Issue link: https://iconnect007.uberflip.com/i/1288481
22 PCB007 MAGAZINE I SEPTEMBER 2020 Harding: MicroCraft was estab- lished almost 50 years ago, in 1972. From 1972 to 1993, they manufactured electronic devices like audio equipment and moved into more sophisticated control devices for ships and other mili- tary equipment. In 1994, Micro- Craft released its first EMMA Se- ries flying probe testers, which was a major turning point for MicroCraft. Since then, grid tes- ters and other types of testing equipment have mostly been phased out. Some are still in use, but very few new grid testers are being pur- chased these days. In 2002, MicroCraft intro- duced its first inkjet printers. At that time, they were mostly used to inkjet legend and etch re- sist inks for industries in and outside the PCB industry. In 2016, we established an ink subsidiary for the development of solder mask inks. Last year, we purchased a software company, In- finite Graphics, out of Minnesota. We had worked with that company for over 20 years, developing features for our testers as well as our printers. They wrote software to convert Gerber, ODB++, and other common indus- try formats into test and print data. When we found out they were selling the company, we were pretty much first in line to purchase, and that transition has gone very well for us. We're able to focus more on developing ad- vanced features for our testers, such as test- ing 5G boards and back drill defects, as well as developing new printer features to improve the ease of data preparation and improve print quality. Matties: What trends do you see in inkjet tech- nology? Harding: You may know that inkjet printing of legend in the PCB market is fairly mature. If a board shop doesn't have a legend printer, they probably should, just like a flying probe tester. Now that inkjetting legend has been widely adopted, the industry is moving into a second chapter of inkjet, which includes other inks like solder mask and conductive inks. The trend of ad- ditive manufacturing is here to stay, and to be a truly additive shop means that you must uti- lize inkjet in multiple ways. Matties: Do you see that the fab- ricators are having an easy time getting the inkjet process adopt- ed by their customers, or is that a challenge? Harding: It depends on the type of fabricator. If they're doing military jobs, in my experience, some fabricators have spent well over a year getting that printer qualified or ac- cepted by their customers. But other than that, it's so commonplace now that legend is not a big issue because most inks now meet all the requirements, including IPC, UL, and even out- gas. Matties: Do you feel like there are any linger- ing misunderstandings or myths about legend print that still need to be resolved? Harding: The issue of satellites, or ink spatter- ing, has been mitigated. With the advances in print strategies and print head technology, we have found ways to virtually eliminate this is- sue. Another issue was speed. Originally, every- thing solder mask was very slow due to print- ing with a single print head. This is because you need to build it up in very fine layers. Since that is an issue, everyone has addressed that by adding heads, including us. Other than that, there were some perfor- mance issues with inks originally. We know that there was a manufacturer in the past who had sold a number of machines on the mar- ket, and their customers had to use the ink that they provided. It turned out that ink was not a good performer for multiple types of plating, as well as it had issues with nozzle clogging. Since then, better inks have come out on the market that have addressed those issues. Garrett Harding