Issue link: https://iconnect007.uberflip.com/i/1490123
14 PCB007 MAGAZINE I JANUARY 2023 Johnson: Most everything that we're talking about hinges on producing substrates in very large production volumes. So how do OEMs prototype? Vardaman: It depends on what your market is; defense is not a huge volume. Fujitsu has a very small-scale operation that they do inter- nally for some high-density stuff; it's very small volume. R&D Altanova, as I mentioned, does some prototypes, but the level of investment is not trivial. is is just for today's requirements, by the way. If you want to scale to the next genera- tion, there are many more considerations on the kind of equipment you need, and what the process is. I see package substrate of the future very different from the PCB production line of today. is means you must approach it with a completely different mindset. Johnson: What does that substrate facility of tomorrow look like? How is it different from the typical PCB fab? Vardaman: at facility is in a clean room. It has a large amount of automated equipment, metrol- ogy to improve process yield, and other capa- bilities that you may not have in a printed cir- cuit board company today. It's not likely a com- pletely different set of equipment—you might still do some lamination—but your plating and dielectric materials will probably be different. Johnson: If someone funded and built a facility here in the United States, where will they find the talent to operate it? Vardaman: You've hit on another problem. As we've seen, the talent pool is somewhat lim- ited. You have to find new people to go into this area, and I'm not sure that the skill set is exactly the same to operate the tools as in printed cir- cuit boards, so you would need to have some training. Johnson: Where would that facility get their equipment? Vardaman: ey order it from overseas. ere are some people in the U.S. planning to make equipment for future production possibili- ties—glass, for example. I hear a lot of talk about glass. A company just broke ground in Georgia, and I think they're getting most of their equipment from Korea to do a glass panel that you can embed things in, which is an alter- native to these laminate substrates. But most people are still looking at laminate substrates, and the lithography equipment, for example, comes from Japan. ere are also European equipment suppliers and a few U.S. companies in the market. It's worth mentioning as well that much of that equipment is backordered for a couple of years. But if you're developing something new—and this is happening—then maybe that equipment set is more like fab equipment that's made by someone here in the United States, like LAM or Applied Materials. But that pro- cess is yet to be determined. People are mostly using steppers for the lithography part; that's Ushio, Inc., a Japa- nese company. Some have looked at maskless lithography—laser direct imaging—but that's limited with respect to how small your line and space can go. ere are plating systems from Atotech, and laser drilling that you probably could use from the printed circuit board side. I see package substrate of the future very different from the PCB production line of today. This means you must approach it with a completely different mindset.