Flexible circuits can be found in many devices where space and weight considerations are dominant in the design of electronics: in cars, in cameras and video equipment, in mini-computers for athletes or in inkjet printers. And the market continues to grow: according to the business consultancy Frost & Sullivan, sales in this area will grow to more than $16 billion by the year 2014.

At K 2010, the trade fair for plastics in Dusseldorf, Germany, scientists from the IST in Braunschweig will unveil a new reel-to-reel technology for the production of flexible circuits and biosensors; the new technology is known as “P3T”, which is shorthand for “Plasma Printing and Packaging Technology”. The benefits: P3T involves considerably fewer process steps than existing processes, and it conserves raw materials. Unlike previous methods, the researchers do not start with a polymer film metalized over its entire surface from which excess metal is then removed to create the circuits. Instead, to produce flexible circuit boards, they apply circuits made of copper to the film that serves as substrate. In the case of biosensors, palladium is used. They use plasma at atmospheric pressure and galvanization instead of vacuum-pressure and laser-based methods to achieve inexpensive and resource-efficient production.

Dr. Michael Thomas, director of the research group at IST, explains: “During production of circuits for an RFID antenna, you often have to etch away between 50 and 80 percent of the copper used. This results in considerable amounts of copper scrap that either has to be disposed or reprocessed using relatively elaborate methods.” The IST approach is different: there, scientists use the additive process to apply the structures they want directly to the substrate sheeting.

The first two process steps are plasma printing at atmospheric pressure and metallization using well-known galvanization methods. Plasma printing uses the kind of deeply engraved roller familiar from the area of conventional rotogravure printing. During the printing process, microplasms are electrically generated in the engraved recesses of the roller; these microplasms chemically alter the surface of the plastic substrate where the circuits are to be applied later in the process.

The process gas from which the plasma is created is usually a mixture of nitrogenous gases. As IST researcher Thomas emphasizes: “The chemical changes we need begin to form on the surface of the film; these changes ensure that the plastic can be wetted with water in these precise areas and will be metallizable using suitable plating baths. This means considerable savings of energy and material,” Thomas adds. And this is a decisive competitive factor: the prices for raw materials – for copper and palladium, for example – have risen by around 150 percent in the past three years.

In the joint P3T project sponsored by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) P3T, researchers are currently working very hard to improve the individual processes involved in the manufacture of flexible circuit boards and biosensors. They are closely scrutinizing all of the P3T production steps – from plasma printing to assembly and coordinating all of the processes with one another in a production line.

Please visit our home page at: www.pcb-solutions.com We are a supplier of Domestic and off-shore Rigid, Rigid-Flex and Flex Printed Circuit Boards (PCBs), Domestic Military PCBs, Domestic Tier I PCBA, Domestic Sheet Metal, Domestic Injection Molding and other Custom Fabricated Services.

PCB Industry Growth Rates and Book-to-Bill Ratios Announced
Rigid PCB shipments were up 24.3 percent while bookings increased 22.1 percent in August 2010 from August 2009. Year to date, rigid PCB shipments were up 20.4 percent and bookings have grown 33.2 percent. Compared to the previous month, rigid PCB shipments increased 5.4 percent and rigid bookings increased 1.5 percent. The book-to-bill ratio for the North American rigid PCB industry in August 2010 remained positive, but fell off slightly to 1.08.

View all the charts in PDF

Flexible circuit shipments in August 2010 were up 35.7 percent, and bookings were up 61.8 percent compared to August 2009. Year to date, flexible circuit shipments increased 9.2 percent and bookings were up 22.6 percent. Compared to the previous month, flexible circuit shipments decreased 7.6 percent, but flex bookings increased 12.9 percent. The North American flexible circuit book-to-bill ratio in August 2010 remained positive, but fell to 1.01.

View all the charts in PDF

For rigid PCBs and flexible circuits combined, industry shipments in August 2010 increased 25.2 percent from August 2009, as orders booked increased 25.0 percent from August 2009. Year to date, combined industry shipments were up 19.5 percent and bookings were up 32.3 percent. Compared to the previous month, combined industry shipments for August 2010 increased 4.1 percent and bookings increased 2.5 percent. The combined (rigid and flex) industry book-to-bill ratio in August 2010 slipped to 1.07.

“Year-on-year sales growth continued in the double digits in August,” said IPC President & CEO Denny McGuirk. “The book-to-bill ratio is positive for the 16th consecutive month, which indicates solid sales growth for the rest of 2010,” he added. “Book-to-bill ratios have been trending downward since reaching a peak last May, especially in the flexible circuit segment, mainly due to strong sales growth.”

