The EcoDesign Requirements for Energy Using Products (EuP) Directive became law in EU Member States in August 2007. It provides a framework for setting EcoDesign requirements for any group of products which use energy, with the exception of vehicles for transport. These requirements will become mandatory under the CE marking regime. Failure to comply can result in products being banned from sale in EU Member States.
- Stand by and Off-mode losses
- Battery Chargers & External Power Supplies
- Personal Computers and Monitors
- Imaging Equipment
The Electronics Technology Network have produced a series of design guides to help electrical and electronic design engineers understand how to implement these measures into their design solutions.
Click here to review design guides to help design engineers understand how to comply with the regulations, specifically in the following areas:
Thermal management is often not taken seriously, or even considered at all. That is, until something goes wrong – performance becomes unstable, characteristics drift, or field failures occur – and it becomes painfully apparent that electronic components and systems subjected to over-temperature stress and thermal cycling are prone to failure and unreliability. A recent high-profile case is the Xbox 360 "red ring of death", where thermal cycling failure has been claimed to have cost Microsoft over $1bn.
This is just one example of the way in which thermal considerations are becoming more important in many main-stream products, which have higher operating frequencies, higher component packing densities and enclosure styling constraints. The resulting challenge of higher power dissipation in smaller volumes applies at all levels, from components and modules to data centres, and thermal issues are becoming increasingly important in a very wide variety of electronic products and in most application areas. BCC Research have estimated that the $4.1 billion world market for thermal management products in 2005 will approach $6.7 billion by 2011.
Choosing the most cost-effective approach is also becoming more difficult, demanding a wide knowledge of the available options and an ability to quantify problems using simulation rather than traditional empirical methods. This situation is made even more difficult by shortened product development cycles.
For challenging military/aerospace applications, managing heat flow has been important for many years, and has led to the development of simulation software and improvements in heat management techniques. For most applications, however, the approach has been less structured and more "rule of thumb". However, the increasing complexity and power density of modern electronics, even in consumer applications, means that the traditional approach has severe limitations. Fortunately, the techniques and simulation software developed for demanding environments have become both more competent and more readily available.
So the engineer no longer has to risk heat-induced failure, provided, of course, that the thermal management issues have been tackled early in the product design life-cycle.
In order to promote awareness of the need for thermal management, the availability of solutions, and the support available from their regional network, the Electronics Technology Network commissioned a web-based presentation that aims to give an unbiased view of the challenges and the potential solutions.
Click here to review the design guide.
For this presentation, we’re looking for case studies or examples (good or bad), so get in touch to share your experiences and share your learning. Contact us on thermal@electronics-ktn.com if you have some case studies you would like to submit or problems you would like to highlight.
Overview
The past decade has seen the emergence of a range of System-in-Package technologies driven by the relentless demands of the portable and consumer electronics industry for ever-greater product functionality and for improved performance at ever-reducing costs.
System-in-Package technologies provide a system or sub-system level of functionality within a single package outline. SiP combines single die or multiple, mixed technology die with passive and other supporting components. The ability to integrate devices and to mix technologies within a standard package footprint can lead to smaller footprints than standard SMT implementations, and to improved performance, lower NREs and reduced New Product Introduction (NPI) cycle times when compared with the System-on-Chip option and to reduced product function level costs savings.
The principal categories of SiP technologies include planar and stacked die SiPs, in 2D and 3D configurations that employ wire bond, flip chip, and solder ball and Through-Silicon-Via (TSV) interconnection structures. A range of SiP packaging platforms are employed that include leadframe, LTCC, laminate and thin film substrate options, the latter three categories being with or without integrated passive components.
One of the key barriers to the further take-up of SiP technologies has been the availability of design tools and robust design routes to ensure right-first-time design and minimal NPI cycle times. The latter is of particular relevance when integrated passives components are included since design iteration cycle times tend to be greater than for SMT passives. Design-for-Test, for Reliability, Thermal design and a number of other design dimensions are also of particular relevance for SiP design.
The provision of this SiP technology overview, design routes, applications and design guidance for the UK Design Community is intended to play to a key UK strength and to assist in the capture of significant added value for this industry sector.
Objectives for Design Guides
The objectives of this SiP Design Guide for Electronics Engineers Project are as follows:
1 To introduce the range of SiP technologies in current application.
2 To review the benefits of SiP technology.
3 To provide examples of SiP applications.
4 To set out the available design routes, design tools for SiP.
5 To provide initial guidance for UK engineers wishing to embark on SiP design.
6 To outline future trends in SiP technology and applications.
The world of Passive Devices is sometimes taken as a rather static part of the electronic design activity.
However, the constant pressure for reduced size and reduced cost puts demands on both the manufacturing and the design of PCBs through the use of smaller and smaller components.
The alternative is to use different product design/construction methods either by stacking components (SIP technologies) or by embedding components in the PCB itself.
Within component design the area of capacitors is very active at present - being driven by the new requirements for energy storage - either very low loss for energy scavenging applications or high value components for energy storage.
This conference reviewed many of these aspects with papers being presented by a range of international experts from leading companies.
The presentations can be accessed from our library by clicking:
Passive Conference Papers, and navigating to: Design & Manufacturing>Passives
Aimed at electronics design hardware engineers, the aim is to improve design awareness of obsolescence problems and provide examples of techniques to reduce their effect.
No design is safe from obsolescence - technology marches on relentlessly, and this design guide will cover the design process, obsolescence mitigation methods, post design phase, cost of re-design due to obsolescence, and a checklist.
This content is provided by COG, and will be available as a Webinar and PDF. Other titles to be covered include the Software Obsolescence minefield and the COG Obsolescence minefield.