Issue link: https://iconnect007.uberflip.com/i/1443477
14 PCB007 MAGAZINE I JANUARY 2022 production. As we all can understand, the tol- erance improvement during PCB manufac- turing cannot happen without simultaneous improvement of the base material and wet pro- cessing tolerances. In other words, the PCB manufacturer cannot improve, for example, the material thickness tolerances during the processing but can adjust the total board thick- ness by the PCB build-up design. Johnson: I like how you put that. e PCB fab can only make the material worse, which raises an interesting point as to how all this comes together. e materials manufactur- ers certainly are under a different set of chal- lenges and constraints. ey must develop more precise, small feature-appropriate mate- rials. at's a challenge in and of itself. When you start getting down to the point where you have to worry about where your via hit lines up on the mesh of the fiberglass to determine whether it's going to work or whether it's high risk, that becomes a difficult thing to predict and design around. Rapala-Virtanen: You are right. e material manufacturers have improved their material tolerances and simultaneously the electrical performance. Due to that, the material offer- ing today is wide so it's important that the The PCB manufacturer cannot improve, for example, the material thickness tolerances during the processing but can adjust the total board thickness by the PCB build-up design. whole supply chain works together, starting from the designer, to find the best options of materials and processes supporting the future product by requirements and product type. Additionally, it's important from the time-to- market point of view, that the new materials are easy to drop into the existing PCB process without big process adjustments and with the same end product reliability. So, once again, the wet process and equipment manufactur- ers must be included in the development work as early as possible; working together enables the best manufacturability for the new prod- uct design. Johnson: As the industry responds to these requirements and these demands, is the current infrastructure able to support that and really the answer is to a point, but not as far as we know it's going to have to go. ere will be a point where there needs to be investment. Rapala-Virtanen: I have heard some fabs say they would like to invest in new machines in manufacturing. But simultaneously it's also mentioned that the new equipment delivery time is longer than it used to be. As you know, all lead times are getting longer: components, materials, you name it. If you think about PCB manufacturing, there are a limited number of companies which are making the equipment, and if simultaneously comes the Industry 4.0, who will be the winner? Johnson: Right. at does pose a challenge. Rapala-Virtanen: We are living in very interest- ing times. Johnson: ank you. Rapala-Virtanen: ank you as well. PCB007