View all the charts in PDF

The book-to-bill ratios are calculated by dividing the value of orders booked over the past three months by the value of sales billed during the same period from companies in IPC’s survey sample. A ratio of more than 1.00 suggests that current demand is ahead of supply, which is a positive indicator for sales growth over the next two to three months.

View all the charts in PDF

Book-to-bill ratios and growth rates for rigid PCBs and flexible circuits combined are heavily affected by the rigid PCB segment. Rigid PCBs represent an estimated 89 percent of the current PCB industry in North America, according to IPC’s World PCB Production and Laminate Market Report.

The Role of Domestic Production
IPC’s monthly survey of the North American PCB industry tracks bookings and shipments from U.S. and Canadian facilities, which provide indicators of regional demand. These numbers do not measure U.S. and Canadian PCB production. To track regional production trends, IPC asks survey participants for the percent of their reported shipments that were produced domestically (i.e., in the USA or Canada). In August 2010, 83 percent of total PCB shipments reported were domestically produced. Domestic production accounted for 83 percent of rigid PCB and 81 percent of flexible circuit shipments in August by IPC’s survey participants. These numbers are significantly affected by the mix of companies in IPC’s survey sample, which changed slightly in January, but are kept constant through the remainder of the year.

Bare Circuits Versus Assembly
Flexible circuit sales typically include value-added services such as assembly, in addition to the bare flex circuits. In August, the flexible circuit manufacturers in IPC’s survey sample indicated that bare circuits accounted for about 52 percent of their shipment value reported for the month. Assembly and other services make up a large and growing segment of flexible circuit producers’ businesses. This figure is also sensitive to changes in the survey sample, which may occur at the beginning of each calendar year.

Interpreting the Data
Year-on-year and year-to-date growth rates provide the most meaningful view of industry growth. Month-to-month comparisons should be made with caution as they may reflect cyclical effects. Because bookings tend to be more volatile than shipments, changes in the book-to-bill ratios from month to month may not be significant unless a trend of more than three consecutive months is apparent. It is also important to consider changes in bookings and shipments to understand what is driving changes in the book-to-bill ratio.

The information in IPC’s monthly PCB industry statistics is based on data provided by a representative sample of both rigid and flexible PCB manufacturers in the USA and Canada. IPC publishes the PCB Book-to-Bill Ratio and the PCB Statistical Program Report each month. Statistics for the previous month are not available until the last week of the following month.

Contact:
Sharon Starr, IPC Director of Market Research
E:  SharonStarr@ipc.org

BY Buzz Hofmann, Lennart Pitzele, and Howard Cyker

The tremendous decline in U.S. manufacturing in favor of foreign manufacturing in Mexico, Eastern Europe, and Asia has been fueled by the presumption that lower costs are achieved in those locales. Military and other government customers, however, would prefer U.S. manufacturing for reasons regarding security, confidentiality, and compliance.

The oft-cited rationale for foreign manufacturing is lower labor cost. Additional factors, such as proximity to source of component supply, less onerous government regulation, financial incentives, and costs of construction are also mentioned, but to a lesser degree. Taking China as an example, there is little argument that unskilled workers are in plentiful supply and cheap, but this labor sector comprises only one facet of manufacturing needs. If your product requires a significant amount of hand-touch labor, there may be real savings to be had, yet in many cases, automation significantly reduces and, at times, eliminates the need for unskilled workers and the financial benefits of this factor are significantly reduced.

Moreover, those companies that have done significant work in China know that while low-paid unskilled workers are plentiful, the same is not true of support engineers and other highly skilled professionals, whose salaries in recent years have increased substantially as U.S. companies compete for them. This segment of the work population is highly mobile, with workers continually changing jobs for small increases in pay. Not only is the economic benefit of lower professional salaries in decline but the disruption to a company’s production is high as there is an ongoing need to recruit and train replacement technicians and engineers.

To combat the resulting loss of institutional memory, the company must often resort to transplanting a significant domestic professional and management staff to maintain continuity of production, at great cost.

From an aerospace and defense contracting perspective, one of the greatest disadvantages to foreign manufacturing is lack of control. The separation of primary design, mechanical, and process engineering resources from the factory floor on a real-time basis leads to inefficiency, delays in closing feedback loops, and cost. While attempts are made by many companies to re-locate engineering and technical resources to factories in China, generally only a few resources are made available at the local level and those only for temporary service to train foreign workers.

The balance of the interaction is significantly impeded by 12-hour time differences, long delays for in-person interaction, and language barriers. This problem can be exacerbated when manufacturing is outsourced to a contract manufacturer.

