Issue link: https://iconnect007.uberflip.com/i/1104607
APRIL 2019 I PCB007 MAGAZINE 73 We think this technology trend will lend itself well to much thinner circuitry for the less complex products and also more viable technology for the more complex products. adhesion before you get to something like ther- mal cycling. Matties: When a buyer, OEM, or whatever the level happens to be is considering a change, what's the impetus for them to change? Is it the finer lines alone, or is there an economic advantage? Vinson: There are some economic advantages to using less material. From that point of view, it's attractive, but the change in the line and processing is usually the biggest hurdle that they have to overcome to be able to adopt. Matties: You mentioned cellphones earlier, which makes a lot of sense. What sort of quali- fication process is taking place and what dura- tion do you typically see in that? Vinson: We're not as familiar with what this next generation is going to be seeing in terms of qualifications, but we are seeing that things like microvias are now coming under a lot more scrutiny than they did in the past; they're evolving harsher testing for that. Because what we're doing with our technology will eliminate a lot of those problems at the source, we'll be able to better serve those markets. We've been doing multiple reflow tests, etc., to be sure that the microvias don't crack. We're going to see a lot more of that in the near future for these products. Matties: Along the lines of testing, what yields should someone expect? Is this a high-yield process? Vinson: Relatively speaking, yes, but like all new technologies, there's going to be a learn- ing curve that everyone has to go through to increase their yields to an acceptable point. The other issue is that if you look at the yield as a per-circuit value instead of a per-square- inch or per-layer value, you'll find that the yield challenges in the future are going to be much higher due to a lot more circuits. Just talking to somebody today, they're looking at 10,000 I/Os on a device, and they're trying to circuitize that. Well, the yields on that product aren't going to be nearly the same as if you have a simple white goods board that you're trying to produce for a dishwasher. Matties: How many fabricators that have al- ready adopted this are out there? Vinson: We have a couple right now that are in the process of qualifying it. We also have a number of products that are going into early production phase with companies. As far as actual volume production, we're still in the early stages of that. Matties: We'll be interested to hear updates. Is there anything that we haven't talked about that you want to add? Vinson: One of the things that we're finding when we go to smaller and smaller circuit sizes is that often, someone who's making a 16-layer or 10-layer board can go to a 10-lay- er or an eight-layer or six-layer board because they're doing finer lines and spaces now and don't have to use as many layers just for rout- ing buses. We think this technology trend will lend itself well to much thinner circuitry for the less complex products and also more via- ble technology for the more complex products. Matties: Great. Thank you very much, Mike. Vinson: Thank you, Barry. PCB007