Issue link: https://iconnect007.uberflip.com/i/1428512
22 PCB007 MAGAZINE I NOVEMBER 2021 Starkey: Could you comment on global and regional trends you are seeing in the market as they relate to testing? Brandt: We see an improving market in the package and substrate business. is is mainly an improvement in the Asian markets, like in China or Korea, and partially in Japan, which is for our flying probe. ere are big challenges regarding accuracy and measurement meth- ods for our flying probe. But this is a high-vol- ume business. is means we only participate in smaller production quantities, because you can say 99.9% of this market for electrical test- ing will be covered by dedicated testers, using high-density, and high-cost fixtures. is tech- nology is a market driver in the case of fine pitch density, and we see that this technology will jump step by step into the regular PCB market, not just the short term. But we see more and more substrate applications in PCB. We call it substrate-like PCB products (SLP). Our standard PCB high volume flying probe for machines is a growing business. Starkey: Sure. I think it's very clear that there is a blurring of the boundary between the printed circuit board side and the substrate and com- ponent packaging side. is is affecting a lot of the design and manufacturing technologies as well. It's clear that because of your involve- ment in that part of the industry, it's acting as a technology driver for the development of your equipment. Brandt: With this technology from the sub- strate market or from the HDI mobile phone market, we get more applications for differ- ent and advanced measurement methods. Twenty years ago, when you'd try to sell a fly- ing probe machine to your customer, they would ask you about continuity and short mea- surement. at's all. Now, when you're going to the U.S. (North American) market, a big part of the business is for the aerospace and defense industry, and they are asking for a class 3 approval for the measurement technique. For us, this means all these machines need a high speed, high voltage resistance testing for the short measurement, where a customer can select thresholds up to the G-Ohm level or voltage level up to 500 or more. In addition, we have a chance with a high voltage short mea- surement where we can add on a high voltage breakdown test. During the charging of the net, we monitor the loading curve, and in case of a high voltage breakdown, the system stops and will moni- tor this kind of defect. It's also a kind of leak- age test in the high voltage test. We always add more features for the measurement meth- ods. e advantage of the flying probe is that you can define all the parameters by yourself. You can change the voltage, the current, the threshold level—everything can be selected by the customer and can be monitored for future quality approvals. Starkey: Are all these features incorporated into a standard machine, or do you need a spe- cially adapted version of the machine for spe- cial tests? Peter Brandt