Chapter Reports

AHOT/AUSTIN 
Next meeting: Dec. 7
Our October meeting was held on Oct. 13 and included a plant tour of the 
Hadco Austin PWB fabrication facility. We included an invite to another 
Austin professional group, Central Texas Electronics Association. The October 
meeting was very well attended, with over 50 people showing. Sam Gonzales of 
Hadco had a great welcome arranged, with pizza and drinks provided. The group 
split into several smaller groups for the plant tour and was very well 
received.
     
In September we had a Softball challenge from the local Society of Electrical 
Engineers. Not too much to say on this as our AHOT team was waxed, but the 
BBQ and plenty of refreshments after the game helped us all get over the 
agony of defeat.
     
Our end of the year will be held Dec. 7. We plan to combine our AHOT general 
meeting with a billiards/pool tourney at Buffalo Billiard on the infamous 
Sixth Street. At this meeting the new AHOT board members will be introduced, 
the winners of a "Design of the Year" contest will be announced, and all 
other 1999 matters wrapped up. Valor has offered a $250 prize for the contest 
winner. The time will be 7 to 11 p.m.; Buffalo Billiards address is 201 E. 
Sixth Street.

ATLANTA
Next meeting: Dec. 8 
Topic: Plant tour
Location: ACT Manufacturing (Duluth)

The meeting starts at 6:00 pm. ACT is an assembly company. A holiday social 
will follow. Directions and an update will be sent by email.
     
Our last meeting was sponsored by Valor. A discussion on DfM was followed by 
a product demonstration.
     
A certification study group has formed and met Oct. 5 to kickoff the program 
and actually begin studying.

AUSTRALASIAN 
Dates for monthly meetings in Melbourne alternate between Wednesday (odd 
months) and Thursday (even months) at 6:30 p.m. at the SMCBA offices. Further 
details on all programs are at www.smcba.asn.au.

CANADA (Toronto)
The October meeting was on PCB layup and build techniques. Topics discussed 
include materials (resins, glass, copper, etc.), basic builds, general rules, 
how-to's, impedance, specifications, predictive tools, and verification 
techniques.

CASCADE (Seattle)
The Cascade chapter elected officers last month. They are: Cherie L. Litson, 
president; Fred Edelman, vice president; LaVern Mullet, treasurer; Frank 
Nichols, secretary; Lynn Isaacson, public relations; Mike Poorman, education 
services.
                                        
CENTRAL OHIO 
Next meeting: Nov. 17
Topic: High speed materials
Location: Alpha-C Inc. (Dayton)

The ubiquitous Rick Hartley makes a presentation on high speed materials next 
month. The meeting time is 7 to 9. For more information and to RSVP, contact 
Mike Floyd at Alpha-C (937-252-9496; [log in to unmask]).

CHESAPEAKE
We have elected new officers. They are: Rich Green, president; Tom Osso, vice 
president; Sean McConville, secretary; Mirka Halas, treasurer.
     
Discussions centered on ways to increase membership and participation. 
Suggestions for achieving this included coming up with more topics, speakers 
and agreeable times. It was decided that a survey should be conducted 
concerning the above and emailed to members. It was decided that a meeting 
among the officers and interested members would be scheduled for an agreeable 
time for the following week to put together this survey.
     .
Discussion was held concerning coming up with chapter logo to identify the 
Chesapeake chapter. Suggestions included the combination of a graphical 
picture of a Maryland Blue Crab and a circuit board in some fashion to create 
this logo. This logo could be used on polo shirts, letterhead, and other 
items. These items could also be used as giveaways at meetings as an 
incentive to attend.
     
Other topics included the possibility of the chapter purchasing the study 
preparation CDs for designer certification, creating a library to lend to our 
members. This would aid in mitigating the costs of these materials and 
helping members prepare for the CID.
          
At our meeting Tom Coyle, an engineer at Hadco, presented a technical slide 
show on manufacturing PWBs. It was detailed presentation, which included a 
step-by-step explanation of the process starting with the raw data to the 
finished products. Processes demonstrated were photographic, chemical 
etching, drilling (including laser), plating, and routing, all in detail and 
including in-process samples the audience to view. 

COLORADO
Next meeting: Jan. 7
Topic: TBD 
Location: Holiday Inn (Northglenn)

Speakers for the meeting are not yet determined. The time is from 2 to 6, at 
the Holiday Inn, 10 East 120th Ave. Northglenn. 

EL PASO BORDERLAND 
Next meeting: Nov. 9 
Location: TBA

Meeting starts at 6. The location will be announced at a later date, but will 
likely be Antec Network Power & Enclosures, 12273 Gateway West, El Paso.

At our Oct. 19 meeting, Tom Scimeca of Florida CirTech Inc. gave a 
presentation on the white tinning process, providing pros and cons on white 
tinning vs. other finishes.

Scimica's talk was sponsored in part by Seth Chum of TTT and Eric Howland of 
Circuit Services. 

