ore than 160 years ago, eons before Facebook and Twitter were conceived, a pair of candidates to represent Illinois in the US Senate engaged in a series of debates. As they barnstormed their way around the state, incumbent Democrat Stephen Douglas and his Republican challenger Abraham Lincoln faced off in the heat and rain in front of thousands of citizens.

Known today as The Great Debates of 1858, the respective candidates used the time to frame their positions on the leading issues of the day.

“PCB East is a much-needed opportunity for the design community to get together and check out the latest technology,” said Mike Buetow, editor in chief, Printed Circuit Design & Fab/Circuits Assembly and conference director, PCB East. “The show is expected to include a range of suppliers from the ECAD, PCB design service, fabrication and assembly supply chain. As Covid-19 has slowed national travel, locally-focused events like PCB East have become vital networking and selling opportunities.”

The IPC D-33AM Task Group developing IPC-6012EM realized there are two different focuses for electronics in the medical device industry sector: the high-volume production of standard-sized PCBs for medical diagnostic equipment applications and the miniature high-density PCBs for small devices, often human body implantable.

“We understand the medical industry utilizes electronics in laser surgical devices, radiation emitting devices, x-ray machines, ultrasound devices and implantables where product failure can result in the high risk of injury to the patient,” said John Perry, IPC director of printed board standards and technology. “IPC recognized the industry’s desire for more stringent printed board fabrication requirements than can be provided within the current IPC Class 3 Performance class for these types of medical devices. The IPC D-33AM Task Group was created to develop an addendum to the base IPC-6012E printed board performance specification that addresses those technological needs.”

NOIDA, INDIA – Dixon Technologies is opening a third cellphone assembly plant in January, its 11th manufacturing facility overall.

The EMS company will invest RS 750 million (US$10.3 million) on the new plant, according to reports.

“We will be starting operations in January in our third handset factory, which will increase our total capacity from 30 million units per month to 80 million units per month in the first year,” said Sunil Vachani, chairman, Dixon.

The new plant will create more than 4,000 jobs, including 900 in the first year. (CD)

The current building focuses on the automotive market, while the extension will be dedicated to industrial and home automation.

SAN ANTONIO – CEP Technologies is expanding its technical cleaning and tape-and-reel operations at its manufacturing facility here to support the EMI/RFI shielding market in the US and Mexico.

“Devices and circuit boards are becoming smaller and faster, with strict electromagnetic compatibility requirements,” said CEP president Ken Kaufmann Jr. “And there is a continuing need for better interference control. If manufacturers hope to bring new devices and finished products to market, custom shielding will be a big part of that. Metal shields offer a trusted and durable solution. Given how many electronic and communications devices are packed into nearly every product made these days, shields can’t merely be designed well; they need to be manufactured with care to minimize the risk of EMI and RFI on devices.”

CEP produces custom shielding components that suppress and prevent internally generated signals and external ambient temperatures from interfering with equipment operations. Its two-piece covers and frames protect PCB components. (CD)

The focus on people certainly has taken some twists and turns through this year. During the first six months, many were focused on how to retain the workforce they had. To be sure, potential health issues, social distancing, work-from-home protocols and other necessary obstacles displaced new talent acquisition, and jolting headlines on unemployment claims, especially in the hospitality and retail sectors, forced business leaders to consider when the next shoe would drop and the order board would dry up. Thankfully – or maybe luckily – most manufacturing, and especially electronics manufacturing, has remained surprisingly “normal,” and customers, employees and suppliers have recalibrated as necessary.

Though cost-conscious, industrial companies appreciate the importance of investing in advanced technology to secure their market position and take advantage of new opportunities. While investing is critical for survival, early adopters can gain a significant competitive edge. This is increasingly the case as the fourth industrial revolution – Industry 4.0 – continues to transform activities.

Authors: Maguang Zhu, Hongshan Xiao, et al.

Abstract: Electronics devices that operate in outer space and nuclear reactors require radiation-hardened transistors. However, high-energy radiation can damage the channel, gate oxide and substrate of a field-effect transistor (FET), and redesigning all vulnerable parts to make them more resistant to total ionizing dose irradiation has proved challenging. Here, the authors report a radiation-hardened FET that uses semiconducting carbon nanotubes as the channel material, an ion gel as the gate, and polyimide as the substrate. The FETs exhibit a radiation tolerance of up to 15 Mrad at a dose rate of 66.7 rad s⁻¹, which is notably higher than the tolerance of silicon-based transistors (1 Mrad). The devices can also be used to make complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS)-like inverters with similarly high tolerances. Further, the authors show that radiation-damaged FETs can be recovered by annealing at a moderate temperature of 100°C for 10 min. (Nature Electronics, Aug. 24, 2020, nature.com/articles/s41928-020-0465-1)