How can U.S. manufacturing compete?

U.S. manufacturing can compete with foreign manufacturing on cost by being smarter. By implementing smarter manufacturing processes, U.S. manufacturing becomes more flexible, produces product of higher quality at a lower cost, reacts to problems more quickly, and has tighter controls. Asian manufacturers are generally high-volume, low-mix factories. Military manufacturing is high mix, low volume, more sensitive to yield issues and process problems, and is more demanding of exacting quality. Cost savings in a high-mix, low-volume environment is not a strength of foreign manufacturers and this difference can lead to opportunities for smart U.S. manufacturers.

Automation requires foresight and planning. Instead of automating every task, or purchasing numerous odd form component placement machines to address specific assembly tasks, factories can use a modular approach. Standardized platforms allow for flexibility products and how to design equipment and the manufacturing environment. Each investment also requires a comprehensive return-on-investment analysis done jointly with sales and marketing teams. Not complete automation; smart automation.

At SynQor in Boxborough, Mass., close integration and collaboration of the design team with manufacturing and quality teams enables the design of products for manufacturability and deals with problems quickly. This process can get products into production more efficiently and yields the ability to institute product changes more rapidly. Flexibility is key to high mix manufacturing.

Manufacturing Software

Problems arise in manufacturing, and the solution often is to build intelligence into the manufacturing environment to identify problems in-process and in real time–not in finished goods inventory. Home-grown manufacturing process management software can track components through the factory floor and enable operators and technicians to analyze real-time data, flag and isolate production units, and trace components back to individual component lots.

It helps contain non-conforming units immediately, and defective units can be re-routed to re-work without disruption to the flow environment. An investment in manufacturing software also means fewer people dealing with data collection and a higher level of accuracy in data analysis and record keeping–all of paramount importance to the military customer. Investments in integration with third party SMT, ATE, AOI, and other test and measurement equipment enables faster implementation of machine programming and optimization. This provides more data for analysis and immediate feedback for continuous improvement. Finally, there is often potential to integrate manufacturing with ERP systems. Successful integration means less time planning and managing the factory.

Using the same production resources and equipment in the development of its new products enables development of tooling and programming during the product design phase that can then be used immediately for manufacturing. This reduces the time and cost to help new products make the transition into manufacturing.

Modular design topologies, component commonality, and design for manufacturability are key design concepts that affect the manufacturing environment and the cost of manufacturing. This requires direction from management and buy-in from the research and development engineers and the procurement department. You can’t build everything in a cost-effective manufacturing operation. Be selective, and be smart.

Manufacturing Data

One way to compete effectively with high-volume foreign manufacturers is to apply non-military manufacturing data, as well as component usage, throughput, and node yields to the high-mix, low-volume military environment so long as core products are related. All manual entry of data can be eliminated by use of bar code scans, automated program downloads, and pick lists. The safekeeping of confidential information and compliance with regulatory restrictions, such as ITAR, is far more easily managed with the manufacturing facility and data in the U.S.

Many Asian manufacturers solve lead time problems by purchasing raw materials in large quantities and building finished goods inventory. This is a very expensive approach. A different approach is build to order. A robust supply chain and a well-designed manufacturing process with fast cycle times through the factory and high yields can produce short lead times and no need to build to stock. This also greatly reduces the level of raw materials needed on hand. Reducing raw material and finished goods means greater flexibility, less money tied up in inventory, and greater inventory turns. Having a global sourcing strategy means you don’t need to relocate to China to be near your source of supply.

Why test, inspect, and rework in multiple iterations until you achieve high shipped quality when you can design quality in initially? There are upfront and on-going costs but they pale in comparison to the hidden costs of repeated testing, inspection, and re-work–all of which increase the potential for field failures. Building in quality starts with design, continues with component selection, and ends with manufacturing processes. Keeping engineering community close at hand helps to respond quickly to problems and resolve issues to root cause. This can help engineers spend less time and money responding to quality issues and customer complaints and more time designing and selling products. Focus on the total cost of ownership, not just lower labor rates.

Optimize the factory

Lower costs involve more than paychecks to personnel; it also involves how best to run the factory. Incorporating manufacturing process design into product design reduces manufacturing costs. For example, SMT machine set up times can be reduced with optimized off-line setups and by dedicating technicians to product change-over. Sophisticated software developed in-house can help optimize the table set ups and sequencing of product through the factory. Redesigning the product flow from a linear configuration to a re-circulating configuration can make the most of production equipment, reduce the size of the assembly lines, and boost capacity within the factory area available.

