Issue link: https://iconnect007.uberflip.com/i/1156271
8 PCB007 MAGAZINE I AUGUST 2019 There's definitely an art to plating. Start with a generally planar substrate, then alternately put stuff on and take things off. Continue this in subtle variations until what you have is the stuff you want, where you want. There are classes on plating (I'm talking about food now) pretty much everywhere. Es- coffier, arguably the hub of French cuisine, offers an online course, and cooking schools, kitchen equipment retailers, and even com- munity colleges offer training. The San Francisco Cooking School offers an in-person work- shop on plating. In fact, the course description states, "By the end of the class, you will understand why the shape color and size of table- ware is impor- tant when plating food." Ah-hah! T h e e q u i p m e n t and tools are as im- portant as the raw materials; it doesn't matter whether we're talking food or PCBs. Years back—at least in my part of the under-refined United States—plating food meant something large, bulky, and robust; that's how it was in our industry too during that era. But things change, and refinements are made. Even in the Wild West of the U.S., thoughtfully crafted plates with smaller portions appear on tables more often. There are both differences and similarities when using food plating as a metaphor. As we become more sophisticated in the products we create, it isn't enough to run rough chemistries in crude facilities; one cannot deliver the fine details, small geometries, and precision OEMs now expect from our fabricators worldwide. We can't be short-order line cooks any longer; we must become chefs of precision. In this issue, we explore our kind of plat- ing, including the chemistries and processes that make up traditional subtractive etch and plate. We also investigate the confluence of smaller dimensions, reduced pol- lution, higher throughput, and improved reliability as they relate to wet processes and plating. Further, we address some of the emerging pro- cesses for higher performance de- s i g n s a n d n ew equipment to im- plement modern techniques be- cause the high-end techniques of today become the main- stream techniques of tomorrow. Marc Ladle makes the first splash with his fea- ture, "The State Of Plating." Dr. John Mitchell follows with his column highlighting "CFX and Hermes: The Plug-and-Play IPC Standards Building Momentum for Industry 4.0." Chemcut CEO Rick Lies talks with publisher Barry Matties about "Wet Processing Equipment for the Long Haul." Then, in "Putting Green Into a Brown- field Facility," Uyemura's George Milad talks with me about the challenges and solutions in customizing up-to-date process chemistries Nolan's Notes by Nolan Johnson, I-CONNECT007 There's An Art to Plating