Got a Question? Just Ask Joe!

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A few months ago, we launched our “Just Ask” series with Happy Holden. Many readers took us up on it, sending all manner of questions for happy to answer.

Now, Joe Fjelstad—inventor, technologist, author, and Flex007 columnist—is getting in on the action. Here’s your chance to pick Joe’s brain. What’s the one question about this industry that you’ve always wanted to ask Joe?

Joe has spent decades working with interconnect and packaging technology, as a chemist and process engineer. He’s the pioneer behind the Occam process for solderless assembly. He often begins his columns with a quote from Lewis Carroll or Don Miguel Ruiz. Joe has also written about the need for technology companies in the Western world to develop products that help improve the lives of the poor in third-world nations.Jo

What do you want to know? Just ask Joe! If he doesn’t know the answer, he’ll talk to someone who does. To submit your questions to Joe, click here.

Joe Fjelstad is founder and CEO of Verdant Electronics and an international authority and innovator in the field of electronic interconnection and packaging technologies with more than 185 patents issued or pending. To read past "Flexible Thinking" columns or contact Fjelstad, click here. Download your free copy of Fjelstad’s book Flexible Circuit Technology, 4th Edition, and watch the micro webinar series on flexible circuit technology.

04/23/2021 | Andy Shaughnessy, I-Connect007

This week, we bring you a wide swath of news, columns, and articles from the past week. Altium announced a new cloud platform that connects design stakeholders with users of its Altium 365 environment. Cadence Design Systems has acquired a company that develops computational fluid dynamics technology to help expand its system analysis offerings.

04/19/2021 | Hu Yang, Zhongtai Securities Research Center

According to the CCL Association, copper foil accounts for the largest proportion of raw materials (traditional CCL uses epoxy resin, glass fiber cloth and copper as raw materials). Copper foil in thin plate accounts for about 30% of the overall cost; in thick plate copper accounts for 50%. In CCL production, using Shengyi Technology and Chaohua Technology as examples, the cost of raw materials accounts for about 88% of the total cost, with labor accounting for about 4%. Other costs such as equipment depreciation account for about 8%.

03/30/2021 | Al Block, Naji Norder, and Chris Joran, National Instruments

In a global market, it is often difficult to determine the best PCB suppliers for your technology needs, while also achieving the lowest costs for your products. Considering each PCB supplier has their own niche in terms of equipment, process, and performance, uniform test data from the IPC-9151D Process Capability, Quality, and Relative Reliability (PCQR2) Benchmark Test Standard can help find the right source for the board based on its specific technology requirements.