The Journal of
The  Institute of Circuit Technology
Vol 17 No 4
November 2024

Links to Contents 

10

Richard
Wood-Roe
Journal Editor

In this issue of The Journal we are featuring the celebration of the 50th anniversary of the founding of our Institute. This is a very significant milestone to us all. We held our annual symposium at Tewkesbury followed by a celebration dinner in the evening. Pete Starkey has done an excellent job in providing a technical summary of the symposium and Emma Hudson has provided a resume of our dinner where we celebrated the retirement of Bill Wilkie our Chairman and previous Technical Director. We also acknowledged and presented a number of Honorary and Fellowship gradings of established members.

We have a review of 50 years of PCB manufacturing from Bill Wilkie and an article on the prospect of manufacturing printed circuit boards in space. What a contrast!

Our future events include the Christmas Seminar which takes place on December 4th at Meriden and the Foundation Course scheduled for April 2025

Calendar of Events

 Emma Hudson
Technical Director and Membership Secretary

            Details 

Highlights of the ICT 50th Anniversary Symposium
October 24, 2024 Pete Starkey, I-Connect007

Why does it always rain when I attend these events? Temperatures were dropping, daylight was shrinking, and there were seasonal colour changes in wet hedgerows as I travelled to Gloucestershire for the 50th Anniversary Symposium of the Institute of Circuit Technology at Puckrup Hall near Tewkesbury in mid-October.

It was a memorable occasion: Nostalgic for my contemporaries who remembered our industry at its most prosperous, technically outstanding in the quality and significance of presentations to an attentive audience of printed circuit professionals, and complemented by the sharing of ideas, information, and trade gossip within a friendly community at the evening gathering.

Delegates were welcomed to the symposium by ICT Technical Director Emma Hudson. She introduced keynote speaker Professor Martin Goosey who gave his personal overview of the past 50 years, entitled “Half a Century of Electronics Innovation,” keeping the audience engrossed and enlightened in his characteristically calm professorial style as he evoked an abundance of memories and reminiscences.

Remarking that much had changed but much remained familiar in a world that had moved from almost no electronics to electronics in everything, he reminded us of some notable earlier dates: Paul Eisler originating the printed circuit in 1938, Bell Labs demonstrating the germanium transistor in 1947 and the silicon transistor in 1954, the development of compound semiconductors such as gallium arsenide in the 1960s, and how transistors in small discrete packages drove the rapid development of the PCB. And the observations and projections made in 1965 by Gordon Moore continue to hold true.

Looking at some macro-level changes over these past 50 years, Professor Goosey used some examples. The motor car transitioned from mechanical, through electro-mechanical to electronics-in-everything. Mobile phones shrunk to their minimum size in the mid-2000s before the introduction of the smartphone, and are now getting larger again. Consumer electronics, home entertainment, and music reproduction equipment has either undergone radical change or been abandoned along the way, and televisions are becoming enormous.

During the 1970s, the UK PCB industry was primarily focused on meeting the needs of a growing electronics sector, with demand driven by the rise of consumer electronics, telecommunications, and military applications. There were variously reported to be between 200 and 400 companies, mainly small-to-medium enterprises, engaged in relatively simple manufacturing of low-cost high-volume product. Dry film photoresist was widely used for imaging. Trends in electronics included colour TVs, transistor radios, electronic calculators, and the first personal computers. The increasing use of integrated circuits was driving the need for more complex PCBs.

Technological advancements during the 1980s included the introduction of more-sophisticated manufacturing techniques, computer-aided design, and automated manufacturing processes. As integration increased and device packages became smaller, circuit designs became more complex and multilayers were progressively more popular. The UK industry began to specialise in certain niche markets, including automotive and aerospace as the demand for high-reliability products grew, and surface mount assembly technology was becoming increasingly popular. There were still reckoned to be between 250 and 300 PCB companies in the UK by the mid-1980s.

The 1990s saw the launch of the World Wide Web in 1991, followed by rapid expansion of the Internet mid-decade and culminating in the dot-com bubble. As the 1990s progressed, the UK PCB industry was significantly impacted by globalisation as competition from low-cost manufacturers in Asia led to consolidation, with many UK companies either merging or outsourcing production to maintain profitability, although there were still between 150 and 200 PCB companies by the end of the decade. The emphasis continued to shift toward high-tech applications, driving innovation in materials and processes, and most high-tech printed circuit boards were using surface mount devices by the late 1990s.

During the 2000s there was a growing awareness of the environmental impact of the electronics industry. The WEEE and RoHS directives drove the introduction of lead-free soldering and banned certain brominated flame retardants. UK PCB manufacturers tended to focus on high-value specialised PCBs for medical, military and aerospace applications, where quality and reliability were critical. Capital investment was typically directed at capability enhancement, particularly in high density interconnection technology. Toward the end of the decade, the number of PCB companies in the UK had continued to decline, with between 40 and 60 remaining in 2010.

