new has popped up.  Or we’ve closed a browser and out of habit opened it up again even though there is no need.  Or you end up staring aimlessly at your monitor wondering “what can I do?”

You have become a twiddler – metaphorically twiddling your thumbs.

This is particularly dangerous for people who spend all day working at their computer.  It is even more of a temptation when you are able to validate it under the claim that you’re “managing the social media marketing campaign.”

However, there are many effective and fun ways to resist and to maintain productivity.  I hope to open the discussion on ways to not only battle idleness and the trap of twiddlerdom, but also how to make the time you spend truthfully “managing the social media marketing campaign” (because for many of us, that is our job description) much more effective.

Develop a Routine
Set up a game plan, an outline of what tasks are involved daily within your campaign.  Chris Brogan has put together a great list of ways to develop your presence on the web.   These are things that should most definitely be included on your list.

Don’t be a spectator
Although there is a time to browse, if that is all you do, then you are invisible.  Following Chris’ list will help you break out of this.  However, if you find yourself just reading other people’s tweets and updates, take the extra step and reply or comment.  A one sentence comment takes little time, but opens doors.

Take a Walk, Bring a Pen
Rather than stare at your screen and try to think of what to do next, turn around.  Creativity and Ideas are fostered when our surroundings change.  I turn often to a large blank piece of paper that I tape to my desk each week.  It’s my brainstorm space, away from my screen.  Go grab a glass of water.  Go tell your boss something nice – kill two birds with one stone.  Bring a pen – it’s been there for thousands of years as the creative thinker’s best companion.

Throw Randomness into the Mix
Sometimes to spark the creative region of my brain, I will create or find random things.  For example:  Sometimes I scribble on a piece of paper with my eyes closed and then look at it from different angles.  You see different things and your mind goes off.  I used a random word generator with the settings on somewhat uncommon words and it led to this article – “twiddler” came up.

Act on Your Instincts
If you have a thought to do something, do it.  Putting things off is dangerous.  Take a few minutes to do something to push your idea forward, even if it’s just writing it down on the brainstorm page.  Don’t just sit there! You hate to forget your creative thoughts, just as I have forgotten the idea I had about how to end this article.

For the attendee, there are three distinct aspects of the Symposium that ought to be taken advantage of.  The first is Networking, the second Vendor Qualification, and the third Education.   This first short installment is designed to give you some recommendations on how to capitalize on the great opportunity you have to meet people.

Pre-Event
Taking advantage of the Symposium involves a pro-active, pre-event initiative.   There are many tools available to help you get in touch with people who will be attending the conference.  If you do not already have a profile on LinkedIn, it is important that you do so.  LinkedIn is a very powerful resource and continues to gain prominence.  My colleague Blake Imeson has written a great piece titled 21 LinkedIn Hacks, Tricks and Ways to Make Your Profile Better.  Be sure to reference this as you go about developing your online LinkedIn network.

On LinkedIn you ought to RSVP for the Tradeshow in the events section.  If it has not already been created, then take it upon yourself to create the event.  You will gain prominence by doing so.  Click here to RSVP for the IMS 2009 LinkedIn event. Once you RSVP you will be able to see others who have done so, and you will be able to connect/message with them.  Make sure that you’ve followed the steps in Blake’s article about connecting with power users.   I have put a list of a few power users in the PCB industry who will help you gain access to even more people.

Also, take advantage of Facebook if you are a user.  There is a Facebook group for IMS 2009 as well.

Email some of your business contacts a quick email asking if they, or anyone that they know, is attending the show.  More than likely you will be put in touch with a friend of a friend who is just as overwhelmed by the prospect of networking as you are.

As you begin contacting all of these people, keep a clear calendar of the show in front of you.  It is important that you have read the materials concerning the show so that you know what nights have mixers, city excursions, etc.  Make sure that you schedule times to meet with the various people that you are networking with, but also make sure that you block of times where you do not plan anything ahead of time.  You want to be available so that when you meet people at the show, you can meet with them too.  Also try to avoid too many exclusive meet-ups, but make sure that you have a healthy balance of group activities.  This way, if there are a few people you want to spend time with and it comes down to only one available time for everyone, there is no awkward canceling of plans, simply bringing more people along.

At the Event

You are going to be busy at the show, and hopefully having the opportunity to meet and greet those people you have been in touch with the few weeks before the show.  However, make sure that you have plenty of business cards with you so that you can create more contacts.

Be careful not to gravitate toward one group of people the entire time.  Stretch yourself and branch out.  Split up from your co-worker for a meal and go sit at a table of people you don’t know.  It might be slightly uncomfortable at first, but the event is designed to foster networking and cliques need not apply.

Remember to be yourself and have fun.  Trade shows may be a lot of work and continued education, but the interaction with people who are there can make it one of the best weeks of the year.

In the comments section below feel free to share your tips and suggestions for how to take full advantage of the Networking possibilities.   I look forward to hearing them.

