“Engage your suppliers early on the design process” - Ed Becze Everyone wants a lower price, and often the “real cost” is not realized until it’s too late. In this episode, Ed Becze of Pegmatis, a highly experienced R&D company with end-to-end product development capabilities, joins us to help start-ups and design engineers like you avoid electronic product development failures.  Altium 365: Where the World Designs Electronics Watch the video, click here. Show Highlights: Introduction and the interesting origin of Pegmatis’s company name  Ed explains the foundation of a good product development process A thoughtful development plan mitigates risk early on—engage vendors and suppliers early on the design process (understand parts, availability, vendor capabilities aligned with your product) Holistic understanding of electronic product development: strategy, cost, and your design team’s experience level Start-up challenges, how to prevent failures:Understanding the risk of “development by demo” Address the lack of system-level design experience (use external expertise if needed) Don’t trust the data sheets—only 5% of chipset providers give adequate design rules to follow. The rest, you are on your own. Manufacturing test is absolutely critical—test equipment and test development are often overlooked Engage early on the design process. Ed stresses the benefits of nurturing your relationships with your vendors and manufacturers. Successful product development relies exclusively on your network—find capable vendors Supply chain intelligence, plan ahead when coping with supply challenges Cost reduction—do it, but follow the process that is within the constraints of what you intended to create. What are the costs of NOT thoughtfully designing? It’s huge! Money and time. Delays inTime to market are extremely expensive. Links and Resources: Pegmatis Website Ed Becze on LinkedIn Full OnTrack Podcast Library Altium Website Download your Altium Designer Free Trial   Altium 365: Where the World Designs Electronics

OnTrack with Judy Warner

Key Factors of Thoughtful Design

Copper roughness has an impact on high-speed digital designs. Choose your copper wisely! In this episode, circuit materials expert John Coonrod of Rogers Corporation shares his extensive knowledge on copper roughness. Watch this episode or listen on the go; it will help a PCB designer make a sound decision about picking the most suitable copper to use on your next design. Altium 365: Where the World Designs Electronics Watch the video, click here. Show Highlights: Introduction, John Coonrod’s  role, expertise, and experience in the Rogers lab How the two basic types of copper are made (Rolled and ED) electric deposit (check out the slide) Copper overview Surface Roughness, the rougher the copper, the more the bond area Copper Treatments What is a reverse treat? The benefits, thermal properties, and adhesion IPC classifications of Low Profile (LP), Very Low Profile (VLP) Surface roughness for different types of copper and different types of surface roughness measurement units (check out the slides) Best practices when selecting a material Normal variations of copper for thickness, roughness, and etching differences Copper roughness impact on high-speed digital designs Copper roughness impact on RF concerns Future MMW 9 micron copper Links and Resources: Rogers Advanced Connectivity Solutions Website Rogers (Free) Technology Support Hub DesignCon 2021 August 17-19, San Jose, CA PCB West 2021 October 5-8, Santa Clara, CA Copper Foils for High-Frequency Circuit Materials Different Copper Foils for Different Reasons Choosing Copper Foils for High-Frequency PCBs Materials for High Speed Interconnects: Physics & Chemistry of Copper Clad Laminates How Copper Properties Impact PCB RF and High-Speed Digital Performance Full OnTrack Podcast Library Altium Website Download your Altium Designer Free Trial   Altium 365: Where the World Designs Electronics

8 Things you Need to Know about Copper

High-density designs, simplified. Averatek offers a disruptive solution for complex electronic design. We are very fortunate to have the powerhouse executive team from Averatek Corporation, a company that develops and licenses advanced manufacturing processes for a variety of electronic products including very high density printed circuit boards, semiconductor packaging, and RF and millimeter-wave electronics.  Haris Basit, Averatek’s CEO together with Mike Vinson the COO, and Tara Dunn the VP of Business Development and Marketing will share with us some exciting breakthroughs in miniaturization technology. Altium 365: Where the World Designs Electronics Watch the video, click here. Show Highlights: Introductions, and Averatek Technology Overview Founded out of SRI in Silicon Valley PCB Industry in North America is ripe for disruption Definitions: MSAP, ASAP and Subtractive processes ASAP is Averatek semi-additive process and is achieved with a liquid metal ink catalyst and plated up from the seed layer PCB design benefits of Averatek technology Simplify the design Reduction in number of layers and lamination cycles Increased density and miniaturization Signal integrity improvements Applications are military, medical and communications Material suitable for ASAP high-performance design: Epoxy-based substrates High-frequency materials (including Teflon) High-speed materials Some flex materials Thin materials Shorten the learning curve for PCB designers with Tomas Chester design project in partnership with Averatek coming soon on Altium Resource Hub Example design optimization: Smaller footprint, increased panel usage 12 layer board became 8 layer board 3 lamination cycle to 1 lamination cycle Simplified design, increased reliability, significantly lower costs Links and Resources: Averatek Website Fabricators offering Averatek: Calumet Electronics American Standard Circuits (ASC) FTG Circuits Full OnTrack Podcast Library Altium Website Download your Altium Designer Free Trial Altium 365: Where the World Designs Electronics