Since 2010, the PCB industry had undergone a significant digital transformation, with the adoption of Industry 4.0 concepts including automation, IoT integration and data analytics all impacting manufacturing processes. Sustainability had also become a major focus, with an increasing emphasis on eco-friendly materials and processing. The UK PCB industry, which now numbered around 40, started to promote itself as a leader in sustainable practices in order to appeal to environmentally-conscious clients.

“So, what’s coming next in electronics?” Professor Goosey asked. He believes that the massive leap in computing power offered by quantum computing will revolutionise drug discovery and optimisation, finance, and artificial intelligence by solving complex problems much faster. The integration of AI-specific hardware into devices will enable more efficient and powerful machine learning.

6G wireless technology, with ultra-fast communication speeds and ultra-low latency, will be an enabler for autonomous vehicles, smart cities, and IoT ecosystems. Solid-state batteries offer better energy density, safety, and charging speeds than lithium-ion batteries and are fundamental to the future of electric vehicles. Also on his list were body implants, wearable electronics. and the greater use of robots.

Considering future challenges and opportunities, he sees net-zero/global warming as a leading contender, with renewables, power management, control, and energy storage constituting major roles for AI and 6G.

The increasing use of artificial intelligence offers the prospect of computers or computer-controlled robots to perform tasks associated with humans to reason, discover meaning, generalise, or learn from experience. Whether AI would be a net creator or eliminator of jobs remained to be seen, but the pace of change is quickening.

Professor Goosey closed his presentation by commenting that the transition over the past 50 years from “almost no electronics” to “electronics in everything” has been made possible by increased miniaturisation of semiconductors and greater integration and would be further enabled by development of advanced interconnection and packaging solutions. The next 50 years promises to be just as exciting, if not more so, than the last 50 years.

He quoted Einstein: “I never think of the future—it comes soon enough.”

The Future of PCB Materials
Next to speak was Alun Morgan, president of EIPC, whose subject was “PCB materials: How did we get here and where are we going?” He began by recounting his personal history with the Institute of Circuit Technology, from his original application for membership in June 1981 and his first presentation as a lecturer at ICT’s Preliminary Course on Printed Circuits at Rewley House in Oxford. (A course that had already introduced myself and many of my contemporaries to the basics of PCB manufacturing, all presented via flip charts and slide projectors: no PowerPoint in those days!)

Morgan showed two pages from Circuit World, the Institute’s journal at that time. One included classified adverts from laminate manufacturers—familiar names of the past, like Perstorp, Bakelite, Ferrozell, MAS, Micaply, Norplex, Permali—none of which exist anymore although some have been incorporated into groups such as Isola.

The other page was an editorial by Reg Shemilt, which gave some interesting statistics: “478: that is the latest figure for established printed circuit manufacturers in the UK, with an estimated workforce of some 16,000. Again, from an output of about £30 million in 1975, by 1982 this has increased to over £100 million excluding ‘in-house’ facilities, which it is estimated would double this figure.”

Morgan gave an up-to-date figure for the number of PCB manufacturers in Europe: “169, with a total turnover around 2 billion euro: fewer companies and in general much bigger companies.”

Having established his points of reference, he described how the industry progressed through the intervening years from a substrate material perspective, beginning with a basic definition: “An insulating material, usually a composite comprising a resin and a reinforcement, with a conductor bonded to one or both sides”, and then discussing resins, reinforcements, conductors, and flame retardants in technical and practical detail. He covered his complex topic systematically and comprehensively with clear explanations and meaningful illustrations without losing the attention of his audience. Even those acknowledged as industry experts benefited from the knowledge he shared, particularly regarding recent developments and the current state-of-the-art in laminate technology.

With all the elegant improvements in laminate characteristics and properties over the period, what about laminate prices? Morgan’s example was “standard” FR-4 laminate—considered a speciality in the 1970s but now a basic commodity—costing effectively a third of what it was: the euro equivalent of €50-60 per square metre in 1970 to €20-22 in 2024. “So where do we go from here, now that we are reaching the limits of glass fibre thickness and copper foil profile?” Morgan asked.

First, he looked at markets and applications. Prismark’s figures showed trends in the mix of materials: standard FR-4 trending down while the share of speciality and other laminates grew significantly in a world market whose total value declined from $19 billion in 2021 to $13 billion in 2023.

Although the market value for PCBs is forecasted to grow steadily toward $128 billion in 2030, global semiconductor revenue is expected to grow exponentially to $1.2 trillion during the same period, with 103 new fabs planned worldwide in the next three years, of which 74 are in Asia, 18 in the Americas, and 11 in Europe and Middle East. Morgan’s comment was that although Europe will never catch-up with the volume of investment happening in Asia, the key is to understand where we could benefit. He reiterated comments from his earlier presentations about the fundamental requirement to package the semiconductor chips. Indeed, one of his closing slides showed the enormous range of established and emerging packaging architectures and their substrates.

