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14 DESIGN007 MAGAZINE I APRIL 2022 we keep behind the vest with respect to our manufacturing operations. What the additive technology enables is ultra-fine features and ultra-high definition. e enabling technology provides metallization in very high-density configurations to make high-density intercon- nects. We have demonstrated the technology down to 15-micron lines and spaces, which was, at the time, the limit of the laser technol- ogy that we had. As the LDI technology becomes more pre- cise, we'll have the ability to go further down that pathway. So, we look to being capable of doing 8-micron lines and spaces and below by 2023. e real drivers for the technology are min- iaturization and the need for greater speed. If you look at some of the frequencies that are required to enable a communication, you are getting up into the 5G-plus mindset. e layer counts within the circuit boards aren't increas- ing, but the number of interconnects between those layers is increasing. You can have a lot of fun with respect to the layers that are being interconnected and how the microvias are being stacked and racked upon each other. Sometimes you stack them right on top of each other. Other times, you stagger them out a lit- tle bit, depending on the signal integrity that you want. With respect to the additive processes, first we have semi-additive technology, which is a fairly new process. In a lot of cases, you take the ultra-thin copper foils, or the plating applied to the substrate. You hit it with photo-sensitive materials, etch away that ultra-thin part of the copper, and then start to plate back up. at's the semi-additive process. e fully additive process is the newest tech- nology, where you print the pattern that you want on the substrate without copper foil, using a palladium or platinum-based chemis- try, and expose it with a laser or a UV source of radiation. en you allow the electroless cop- per plating to be deposited, followed by elec- trolytic plating is allows us to create ultra-fine traces down to sub-15-micron type technology. We're excited about the opportunities, espe- cially in the in-betweens, where you're using hybrid interposer layers to try to connect this heterogeneous integrated package together. Barry Matties: I'm curious about what the challenges are for designers. Are you offer- ing design services, or are you working with designers to help them understand how to effi- ciently design for additive or semi-additive? Torp: We work with the designers. A lot of the tried-and-true design technologies are based upon the subtractive methodology, whereas the additive methodology is a little bit differ- ent. Your sequence of operations and how you build the structures is different. If you want to build a house, are you going to hog it out, or are you going to machine it out of a tree? You've got a big tree and you're going to machine a Dave Torp