The Fachverband für Design, Leiterplatten- und Elektronikfertigung (FED) has honored three PCB designers with the PCB Design Award for their outstanding achievements: Thomas Blasko (CiBOARD electronic), Georg Scheuermann (TQ-Systems) and Michael Matthes (WITTENSTEIN cyber motor) are this year's winners. Every two years, the prize sponsored by the FED recognizes the challenging and complex work of PCB designers, this year in the categories 3D/installation space, high wiring density and high transmission rates (HDI) as well as special creativity. Erika Reel, FED Board Member for Design and jury chairwoman, and Christoph Bornhorn, FED Managing Director, presented the winners with their certificates at their companies.
The winners of the PCB Design Awards 2020
Thomas Blasko from CiBOARD electronic took first place in the 3D/Installation Space category. In this category, the focus is on mechanical challenges that can only be solved with complex, rigid, rigid-flex or flexible circuits. Blasko's project describes a system for laser scanner position measurement. The rigid-flex printed circuit board consists of nine individual functional groups with a base area of 29 mm in diameter - with an integrated assembly the size of a 35 mm film can. The circuit board is folded around a predetermined aluminum milling body. A single coaxial cable is used to transfer the measurement data and the power supply. The big challenge here was to meet the tough mechanical specifications by cleverly partitioning the individual functions such as sensors, connectors, FPGA controller and power supply.
Georg Scheuermann from TQ-Systems came out on top in the high wiring density/high transmission rate (HDI) category. This category is about circuits with extremely high integration density or very high transmission rates. Scheuermann impressed the jury with his complex design, a computer-on-module with various high-speed interfaces and two memory blocks, each with 18 DDR4 memory chips. To supply the memory and cores, currents of up to 70 A must be taken into account at clock rates of up to 2.2 GHz. The cleverly designed 18-layer multilayer with a minimum number of pressings ensures high-speed requirements and the optimum supply of processor and memory.
Michael Matthes is the winner in the special creativity category. This category recognizes "the slightly different solution": a design that is particularly clever or elegant, regardless of the substrate material. Matthes' design enables the alignment of nanosatellites in low-Earth orbit. Extremely compact - in a square installation space the size of a sugar cube - the Reaction Wheel was specially designed for the harsh conditions of space. The square design enables space-saving integration and also offers maximum flexibility in use. Michael Matthes has succeeded in meeting the high requirements in this category with a sophisticated layer structure of a 6-layer rigid-flex printed circuit board. His project result is now being put to the test: With the rocket launch in Baikonur, the PCB installed in the miniature satellite was shot 600 kilometers into space.
Prestigious industry prize for PCB designers
With the PCB Design Award, the winners receive a valuable professional award. Since 2012, the FED has presented this prestigious professional award every two years, which is considered an accolade in the PCB design community. The aim of the award is to honor outstanding PCB designers and raise the profile of their achievements. This complex and demanding job is often not sufficiently recognized in practice. A good designer must bring knowledge from many areas. They are the link between development and production and must translate the specifications of the circuit diagram into a production-ready design. He must not only be at home in electrical and production engineering, but must also master the basics of materials science and keep an eye on countless standards and guidelines. The economic impact of the layout must also be taken into account.
A jury of seven experts evaluated the submitted designs according to technical requirements, manufacturability and documentation. The applicants had to describe their design based on 50 predefined criteria. "We are very pleased with the high standard of the submissions," summarizes Erika Reel, chair of the jury, "overall, the work shows a high degree of creativity in the planning and cleverness in the implementation."