Nakahara’s list of the world’s top PCB makers indicate that the majority of the leaders make IC substrates, some representing as much as 100% of their revenue, and that substrates accounted for 18.6% of the total worldwide PCB output of about $97 billion in 2022.

Massive investment had been made in the production of IC substrates, which Morgan defined as the interface between the nano-world of the semiconductor and the micro-world of the PCB. There were only three significant manufacturers in Europe, all using Ajinomoto build-up film (ABF). Worldwide, a massive industry has sprung up, principally in Asia. “We’ve got to find our place in all this,” he said. “We’ve got to find what works in Europe and North America because we can’t fight against the volume. We’ve got to find something special. This investment in IC substrates, we’ve got to take it on board, learn how to use materials like ABF, use technologies like embedding and substrate-like PCB, and accept the blurring of the boundaries between the micro-world and the nano-world. Can we get involved in it, either directly or through partnership?”

Circularity in Electronics

With the mission to tackle electronic waste using naturally-derived PCB materials, Jack Herring, inventor of Soluboard and founder of Jiva Materials, described an alternative end-of-life solution for PCBs.

“Mainstream PCB substrates are not designed with recyclability in mind,” he observed as he reviewed the statistics for e-waste, predicted to increase to 82 million tonnes annually by 2030, with printed circuit boards currently representing over 40% and resulting in 6 million tonnes of CO2 emissions annually from existing disposal and recycling processes.

The solution he offered is the world’s first naturally-derived PCB laminate, produced using fully biodegradable and non-toxic natural fibres, which is fully recyclable using a process based on hot water.

Herring was quick to stress that Soluboard is not the universal substrate; designers and OEMs need to consider specific material attributes when creating a new product, and many applications demand particular properties and performance characteristics. But there are certain applications where an alternative could be considered: single use products with shorter lifespans, products recovered via regulatory take-back schemes, reduced CO2 and ESG-driven products as examples. Jiva is developing market opportunities in these areas.

Significant progress was made in 2024 and Herring listed some milestones: plated through-hole capability has been demonstrated; patents have been granted in the UK, US, India, Japan, Korea, Singapore and Taiwan; and a knowledge transfer partnership has been secured with the University of Portsmouth, as well as the appointment of experts in product strategy and business development.

By the end of 2024, Jiva expects to have secured orders from more than 25 customers and to have achieved UL94 V0 flame-only accreditation and ISO 9001:2015 certification. Herring reviewed customer feedback from pilot trials using Soluboard prototypes in various applications to demonstrate the technology in relevant environments.

Inkjet Technology
The afternoon session commenced with a presentation entitled “Precision Printed” from Lee Corfe, inkjet development manager at Electra Polymers, discussing the future of inkjet technology in PCB manufacturing.

“It’s no longer a thing of the future; it’s a thing of the now,” Corfe said as he avoided dwelling upon the subject of inkjet benefits “already repeated to the point of becoming monotonous.” Instead, he looked at the characteristics of different printheads, principles of operation and process parameters, together with current and potential future applications in the PCB industry.

He discussed drop-on-demand (DOD) printhead technology in detail, describing how the heads are constructed and the principles of piezoelectric operation, explaining how each nozzle can reliably eject uniform ink droplets of 15–20 microns diameter with a velocity of 6–8 metres per second at a frequency of 100,000 droplets per second. Nozzle density is increasing every year, and modern industrial printheads have been proven suitable to deliver high-resolution images for solder masks and etch resists. Printheads currently emerging had the capability to deliver sub-15 micron droplets for even higher print quality.

Corfe reviewed a range of commercially available printheads and then discussed operating temperatures and viscosities, waveform characteristics, and the mechanics of ink droplet formation, print settings, and the factors determining print resolution.

He explained the principles of multi-pass printing and techniques like initially printing ramps and dams then subsequently infilling to optimise solder mask coverage and definition. Higher resolution and smaller droplet size were enabling the printing of fine-line etch resist and plating resist features.

It was realistic to expect the continued uptake of inkjet printing of solder mask, etch resist, and plating resist, and that as printhead resolution continues to increase, finer and finer features will be achievable. With the graphics inkjet industry as a point of reference, more and more printheads will be incorporated into the equipment and productivity in PCB manufacture could far exceed that of traditional technologies. Moreover, inkjet will enable the realisation of a whole range of creative options.

Satellite Technology
From PCB manufacture to something completely different: “Made in Space” was the title of the presentation by Dr. Darren Cadman, business and bid development manager at Space Forge, a UK-based aerospace company developing returnable and fully reusable satellites that can take advantage of the unique environmental benefits of space in manufacturing next-generation super-materials not possible on Earth.

