Issue link: https://iconnect007.uberflip.com/i/1069358
64 PCB007 MAGAZINE I JANUARY 2019 Let's assume that they have developed a new headlight that requires a very big thermal conductivity, the price is prohibitive for them, so they can just evaluate in this platform. But if the price of that board goes down, maybe they are capable of saying, "I'm going to use the same technology for other kinds of lights that are also evaluated in other platforms." That's the normal mechanism in the automotive industry. Johnson: And from there, it can also often spread out into consumer products? Benmayor: Consumer products is a very low-end market today. They need this kind of thermal dissipation, but they are okay with the low-end market. We also have to understand that the LEDs are more and more efficient every day. So, the LED manufacturers are capable of generating more light output with a lower temperature on the LED. This also helps to use a lower laminate technology to dissipate the heat. For example, when the LED business started eight to 10 years ago, the requirement to dissipate the heat on the joint point of a standard LED of one watt was very big. Now, it's something very common in the market because they have been capable of producing LEDs with the same light emission but with much lower power, which means half of the thermal stress on the board. Everybody is working on how to generate more efficiency on the light with a lower amount of power. The lower amount of power means a lower temperature and less technical requirements on the PCB to dissipate the heat. Johnson: And that also allows for your high-end substrates to push the boundaries even further up into higher performance and brighter. Benmayor: Yes, because that's the normal market. Opposite to this, there are always engineers that say, "I want more LEDs on the board. I placed three LEDs on a specific PCB, but now I want six LEDs in the same PCB area." Once again, LED manufacturers improve the technology and reduce the power needs for the same light output, but engineers want to increase the amount of light in the same area. The heat problem never ends. The high-end market is always pushing for better solutions to dissipate the heat of the LED model. Johnson: Eduardo, as you mentioned at the start of this conversation, Aismalibar has been present in the European market for a long time and has been moving into the North American market since around 2012. How has the U.S. market been for you? How do the challenges in the North American market compare and contrast to the European market? Benmayor: They are very similar. We see the requirements of Europe higher than the Americans because I think that the automotive industry is pickier in Europe than America. And they are more on the leading edge of automotive technology. Normally, the European automotive market is the leader of the world today in technology. But of course, America tries to follow, and there are many European platforms built in America. Thus, much of the technology has to transfer there to achieve the same goals that the designers are making in Europe. Typically, the markets are very similar. Apart from this, we have seen a big demand on copper base IMS in North America, and Aismalibar is doing great in this segment due to its FASTHERM technology. Johnson: What do you see as the overarching challenges for your market right now? Benmayor: There is the never-ending discussion of diesel cars versus gasoline cars and hybrids Figure 5: Aismalibar's Flextherm material in an end-user application.