Manufacturing in the U.S. can succeed on a cost-competitive basis with Asian or other foreign manufacturing and with significant additional benefits for aerospace and defense customers. The high mix, low volume manufacturing environment has significant challenges but none that can’t be overcome through automation, robust manufacturing processes and controls, standardization and modularity in products and equipment, and high-quality process standards. Having manufacturing lines close at hand to your design, mechanical and process engineers and technical personnel results in significant advantages such as tighter controls, greater flexibility and increased first-pass yield which leads to lower scrap rates and lower costs.

PCB Solutions continues to bring as much manufacturing as possible to the U.S. by working with the highest quality and best priced U.S., commercial and military suppliers.  Please inquire with one of our sales staff about a domestic Rigid, Rigid Flex or Aluminum based PCB.

Please visit our home page at: www.pcb-solutions.com We are a supplier of Domestic and off-shore Rigid, Rigid-Flex and Flex Printed Circuit Boards (PCBs), Domestic Military PCBs, Domestic Tier I PCBA, Domestic Sheet Metal, Domestic Injection Molding and other Custom Fabricated Services.

As the global economy recovers, the international financial market goes stable, Orders shift crisis also comes to PCB industry for many PCB makers in China. On one hand, the middle-small PCB makers rely on OEM are unable to afford the pressure of cost rise by financial crisis.; on the other hand, serious shortage of workers bring many enterprise embarrassment of shut down. At the same time, with growth of workers wage cost, increase the pressure of the enterprise’s operation. It becomes the question for PCB manufacturers to think how to solve the new crisis.

Besides shortage of workers, PCB makers developed rely on OEM need to afford the affect of financial crisis and the price rise of material, source, energy shortage and high consumption. All this make the process cost rise in China, the price advantage is being eroded. Some international companies already shift the order to the low-cost Southeast Asian, South Asian countries like Vietnam, Cambodia, Bangladesh and Thailand. Under the situation of no significant decline in market demand, cancellation of orders in China, will inevitably be supplemented in other places.

The survey show, Japan IT enterprises have shift their PCB order to Thailand, PCB manufacturing companies in Thailand are also increasingly competitive Data shows PCB industrial value in southeast has already been 3-3.3 billion dollars, Thailand accounts 30-40% of the total. While the famous company like Gree, Supor,  Media, Glanz , Canon and so on have already built their own production plant in Vietnam.

Please visit our home page at: www.pcb-solutions.com We are a supplier of Domestic and off-shore Rigid, Rigid-Flex and Flex Printed Circuit Boards (PCBs), Domestic Military PCBs, Domestic Tier I PCBA, Domestic Sheet Metal, Domestic Injection Molding and other Custom Fabricated Services.

PCB Industry Growth Rates and Book-to-Bill Ratios Announced
Rigid PCB shipments were up 23.9 percent while bookings increased 34.4 percent in July 2010 from July 2009. Year to date, rigid PCB shipments were up 19.9 percent and bookings have grown 34.9 percent. Compared to the previous month, rigid PCB shipments decreased 14.7 percent and rigid bookings decreased 16.9 percent. The book-to-bill ratio for the North American rigid PCB industry in July 2010 stood at 1.11.

View all the charts in PDF

Flexible circuit shipments in July 2010 were up 38.2 percent, and bookings were up 28.8 percent compared to July 2009. Year to date, flexible circuit shipments increased 5.8 percent and bookings were up 17.5 percent. Compared to the previous month, flexible circuit shipments went up 4.6 percent and flex bookings declined 4.9 percent. The North American flexible circuit book-to-bill ratio in July 2010 remained positive but slipped down to 1.06.

View all the charts in PDF

For rigid PCBs and flexible circuits combined, industry shipments in July 2010 increased 25.2 percent from July 2009, as orders booked increased 33.9 percent from July 2009. Year to date, combined industry shipments were up 18.7 percent and bookings were up 33.4 percent. Compared to the previous month, combined industry shipments for July 2010 decreased 13.1 percent and bookings went down 16.0 percent. The combined (rigid and flex) industry book-to-bill ratio in July 2010 was 1.11.

“We are still seeing double-digit year-on-year growth rates for both rigid PCBs and flexible circuits as of July,” said IPC President & CEO Denny McGuirk. “July is typically a slower sales month than June, but sales are strong. The most encouraging indicator is the book-to-bill ratio, which continues solidly positive for the 15th consecutive month,” he added. “That is a sign of continuing strength in sales for the remainder of the year.”

View all the charts in PDF

The book-to-bill ratios are calculated by dividing the value of orders booked over the past three months by the value of sales billed during the same period from companies in IPC’s survey sample.  A ratio of more than 1.00 suggests that current demand is ahead of supply, which is a positive indicator for sales growth over the next two to three months.