He explained that the ForgeStar manufacturing platform is designed to operate in low-Earth orbit with a payload of semiconductor growth tools that enable the creation of advanced compound semiconductor substrates, specifically super-pure defect-free seed crystals, by chemical vapour deposition.

The first satellite, ForgeStar-0, was launched in early 2023 onboard the Virgin Orbit, but sadly a premature shutdown in the rocket meant the satellites it was carrying could not be released and ForgeStar-0 was lost in the sea. Its replacement, ForgeStar-1, larger and with extended capability, is planned to be launched in 2025 from Florida to orbit at a height of 550 km. The satellite is intended to operate for up to six months, then be returned to Earth, recovered from the sea and taken back to base for inspection, refurbishment, and returned to service. Space Forge’s patented re-entry system ensures a soft landing. Their high-temperature alloy folding heat shield is designed to not burn away and to be re-usable.

Why manufacture in space? Dr Cadman explained that in-space manufacturing enables the production of semiconductor products with performance superior to anything that can be achieved on Earth. Space offers unique environmental benefits that can facilitate the creation of near-perfect seed crystals by chemical vapour deposition. There is no gravity. Therefore, defects caused by buoyancy preventing the perfect mixing of gases, solutions, or alloys of different densities are eliminated. Vacuum is near-perfect without the use of pumps, so atmospheric contamination issues are avoided, and temperatures close to absolute zero can be achieved without the need for cryogenics.

AI Seniors in Manufacturing
The final presentation, subtitled “Smart factory using intelligent vision sensing” came from Andrew Puntan, new business development and engineer at Sony UK Technology Centre, who described how his team has navigated their manufacturing journey through adopting edge artificial intelligence sensors. (Note: Edge AI is a combination of artificial intelligence and edge computing that allows devices to process data locally and make decisions in real time.)

He explained that Sony UK Technology Centre, a division of Sony Europe BV, is the manufacturing and customer service centre of excellence for Sony in the UK, offering a full turnkey solution, adaptable and flexible for all manufacturing requirements. Their collaborative manufacturing centre of excellence is driving Factory of the Future and facilitating new emerging technology and innovation. The “Fourth Industrial Revolution—Digitalisation” had driven Sony UK Tech to embrace new digital innovations, to allow automation and now AI.

Puntan discussed case studies that had been identified within their production environments for enabling technologies and how they had developed their manual processes to include collaborative robots and implemented IIoT devices, supporting the advancement of automation within their production environment. Their original production process has effectively been converted to an Industry 4.0 production process.

He explained how they had navigated their manufacturing journey through adopting edge AI sensors, initially by identifying case studies within their production environments for enabling technologies in areas of smart automation, smart safety, and smart assistance.

He defined six key steps for the creation and application of AI to vision sensors and the visualisation and validation of the data: Clearly define the use case, create an AI model, package the AI model, capture and visualise the metadata, validate the relevant data and use the data to develop a more efficient operation. He illustrated the methodology and results with examples of identifying adherence to personal protection equipment standards by identifying if a person is wearing the correct PPE, identifying adherence to posture gesture when performing a lifting task so that data could be used to resolve legal injury challenges, and detecting correct location of wire harness placement so that the results could be developed into an in-line process quality check.

Emma Hudson wrapped up the formal proceedings, thanking all who had attended and contributed. And a special vote of thanks to Bill Wilkie, the retiring chair for his sterling service over the years.

 She was delighted to announce that Mat Beadel, managing director of Merlin Circuit Technology agreed to accept the Chairman’s role as Bill’s successor.

50th ICT Anniversary Dinner

Emma Hudson

 Emma Hudson

Technical Director

The 50th anniversary was a time to celebrate and all guests obliged. We had the pleasure in welcoming both new and old members of the industry to the evening and it was the perfect opportunity to reminisce and share stories but also to make new friends and create stories for the future.
The highlight of the evening was our after-dinner speaker, Bill Wilkie, who did a stunning monologue, from memory alone, recalling companies, personalities and amusing anecdotes from the past. What Bill didn’t realise was what was to come after he’d finished speaking. The ICT wanted to celebrate Bill’s contribution to both the ICT and the industry, so up stepped Richard Wood-Roe with a very moving speech toasting Bill’s achievements and dedication to the ICT. Richard went on to present Bill with an engraved decanter and a quaich, the traditional Scottish friendship bowl, along with a bottle of something less traditional (a bottle of Scottish gin) to complete the presents. This wasn’t the end of the presentations though, with the new ICT Chairman, Mat Beadel, going on to present Bill with an Honorary Fellowship of the institute.

