Issue link: https://iconnect007.uberflip.com/i/1361971
78 PCB007 MAGAZINE I APRIL 2021 Interview by Nolan Johnson I-CONNECT007 Nolan Johnson speaks with Arik Einhorn and Yaad Eliya of Israel-based PCB Technolo- gies about how they've increased their capabil- ities down to 1 mil line and space to better sup- port their customers from the military, aero- space, and medical markets. Nolan Johnson: Arik, let's start by talking about the new 1-mil capabilities and how you got there. What was the trigger for PCB Technolo- gies to decide to go to 1 mil? And what sort of resources did you have to invest? Arik Einhorn: PCB Technologies' goal is to be in front of the technology. Two years ago, we started to build our five-year technological roadmap and for that purpose, we put togeth- er a committee of market representatives, as- sembled from several of our high-end custom- ers' R&D and innovation executives. We had representation for military, medical, commu- nication and other markets and for different applications within these markets. We asked them: "What do you need that you current- ly don't get?" And "what will you need down the road?" Our CTO, Yaad, was head of this discussion. We have mapped the trends, the applica- tions, where they want to be, what will help them better the performance of their products. From this, we got a wish list. e next thing was for Yaad and his team to translate the wish list into a roadmap and a good solid plan of how to get there—machinery, people, chemistries and processes, materials, functions, training. is 1-mil line/space, was one part of the complete roadmap, as we saw it popped up over and over again in many of the line items in the wish list. Yaad Eliya: Across the roadmap, we saw a few motivations for miniaturization. When it comes to making things smaller, we always start with shrinking the line and space resolution. en we deal with the diameter or the geometries of the via, lowering the dielectric thickness, low- ering the copper thickness, etc.; that is our pro- cess for miniaturization. Generally speaking, PCB Technologies Expands Capabilities