View all the charts in PDF

Book-to-bill ratios and growth rates for rigid PCBs and flexible circuits combined are heavily affected by the rigid PCB segment. Rigid PCBs represent an estimated 89 percent of the current PCB industry in North America, according to IPC’s World PCB Production and Laminate Market Report.

The Role of Domestic Production
IPC’s monthly survey of the North American PCB industry tracks bookings and shipments from U.S. and Canadian facilities, which provide indicators of regional demand. These numbers do not measure U.S. and Canadian PCB production. To track regional production trends, IPC asks survey participants for the percent of their reported shipments that were produced domestically (i.e., in the USA or Canada). In July 2010, 83 percent of total PCB shipments reported were domestically produced. Domestic production accounted for 83 percent of rigid PCB and 81 percent of flexible circuit shipments in July by IPC’s survey participants. These numbers are significantly affected by the mix of companies in IPC’s survey sample, which changed slightly in January, but are kept constant through the remainder of the year.

Bare Circuits Versus Assembly
Flexible circuit sales typically include value-added services such as assembly, in addition to the bare flex circuits. In July, the flexible circuit manufacturers in IPC’s survey sample indicated that bare circuits accounted for about 77 percent of their shipment value reported for the month. Assembly and other services make up a large and growing segment of flexible circuit producers’ businesses. This figure is also sensitive to changes in the survey sample, which may occur at the beginning of each calendar year.

Interpreting the Data
Year-on-year and year-to-date growth rates provide the most meaningful view of industry growth. Month-to-month comparisons should be made with caution as they may reflect cyclical effects. Because bookings tend to be more volatile than shipments, changes in the book-to-bill ratios from month to month may not be significant unless a trend of more than three consecutive months is apparent. It is also important to consider changes in bookings and shipments to understand what is driving changes in the book-to-bill ratio.

The information in IPC’s monthly PCB industry statistics is based on data provided by a representative sample of both rigid and flexible PCB manufacturers in the USA and Canada. IPC publishes the PCB Book-to-Bill Ratio and the PCB Statistical Program Report each month. Statistics for the previous month are not available until the last week of the following month.

Contact:
Sharon Starr, IPC Director of Market Research
P:  +1 847-597-2817
E:  SharonStarr@ipc.org

Please visit our home page at: www.pcb-solutions.com We are a supplier of Domestic and off-shore Rigid, Rigid-Flex and Flex Printed Circuit Boards (PCBs), Domestic Military PCBs, Domestic Tier I PCBA, Domestic Sheet Metal, Domestic Injection Molding and other Custom Fabricated Services.

PCB Solutions continues to see solid sales from internal house accounts and modest growth from Reps and Web leads.  PCB Solutions remains very optimistic about its growth on the web as it has rise to  the 20th position for the key search term “printed circuit board;” which is one of the most competitive key search words in the industry. Web marketing efforts by www.infogenix.com are proving great results by branding the www.pcb-solutions.com domain on line.

Last month also highlights the beginning of PCB Solutions on twitter. You can track us at http://twitter.com/PCB_Solutions We began tweeting about our business, the industry and our market place. Follow us on twitter (see our home page as well to follow).

Look for us this month to be on Facebook. Who would have ever thought social media would be an outlet for gaining web traffic in the Printed Circuit Board industry.  We are also working to gain access with wikipedia and look forward to that announcement in the near future…

Please visit our home page at: www.pcb-solutions.com We are a supplier of Domestic and off-shore Rigid, Rigid-Flex and Flex Printed Circuit Boards (PCBs), Domestic Military PCBs, Domestic Tier I PCBA, Domestic Sheet Metal, Domestic Injection Molding and other Custom Fabricated Services.

IPC announced strong book to bill ratios for June 2010 and PCB Solutions saw equally good ratios. We are curious to see how the industry fared in July as we saw a dramatic slow down symbolic of the quietness of 2009. We at PCB Solutions are confident we never pulled out of the recession but just seem to be maintaining aggressive web marketing and sales approaches for organic growth and profitability.

As we hold our strategy at PCB Solutions, we will ride out this market in a very strong, competitive position.

Please visit our home page at: www.pcb-solutions.com We are a supplier of Domestic and off-shore Rigid, Rigid-Flex and Flex Printed Circuit Boards (PCBs), Domestic Military PCBs, Domestic Tier I PCBA, Domestic Sheet Metal, Domestic Injection Molding and other Custom Fabricated Services.

http://www.pcb-solutions.com/pcb.html

http://www.pcb-solutions.com/flex.html

BANNOCKBURN, Ill., USA, July 26, 2010 — IPC — IPC — Association Connecting Electronics Industries® announced today the June findings from its monthly North American Printed Circuit Board (PCB) Statistical Program.