More membership certificates were presented by Mat, recognising service to the industry and the institute, including an Honorary Fellowship to Pete Starkey. We made several existing members Fellows and welcomed some new Members to the ICT family. Although there was one certificate that I didn’t feel Mat could present and that was one to himself, as we welcomed Mat Beadel as a Fellow of the ICT. This was meant to be the end to the official proceedings, but Neil Martin had a slightly different plan. Not only was it the celebration of 50 years of the ICT but just a few days before Mat had been celebrating his own 50th birthday. Neil worked with the hotel staff to produce a small birthday cake with an electronic candle (no real candles allowed in the hotel!) and we finished with a round of Happy Birthday to Mat, a perfect way to celebrate the last 50 years.

Conversations carried on for several hours after the formalities with several of them revolving around the collection of Circuit World magazines, the forerunner of this Journal, that Steve Payne had brough to share with the group, some real blasts from the past.

Thank you to everyone that helped make our 50th anniversary such a pleasure to attend and I look forward to reaching our 60th and having another celebratory dinner.

UK PCB Production - 50 Years on

Bill Wilkie

The Industrial landscape of the UK was very different 50 years ago. One of the major differences would be the dominance of the Captive Shop. Large multinational companies who had their own pc shops in-house and carried out some development and even research.

Let’s start in the middle, the central belt in Scotland and in particular, North Lanarkshire was an industrial behemoth. The Motherwell Bridge and Engineering Company, Anderson Boyes who made mining equipment and machine tools, The Carron Ironworks and Foundry, the Lanarkshire Steel Company, which had six open hearth blast furnaces, but only three in operation at any one time. I know this because it was my job to collect samples from the furnaceman at the furnace doors to take back for analysis. Only a bus stop away was the 200-acre site of the Ravenscraig Bessemer Electric Furnace, like the Lanarkshire, working day and night.

A bit north and you come to Anniesland, home of Barr and Stroud. Now they were big in Defence optics and were beginning to make inroads with opto electronics. Very famous since they had their own in-house pcb shop, which would be divested 7 years later as Strathclyde Circuits under Bill Briscoe and still going today.

Travel along the banks of the Clyde with shipyards wall to wall until you get to Greenock and then a green valley and running along the side of the road for over a mile a single white factory building, mostly two story offices and manufacturing apart from a six story state of the art automatic retrieval warehouse. This was IBM Greenock and they manufactured computers and printers, with their own in-house pcb shop making Kapton flexibles for disk drives and printers. Most of the employees were first generation IBM and authentic members of the awkward squad. Many a day could be filled arguing about whether a shirt was white (as recommended) or off white and should you even be allowed to drink whisky if you pronounced it Morangie instead of Mor - angie.

Their modus operandi was to ‘infiltrate’ two companies who could produce volume, by ‘donating’ inspection equipment and also specialists who could train operators and mysteriously became full time. Complete tanks of gold to their specification would be added to your lines and volumes of base laminate would appear in your stores. Then came the Friday night phone call. Need 5000 of that part number to ship Monday morning. Logistics lorry on its way. Not interested that everyone has gone home. Get their phone numbers and get them in. Will pay overtime and also pay for scrap, just ship the order. I know this to be a fact, because I was that Production Manager.

Six years up the line, I would be assisting three ex IBM employees to move equipment into a purpose built facility on the isle of Bute. The MD was Peter Timms, who became the pcb industries first OBE.

Travelling east, to Edinburgh, you would pass three of the largest Captive shops and also Hughes Aircraft Corporation at Glenrothes. Marconi at Hillend had its head office at Chelmsford – also with an in house pcb facility. Marconi had been taken over by GEC, which had its own Captive shop at Spon Street Birmingham. MSDS as it was known was the defence arm of the company and was famous for ordering an enormous plating line, longer than the plating shop. After they stopped pointing fingers, a hole was cut in the wall to allow installation and then bricked up.

Hewlett Packard at South Queensferry had a state-of-the-art facility with the tank farm in the basement to allow for a no-pipework shop floor. The offices had what looked like large digital clocks at strategic positions, They didn’t tell the time though, only the share price so you could work on your stock options. Their corporate finish was gold – on any exposed copper surface and their canteen the best in the UK – probably. All these large companies had a patriarchal approach. The Social clubs were well founded and the discounts offered for the thousands involved extremely generous You could have a drink in the HP clubroom after work and also at lunchtime in the Marconi Social club – both on the campus. Meyer Averbuch, one of the Zot Engineering founders was an HP alumni and Zot are still going strong today. You only needed one or two employees to be interested in a hobby and it would be subsidised and I attended the HP gun Club several times.

Ferranti operated six sites around Edinburgh. The main plating shop was at Granton and the pcb-shop in a converted biscuit works at Robinson Avenue, where 7 years in the future, I would meet the young Jim Francey, just out of university. Ferranti also had a wafer facility in the centre of an office block. The cleanliness theory operated on a positive pressure in the centre, which swept particles outwards and away and I was able to visit wearing just a lab coat. I mentioned once that I was having difficulties cleaning a brass plated cast iron fire surround and was asked to bring it in for copper and brass plating – which I duly did. A phone call later told me that while the parts had been copper plated, they were too large for the brass tank and I was duly issued with a small rectifier and half a litre of gold solution. I Dalik gold plated the lot in the wash house – looks just like brass.

