Electronics Industry Insights for PCB Designers and Engineers

| Created: January 31, 2023 | Updated: July 1, 2024

January 27, 2023

ONTRACK BI-WEEKLY

The start of 2023 kicked off with CES, and now the industry is full speed ahead on developing hardware for the most advanced technologies of our time. The industry will start to see greater development in energy technologies, renewed push into 5G deployments, more companies operating in space, and AI systems tying it all together.

Leading Insights

Say Goodbye to 3G

The beginning of 2023 marked the official end of 3G technology. Carriers are turning off their legacy 3G networks, and devices in the field will stop working as service ends for these older products.

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Dedicated 5G Satellites Are Ready to Launch

Now that Release 17 of the 3GPP 5G specification has been released, a startup is ready to launch dedicated satellites to provide wireless service to 5G-capable IoT devices.

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How Small Can Your Fission Reactor Get?

Just after scientists demonstrate fusion reactions with net positive power output, nuclear fission plants have a chance to thrive as small modular reactors with MW power output.

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Memristors Offer Neural Networks With Memory

A research team in Israel demonstrates neural networks with memory functions using memristors. The neuromorphic elements in these devices provide highly accurate image recognition with Y-Flash based memristors.

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Supply Chain Continues to Remain in Flux

Even with record breaking investment in new capacity and lower consumer demand, the industry chip supply continues to remain in flux despite higher inventories.

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Trending Resources

LATEST DESIGN RESOURCES

Getting Started With nRF52 MCU in a PCB

By Zachariah Peterson

The nRF52 is a popular RF-enabled SoC from Nordic Semiconductor, and one of the packages comes in a fine-pitch BGA package. This tutorial and video series shows how to get started with this component.

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LATEST DESIGN RESOURCES

Electrification and Digitalization are Driving the Automotive Industry

By Josh Moore

Today’s cars are like computers on wheels, and your ECAD software is at the forefront of driving technological change in the automobile industry. See how digitization across engineering disciplines is driving automotive development.

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FROM THE VAULT

Save PCB Space: Tips for Getting Started In Compact PCB Design

By Mark Harris

If it’s your first time getting solving a compact PCB layout, where should you start? Mark Harris offers some advice on diving into PCB layout with high component and pin densities.

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FROM THE VAULT

Designing Pressure Tolerant Electronics: It's All About Mechanics

By Zachariah Peterson

There is one type of harsh environment that we sometimes don’t discuss enough: high pressure environments, such as in environmental systems and underwater. Learn more about component selection for these boards.

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ONTRACK PODCAST

Accessible Education for PCB Designers

As one of the newest industry groups advocating for PCB design and layout professionals, the Printed Circuit Engineering Association (PCEA) has seen exceptional growth since its beginnings. Join Mike Buetow and Mike Creeden as they catch up with recent PCEA developments and shed some light on what to expect in 2023.

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NEW VIDEO AND TUTORIALS

IPC Thermal Standards Deep Dive

If you intend to use stitching vias in a PCB layout, how should they be sized and placed? Zach jumps into this topic from two perspectives: power and RF.

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RF Design in the PCB: Distributed-Element Circuits

Distributed element circuits used in RF PCBs can be designed with CAD tools, either as components or as copper elements in the PCB layout.

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Sourcing Insights

Electronic Design to Delivery Index (EDDI)

Supply chain trends can be a moving target. Mitigate disruption with Spectra’s free data intelligence.

New this month, the EDDI includes a featured category article focused on Inertial Measurement Units (IMUs). This level 3 category is not usually discussed in the monthly EDDI report, however it is one that has recently piqued our interest because of the trends that are emerging. With the help of an industry expert, we take a deep dive into the data in the IMU subcategory, exploring the historical trends and comparing them to the current market.

The latest insights from Spectra’s Electronic Design to Delivery Index (EDDI)

The Industry Supply Index continued its nine month steady increase for a total index value of 129 points. This 5 point increase adds to the overall 46.6% positive percentage change since the last low from April 2022.

The strongest Supply Index category for the month comes in again as Circuit Protection, with a month-over-month increase of 6 points.

The Industry Demand Index reported a minor downward shift with a 3 point decrease overall, totaling 134 points for December. This continues the six month aggregated downturn being seen across all category level demand indices.

Integrated Circuits maintained its position with the strongest demand index value of 194 points, even with a 10 point decline this month. The outlier for demand trends in December was in Discrete Semiconductors which reported a slight increase of 4 points, coming in at 166 points.

Read more industry expert commentary in this month’s report.

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