Issue link: https://iconnect007.uberflip.com/i/1481876
OCTOBER 2022 I PCB007 MAGAZINE 9 cess by understanding how printing, etching, plating, and imaging all work together. We start out with a great interview with Loren David- son of TTM Chippewa Falls, who explains his medium-volume facility's imaging processes, and why it's so important to let the data drive all your decisions. Happy Holden's column focuses on laser direct imaging—its advantages and its disadvantages. Chris Bonsell of Chem- cut discusses how to optimize your etcher for better imaging results. Alexandre Camus, Damien Boureau, and Alexis Guilbert of Altix bring us an article that compares the pros and cons of web and digital imaging systems. And Mivatek's Brendan Hogan provides the five top priorities for implementing a DI system. We also have columns from our contribu- tors Travis Kelly, George Milad, Hannah Nel- son, Mike Carano, Steve Williams, Christo- pher Bonsell, and Todd Kolmodin. And don't miss the interview with Atotech's Stefan Ste- fanescu, who discusses the company's latest suite of control soware for wet processes. We have a busy trade show season coming up. I hope to meet with some of you on the road. See you next month. PCB007 is only as strong as its weakest link; the best imaging process in the world is still dependent on your shop's printing, etching, plating, and drilling. Customers are becoming more educated about the capabilities and hurdles related to imaging. ey oen want to see straight side- walls, not trapezoidal, that mSAP has made a reality. Straight sidewalls on traces offer a vari- ety of benefits, including interference reduc- tion, and they just look better, don't they? (Admit it: e beauty contest among your co- workers is real.) e old axiom says, "It's all relative." We're primarily speaking of the North American fab- rication market, which is made up of low- and medium-volume fabricators. ese companies are barely an aerthought for the big imaging equipment makers serving the Asian high-vol- ume market. To the big imaging equipment makers, North American fabs are "the little guys." Keep that in mind. As we see in this issue, there are still plenty of variables to deal with in imaging, making solid data collection and analysis practices a must. Several of this month's contributors point out the many ways to get burned by trusting your gut instinct instead of your imaging data. Cost, yield, and quality all depend on a fabricator's ability to collect and interpret data. So, in this issue, our experts will discuss ways for the readers to fine-tune their imaging pro- Andy Shaughnessy is managing editor of Design007 Magazine and co-managing editor for PCB007 Magazine. He has been covering PCB design for 20 years. He can be reached by clicking here.