Issue link: https://iconnect007.uberflip.com/i/1038326
12 PCB007 MAGAZINE I OCTOBER 2018 equipment is already in Asia, but the U.S. mar- ket has never considered it. Everybody is stuck in what they already do. Another factor is turnover. Larger companies have a lot of turnover, and when you have a lot of turnover, you can't do projects like this. This GreenSource buildout is a multi-year project. You can't have five people leave in the mid- dle of the project or you'll never finish it. You also can't change your management structure or move people around all the time because you'll never finish a thought. The multi-year approach of a private company is a huge ad- vantage for projects like this. Matties: Tell us about your electroless. Stepinski: We do plating with very thin elec- troless, the newest formulation and highest re- liability on the market. We're not stuck using 30-year-old electroless formulations due to be- ing locked in by our customers. Since we're a brand-new shop, we're using the latest stuff. The equipment does everything with high reli- ability and throwing power. You can put a thin layer on and then do electroplating two minutes later. It doesn't even have a chance to oxidize. Matties: You just move it along. Stepinski: Yes, it's all in-line. Matties: That's a huge advantage. Stepinski: Nobody else has this. Other fabs need to put the work into baskets, take it out, and etch it again. Matties: You have one more plating line in the shop, right? Stepinski: This is our Ludy line over here with the crazy-looking vertical plater. It's robotical- ly loaded and unloaded. Figure 2: Very thin electroless plating processes from Atotech installed at GreenSource Fabrication.