Issue link: https://iconnect007.uberflip.com/i/1520956
44 PCB007 MAGAZINE I MAY 2024 is still a growing market. It brings a lot of pos- sibilities to light. e nice thing is that we're exploring many of those possibilities using dif- ferent combinations of materials and processes to achieve miniaturization through additive technology and create a more robust process while doing it. I get the feeling that saying "yes" is some- thing you really enjoy about your job. Abel: I get a kick out of looking at stuff that nobody else wants to touch. at's the most exciting challenge. ere is a tremendous amount of communication and work done upfront with the customer and our teams. We have very open lines of communication with some very knowledgeable people who are both accessible and available to work with cus- tomers. We sit down, look at what the proj- ect is, and we work through it together. is approach is an important part of what we do and why we are successful. It sets us apart. We struggle in the PCB industry with having direct access to OEMs and get- ting earlier intervention with designing for manufacturability and designing for excel- lence. Does your level of technology give you more of this opportunity? Sidali Koulougli: Most of our direct customers are contract manufacturers, and we love sup- porting them. We have great partnerships there which have facilitated our becoming involved in certain projects. We see signifi- cantly more direct OEM involve- ment, especially with defense and aerospace. How do you first approach mak- ing a process or product more robust? Abel: You have your methods and machinery, but there is a lot of communication that must happen between those two things. e peo- ple make the difference. We talk to our opera- them to engineers and designers, giving them a more precise end product for their designs. Tolerance is always an issue. Tighter tolerances seem to bring customer engineers a lot of joy. We are bringing the tighter tolerances to the board level. I've been hearing a lot about antennas. Abel: Antennas are a big deal in the aero- space and defense sectors and in the com- mercial world as well. What would Tesla do if they couldn't have antennas in their cars, sens- ing where to go autonomously? ey include things like phase-array antennas and very ultra high-definition coils but within the circuit board. We are blending the ultra high-defini- tion side and the board technology using 1-mil line and space technology with standard cir- cuit board technology right now. We are trying to blend those two worlds, especially for customers in RF communica- tions. Some of our larger customers have been expressing interest. Over the past six months, we have been able to successfully produce a true half-mil line and space in some of our tests. Over the past two years, we've made a lot of improvements in the shop and invested in new equipment to address miniaturization of fea- tures. Eventually, I'd like to get to a six-micron or quarter-mil line and space. We're looking at different equip- ment to support that down the road. It is really all about miniaturiza- tion and reliability. A lot of folks will miniaturize things, but it will be very unstable. e yields are very low. We're looking at mak- ing a more robust miniaturization process with good yields that pro- duce quality results. Miniaturization and wearable embedded technology is a big market for flex. Abel: Yes. It's fun to look at all this in concert with using things like rigid-flex and flex, which Sidali Koulougli