Issue link: https://iconnect007.uberflip.com/i/1124788
52 SMT007 MAGAZINE I JUNE 2019 you take your average 10-zone oven for reflow, we'd be approximately 60% of that. Matties: But currently, this isn't a displace- ment; it's an addition. It's augmenting the pro- cess rather than displacing a process. Barbini: That's true. We're not displacing it. At this point, we're enabling customers to solve problems that they never could solve before. It's an add-on, but in another sense, it's enabling somebody to do something that they couldn't do. Matties: The point being is that there will still be reflow cost until this scales. Barbini: Correct. At the semiconductor level, we are replacing reflow ovens—not so much SMT, but at semiconductor—definitely due to product design, which they've done in the past using reflow or TCB. Due to tighter pitches going down to less than 50 microns or the thickness of the silicon going down to 50 microns, reflow is hitting its limitations with- out having lots of defects. Laserssel has dem- onstrated to have 100% yield. We are mov- ing out the reflow ovens and putting in Laser Selective Reflow (LSR) instead. Matties: How many currently are in the SMT world? Barbini: In automotive, we have around 15 machines. Most of them are at one factory but scattered at different points. We're just start- ing up. Matties: The fact that one factory has multi- ple machines is a testament. If you buy one and come back for another, the machines must work. Barbini: Very true. Matties: Where do you see Laserssel headed? Barbini: We have very big plans, and the feed- back so far from the industry is, "Wow." This is a new technique. This area of technology is unique and novel, so it's not too often where you're able to say or see something that hasn't been there. People have been coming to me and wanting to know more. Matties: One of the concerns that people have when new equipment comes around is that the equipment manufacturer doesn't exist in a year or two, and that's a valid concern. We've seen this time and time again. What assurance would you give them here? Barbini: I've been in soldering since 1999. I worked for Vitronics Soltec for 10 years, and then I went to Universal in the Advanced Pro- cess Laboratory, so I know about companies and what the pitfalls are in terms of service requirements, being local, having good quality, and manufacturing, and Laserssel is building up its resources. It's able to manufacture the equipment and design all the things that are our core competency, so there's a lot of moti- vation to do things right and take things at a pace that we can control. Matties: Many great companies started out with those same principles, but they still failed. I don't mean that you're going too. A lot of With Laser Selective Reflow (LSR), every process is super accelerated. (Source: Laserssel.com)