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26 PCB007 MAGAZINE I NOVEMBER 2020 up with a deposit with extremely thin, weak knees and poor throwing power. When putting a specific product into a ver- tical hoist versus a vertical continuous plater, one might need to tweak the operating condi- tions of the solution a bit to get the desired re- sults. As always, there are exceptions where a formulation change is necessary. A formu- lation such as this would indeed result in a change in the product name. 3. Do you specify any of the above formulations for a particular market, such as mil-aero? We do not segment our products by the end market, such as military, etc. Our products are segmented more by application and require- ments. In many cases, those applications and requirements will settle into certain markets. And as certain slower-advancing markets, such as automotive, adopt newer technologies, one starts to see a lot more cross-over. Miniaturization is the primary driver of prod- uct development. L/S requirements are be- ing driven by heterogeneous integration of ad- vance packing, including new package designs with decreasing pitch and increasing number of land contacts. 4. Does plating include metallization, or should the copper plating baths be called electroplating copper? Metallization includes plating, but plating does not encompass all metallization. Acid copper should be termed electrolytic or elec- troplated copper to differentiate between elec- troless copper or CVD deposited copper. 5. How many kinds of metallization do you recognize in the industry? Here is a common list of metallizations rec- ognized in our industry: • Thin deposition electroless copper • Thick deposition electroless copper • Graphite direct metallization • Carbon direct metallization • Conductive polymer metallization • SAP metallization Plating products are typically segmented into two primary types: metallization and electrolyt- ic. Primary metallization is the process to make a hole wall or dielectric conductive so that it can be electroplated. Electrolytic metallization is the process of building up the thickness of the con- ductor to the requirement using current. The area to be plated is fully bussed or connected. A primary metallization portfolio includes: 1. Electroless copper remains the largest segment of primary metallization and is used in all applications. • Thin deposition followed by flash • Medium deposition • Thick deposition 2. Direct metallization continues to grow in market share and is currently about 20% of the primary metallization market. It has a high share of the flex, rigid-flex, and exotic material market. Direct metallization is also a greener technology and offers savings in water, environmental, and power usage. • Graphite-based • Carbon-based • Conductive polymer Electrolytic metallization includes all of the processes outlined previously in the types of acid copper plating. A complete port- folio of non-copper plating solutions includes tin, silver, gold (pure, Ni, and Co alloyed), palladium (pure and Ni alloyed), nickel, silver-tin, indium, and a host of others. SAP is not a metallization process; instead, it's a fabrication process utilizing electroless copper to form the initial conductive seed layer on a non-foil substrate (e.g., Ajinomoto buildup film) followed by patterning and subsequent buildup using electrolytic copper. The electroless copper seed layer is about 40 mils or 1 micron thick. 6. Do any of the copper electroplating formulations change depending on metallization? If so, can you discuss how? Our electrolytic plating processes and our primary metallization processes are compati-