Every attendee ought to be doing everything he/she can to maximize the return on the money spent in travel, fees and opportunity cost.  One of the best ways to do this is to start early and begin making contact with potential customers or vendors you are interested in before the show even starts.  If you are able to develop the foundation of a relationship before you attend the conference, your time spent mingling with your contacts at the show (going out to dinner, grabbing coffee, discussing the workshops, etc) will be far more fruitful and downright enjoyable.  Instead of running around the show thinking “meet, meet, meet” you will have the luxury of operating under a “greet, greet, greet” mentality towards your peers.

I challenge you to take advantage of the list linked to above and to do some pre-event networking.  I will be doing so, and hope to even do so with any readers of hotpcb who will be attending the Symposium.   Over the next few weeks I will be posting various articles on how to use various online tools to maximize your pre-event networking.  Feel free to use the comments section below to share your ideas or to reach out to other readers and see when they will be at the show.

Cheers,

Liam

Read Part One Here.

A little over a  month ago I applied for membership with IEEE and joined a variety of societies pertaining to my line of business.  However, I have yet to really feel the benefit of membership aside from the barrage of emails asking me to sign up for conferences.  In an effort to effectively use my membership, I open the floor to you – my reader and potential IEEE confederate.  How have you taken advantage of the various services IEEE offers?  Has it been an effective networking/educational tool for you?  Share your story of how it has been a blessing – or a bust.

All the best,

Liam

• PWB fabricator Eltek reported 2008 revenues rose 15% to $43.1 million. PCD&F >>>
  
• Sanmina-SCI plans to expand its Ottawa assembly plant and add up to 90 workers by year-end. Circuits Assembly >>>
• Phoenix Precision Technology and Nan Ya may see double-digit growth for March. PCD&F >>>
• Firan Technology Group reported first-quarter sales rose 8% to $14.7 million. PCD&F >>>
• The MicroElectronics Packaging and Test Engineering Council (MEPTEC) named Dr. Beth Pruitt of Stanford as keynote speaker for its 7th Annual MEMS symposium. Circuits Assembly >>>
• Bell Helicopter awarded LaBarge a $5.1 million contract for V-22 Osprey aircraft. Circuits Assembly >>>
• DARPA has awarded Rice University $16 million to develop a new set of tools that can improve the performance of virtually any application running on any microprocessor. Rice >>>
• Netbook PC displays shipments will nearly quadruple to 47.4 million units in 2012. Circuits Assembly >>>
• Digi-Key has received two awards for outstanding sales achievement for 2008 from Honeywell Sensing and Control. Digi-Key >>>
• The consumer electronics market is showing signs of sustainable growth for the first time in over a year. Earth Times >>>

Connect with me on LinkedIn

THE GROUPS:

Electrical/Electronics and Computer Development Engineers Group (2,789 Members Currently)
This is the largest technical group I am a part of.  Approaching 300 Members, this group remains dynamic, and posts are made every few hours.  However, the more popular a group is, the more you have to filter through to find what you are looking for.  I find that groups tend to hit an optimal size, at which point they take on a whole new feel and system of mores influencing how the members interact.  Just as a small class in school allows for personal attention, so too does a smaller group.  However, the access you gain to various professionals and your opportunity to put your name in front of a lot of people is valuable.  Just make sure that you don’t come across like the spam/self-oriented members that many have learned to subconsciously filter out.

EMS Insider (Electronics Manufacturing Services) (2,663 Members Currently)
EMS Insider boasts a similar number of members as EECDE above does.  There is a fair bit of membership overlap between the two groups.  Fortunately/Unfortunately – I have a job, and so I am  not interested in the headhunting posts that are so often present in most of these groups.  It seems that these groups have shifted into more of a job seekers forum than anything else.  If you are looking for employment and have the technical experience necessary, then be sure to check out the job sections of these two groups.  Even recently over 100 positions have been advertised.  Just be wary.  There are a lot of job placement professionals who are rather cutthroat inundating these groups with posts.

Flex Circuit (42 Members Currently)
This is a much smaller group, and has the potential to be everything I could hope for.  I enjoy learning about the frustrations of our customers so that I can develop better ways to serve them.  Flex Circuits are the way of the future, and they are the type of business I am looking for.  However, as applicable as this group is to me, there is little-to-no activity or discussion between members.  I hope that as time goes on and 150 or so more members join, it will become a valuable resource for designers, project managers, and those seeking to meet their needs.

Printed Circuit Board Technologies and Solutions (330 Members Currently)
Slow and Steady, this group receives a new discussion every week or so.  If you can work through the broken English of some of the posts, you might find a hidden gem here – depending on what you’re looking for.

VLSI (2,337 Members Currently)
This group can be valuble as well although I have been put off by the large number of personally irrelevant discussions posted  by Michael Hughes.

A Few others (small member counts) that I have requested to join yet have not heard back are:

PCB/BGA Rework & Repair
The Circuit Board Group
Unexplainable PCB quality issues
RF/Analog/Mixed signal circuit design & product/test engineering

Feel free to share your groups and opinions by commenting on this post, or by writing to me at lmorris@cirexx.com.