Issue link: https://iconnect007.uberflip.com/i/1520956
68 PCB007 MAGAZINE I MAY 2024 health and smells bad. You also get rid of main- tenance tasks because you do not have so many different machines that need to be maintained. is all translates directly to money saved. What types of printing can your machine do inside one system? Schmidt: Besides solder mask printing, we offer a legend option in our machines, so both solder mask and legend can be printed inside one machine. You are loading only one time to print both. Instead of legend, you could choose a second or third-color solder mask. You can print 3D structures and walls and print a matte or glossy finish by simply changing the print strategy. We only print where we need the ink, but we also print as much as we want. You can use the same machine with additional printouts and the additional check system. Hahn: One of the most significant ben- efits is that you have good control over thickness in areas where it is a consid- eration. We conducted a study where the thickness was 50 microns in one area of the board and 100 microns in another area. If you have a small area of the PCB where you have very high currents, you can fill that, or you can cover it with a greater thick- ness very locally. In a more conventional ink- jet process, you would need to go very slowly over that area many times to get the desired thickness. But with this process, you can do it in one go, based on how you program the machine. is is very fast. You print only where you need to. Figure 3: A breakdown of the digital inkjet process. Figure 2: Notion's demo board explains all the possibilities in more detail.