Sub-25 Micron Traces with Averatek ASAP Technology

Octopart, the premier data platform for electronic components, handles at least 5 million unique searches every month. In this episode, together with Daniel Schoenfelder, head of Octopart, we will dive into the importance of having reliable access to electronic part data.  We specialize in democratizing electronic component data and helping engineers, designers, and buyers make better decisions faster. - Daniel Schoenfelder, head of Octopart Altium 365: Where the World Designs Electronics Watch the video, click here. Show Highlights: Introduction. The impact of the pandemic on Octopart Octopart’s vision: “Democratization of Information” New features: BOM tool in Octopart and Altium 365 Embeddable Experience Global Price and Availability Inventory alerts Comprehensive Part Data - Core User Experience Lifecycle on Octopart.com CAD Models Lead time How Octopart fits into NEXAR—underpinnings of what’s available in the supply domain Shortages, State of Industry—saturation and duration Search Volume: 20 million unique users’ search on Octopart Learn more about Nexar—Octopart is a core component of Nexar What is on the horizon? Centralized community—very curated and engaged user community Solving industry-wide problems Octopart.com a destination for CAD Links and Resources: Dan’s LinkedIn Profile Octopart.com EDS Show August 2021 in Las Vegas at the Mirage Semiconductor Industry Association Website (SIA) Podcast: What is Nexar? Nexar Website Full OnTrack Podcast Library Altium Website Download your Altium Designer Free Trial   Altium 365: Where the World Designs Electronics

Supply Chain Intelligence from Octopart

“Working to reduce risk and provide a better customer experience in electronics manufacturing.” - Chris Church Macrofab offers a better electronics manufacturing experience for the customer, from PCBA manufacturing to complete product assembly, testing, and fulfillment. Chris Church is here to explain the inspiration behind Macrofab, the solution it offers to design engineers, and the value they add to get your product out fast and efficiently. Altium 365: Where the World Designs Electronics Watch the video, click here. [link to website live page] Show Highlights: Chris Introduction and overview of Macrofab (“Pool of Capacity”) The how and why of Macrofab’s innovation and the value proposition to the electronics hardware market:  Macrofab offers seamless solutions to electronics manufacturing challenges “AWS” of manufacturing. A fully managed marketplace Technological capabilities and faster turnarounds Customer demographic and addressable market (North America, Engineering and Purchasing professionals, small to medium enterprise  companies in Industrial, IoT, Communications and Robotic markets) Meeting the needs of design engineers and purchasing without breaking company policies Proactive vs. Reactive--cost drivers and availability Providing amazing customer experience Links and Resources: Macrofab Website Macrofab Podcast Chris Church, LinkedIn Profile Press Release: Shared Transformation Vision, Altium Investment Full OnTrack Podcast Library Altium Website Download your Altium Designer Free Trial   Altium 365: Where the World Designs Electronics

Macrofab: Modern EMS Solutions in North America

Learn any issues upfront before sending your board design to manufacturing. In this episode, we are honored to have both Anaya Vardya and John Bushie of American Standard Circuits, Inc. They will share the inspiration behind their popular technical Ebook series that help design engineers to design a manufacturable circuit board. Altium 365: Where the World Designs Electronics Watch the video, click here. Show Highlights: Introduction and overview of American Standard Circuits, Inc (ASC) The eBook series answers the frequently asked PCB design questions Four Books overview: Fundamentals of PCB Technologies Flex and Rigid-Flex Fundamentals Thermal Management: A Fabricator Perspective Fundamentals of RF/Microwave PCBs Creating manufacturable circuit boards, more than once Technical Webinar series Lifelong learnings that will benefit every PCB designer Links and Resources: Anaya Vardya on LinkedIn John Bushie on LinkedIn Free eBooks on ASC Website Technical Webinar Series (Free and On-demand) Altium Website Download your Altium Designer Free Trial   Full OnTrack Podcast Library   Altium 365: Where the World Designs Electronics

