Blogs

CS ManTech is an independent not-for-profit organization whose mission is to promote technical discussion and scientific education in the compound semiconductor manufacturing industry. The 2013 CS ManTech program begins on Monday, May 13th with a series of tutorial workshops. Noted speakers will examine the many factors that are important to business and engineering aspects of the PA industry, including the customer motivation, the design, and major manufacturing processes that yield a finished, packaged die.

After traveling to Orlando in 2011 and New Orleans in 2012, CTIA Wireless returns to Las Vegas in its current form before the organizers make major changes to the focus, composition and timing of this annual event. This past January -The Wireless Association® announced its plans to create a "super" mobile industry trade show that will dominate the second half of the year, beginning in 2014.

This ROG Blog series on printed-circuit-board (PCB) materials from Rogers Corp. (www.rogerscorp.com) has reached the half-century mark, already covering a wide range of topics on circuit materials with this, the 50^th ROG Blog. It has even detailed the effects of different PCB material thicknesses on circuit performance, and described the influence of conductor roughness on circuit performance. While it would be difficult to pick out the top 10 Blogs from the first 49 Blogs appearing since August 2010, at least 10 of these ROG Blogs deserve mention for how they have attempted to help readers with their different uses of PCB materials.

Wireless communications industry veteran Justin Panzer brings his insights to this edition of the Tek Talk blog. He has more than 19 years of industry experience, including 10 years in test and measurement working on everything from commercial handset testing to mil/gov RF. He is currently business development director for the Sources & Analyzers Product Line at Tektronix. He holds a Bachelor of Science from Drexel University and an MBA from Auburn University.

Ubiquity of wireless communications is adding an RF component to electronics designs that haven’t historically been wireless enabled. More complex chip, board and embedded systems designs that incorporate communications technologies into everything from PCs to automobiles are changing the impact of RF on the world's R&D engineers. Designers today need the tools to get the most out of unfamiliar technologies.

Brian Hendren, Senior RF and Microwave Applications Engineer, Tektronix Component Solutions takes over the Tek Talk blog and discusses prototyping for success:

In this day and age manufacturers are trying to drive costs out of every aspect of the production flow, and RF and microwave is no exception.  That means that every process step gets closely scrutinized. Specifically,“test” is one of the operations constantly under evaluation to understand the bare minimum needed to verify performance.  That approach is understandable because test is likely one of the most time consuming steps in the production flow, particularly when you include system set up time.  

Brian Hendren, Senior RF and Microwave Applications Engineer, Tektronix Component Solutions takes over the Tek Talk blog and discusses prototyping for success:

The prototype phase plays a critical role in the development of advanced RF/microwave components and assemblies.  For design and process engineers, this phase is all about learning how the part performs and gaining insight for building the final product. Like many things in life, work and business, good communication is paramount to success, and it is critical that the design and process engineering teams work cohesively to capitalize on the opportunities for learning that prototyping provides.

I recently agreed to co-chair the IEEE MTT-S Women in Engineering (WIE) / Women in Microwaves (WIM) organization. I have long been an advocate for advancing the cause of women in the world of RF and microwave engineering, actually back to my college days at Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) when I was one of only eight women in my EE graduating class of 110. Things have not improved much since then with women representing only 10 percent of the engineers in the U.S. today. Asia and Europe fair far better with approximately 40 percent and 20 percent respectively.

A few months ago, I heard a news program on NPR about the Khan Academyand how it was started accidentally by Mr. Khan to help his niece with her math homework. Since he lived far away from her, he captured his helpful hints via YouTube and shared via the Internet. One thing led to another and now Khan has found himself the creator of something big.

Eric Taylor is Vice President of Customer Experience and Quality at Agilent Technologies. He joined the company in 1992 at the former Colorado Springs Division. He held a variety of positions before being promoted to product support manager in the Electronic Measurements Division in 1997, where he worked on several cross-EMG processes, such as out-of-box defects. Over the next four years, he held several division marketing positions, including sales and business development manager for the Measurement Products Unit, and division marketing manager for the former Basic, Emerging, System Test (BEST) Division.

Todd Cutler is General Manager at Agilent Technologies’ EEsof  organization, responsible for worldwide Marketing, Services, and the ESL Business. Agilent’s  EEsof EDA is the industry leader in high-frequency design software. The division’s revenue places it in the top 5 EDA companies. 

During Todd’s 30-year career, he helped found the EDA division, which began in 1986 as the computer aided engineering group within Hewlett Packard’s Test and Measurement group. In 1998, Cutler later left H-P to be CEO of Eagleware Corporation, the EDA company that pioneered the affordable Genesys RF and microwave design software. In 2005, he joined Agilent Technologies following its acquisition of Eagleware. Todd earned a BEE from Georgia Tech and an MSEE from Stanford University.

Todd gives us a few of his thoughts as he travels in China.

Barry is a Market Segment Manager responsible for deployment of Agilent’s broad range of RF, microwave, and digital products in the Americas. He has held this position since June of 2007.

Barry started his career in HP’s Manufacturing Test Division in 1984. He has worked as a designer in R&D, R&D Project Manager, and R&D Section Manager.  Barry has also done business development, sales support and training and been a manager for product marketing, learning products and support. He has worked in manufacturing and spent time overseas working to deploy specialized equipment into manufacturing. His industry experience spans wireless communications, automotive, aerospace defense and general manufacturing test equipment.

Barry holds a Bachelor of Science degree from Montana State University and a Master of Science from Colorado State University.