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92 PCB007 MAGAZINE I MAY 2022 relationships within a company or within the industry can be essential to decreasing the generational divide. All parties win in these relationships. Regardless of whether you've mentored in the past, I highly recommend giving it a try. Aer all, we grow by helping each other. PCB007 Paige Fiet is a process engineer at TTM-Logan and part of the IPC Emerging Engineer Program. To read past columns or contact Fiet, click here. organically. Several of my mentorships have happened from natural relationships that have progressed into them becoming an "unofficial" mentor. Another opportunity geared toward industry is IPC's Emerging Engineer Program. is program aims to introduce engineers to varying sectors of the electronics industry as well as the standards that regulate it. Engi- neers in their first five years in industry can join the program as a mentee. ey will then be assigned a mentor who has participated in the industry for at least 10 years. Mentorship is one of the best ways to grow and retain your employees. Creating these By Luca Gautero My article in the April 2022 issue of Design007 Magazine, titled "Additive Manufacturing Requires Additive Design Techniques," presented several cross sections of solder mask coated with an inkjet technology. However, the choice of the cut's loca- tion, and therefore the highlight of the picture, is slightly different from the usual dam or copper edge coverage. This illustrated my point and most struc- tures of solder mask showed in the figures would not be anything new to my readers. Several articles have explained lateral definition and stacking prin- ciples. Still, when the knowledge used as a starting point to examine these cross sections is from traditional solder mask (which mostly resembles rectangles), it is difficult to trust right away that any other shape will be as reliable. The best way to highlight this difference is not necessarily with a cross section, but with a top view. Figure 1 shows one of the concepts explained in my March 2022 column titled, "Drop-forging Solder Mask Thickness With Inkjet." The usual questions refer to the solder mask adhesion to copper or laminate, its inertness to chemical attacks of post-treatments at high pro- cessing temperatures, and temperature stability during further manufacturing or product ageing. The wetting behavior of the surface, controlla- ble by the pre-treatment choice, has a wide pro- cess window 1 . The contact angle imposed by the wetting behavior, when combined with the low vis- cosity of the ink, fills any intricate roughness cre- ated by pre-treatments. This ensures the mechani- cal bonding of the anchor effect. Additional to the safety of this mechani- cal bonding is the inherent tapering of the solder mask thickness towards its edge. To read the entire column, click here. COLUMN EXCERPT: Additive Reality Let's Drop a Line About PCB Cross Sections Figure 1: Comparison of traditional vs. solder mask. The tapering of the solder mask thickness towards the edge of the pattern is especially visible on copper. (Source: ACB-Atlantec SAS)