ASC Free Technical eBook and Webinar Series

Joining us in this episode is Greg Wood of IHS Markit, a global information company serving financial, automotive; energy and engineering; product design and manufacturing industries. Greg will share his 20 years of experience in the electronic parts management space to help design engineers like you cope with the current electronics components shortage. Stay tuned for tips and ideas to expand your opportunities to acquire inventory. Altium 365: Where the World Designs Electronics Watch the video, click here. Show Highlights: Daily Distribution/Manufacturing information provided to IHS (Audit/Clean up reports) Aggregate counts lead times remaining for active parts for part types Average lead times for counts, regular basis—since covid Presentations: spreadsheet, graphs, trends Monthly report on lead times, pricing, inventory quantities (products this summer) Webinars What’s driving component shortage? “The Crazy” Findings, learnings, stories—use cases. Coping strategy for design engineers Impact on overall business: previous post acquisitions. previous versions cross-reference, replacement reduce time by at least 50% Significant impact on automotive industries—shocking impact! Where are we now Big move to fabrication TSMC: Agreed to 100 Billion to increase capacity What do I need to do NOW? Procurement advise Pay close attention to available products Heavy investment on infrastructure: 50 Billion in incentives Links and Resources: IHS Markit Webinar Page IHS Website Electronic Components Shortages, Insights from John Watson Design Survival Guide in a World of Parts Shortages SnapEDA Google for Electronic Components with Natasha Baker      Full OnTrack Podcast Library Altium 365: Where the World Designs Electronics

Component Shortages Report from IHS

In this Ontrack episode, Altium’s Chief Ecosystem Officer, Ted Pawela, and Altium’s Chief Software Architect, Leigh Gawne, join us to give us information about the launching of Nexar. Who is Nexar for? What’s the vision behind it and the strategy (the Why) of this new business unit? They explain how Nexar addresses critical needs for design engineers and delivers direct and frictionless access to the entire ecosystem of electronics tools and service providers.  Altium 365: Where the World Designs Electronics Watch the video, click here. Show Highlights: The first year of Altium 365: adoption trajectory, feedback, latest advancement, and plans Launching of Nexar: What is Nexar? (Open Ecosystem, zero cost) Nexar ties together with Altium 365, APIs released April 30th (Octopart), and Partner Dashboard. What can be expected in the following weeks and months?  Types of partners, goals for those partners, and access to users/Octopart Benefits and opportunities for both users and partners Mcad slide (workspace) What’s in it for users and Industry at large?Electronics is still in its infancy. Ecad: Walled Garden. Cloud is an enabling force to bring electronics into this century and make transformation a reality. One of the drivers of this technology is smart and connected devices (cloud-enabled) Cloud Security: AWS, the most secure platform, continual improvement Work with top experts in cloud security (bank safe vs. bed mattress) Links and Resources: Nexar Website Nexar Official Press Release Altium 365 Open Source Ventilator (30 days to realization with Altium 365) Transitioning a global team to Altium 365 during Covid Lockdown   Full OnTrack Podcast Library   Altium 365: Where the World Designs Electronics

Reinventing the Business of Electronics

Altium 365: Where the World Designs Electronics Watch the video, click here. Show Highlights: Understanding Semi Additive Process (SAP) and Modified Semi Additive Process (MSAP) MSAP isn’t new, but it’s growing to adoption, what’s driving that? What makes MSAP especially applicable now? Benefits of Laser Direct Imaging (LDI) for PCB designers and manufacturersWhat are the design implications and benefits? What exactly can you do with it? The methods/materials used for this technology?Chemical Technology, Averatec Ultra-thin copper, Insulectro Links and Resources: Insulectro Webinar on MSAP Insulectro Website (Insulectro Webinars Library available near the bottom of their homepage) Chris Hunrath LinkedIn profile Averatek Podcast on Additive Manufacturing   Altium 365: Where the World Designs Electronics

Unleashing your High Density PCB Designs

EMC expert Ken Wyatt joins us in this episode to answer frequently asked EMC questions—a sneak peak to his EMC Book Series. Watch the video, click here. EMC book series: Volume I: Create your own EMC Troubleshooting Kit What inspired you to write this book and why is this information important to your clients? Will you share some examples of common “blindspots” you observe with your design engineering clients relative to EMC? Can you share a few specific use cases? Volume II: Radiated and Conducted Emissions book will soon be published. What can readers expect to learn in this latest release? If you could share 1-2 tips for our listeners about radiated and conducted emissions, what would they be? Where can listeners find this book? Volume III: Immunity Testing What is Immunity Testing and why is it important? What are your plans for publication for this book? Will you come back again when volume 3 comes out? Wrap up. Links and Resources: Wyatt Technical Services (EMC Seminars) Ken Wyatt’s author page on Amazon.com Other EMC Articles and Resources from Altium DesignCon 2021  IEEE EMC Society Henry Ott’s Amazon Author Page (EMC Expert)   Altium 365: Where the World Designs Electronics

