Issue link: https://iconnect007.uberflip.com/i/1361971
84 PCB007 MAGAZINE I APRIL 2021 Einhorn: We have a subsidiary in New Jersey that has the appropriate certifications and ap- provals from the Department of State, who is controlling the ITAR, to provide us with ac- cess to U.S. customers' data that is being su- pervised and legalized by ITAR. We believe in All in One. We learned about ITAR years ago, and we are fully covered from this aspect. Johnson: Let's consider some results, then. Let's talk reliability. Eliya: We have a fully certified and opera- tive HATS lab from Microtek Laboratories in the U.S. is lab is like those labs that NASA, Lockheed, Raytheon, and all the military and aerospace companies are using for testing their products for reliability. Besides using this HATS lab for products, we are using it also for testing all our raw materials, new or old, that are coming into our shop. We translate their performance not only for yield but also for re- liability and keep a very comprehensive log of all tests done thus far. Since we serve also aerospace and military customers this has be- come a standard practice for us. is log that I am talking about allows us to provide quick answers (sometimes without the need of per- forming the test) to our customers and by that helping them shorten the design phase and be the first to market. We have good relations with IRTS experts and have several engagements with them around reliability and its tight connection with design, manufacturing process and tech- nology, and good practices. We can measure reliability in terms of competitive raw mate- rials. We can compare flex vendors. We can compare the impact of a number of sequen- tial laminations or a combination of buried versus blind vs. stacked microvias vs. back drill. We can translate all kinds of technolo- gies to reliability. And if a customer in the fu- ture is running a specific stackup with limited reliability, we raise a flag saying, "Watch out! You have a problem. You have chosen prob- lematic material for sequential lamination for example, or the density is risky when plating according to Class 2. You can choose the al- ternative if you care about reliability." Some- times the customer doesn't care about reli- ability. Sometimes if it's a missile, it's a one- way ticket. But if it's a radar that is working in the hot desert, in the sea or an airplane, re- liability is critical. Bottom line, we have the ability to measure everything, from design throughout manufacturing and translate it to reliability. Einhorn: One last thing that we should say, in order to complete the story of the roadmap started two years ago, is that we only invest- ed $10 million in 2019 and 2020 to buy the equipment needed; most of it customized, in order to fulfill this roadmap. Of course, some of it was for the 1-mil line and space, but not all of it. Some other machines that we've bought are also for the area of reliability. We bought another vapor phase reflow unit, for example, for assembly. We've upgraded our AOIs to be 3D and bought the most advanced X-ray. Our product was good before, but now it's excellent! Johnson: Arik, Yaad, thanks for sharing this in- formation! PCB007 We translate their performance not only for yield but also for reliability and keep a very comprehensive log of all tests done thus far.