Ferranti was brought down by a blatant fraud in the states and Marconi, who had been left a 1billion war chest by Lord Weinstock, blew the lot and had to be rescued.

Prestwick to the West and Exacta and Bepi in the borders were never Captive shops, have been started by entrepreneurs and grown to large businesses prior to being sold. Prestwick was started by Bill Miller and Chris Rivett, and their 7th employee in 1970 was Roy Polson, who has just passed.

Going South, Plessey at South shields had an inhouse plant making large 4-layer boards for the GPO, (which became the Post Office), and an even larger facility at Ilford, where I would meet Mike Fisher, the Production Manager. They were bought out for £4m in the early Eighties and then for £400m to Viasystem in 2000. Renamed ISL, they became the largest shop in the UK.

In the same area, was Burroughs, Cramlington, with a large pcb shop making boards for their ‘adding machines’ or computers as they were later known.

International Computers Limited or ICL was formed in 1968 as a part of the Industrial Expansion Act of the Wilson Labour Government. ICL was an initiative of Tony Benn, the Minister of Technology, to create a British computer industry that could compete with major world manufacturers like IBM. ICL represented the last step in a series of mergers that had taken place in the industry since the late 1950s. The Kidsgrove and West Gorton sites produced boards and a steady flow of trained people into the Industry. ICT Members such as Richard and Lynn Houghton, Tom Parker as well as Industry stalwarts Tim Tatton, Harry Buckroyd and David Kinnaird all came out of ICL.

Almost anyone involved in television servicing during the late sixties or the seventies will have encountered a Philips TV set on one occasion or another. The brand itself dates back to 1891 in Eindhoven in the Netherlands and began life making carbon-filament lamps
Many of the Philips TV sets were designed and produced at the firm’s consumer electronics factory on Commerce Way in Croydon. The Company acquired the site in 1956 and by the eighties, was the largest producer of single-sided boards in the UK, and possibly Europe.

I have been very privileged to have spent my working life visiting these companies and to have known the people and the many characters. They vanished before our very eyes and we mourn their passing.

A very old Wilkie

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A Circuit Board Printer In Space:
Zero Gravity Electronics Manufacturing For Space Force

BotFactory Inc.

Manufacturing Electronics In Space

Colonising other planets might still seem like science fiction, but it’s real and not as far out as you think. There is operational planning by NASA for the Artemis Project, a collaboration between public-sector, commercial, and international partners to establish the first long-term presence on the Moon.

The goal is to have a permanent human presence on the Moon to conduct more science with much more advanced technology than ever before on the lunar surface. Along with lunar exploration, NASA aims to create the Artemis Base Camp on the surface as a gateway to explore the rest of the solar system, with one of the ultimate goals – to colonize Mars.

The first crew and equipment will land on the Moon in 2024:

Space Force Explores PCB Printers In Space
But with Artemis and other important projects for space exploration and colonization comes a plethora of new concerns including state security and sovereignty protection. The US. Space Force (USSF) is the newest branch of the Armed Forces, created to organize, train, and equip space forces to protect the U.S. and its allies.

BotFactory, a company that manufactures desktop devices for printing a circuit board, was recently awarded a grant from the USSF to develop a fully-automated system for creating Printed Circuit Boards (PCBs) on demand. They are part of the first cohort of grant recipients to explore technology solutions for the USSF. They have partnered with Cornell University to research the ability to manufacture electronic components and circuit boards in space.

This is a critical project to determine how electronics will respond in a zero-gravity environment and if they can withstand and adjust to space exploration and other-planet colonization needs. And just as importantly, can electronics be manufactured in space so that missions don’t have to rely on resupply from earth whenever components fail or new ‘things’ need to be developed.

Space Force’s Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) grant will allow BotFactory to validate the idea of always available electronic manufacturing for in-situ environments like space. BotFactory's technology could prove to be an essential part of the success of any space mission, especially in the ability to create adaptive technology for the ever-changing needs of space travel and colonization.

Logistics Challenges of Deep Space And Zero Gravity
The technological requirements of such missions demand the ability to replace, repair, and even make parts anew and in a sealed environment, especially when it comes to critical equipment in defense applications, where time and agility are of the essence.

Elon Musk stated in a recent interview that long-range space expeditions should survive this acid test: “if the ships from Earth stop coming for any reason [...] It could be banal, or it could be nuclear armageddon. A new level of logistics is required." Stated another way, Robert Hilliard Barrow, a United States Marine Corps four-star general, said, “Amateurs talk about strategy and tactics. Professionals talk about logistics and sustainability." If we want to move forward and deeper into space, we must find ways to make these missions self-resilient, self-sufficient, and self-reliant.

