Issue link: https://iconnect007.uberflip.com/i/1481368
10 DESIGN007 MAGAZINE I OCTOBER 2022 We recently spoke with Herb Snogren, an industry veteran and consultant with Royal Circuits Solutions tasked with leading the company's ultra HDI efforts. Herb is co-chair of the IPC ultra HDI subcommittee, IPC D-33-AP. In this interview, Herb discusses the current state of UHDI, how designers and fab- ricators can get started working in this new frontier, and why the U.S. must invest in UHDI technology now to counteract Asia's near dominance of the UHDI segment, which has le some of our critical industries vulnerable to supply chain disruptions. Andy Shaughnessy: Herb, almost everyone I talk to about this topic asks me, "What is the definition of ultra HDI?" What's the manufac- turable limit? Ultra HDI Primer Herb Snogren: We've developed an IPC sub- committee, IPC D-33-AP. Jan Pedersen of NCAB Group is my co-chair, and we've defined ultra HDI as printed circuit boards that have line widths and spaces below 50 microns, and microvias at 75 microns and below in diameter. We came up with that delineation because of IPC-2226, which lists product attributes with producibility levels A, B, and C. Level C is the lowest producibility level and that stops at 50-micron lines and spaces. Shaughnessy: Tell us about the committee's efforts. Snogren: What's important to understand is that circuit boards are following the path of packaging substrates. We now have the term Feature Interview by the I-Connect007 Editorial Team