Issue link: https://iconnect007.uberflip.com/i/1453746
16 PCB007 MAGAZINE I FEBRUARY 2022 processes and products run. To change them over to a new one is going to be more difficult. But if it's a factory that's been constantly mov- ing forward with their technology and reedu- cating their team on a regular basis, this should be just another step, or another note in what they're doing in terms of their overall pursuit of the market. Johnson: Tara was talking earlier about not needing design rules, and that oen is a way of communicating what one wants to do inside a new process. How does that fabricator get their CAM team up to speed? Dunn: at's a good question, and it's some- thing that everybody's working on as we go through this. A lot of that is just knowledge based—helping everybody involved with it from CAM through final inspection, becoming familiar with the process itself, and the capa- bilities of the process. Something else to keep in mind is the A-SAP process, or semi-addi- tive process at Averatek, is not going to solve all the struggles for PCB fabricators. If you're struggling with, say, via-in-pad plated-over technology, having this new technology on its own won't fix that problem. You're still going to have to work through all the other fabrica- tion processes, hurdles, and idiosyncrasies of building these complex designs. at said, the additive process can simplify and, in certain cases, decrease the dependence on those types of technologies at the board fab- rication level. at goes back to those design rules. What I continue to push for is more of a collaborative approach, at least until we get a strong base to start putting some rules in place. Vinson: A lot of these design rules are going to be generated application by application, so where I start is with a good understanding of what the new boundary conditions are. Matties: One of the things that was recently pointed out to me is that for fabricators offer- ing additive, it opens the door to customers they aren't necessarily talking to, but wind up buying a traditional board in any case because there's interest in that technology. As we look at all the manufacturing resources that they need to bring into place, there's also market- ing that they need to consider and how they're going to present their companies. What advice are you providing those companies to market? Dunn: A nice marketing approach to this is that we're adding another tool in the toolbox for PCB designers. Not all designs are going to need additive processes. A lot of them will still be sub- tractive etch. So, for a fabricator to have a larger offering and expanded capabilities is a benefit to both the OEMs and to the PCB fabricators. Matties: It sounds like this, obviously, is gain- ing traction. Is it where you expected it to be in terms of market acceptance at this point? Is it behind, ahead, or right on pace? Dunn: I'm probably the over-optimistic person in our group. I wish the adoption had come a little bit faster. But I do think that having a year and a half where we haven't been able to meet face to face has slowed some things down, as Mike Vinson