ISS data shows that electrical and electronic failures are the most common failures in the space environment. Unfortunately, fixing them requires considerable time and money since we currently rely on complete board replacements being sent from Earth without any other viable alternative.

When humanity embarks on long-range, multi-year space missions, we’ll need a new level of autonomy for on-site manufacturing. A sustainable logistics model is required to fabricate, recycle, and reuse materials to additively manufacture electronics (AME) in microgravity environments. This will reduce the need to maintain obsolete inventory on-site and alleviate the dependencies. Reliable, instantly replaceable electronics will be a critical part of the space supply chain.

Long-Term Impact of The Project
Like many technologies that started in space, from artificial limbs to solar cells, the technologies developed for an in-space PCB printer can be applied both in space and here on earth. Due to the constraints proposed by the environment, it is likely that these new processes will be more efficient in terms of material usage, will generate less waste, and would be made so that they are easier to use and maintain.

Native environmental materials
Another intriguing idea that is being explored is to use materials native to the local environment, for example, minerals on the Moon. It is known that “Moon dust”, also known as Moon regolith, is rich in multiple materials including silicon, aluminum, and clays, which can be leveraged as principal materials for a printed circuit board so the supply chain can be self-reliant.

High purity chip manufacturing process
Producing PCBs and components -passive and active- poses many challenges, even in Earth’s environment. However, space may have some advantages to offer. For example, one of the biggest hurdles and expenses in electronics fabrication is operating the power-and-water-hungry clean rooms since even a speck of dust can prove catastrophic.

Fortunately, such a sterile environment is ubiquitous in space. In an era where the U.S. congress is willing to invest $52bn through the COMPETES Act to bolster domestic electronics manufacturing and cut outside dependencies, In-Space Production Applications (InSPA), like high purity chip manufacturing, can provide a domestic strategic and economic advantage to companies who develop solutions.

In addition to the goals for sustainability, private markets are also taking an interest in the potential of space. Areas like space tourism, mining on distant planets and asteroids, and manufacturing in space are potential future markets worth billions of dollars. And all of these areas will require permanent space installations that rely on sophisticated electronics to function.

Pioneering Electronics Manufacturing
BotFactory is a research and development company specialized in creating advanced manufacturing equipment for electronics. The company helps organizations innovate, get to market faster and support their continuous operations by selling and supporting instant, customizable, and scalable Electronics Manufacturing Solutions based on Additive Manufacturing.

As the leading developer of desktop 3D printing for the research and development community, BotFactory is helping pave the way for human space colonization. With this grant from the Space Force, BotFactory is pioneering the effort to help reduce supply chain delays from earth to the Moon and enable humans to create new applications for outer space travel while in space.

BotFactory's technology is also helping to make strides towards the possibility of sustainable electronics, in-space chip electronic component manufacturing, as well as paving the way for solving electronics manufacturing needs anywhere on Earth.

About BotFactory
Botfactory is the leader in desktop additive manufacturing of electronics, offering a variety of affordable desktop PCB printers capable of printing multi-layer PCBs, dispensing paste, and picking and placing components in a single system.

Members News

Brian Savill with his wife Joyce about 4 years ago at Blenheim Palace.
Thanks to Jim Douglas for this photo

Born in October 1935 in Romford, Brian Savill passed away in a Cambridge nursing home in the early hours of November 6th 2024.

For me, it all began in February 1997. This was the first day of my new job at Plessey Ilford; I was warned to steer clear of Brian Savill, because ‘he was abrasive’. I As a result, I christened him Mr. Scotchbrite, He loved that. Five minutes after walking into my laboratory, Brian – a toolmaker by trade - walked in and for some reason, ‘cottoned-on’ to me. On that particular day at Plessey, they were in the process of commissioning a new Chemcut processing line, using cupric chloride as an etchant. John Elliott and Brian kept coming into the lab, asking me to analyse the solution. They would go back out to the line, twiddle a few buttons, come back in and ask me to analyse the solution. This scenario kept going on and on. In the end, I taught Brian how to carry out the analysis. They didn’t realise that their adjustments were futile. In the end, they gave up tweaking. This experience of using cupric chloride was to come to good use for me later on in my journey.

He became a good friend even though it was sometimes an embarrassment to be with him! He was very good to me. As well as being dyslexic Brian was idiosyncratic, disliked by some, which didn’t bother him in the least, but loved by others. He loved restoring old cars, golf and Printed Circuit Boards. He also acted as a Marshall in RAC rallies. He did not suffer fools gladly. When Plessey decided to shut-up shop, he was invited to join Trulon by Mike Fisher (later of Express Circuits). He remained there until shortly after Trulon was bought by Stevenage Circuits.

