UHDI may be the next step, but what are the true limits of miniaturization?

How big is big? How small is small?

Some things sound simple but in reality are very hard, if not impossible, to fathom. Consider space. In its most simplistic form, space is simply “up there.” Look to the sky and that is space. Of course, scientists will then expand upon that to incorporate other planets, and again expand to include the solar system that encompasses those planets that circle the sun.

Within the past 100 years, humans have traversed and viewed increasingly farther into space thanks to ever-improving technology. This exploration has identified and in some cases, made contact with, phenomena such as asteroids, comets and black holes, to name just a few. Mind-boggling as these phenomena may seem, however, it is nothing compared to the infinite vastness of space! Voyager, a spacecraft launched to explore and transmit photos to Earth from deep space, has traveled over 14.8 billion miles and has only scratched the surface of the enormity of space.

Options for fixing your revenue stream.

What are you doing differently this year?

Is your topline growing? Is your slow-moving inventory number shrinking? Are you attracting new clients while defending good existing ones? Is your cash position improving? Or are you stuck in an EMS/OEM mud pit?

Will 2024 be business as usual? Where will you get your inspiration to improve your business, from the inside team you’ve assembled or from an outside third party?

Sometimes inspiration comes from the most unexpected sources. I lack an engineering degree, but am part of a patent. Years ago, I solved a design issue as our time to prove a concept entered the final hours of our quest. The inspiration came from simply looking at my wife’s tiny rock jewelry box and how the lid interfaced with the body of the box. Our engineers were blown away that the head of sales and marketing helped solve this difficult engineering design problem. (For what it’s worth, so was I.)

Which PCB technologies are best suited to survive 100 years?

The Goal: Build an electronic device that will outlast everyone currently living on Earth. Looking back 100 years, few of us were here and the same will be said in the year 2124. Just reflecting on the brevity of life but we will take a century as forever.

One hundred years ago – 1924 – was the year that the Computer-Tabulating-Recording Company rebranded itself as IBM. Electric blenders, vacuum cleaners, traffic signals and television are among the inventions of the period. Two inventors of the era were leading us toward printed circuit boards though their patents were not commercially successful. Time would prove them to be quite insightful.

Looking back to move forward. PCBs finally took hold around the middle of the century while integrated circuits followed another 25 years later. My "forever" board is going to make use of these early transistor-to-transistor logic (TTL) components that predated complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) technology. The physically larger transistor gates and the 5V logic are a concern. Both types were used on the Voyager space probes to build the guidance and other systems. There was also a fully discrete version of the computer as a backup to the backup. I have confidence in those old Texas Instrument parts.

What history can tell us about our position in high-tech.

New Chinese restrictions on the technology, including processors, permitted in equipment procured by government agencies are the latest move in the global battle for influence in the semiconductor industry; itself a part of a larger struggle for economic power.

US-based companies have more than 46% share of the $574 billion global semiconductor market (in 2022, according to a report by Citigroup), although China is the largest end-market, representing some 31% of sales. Semiconductor exports earn more for the US economy than any other products except oil, gas and aircraft. So of course, it's important.

We have all become heavily reliant on advanced semiconductors in every aspect of life and work, driving the machines we use to get things done: the IoT applications managing our homes, businesses and infrastructures; the AI powering interactions from photography and customer service to medical decision-making; even our mobility, which is increasingly electrified, automated and connected.