Art Jordan of Pollak has proposed a plant tour of its facility in Juarez for 
the December/January meeting. More plans will be determined at the November 
meeting.
            
GREATER PHOENIX
Next meeting: Nov. 9
Topic: PWB drawing packages and data PCB fabricators require
Location: Motorola SSTG

For the November meeting, we are asking that one representative from each 
company or location give a presentation on how they document PWBs. The 
purpose is to focus on how we can improve our own documentation processes.

In the second part of the meeting Frank DeArmond of DeArmond Enterprises will 
explain what suppliers ask for and their preferred formats.

Motorola is located 8201 E. McDowell Road, Scottsdale.

At our past meeting, Jonathan Pantelopoulos, a test engineer at Varian Tempe 
Electronics Center, gave a tour of the facility. He emphasized recently 
acquired capabilities for in-circuit testing. 

HOUSTON 
Next meeting: Nov. 9 
Topic: GenCAM
Location: Baker Atlas

Gary Ferrari will present the IPC GenCAM data transfer format. This format 
supports the interface of computer-aided design and computer-aided 
manufacturing systems and is viewed as a replacement for Gerber. 

MIDWEST
Next meeting: Nov. 2
Location: Old Country Buffet (Eden Prairie)

From 6:30 - 7:00 p.m. we conducted administrative business. From 7:00 - 8:00 
p.m., Steve Bakke talked about IPCWorks, which he attended last week. Bakke 
talked about some of the workshops and tutorials he attended. Also, he and 
Carl Lokowich attended the Designers Council Education Committee and the 
Executive Board and Steering Committee sessions held Oct. 28. These 
committees develop and implement the Designers Certification program and the 
direction of the DC, respectively. 

NORTHERN ILLINOIS
In October we held an informal, multi-purpose get-together to discuss 
upcoming meetings, and to celebrate Halloween and the last meeting of the 
millennium. 

NORTHEAST OHIO 
Next meeting: Dec. 15
Topic: Elections/part 2 of high-speed design
Location: TBD

The meeting will begin with executive elections, then proceed directly to the 
second half of high-speed design. This meeting will focus on signal integrity 
and controlling emissions at the circuit level using HyperLynx software.

Mark Sinreich, president of Avid Technologies, will demonstrate the software. 
HyperLynx is used by Avid for its critical layouts; Sinreich will show some 
of the techniques Avid uses. Meeting time is 4:00 to 6:20. 

NORTH TEXAS 
Next meeting: Nov. 11
Topic: GenCAM/Designer certification
Location: Texans Recreation Center (Dallas)

Gary Ferrari will discuss the GenCAM format. He will also discuss 
certification requirements for IPC Designers. The meeting starts at 6:30. 
This is our last meeting of the year.

Members from the chapter will be attending the National Education Summit 
Meeting Nov. 11, hosted by Collin County Community College in Frisco. Woody 
Adams, Glenn Wells, Andy Kowelewski, and Krista Fairbanks from our chapter 
actively participate in instruction of the course at CCCCF. Courses serve as 
the model for implementation of the IPC PWB Designer Certification Program. 
Presentations to this group, including representatives from Australia and 
other countries, will be by Ferrari.

More information can be obtained from: 
www.circuit-technology.com/html/ipc_design_council.html.

Later in November, the chapter will have a study group to provide information 
for the certification exam. We will have our golf shirts available as well. 

PACIFIC NORTHWEST 
Next meeting: Nov. 17 
Topic: The three T's of routing topologies
Location: Intel Corp. (Jones Farm campus)

Meeting time is 6 to 8. For  directions: www.ipc.org/pnw/index.htm.

During the executive board meeting held Oct.20, plans were developed and 
dates were set for all the meetings to be held in 2000. Topics include future 
technologies, improved fabrication processes, RF layout technology, high 
density interconnect design concerns, and an EMI Workshop. Tours of local 
fabrication and assembly sites are also part of our schedule.

November 17 is our next general membership meeting, which will be held at the 
Jones Farm location of Intel, JFCC building at 2111 NE 25th, Hillsboro. Our 
guest speaker will be David Coleman, a senior design engineer with his 
presentation, The Three T's of Routing Topologies.

The PNW chapter held a high speed design workshop Sept. 14 at Tektronix. Rick 
Hartley of Applied Innovation Inc. presented a fast-paced, interactive 
session attended by a broad audience, which included representatives from 
design, mechanical and electrical engineering, management, and R&D. He 
accented new design techniques and parameters to aid in ensuring the desired 
functional effects of high speed technology. This well-organized presentation 
included definitions, parts placement, formulas, crosstalk and EMI 
considerations, load modeling, PC structures, and stackup definitions. 
Circuit analysis is key to the outcome of design along with power 
distribution and decoupling considerations. Hartley did an excellent job of 
sharing real examples and suggesting viable solutions to the design issues 
involved.