PCB Industry Growth Rates and Book-to-Bill Ratios Announced
Rigid PCB shipments were up 25.3 percent while bookings increased 29.3 percent in June 2010 from June 2009. Year to date, rigid PCB shipments were up 19.3 percent and bookings have grown 35.0 percent. Compared to the previous month, rigid PCB shipments increased 13.7 percent and rigid bookings increased 9.7 percent. The book-to-bill ratio for the North American rigid PCB industry in June 2010 stood at 1.12.

View all the charts in PDF

Flexible circuit shipments in June 2010 were up 14.8 percent, and bookings were up 11.0 percent compared to June 2009. Year to date, flexible circuit shipments increased 0.6 percent and bookings were up 15.5 percent. Compared to the previous month, flexible circuit shipments went up 28.1 percent and flex bookings declined 2.7 percent. The North American flexible circuit book-to-bill ratio in June 2010 remained high at 1.15.

View all the charts in PDF

For rigid PCBs and flexible circuits combined, industry shipments in June 2010 increased 24.4 percent from June 2009, as orders booked increased 27.8 percent from June 2009. Year to date, combined industry shipments were up 17.6 percent and bookings were up 33.4 percent. Compared to the previous month, combined industry shipments for June 2010 increased 14.8 percent and bookings went up 8.6 percent. The combined (rigid and flex) industry book-to-bill ratio in June 2010 was 1.12.

“The book-to-bill ratios for both rigid PCBs and flexible circuits remain well above parity, which suggests a positive outlook for the remainder of the year,” said IPC President & CEO Denny McGuirk.  “Sales growth is stabilizing, but year-on-year growth in both segments is continuing in double digits,” he added.

View all the charts in PDF

The book-to-bill ratios are calculated by dividing the value of orders booked over the past three months by the value of sales billed during the same period from companies in IPC’s survey sample.  A ratio of more than 1.00 suggests that current demand is ahead of supply, which is a positive indicator for sales growth over the next two to three months.

View all the charts in PDF

Book-to-bill ratios and growth rates for rigid PCBs and flexible circuits combined are heavily affected by the rigid PCB segment. Rigid PCBs represent an estimated 90 percent of the current PCB industry in North America, according to IPC’s World PCB Production and Laminate Market Report.

The Role of Domestic Production
IPC’s monthly survey of the North American PCB industry tracks bookings and shipments from U.S. and Canadian facilities, which provide indicators of regional demand. These numbers do not measure U.S. and Canadian PCB production. To track regional production trends, IPC asks survey participants for the percent of their reported shipments that were produced domestically (i.e., in the USA or Canada). In June 2010, 83 percent of total PCB shipments reported were domestically produced. Domestic production also accounted for 83 percent of rigid PCB and 81 percent of flexible circuit shipments in June by IPC’s survey participants. These numbers are significantly affected by the mix of companies in IPC’s survey sample, which changed slightly in January, but are kept constant through the remainder of the year.

Bare Circuits Versus Assembly
Flexible circuit sales typically include value-added services such as assembly, in addition to the bare flex circuits. In June, the flexible circuit manufacturers in IPC’s survey sample indicated that bare circuits accounted for about 77 percent of their shipment value reported for the month. Assembly and other services make up a large and growing segment of flexible circuit producers’ businesses. This figure is also sensitive to changes in the survey sample, which may occur at the beginning of each calendar year.

Interpreting the Data
Year-on-year and year-to-date growth rates provide the most meaningful view of industry growth. Month-to-month comparisons should be made with caution as they may reflect cyclical effects. Because bookings tend to be more volatile than shipments, changes in the book-to-bill ratios from month to month may not be significant unless a trend of more than three consecutive months is apparent. It is also important to consider changes in bookings and shipments to understand what is driving changes in the book-to-bill ratio.

The information in IPC’s monthly PCB industry statistics is based on data provided by a representative sample of both rigid and flexible PCB manufacturers in the USA and Canada. IPC publishes the PCB Book-to-Bill Ratio and the PCB Statistical Program Report each month. Statistics for the previous month are not available until the last week of the following month.

