Issue link: https://iconnect007.uberflip.com/i/1309864
88 PCB007 MAGAZINE I NOVEMBER 2020 At this point, we're trying to understand what all they can do for us, and then the real question is, "How quickly can we bring some of that technology to the U.S.?" This pro- cess is moving slower than desired. Translat- ing the plating art, not just science, requires that physical face-to-face exchange. The team in ND has been helpful with suggesting mi- nor modifications of our equipment and pro- cesses to aid our ongoing product develop- ment activities. But when it comes to signifi- cant equipment and facility modifications, we simply can't rely on the transmission of blue- prints and videos. Johnson: You suggested that the biggest chal- lenge is integrating with your team despite travel restrictions. What is it that your U.S. customers are asking for most often right now? Coll: The burning issue with our custom- ers seems to be similar across the board. Ev- erybody wants lower and lower profile cop- per foil, smoother and smoother foils that still have good adhesion and maintain the same level of reliability. Balancing each of our cus- tomers' needs while working with very differ- ent resin systems is quite difficult. Johnson: Are they looking for higher-speed material? Coll: As they push to lower and lower loss di- electric materials, the way to increase the sig- nal speed is with smoother foils, and balancing these combinations is on everybody's mind. Aside from our direct customers, there is quite a bit of activity running through the HDP User Group and iNEMI. The industry, as a whole, is trying to fully understand the influence of cop- per foil on signal integrity. Copper foil manufacturers all apply mechan- ical anchoring nodules differently. We use dif- ferent passivation metals, different organic ad- hesion promoters, and how these changes in- fluence signal integrity is unknown. Higher- speed materials and lower-loss copper foils are most certainly on the minds of our direct cus- tomers, the copper-clad laminate manufactur- ers, the fabricators, and the OEM users. Johnson: It sounds like you have plenty of open development communication ongoing with the associations and your customers. Coll: We do. We're also trying to translate these needs back for our colleagues in Japan. A bet- ter understanding of the needs of our U.S. cus- tomers will help shape our strategy for the product development and longer-term domes- tic manufacturing capability. The addition of the new capabilities to service our customers locally will be fantastic for long-term sustain- ability. Denkai America's manufacutring facility located in Kershaw County, South Carolina.