After leaving Plessey, Brian moved to Arrington near Royston. His final days were spent in a nursing home in Cambridge. He leaves behind his wife Joyce, sadly suffering from dementia, daughters Angela and Julia, a brother and a sister and a number of grandchildren.

• A Friend and colleague. I had time for Brian. He was bright and full of life... Alex Ross

• I liked him a lot... Andrew Hall

• Sad news... Peter Kirwan

• He always had a good sense of humour... Richard Wood-Roe

Jim Douglas
County Donegal
08/11/2024 

Ventec International Group has promoted Bill Wang to Group Technical Vice President.

Having served as Ventec’s Technical Director since 2013, Bill now adds responsibility for the group’s overseas business units to his remit, leveraging the company’s wide-ranging expertise to create solutions in sectors such as high-performance computing, cloud servers, communications and networking, cellular infrastructure, consumer products, and solid-state lighting. He will continue to lead the Technical Department at the company’s global headquarters, while also directing the Global OEM Technology and IMS Technology sections in the EMEA and Americas regions. Read more...

We are excited to welcome Donald Grieve to the ZOT team as Sales Manager for the Assembly Division. Read more...

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Section 8

Industry News

Electra is thrilled to announce that @Teltonika has chosen our EMJ110 as their preferred inkjet solder mask solution for the TLT PCB factory! 🎉

A big thank you to the Teltonika team for placing their trust in us.
We’re excited to build a strong, long-term partnership and look forward to a successful collaboration. Together, we’ll continue driving innovation in inkjet solder mask technology and PCB manufacturing. Read more...

This year, GSPK Circuits celebrated 60 years of supplying high-quality electronics globally. We have been at the forefront of PCB manufacturing, dedicated to innovation, quality, and meeting our customer's needs.

As we reflect on this incredible journey, we also look forward to the future, continuing to innovate, push boundaries, and provide advanced PCB solutions that lead the industry.

Thank you to our amazing team, partners, and customers who have been part of this incredible journey.

Here's to the next 60 years of success! 🌟Read more...

Wow just look at these beauties. This week we have manufactured and assembled some the most challenging and best PCBs Jiva have made to date. Our tech just gets better every month.Special thanks to our fantastic PCB partner Garner Osborne Circuits Ltd and Studio29 Factory31 our assembly partner for great service and quality.

These PCBs are PTH, finished with immersion silver and assembled using low temperature solder Read more...

Merlin Flex has continued with its investment programme with the installation and commissioning of a Schmoll XXL large format drilling machine. This investment is part of the company’s capability improvements on long flex manufacture and allows for circuits to be drill/routed up to 3 metres long in a single length.

Merlin Flex currently manufactures flexible circuits up to 2 meters long in a single length, however, the company’s technical and applications team are continuously receiving requests to manufacture longer circuits for Aerospace and high-end Automotive applications. Read more

We got the new plant off the trucks and our new strip etch strip line from UCE is evident in its 17m glory, filling up a fifth of the new wet-shop. Hidden behind it is the Shadow Plus line. Commissioning and trials will take until Jan 25. Read more...

Membership News

Emma Hudson
Technical Director and Membership Secretary, ICT.

Gradings Awarded at 50th Dinner

Section 11

ICT Council Members

Council Members

Bill Wilkie (Chairman) Emma Hudson (Technical Director, Hon Sec, Membership & Events), Andy Cobley, Steve Payne (Hon Deputy Chairman), Chris Wall (Treasurer), Richard Wood-Roe (Journal Editor & Web Site), Jim Francey, Martin Goosey, Pete Starkey, Francesca Stern, Mat Beadel, Brian Morgan, Leigh Allinson. 

Section 12

Editors Notes

The ICT Journal

Richard Wood-Roe
Journal Editor

Instructions / Hints for Contributors

1. As it is a digital format the length is not an issue. Short is better than none at all!

2. Article can be a paper or a text version of a seminar or company presentation. Please include data tables, graphs, or powerpoint slides. We can shrink them down to about quarter of a page. Obviously not just bullet points to speak from.

3. Photo's are welcome.

4. We would not need  source cross references

5. Title of presentation Of course! Date, Job title of Author and Company represented.

6. An introductory summary of about 150 words would give the reader a flavour of what it's all about.

7. Style we don't want out and out advertising but we do recognise that the author has a specialism in the product or process that will include some trade promotion. Sometimes it will be a unique process or equipment so trade specific must be allowed.

8. Date and any info relating to where or if this article may have been published before.

9. We can accept virtually any format. Word, Powerpoint, publisher, PDF or Open Office equivalents. 

10. Also, to make it easy, the author can provide a word file to go along with his original powerpoint presentation and I/we can merge it together and select the required images. 

11. A photo of author or collaborators.

I really do look forward to receiving articles for publication.

Richard Wood-Roe

This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

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