Issue link: https://iconnect007.uberflip.com/i/1454922
140 I-CONNECT007 I REAL TIME WITH... IPC APEX EXPO 2022 SHOW & TELL MAGAZINE Voices of the Show: Christopher Bonsell, Chemcut Interview by Barry Matties Barry Matties visits with Christopher Bonsell, a young chemical engineer at Chemcut, who's loving the variety that his job offers and the opportunities he's finding that he never imagined as a college stu- dent at Penn State. Barry Matties: You are the process engineer, chemical engineer, at Chemcut. By industry standards, you're quite young. What attracted you to our industry? Chris Bonsell: Honestly, I was introduced to Chem- cut and the industry through some people I knew. They were involved with the company and then I started looking into it more, I realized it would be a great job. It's a very versatile industry and there's just so much to learn. Matties: Yeah, there is. Tell me what a typical day is like for you as a process engineer. Bonsell: Typically, I'm going back and forth between the laboratories. Normally we have customer visits, so they'll try to test different processes, but cur- rently right now I am looking into how to better our machines so I will spend most of the day tweaking the machine, trying to find what will get you a better outcome on your products. Matties: How do you define what a better outcome is or what's the parameter or metrics that you are setting for yourself? Bonsell: Usually the main thing I'm focusing on is etch uniformity and the idea of trying to get a better etch throughout the entire panel. With larger pan- els, it's harder to get a flat curve because usually it etches slower in the middle than it does on the edges. Essentially the metric is just to try to get the lowest standard deviation as possible and we com- pare that to the bottom performance because you have gravity helping you whenever you're trying to edge the bottom of a panel vs. on top where you have a puddling effect. Matties: Right. Now I've seen other companies do flip, so they etch one side at a time. Bonsell: Yes. Matties: To solve that, I've seen vertical takes on this. Puddling is something that's quite difficult to solve. How are you approaching that? Bonsell: That is one process that Don Ball, one of our other chemical process engineers, is working very hard on, but one of the things that we use to counteract this is intermittent spray. This is a process where we let the panel pass through a little bit and then we will shoot etchant into the middle at a high pressure to start etching in the middle of the panel and get that started before it goes through the rest of the process. With this, you get a pre-etch before, that way you don't have a big amount. It kind of covers that middle part. Matties: When you look at your career, where do you hope to be in five to 10 years? Bonsell: I want to have a big hand in the research and development, trying to make sure that we end up making equipment that can produce a better product. I really want to help make advancements in, honestly, all industries. If we can try for thinner, flexible circuits, for example, because I know that's always a drive. Just trying to make sure that we can make a product that can put forward more techno- logical advancements. Matties: Now tell me about your degree. Where did you go to school?