Issue link: https://iconnect007.uberflip.com/i/1073397
32 FLEX007 MAGAZINE I JANUARY 2019 Feature Interview by Patty Goldman and Andy Shaughnessy I-CONNECT007 Dan Gamota has spent his career in electronics manufacturing. Dan has been at the forefront of some of the most cutting-edge processes and technologies since he started at Motorola decades ago. Now as the VP of manufacturing technology and innovation for Jabil, Dan gave us his take on the current state of flex and alternative substrates and explained why modeling, automation, and process controls are likely to be key ingredients in the recipe for manufacturing non-FR-4 boards in the future. Patty Goldman: Dan, tell us a little bit more about yourself and your background. Dan Gamota: I've spent 25 years in manufac- turing and innovation. I started at Motorola when cellular phone commercial adoption was ramping up. I was on a team tasked with dev- eloping a scalable manufacturing process for an elegant microelectronics technology—bare die assembly (e.g., flip chip, C4)—which IBM had licensed to Motorola. Motorola was seeking to take that technology, which was developed and commercialized within a vertically inte- grated company (IBM), and prepare it for mass adoption by OSATs and PCBA services suppliers. Motorola was tasked with establishing the industry supply chain while moving from an elegant, well-controlled, low-volume product process that had to be closely monitored (multiple in-line testing platforms) to ensure high yield to one that was compatible with high volume SMT manufacturing (few testing steps) for mobile devices (i.e., cellular phones, pagers, two-way radios). Early on, that gave me an appreciation for electronics manufacturing, automation, and process control. In the early days of SMT, you had to ensure that there was a significant amount of discipline on the design side: DFM, process guidelines, and material selection. My active involvement with SMT and advanced microelectronics manufacturing lasted until about 2001. I was fortunate to have experienced the critical operational facets for Dan Gamota Discusses Flex and Alternative Substrates