Electronics are getting smarter and smarter. Assemblies, multi-functional boards and sub-modules are becoming increasingly intelligent (AI/AI) - firmware with an interface for individual and customer-specific configuration (customizing).
It seems that the virtual world is increasingly contrasting with the real world. Even if the virtual or digital world has not achieved dominance everywhere - who still talks about 'Second Life' - there are plenty of other parallel worlds on the internet and elsewhere.
But let's take a look back at the real world from the year 2023. Because it has a few anniversaries in store for us:
- 200 years of 'Ode to Joy' (in the version with the chorus of Beethoven's 9th [1, 2])
- 120 years of Harley Davidson
- 80 years of printed circuit boards
- 30 years of recycling-friendly printed circuit boards - TWINflex
- 25 years of PLUS from Eugen. G. Leuze publishing house
The printed circuit board - a constant in the world of electronics
PLUS turns a quarter of a century old. And the printed circuit board 80 years. Reflected in the technical progress, 80 years doesn't really sound that old. However, the PCB still seems to be a constant in the world of electronics. I think we'll be able to read a lot more about and around the PCB in PLUS this year. I'm already looking forward to it. And I don't want to get ahead of myself at this point.
I would now like to turn your attention to other areas of electronics.
Wikipedia tells us that "electronics is a major field of electrical engineering. It is the science of controlling electric current through electronic circuits, i.e. circuits in which at least one component functions on the basis of vacuum or semiconductor conduction. Electronic elements behave non-linearly, while the behavior of other electrical (non-electronic) elements is described as linear."
Electronics now covers a broad field:
These include microelectronics, nanoelectronics, optoelectronics, power electronics and others, as well as combinations of these.
In the meantime, microelectronics has become a kind of generic term for 'future-oriented' electronics technologies, also due to economic policy definitions, so that innovative areas such as optoelectronics, which also plays an important role in Germany in particular, are subordinate to this generic term. Let's take a positive view if the watering can from Brussels also supplies these areas.
In my column last year, I already discussed the Chips Act:
- Besides Intel, Infineon and Bosch, will the rest of the electronics industry also be considered and supported?
- Will Magdeburg become a new microelectronics stronghold alongside Dresden? 2023 will show.
- What new alliances and drivers will there be for the electronics industry?
- Will it be Intel and Tesla? Or Bosch and Infineon with Volkswagen?
- It will be interesting to see how far microelectronics will follow the rest of the electronics industry. And above all, will the high-tech electronics required for the passive and optical components and high-tech printed circuit boards also come from Germany and Europe in series production? The next few years will show us.
Let's hope for a better year in 2023 and not a repeat of a hundred years ago - the hyperinflation in the Weimar Republic (1923).
In the spirit of Schiller and Beethoven and their 'Ode to Joy', let's hope that 2023 will be a good year.
You can also see it that way.
Kind regards
Jan Kostelnik
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