Issue link: https://iconnect007.uberflip.com/i/1453746
38 PCB007 MAGAZINE I FEBRUARY 2022 down to, for the sake of conversation, about 20 microns. But with different photolithography equipment technologies you can get down to 8 microns. From there, the problem becomes cleanliness and handling; we're talking class 1,000 cleanrooms for much of the process and class 100 cleanrooms for imaging. Matties: e real investment is in the imaging department in terms of new equipment. LaBeau: Sure. Also, chemical and etching lines, and for substrates, laminators, and laser drills. Brassard: is really depends on the additive process employed at a shop. We understand a variety of additive processes. For example, the A-SAP technology's feature size is not limited by their chemistry; the limitation arises from a shop's imaging capabilities, cleanliness, han- dling, and ability to work at small scales. We are successfully imaging down to 18 microns using Orbotech LDI machines rated for 25 microns on epoxy/glass PCBs and ABF build-up substrates. Where imaging at 15 microns is a must for standard C4 bumps in microelectronics, we are pushing down to 8 microns over the next couple of months. What are the yields going to look like? We'll see. We need standard 80–90% yields to do this business and, as Happy Holden likes to remind us, our engineers must thoroughly understand the failure modes. Shaughnessy: If somebody was running a tradi- tional board shop, and they were about to start doing additive and semi-additive, what equip- ment might they have to invest in? Brassard: ink chemical processes: tanks, transports, timers, and chemistry. LaBeau: Yes. Also, depending on what kind of resolution a shop wants to achieve, the photo- lithography and AOI equipment. Todd is refer- encing getting the right chemistries for work- ing with thin materials, internal stresses, and Z-axis expansion, which can be a little differ- ent than traditional subtractive PCB manufac- turing. Also, if traces are getting smaller, then there's laser drilling and microvia plating. Matties: What's the projected demand? Brassard: Isn't that the question everyone's asking? at's the million-dollar question. Matties: Right. Are we talking about an indus- try-wide transformation, or is it a few shops that will meet demand? Because if, as a fabri- cator, I invest in this technology, now I really need to invest in my marketing to sell my abil- ity to produce this and convince somebody that they should be utilizing it. Brassard: e domestic electronics indus- try will continue to feel the unrelenting pres- sure of miniaturization. If the U.S. can't catch up and keep up, our country will only con- tinue to fall further behind. Asia is just going to keep getting better with cutting-edge man- ufacturing. Presently, they are manufacturing massive amounts of very advanced consumer technology (mobile devices, high-speed com- puting) every day, where the U.S. is just trying to get enough capability and capacity to meet the minimum needs of the DoD prime OEMs which are urgently working to find any capac- ity in the United States. e more advanced the electronic system, the increasing unlike- We need standard 80-90% yields to do this business and, as Happy Holden likes to remind us, our engineers must thoroughly under- stand the failure modes.