INTERCONNECTION TECHNIQUES IN ELECTRONICS (TIE)

INTERNATIONAL PROFESSIONAL STUDENT CONTEST

in the field of advanced PCB design

The INTERCONNECTION TECHNIQUES IN ELECTRONICS (TIE) contest is an international professional student contest having the main objective to promote computer aided design (CAE-CAD-CAM) of electronic modules and PCB design. This contest brings together students from different universities since 1992. A solid organization and a total transparency during the contest are the main coordinates, proving professionalism and fair-play among students interested in electronic packaging.

PURPOSE AND OBJECTIVES

This student technical event has the main purpose of evaluating the level of knowledge gained by students in the field of CAE-CAD-CAM of electronic modules and PCB, with focus to both THT (through hole technology) and SMT (surface mount technology) technologies. The contest is based on the knowledge obtained at the courses in electronics regarding the design and manufacturing of analogue, digital and mixed electronic modules, as well as on the advanced knowledge of designing PCB interconnection structures (printed circuit boards) according to the IPC (Association Connecting Electronics Industries) standards recognized by the electronics industry worldwide.

Aim of the contest: • Arousing the students’ interest in the electronic packaging issues and PCB

interconnection structures; • Evaluating of knowledge in a competitive environment; • Certifying by industry, with the support of the IAC (Industrial Adviser Committee), of

competitors’ CAD skills; • Supporting the electronics industry with professional human resources. Objectives: • Familiarizing the students with the necessary activities for designing the electronic

projects of the analogue, digital and mixed modules and the PCB interconnection structures, in order to meet the demands required by the project/product specifications;

• Reaching a high level of professionalism in using CAD software systems in this field; • Rising the awareness of the electronics industry on the existing human resources and

realizing a strong partnership between academia and industry; • Increasing of job demands for the career of electronics engineer from today students

and of job offers from the industrial environment.

Organization

The international student contest “Interconnection Techniques in Electronics (TIE)” is coordinated by “Politehnica” University of Bucharest, Center for Technological Electronics and Interconnection Techniques (UPB-CETTI) and continuously supported by IEEE CPMT

HU&RO Joint Chapter. The event is yearly organized, in an itinerant way, by an university member of the EPETRUN consortium and network (Electronic Packaging Education Training and Research University Network), being also opened to all European universities interested in education and training in the field of electronic packaging.

The contest is supervised by five committees:

1. Steering Committee (SC); 2. Technical Committee (TC); 3. Local Committee (LC); 4. Industrial Adviser Committee (IAC); 5. Public Relations Committee (PRC).

In the above mentioned committees take part representatives of EPETRUN, European universities, specialists from industry and members of non-governmental organizations involved in electronics. These committees take care of all technical and organizational aspects of the contest and of the whole TIE event.

The contest has two stages:

1. local stage (which takes place in each university centre interested to participate to TIE);

2. final stage (which takes place in an university centre selected by the steering committee at least one year before the contest).

In less than four months, short after the Easter Holiday, between 25th and 28th of April 2012, will start the XXI edition of the TIE event. The host of the event will be “Lucian Blaga” University of Sibiu (www.uslb.ro), located in Sibiu, one of the most picturesque cities of Romania. Sibiu and Luxembourg were in 2007 the cultural capitals of Europe.

TIE event is supported by IEEE CPMT Hu&Ro Joint Chapter and by the Electronic Packaging Education Training and Research University Network – EPETRUN - developed in Romania. With the participation of the Budapest University of Technology and Economics, coordinator Prof. Zsolt Illyefalvi-Vitez, starting with the 2009 edition, TIE has extended beyond the Romanian borders and is now an important event of the IEEE CPMT Hu&Ro Joint Chapter. This year the local organizing committee is chaired by Prof. Ioan Mihu (Computer and Electrical Engineering Department).

The aim of the TIE event is to help in the process of training young professionals, enable them to acquire skills and competences and become familiar with the requirements of the industry during their academic training. The fact that the contest has an international prestige means that all students, who reach the final stage, have been involved in a challenging project which surely represents a good starting point for their future professional life.

The topics of the contest cover all fields of PCB CAD from parts and footprint creation, to designing schematic projects and developing optimal layouts according to various industrial restrictions (with special placement, routing and finishing issues), ending with post-processing output files. The Technical Committee (technical manager Assoc. Prof. Norocel Codreanu) develops the up-to-date topics and assures also, with the help of Organizing Committee, that

the contest takes place in a fair-play climate. All information is available online on the www.tie.ro website, where one can find the regulations, as well as examples from the past editions that give a good overview of the proposed design topics, carefully reviewed by the Steering, Technical and Industrial Advisor Committees. The Industrial Advisor Committee, chaired by Dipl. Eng. Cosmin Moisă (Continental Automotive Timisoara), participates in the writing of subjects, as well as in the evaluation, and sets the line above which are ranked the students with real knowledge in the field of PCB design, those students being recommended to interested companies as PCB specialists and designers.

Finally, all interested students, professors and specialists from industry can find in the following pictures some highlights of the TIE 2011 edition, the 20th edition of the event.

Figure 1: Top view – the TIE 2011 “arena” (the Main Hall of the Rectorate of POLITEHNICA

University of Bucharest)

Figure 2: The evaluation process (the subjects were evaluated by mixed evaluation teams, from the academia and from the industry; an evaluation form where the points were clearly

stated was used in order to assure the correctness of all the evaluations; as usually, the evaluation process was public)

Figure 3: The TIE Awarding Session (from left to right: Dorin Antonovici 2nd Prize Winner - “Stefan cel Mare” University of Suceava, Lect. Marius Rangu, Ph. D. - representative of the “Politehnica” University of Timişoara, Călin Precup 1st Prize Winner - “Politehnica” University

of Timişoara, Mihai Mareş 3rd Prize Winner - University of Piteşti)

Figure 4 – (from left to right) Prof. Dan Pitică, IEEE-CPMT Hu&Ro Joint Chapter Chair, Technical University of Cluj-Napoca, Romania, Prof. Zsolt Illyefalvi-Vitez, IEEE-CPMT Hu&Ro Joint Chapter, Vice-chair, Budapest University of Technology and Economics, Hungary, and Prof. Paul Svasta, Advisor IEEE-CPMT Student Branch Chapter of ”Politehnica” University of

Bucharest, Romania

Figure 5: TIE 2011, group picture