We had an excellent turnout and brought in many new members. Other chapters 
might consider using a fee structure for workshops as a way of collecting 
contact information and encouraging membership, then mailing applications 
with these fees in order to gain new members. We increased the fee by $50 for 
nonmembers in order to increase our membership.

RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK
The RTP chapter is just getting underway and we are looking for designers in 
the area who are interested in helping to form the chapter or becoming 
members. We are planning to have our kickoff meeting sometime in the fourth 
quarter. Details will soon follow. Contact Steve Trasatto at Ericsson (see 
index) if you have an interest in joining. 

SMOKY MOUNTAIN (Knoxville) 
Next meeting: Nov. 18 
Topic: Chapter organization/industry trends
Location: Philips Consumer Electronics

Our November meeting will continue to deal with organizational details and 
will feature a talk by Ronda Faries, editor of Printed Circuit Design, on 
future trends in the electronics industry. 

See our Web page for more details (www.ipc.org/smchap/). 

On Oct. 28, we met in Knoxville to discuss officers, committees, fund 
raising, and incorporation. We discussed duties of officers, and decided open 
officer positions will be filled on the Nov. 18 meeting.  

Two fund raising items were discussed.  One was to have vendor night meetings 
(fairs), at which multiple vendors would present their products. Vendors 
would pay for the refreshments, and would submit a exhibition fee. The other 
suggestion was to charge meeting attendees. Possibilities include setting a 
certain fee for members and a larger figure for nonmembers, or charge no fee 
for members and a small amount ($2 to $3) for nonmembers. The latter seemed 
to be the more popular, if we were to choose at all. This will not happen 
immediately, and no timetable was set.

Jim Wise has volunteered to take on the daunting task of getting the chapter 
incorporated. We are not yet pushing certification as a priority.  The talk 
is to get the chapter organized and running first.
Certification discussions will begin in the January 2000 meeting.

Directions to Philips will be sent and/or posted. For our Web page, check out 
www.IPC.org/smchap. 

The next meeting after that will be in January 2000 (if we survive Y2K!). The 
location is unknown, but Dwayne Beeler is working on CSI. The guest speaker 
will be from Pads Software (also the sponsor) and the subject will be signal 
integrity.

SOUTHEASTERN MICHIGAN 
Next meeting: Nov. 4
Topic: EDA presentation
Location: Farmington Public Library

Meeting time is 7 to 9 p.m. We are planning to have a representative from 
Accel EDA demonstrate the bells and whistles that go beyond the "basic cable" 
model of its product.
 
SOUTHERN NEW ENGLAND 
Next meeting: Dec 1
Topic: The year in summary
Location: Connie's (Derby)

We had a very good turnout for our October meeting. Ray Long, Custom Photo 
and Design, made an excellent presentation on successful outsourcing of 
design. Long stressed that a service bureau is an extension of an internal 
design department and must be provided the same information as supplied to 
any internal group. 

Our December meeting will be our last for this year. The scheduled topic is 
our year in summary, featuring highlights from our most effective meetings. 
Special recognition will be made to our 16 certified designers. Holiday 
festivities will commence immediately following the business meeting.

SOUTH JERSEY 
Next meeting: Nov. 9
Topic: New technology - trends and innovations 
Location: Formation Inc.

The November presentation will include a comprehensive overview of modems and 
various transmission technologies. This discussion will cover a broad 
spectrum of transmission technologies, choices, speeds, and costs. The pros 
and cons of each will be covered in detail.
 
Len Roach of Lucent Technologies (Princeton) is attempting to arrange for a 
plant tour. The tour will include BGA and surface mount design and assembly. 
Lucent is involved in high volume production and advanced development work. 
The tour will take place sometime after January. Arrangements for this tour 
require that members arrive in Princeton by 1:30 p.m. Email Leon Cohen at 
[log in to unmask] if you are interested and can attend this special daytime 
meeting.

SUSQUEHANNA 
Next meeting: Nov. 3

This fall we hope to have two and possibly three meetings. Ideas are: 

· PWB fabrication tour. This was a popular meeting when done two years ago at 
Hadco. Many have encouraged us to have another. 
· Electronics assembly tour. There are a number of contract manufacturers and 
captive OEM assemblers in the area. 
· Roundtable discussion. We are looking for ideas and people who would be 
willing to lead a discussion.

After the new year we hope to devote some meetings to demonstrations of 
design software.  A few ideas:

· Demos of Mentor and Cadence design tools.
· Demos of design rule checkers.
· Roundtable discussion on autorouting strategies or how to get more 
performance out of the autorouter.
· Demo and discussion of component geometry creation. 
· Tour of SUNY Binghamton Electronics Laboratories.

We have a number of members who have become CIDs. They are willing to discuss 
what it took to study for and take the exam. They are a local resource 
willing to give their time to help others prepare for the exam.

Mike Buetow
IPC
2215 Sanders Road
Northbrook, IL 60062
847-790-5335