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PCB007-Jan2020

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JANUARY 2020 I PCB007 MAGAZINE 47 the conversation on the design considerations with custom- ers and supply chain represen- tatives. The major question is, "How do we as a domestic sup- ply base utilize this technology to reset the technology curve by reducing lamination cycles and the need for stacked and or staggered microvias for the de- velopment of a robust PCB with fewer opportunities for quality and lead-time issues?" Calumet with Averatek will be engaging a communi- ty of interest in the pursuit of answering this question, without immediate development of standards, which could stifle the innovation present with the A-SAP™ process. Dunn: What do you think is driving the elec- tronics market to need this technology? LaBeau: The domestic electronics market is driven by the Asian and European markets, which is mostly the complexity of consumer products and cellphones. The component man- ufacturers have continued to reduce sizes to increase profitability. This has driven the North American market to design for smaller compo- nents, driving a decrease in BGAs, spaces, and traces. The domestic market is now seeking solutions to utilize the component supply chain. One solution is A-SAP™ technology. In addition, as the technological demand in- creases, there is a greater need for more ad- vanced PCBs. A-SAP™ technology provides the technological market with a manufacturing- ready solution to bring cutting edge compo- nentry and design for high speed and high-fre- quency applications. Brassard: I have attended high-level meetings at conferences where the U.S. was described as an "afterthought" in the global electronics industry and that American manufacturing technology is so far behind Asia and Europe that we'll never catch up. I've also learned that the American warfighter requires the most ad- vanced cutting-edge technologies to maintain supremacy and that we cannot produce those technologies in the United States. If this is true, we need to get to work—not just Calumet, but at every PCB man- ufacturer in the United States. Dunn: Calumet Electronics is the first licensee of the A-SAP™ pro- cess, and you will soon be pro- viding production capacity for this type of technology. As you have undertaken this process development, what has surprised you? Brassard: My education may be electrical en- gineering, but keep in mind that I'm just an operations person these days. In very non- technical terms, I have been amazed by the simple elegance of the A-SAP™ manufactur- ing process and how neatly it has folded into our traditional manufacturing process. Av- eratek's technology is truly a wonder, and I don't understand how Calumet can be the first company to be industrializing the tech- nology. Trust us, we are going to have all the same problems and solutions manufacturing additive features as traditional, but the dif- ference is we'll have problems at 20 microns instead of 100 microns. This is great because we already know how to solve these types of problems. LaBeau: As we have been industrializing the process, our team has been shocked by the ease of incorporating this process into the standard subtractive process that is currently driving the domestic PCB market. Our team has also been able to quickly adopt the process to form sub 25-micron inner layers. In addition, we have also been surprised about the growing inter- est in this technology. The prototype adoption of the A-SAP™ process has brought significant new customer communication to Calumet and our solutions team. Dunn: It must be exciting to be leading the do- mestic market in the adoption of semi-additive processes and to realize the ability to provide Meredith LaBeau

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