Issue link: https://iconnect007.uberflip.com/i/1515637
58 DESIGN007 MAGAZINE I FEBRUARY 2024 line and space features. ere are many cases where people are trying to get over that hurdle in routing out the fine-pitch devices. As soon as they start utilizing this technology, they will find out how easy it really is. Interesting. John, tell me about Figure 3. What are we looking at? is is a sample on liquid crystal polymer material: a 4-mil (100-micron) thick substrate, and how far away these traces can be from a plane layer. ey can actually be very tight and close to each other. In this case, it's 17-micron, 11-micron wide traces, and 13 microns high. ey can have a lot of electrical effect with each other with differential pairing because they're so tight. at ground plane is so far away that it has very little effect at that point. Earlier you talked about biocompatibility. at's the beauty of using noble metals that are stable inside the body. If it's on an LCP or polyimide material, folks are using it in neural probes, glucose monitors, and other types of implantables. Glucose monitors are out there, but when you get something without copper or nickel, it makes it easier to stay longer in the body. We both work with FreedomCAD and we talked about UHDI at the last webi- nar we did with them. They're always looking to reduce footprints or improve performance. How do you get the word out to everyone who needs to know this is a viable design option? We've had several seminars with our customers—discussions like we're hav- ing here. at's part of the key, but we're also putting together design guidelines, recommendations, and other things you need to watch out for when you're build- ing parts. ENIG is a great finish, but when you have a 1-mil line and space, you put two-tenths of nickel down, and all of a sudden, it's six-tenths of a mil space, and it gets a little more interesting. I found it incredible that from a design stand- point, you can eliminate virtually 70% of the ball or solder connections. Right, and when you start looking at it, you can get rid of that redistribution layer and solder right down to the chip. It's pretty amazing. John, this has been a fantastic discussion. This technology is truly amazing, and it's something that even 10 years ago nobody could have even dreamed about. You guys are making it happen. It's very exciting, and that's the fun part. I enjoy what I'm doing. In this part of my career, the ability to bring this to the point of reality is just fabulous. I appreciate your time and your expertise on this, and we'll be talking to you soon. anks Steve, I welcome every opportunity to talk about this technology. DESIGN007 Steve Williams is president of The Right Approach Consulting. To read past columns, click here. Figure 3.