In my last column, I discussed cutting-edge innovations in printed circuit board technology, focusing on innovative trends in ultra HDI, embedded passives and components, green PCBs, and advanced substrate materials. This month, I’m following up with the products these new PCB technologies are destined for. Why do we need all these new technologies?

As expected, the U.S. Department of Commerce is actively administering to the $53 billion of funding in the CHIPS Act. A key committee in this process is the CHIPS Act Industrial Advisory Committee (IAC). Recently IPC vice president and chief technology officer Matt Kelly offered a printed circuit board and system-wide perspective to the IAC, part of the ongoing advocacy efforts being undertaken by IPC and other organizations, and later answered some questions about what he presented and how it was received.

I have been in and around circuit boards most of my life. I started 20 years ago in my family’s PCB shop, leaving after a couple of years to start my own software company. About a year ago, I returned to the family business, and the first thing I noticed was that nothing had really changed. We were doing the same things in the same way as the day I left. After talking to several experts in the industry, I realized it was worse than that: The manufacturing of PCBs had not changed in 70 years.