Contact:
Sharon Starr, IPC Director of Market Research
P:  +1 847-597-2817 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting +1 847-597-2817 end_of_the_skype_highlighting
E:  SharonStarr@ipc.org

# # #

About IPC
IPC (www.IPC.org) is a global trade association based in Bannockburn, Ill., dedicated to the competitive excellence and financial success of its 2,700 member companies which represent all facets of the electronics industry, including design, printed board manufacturing, electronics assembly and test. As a member-driven organization and leading source for industry standards, training, market research and public policy advocacy, IPC supports programs to meet the needs of an estimated $1.7 trillion global electronics industry. IPC maintains additional offices in Taos, N.M.; Arlington, Va.; Garden Grove, Calif.; Stockholm, Sweden; Moscow, Russia; and Shanghai and Shenzhen, China.

Please visit our home page at: www.pcb-solutions.com We are a supplier of Domestic and off-shore Rigid, Rigid-Flex and Flex Printed Circuit Boards (PCBs), Domestic Military PCBs, Domestic Tier I PCBA, Domestic Sheet Metal, Domestic Injection Molding and other Custom Fabricated Services.

http://www.pcb-solutions.com/pcb.html

http://www.pcb-solutions.com/flex.html

PCB Solutions always recommends that you contact the material supplier and review their data prior to making a decision.  The data below is available to help you navigate the terms but does not serve as advice on which material to chose for your application because there are so many variables for Rigid, Rigid Flex and Flex PCB designs.

1. Dielectric Constant (Dk or Er):

Technical definition: The ratio of the capacitance of a capacitor with the given dielectric to the capacitance of a capacitor having air for its dielectric but otherwise identical.  The Dk value is calculated as the relative permittivity of a material.

Why this is important: The Dielectric Constant is a major factor in calculating and controlling impedance requirements of signals on PCBs.  All PCB materials (cores, prepregs, solder masks), have a Dk value.  The actual Dk value can vary based on resin content of materials.  Values typically range from 3.5 to 5.9.  Specific material is available for both very low Dk and Very high Dk values. A low Dk material is often used for RF applications while a high Dk is often used for High Frequency applications.

2. Glass Transition Temperature (Tg):

Technical definition: The temperature at which a polymer changes from hard and brittle to soft and pliable.

Why this is important: The Tg indicates the temperature at which the PCB base material starts yielding. It is important to avoid any yielding of PCB base materials, so the Tg is not an indicator for the operating temperature of the PCB. The Tg temperature can usually only be sustained for a very short time.  The actual minimum Tg required for your PCB will depend on many factors including surface finish and assembly process; however, the industry guideline for most ROHS applications in a minimum material Tg of 170 degrees C.

3. Decomposition Temperature (Td):

Technical definition: The temperature at which material weight changes by 5%.

Why this is important: The decomposition is the breaking of chemical bonds in the resin system. The resin in the laminate is basically burning up.  This value is widely considered to be more critical than the Tg value with regards to ROHS considerations during the assembly process.  Like Tg, the actual minimum Td required for your PCB will depend on many factors including surface finish and assembly process; however, the industry guideline for most ROHS applications in a minimum material Td of 340 degrees C.

4. Loss tangent (Dissipation Factor):

Technical definition: The ratio at any particular frequency between the real and imaginary parts of the impedance of the capacitor.

Why this is important: A large loss tangent means you have a greater amount of dielectric absorption, which can cause the value of capacitance to change with frequency.  If clean, consistent, capacitance is a requirement of your design, then look for a material with low loss tangent values. For high speed designs (greater than 1Ghz) it may be recommended to choose a material with a dissipation factor of less than .015.

5. Moisture Absorption:

Technical definition: Maximum percent of moisture absorbed by material in high-humidity conditions.

Why this is important: Absorbed moisture can raise Dk values, expand the board, and cause thermal defects such as substrate blisters, barrel cracking and delamination during assembly. If the PCBs are stored for only short times in low-humidity locations before assembly, then moisture may not be a problem. However if the PCBs are stored in high humidity for long periods of time, then they may need to be pre-baked before assembly.

6. Coefficient of Thermal Expansion (CTE):

Technical definition: A material’s fractional change in length for a given unit change of temperature.

Why this is important: Glass, copper, gold and nickel all have fixed expansion rates up to their respective melting points.  A large difference in laminate expansion rates can cause strain on the plated hole wall causing cracked barrels and lifted land patterns during the assembly process.  The common unit of measurement for CTE is ppm/°C, parts per million per degree centigrade. 1 ppm is equivalent to 0.0001% of total observed dimension. A material rated at 250 ppm/°C would change 0.025% in dimension for every degree change in temperature. On a .100” thick board over a 100°C temperature range there would be a total thickness change of 2.5% which equates to 0.0025”

7. Thermal conductivity:

Technical definition: Ability of a material to conduct heat.

