Issue link: https://iconnect007.uberflip.com/i/1476200
38 PCB007 MAGAZINE I AUGUST 2022 issue with microvia interfacial fracture for the past few years, particularly on stacked blind vias, three or four stacks. It's been a big con- cern in the industry. You have folks who say, "We need some help on this." Others say, "Oh, I've already solved the problem." ey don't want to be part of the group because they don't want to give anything away, but it's not solved; it's still out there, and it's still going to happen. ere's more work that has to be done. At least some of the consortia out there like HDPUG, iNEMI, and the group with the European Space Agency are working together across the industry to solve technical problems. I particu- larly like to see those efforts going on. One of my first papers with IPC's ought Leader Program was about working across clusters and how we can leverage the cur- rent existing infrastructures in various pock- ets around the country: San Jose, Los Ange- les, Orange County, Colorado, Chicago, Min- neapolis, where there are groups of fabricators that can get together and maybe leverage their work by setting up a central laser drilling oper- ation or working with universities to improve reliability. But that's what it takes—a lot of cooperation. I think if you can do that with industry and aca- demia, with the help of government, you could make a lot of improvements here and enhance reliability. I look for that cluster like they have in Silicon Valley. Suddenly it spawned all these companies, because it was a cluster, and every- thing grew from there. It was the same thing with automotive. Why Detroit? Because it was a cluster. Matties: Is there an industry moonshot? When the U.S. was going to the moon, everybody knew what we were doing collectively across the country and the world was watching. Is there an industry moonshot that needs to be in play for this era? Carano: I don't see one right now. But that's a great question. As I've said, why can't we get 10 to 15 of these companies that probably now are 50 to 60% of the North American market for circuit board fab? I'm talking about individual companies that have multiple sites; not all of them have multiple sites, but most of them do. You take that, that's a big chunk. And I think the moonshot needs to be that we get help from the department of defense, DARPA, and from Congress, saying, "We finally recognize what a precarious position our future defense and our future security is in, because this technology is not here in enough volume." I think that's the moonshot. at's the concern of what's on the other side and who we're going to have to deal with if we can't do this. Matties: at ties to the performance metric as well. Now, if you can connect the moon- shot that has that higher purpose and the key measures of manufacturing performance, this becomes exciting as people see it happening and they want to become part of it. Carano: Well, that's a good point. And that's what happened too, when I saw some of these folks who joined iNEMI and others who got into HDPUG; they had people jumping in and they're still getting members to ante up and be part of this. It's not free, you've got to pay to get it and you've got to do some work, but peo- ple are looking at this and asking how we solve problems. How do we evaluate? For exam- ple, HDPUG probably did a great job on sev- eral iterations of evaluating different laminate I look for that cluster like they have in Silicon Valley. Suddenly it spawned all these companies, because it was a cluster, and every- thing grew from there.