Troubleshooting EMC from Your Workbench

Altium 365: Where the World Designs Electronics Watch the video, click here. [link to website live page] Show Highlight - Pro Tips!  How do you build a new data management system?  Build templates and defaults (files) and remember to always do this FIRST - copy the Altium defaults and set them up from there. Please review all the parameters and learn how they flow. Then check in to Concord / Altium365. Review and organize your categorization system. Make templates. Don't make it more complicated than it needs to be. Restrain yourself from over-organizing. Build up a test project and test it out. Bonus: Use the drafting system; it is awesome. Show Notes: Why did you start using Altium 365 Pro?  Flat data model is dead Database and programmable access to a managed data system Version control within the new data management system Part availability and shortages and crosses Better than Digi-key in some cases :) What solutions/benefits did this offer to the organizations you are involved in? Digging into the details: Advice for your peers and those considering this solution:  Maybe prototype and implementation should be different Migrating to Altium 365...go slow and don’t jump into the migrator right away. The templating system is great...USE IT! (if Pro) Sample data is a nice place to start, but hardly a perfect plan Directories are a good start, but data quality varies and is inconsistent Highly recommend the pro version Concord Pro for DoD work (on-premises) Plan it out, figure out what really matters. I wasted a lot of time on what didn't matter. I ultimately wrote an entire document with footprint names/IDs, formatting of the descriptions, etc.  After making a mess. Rs and Cs were the hardest.  Use Excel to build tables. (John Watson’s tip) Lot's of little details which are not readily apparent how they work together. Links and Resources: Escape Room Tech Anidea Engineering Altium 365 Concord Pro (On premise) Altium 365 Pro Subscription (includes Concord Pro for Data Management) Altium 365: Where the World Designs Electronics

How to Build a New Data Management System

Nexar: An open Ecosystem with zero cost Learn more about it, who is it for, what’s the vision and strategy (the Why) of this new Business Unit? Altium 365: Where the World Designs Electronics Watch the video, click here. Show Highlights: Leigh: One Year of Altium 365. Adoption trajectory, feedback, latest advancement and future plans.  Ted: Nexar Launch. What is Nexar? (Open Ecosystem, zero cost) Ted: Who is it for, and what’s the vision and strategy (the Why) of this new Business Unit? Leigh: How Nexar ties together with A365, APIs released April 30th (Octopart), What can be expected in following weeks and months.  Ted: Types of partners, goals for those partners and access to users/octopart Ted: Mcad slide (workspace) Ted: Partnership Levels/Tiers Ted: How is this different than What’s in it for Parters? Leigh: What’s in it for users and Industry at large? Electronics is still in its infancy. Ecad: Walled Garden. Cloud is enabling force to bring electronics into this century and make transformation a reality. Ted: One of the drivers smart and connected devices (cloud enabled) Ted and Leigh: Cloud Security: AWS most secure platform, continual improvement.  Leigh: Work with top experts in cloud security (bank safe vs. bed mattress) Links and Resources: Nexar Website Nexar Official Press Release Altium 365   Altium 365: Where the World Designs Electronics

Altium 365: Where the World Designs Electronics Watch the video, click here. Show Highlights: Background, Avishtech Featured tools: Gauss stack 2D, Gauss stack There are many simulation tools, what makes Avishtech’s offering standout? First product ever endorsed by industry Signal Integrity Expert, Lee Ritchey. (PCB stackup simulation, PCB dimensional stability and warpage) What pain points exist and how does Avishtech address these? What’s been the early feedback? Share use cases. What’s coming: Roadmap Links and Resources: Avishtech Website Avishtech Webinar Kashev Amla’s LinkedIn Profile Tarun Amla’s LinkedIn Profile Altium 365: Where the World Designs Electronics

Taking Simulation to a New Dimension

Today's guests are Rick Hartley and Mike Creeden Altium 365: Where the World Designs Electronics Watch the video, click here. [link to website live page] Show Highlights: Introduction, Rick Hartley and Mike Creeden Printed Circuit Engineering Course: PCE EDU Why not PCB-EDU Who is this course for? What is contained in the course, and the inspiration behind it? Who authored the course and where can Design Engineers sign up? How will this course be proctored for certification purposes? PCE EDU will be offered in universities Closing remarks Links and Resources: Eptac PCE EDU Course page PCEA (Printed Circuit Engineering Association) Rick Hartley’s LinkedIn Profile Mike Creeden’s LinkedIn Profile   Altium 365: Where the World Designs Electronics

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OnTrack with Judy Warner

hubhopper