Why this is important: As the power and density of components on a PCB rises, the need to dissipate heat through the base material of the PCB increases.

Materials that offer greater thermal conductivity can be utilized with designs that have high power, or high heat output devices such as LED’s, coils or relays.

9. Peel Strength

Technical definition: The strength of the bond between base material and copper cladding as measured by IPC-TM-650.

Why this is important: As components become smaller, their footprint or pad patterns also become smaller, resulting in much less area of contact between the base material and the copper land patterns.  The strength of the bond at this area will determine the ability of the pads to avoid lifting from the material surface.

10. Arc Resistance

Technical definition: Measure of electric breakdown condition along an insulating surface, caused by the formation of a conductive path on the surface.

Why this is important: Typically a consideration for high-voltage/high power PCBs.  Arc resistance is a measurement, in seconds, of the amount of time for breakdown along the surface of the material.

If you have questions regarding materials or anything else PCB- Send us an email at info@PCB-solutions.com and we will be happy to guide you in the right direction.

Please visit our home page at: www.pcb-solutions.com We are a supplier of Domestic and off-shore Rigid, Rigid-Flex and Flex Printed Circuit Boards (PCBs), Domestic Military PCBs, Domestic Tier I PCBA, Domestic Sheet Metal, Domestic Injection Molding and other Custom Fabricated Services.

Conductive (Silver Filled) Epoxy:

Conductive silver filled epoxy contains organic solvents which require storage at a temperature of less then 5 degrees C, and limit the shelf life of the material.  Because of this, many PCB factories do not stock this epoxy and purchase it in quantities needed for the order, which may cause delays in production.  The size of the silver balls in the epoxy can make filling smaller holes difficult and often lead to air pockets inside the hole, which will actually decrease the thermal conductivity of the hole.  If the air pockets are close to the surface, this can cause voids at the pad surface, leading to assembly issues.  As the CTE (Coefficient of Thermal Expansion) of Silver Filled epoxy can be very different from the CTE of high TG material used in lead free or ROHS assemblies, blistering of surface pads can be common, as well as lifted pads during high temperature soldering operations.

Silver filled epoxy reacts to process chemistry during metallization by expanding which will cause an uneven or swelled pad surface.  This creates the need to add an additional process of “planarization” of the pad surface which can be costly, time consuming and add to pad surface imperfections including dimples in the land pattern and voids that can outgas during assembly.

Non-Conductive Epoxy:

Non-Conductive epoxy is 100% solid epoxy material which usually yields good pad planarity for via-in-pad designs.  The lack of silver in the epoxy resin allows the process to be used on smaller holes, including micro-vias often down to as small as .004 inch.  The CTE (Coefficient of Thermal Expansion) of non-conductive epoxy is often very close to that of high TG material, meaning less issues with hole expansion during the assembly process.  This also allows Non-Conductive Epoxy to be used in sequential lamination processes to fill blind and buried vias.

Non-Conductive Epoxy usually exhibits very little shrinkage during the thermal curing process, which will yield good pad planarity and will not require a separate planarization process.   The flat surface of the pad after plating over the Non-Conductive Epoxy means less chance of lifting pads during the assembly process and greater rework ability.

As there are no temperature or shelf-life restrictions to Non-Conductive Epoxy fill, most PCB factories have a ready supply of the material in stack, thus eliminating production delays caused by material procurement.

Effects on Thermal Conductivity:

Improved thermal conductivity is often cites as the reason for choosing Conductive Epoxy Fill over Non-Conductive Epoxy fill.  It is true that pure silver has the highest thermal conductivity; however, when surrounded by epoxy the silver surfaces are insulated and there is no direct contact of the silver to effectively increase the thermal conductivity.  Additionally, the air pockets present when using Silver Filled Epoxy may also reduce the thermal conductivity.  A properly filled and capped plated through hole will have better thermal conductivity using Non-Conductive Epoxy fill in place of Conductive Silver fill.

Conclusion:

The development of improved formulations of Non-Conductive Epoxy fill have created an equal or superior bond to electroless copper and increased the Thermal Conduction of filled holes, while eliminating many of the manufacturing and assembly concerns with Conductive (Siler Filled) epoxy.  Due to the points raised above, PCB Solutions strongly recommends Non-Conductive Epoxy

Please visit our home page at: www.pcb-solutions.com We are a supplier of Domestic and off-shore Rigid, Rigid-Flex and Flex Printed Circuit Boards (PCBs), Domestic Military PCBs, Domestic Tier I PCBA, Domestic Sheet Metal, Domestic Injection Molding and other Custom Fabricated Services.