Issue link: https://iconnect007.uberflip.com/i/1522641
20 PCB007 MAGAZINE I JUNE 2024 strate, which has become increasingly impor- tant. ere is no reason why companies that build PCBs couldn't scale up for interposers. I think we will do more of this. Some are saying, especially in Asia, that we will approach a time when there will be no more PCBs. What are your thoughts on this? If we focus for a moment just on smartphones and tablets, these are all made with build- up technologies. ey are very thin layers, oen non-reinforced or using quite different reinforcements. is is an Asian story now. So, that's an area where some of that may be true. Managing more fan-out with large-scale BGAs requires build-up technologies, which give you the flexibility to make those connec- tions. However, I take issue with the statement that there will be no more PCBs. at will not hap- pen in my lifetime, and I expect to live a few more years yet. e PCB is ubiquitous, and using glass reinforcements provides many ben- efits, especially for stability and larger panels. ere are still many reasons why we want to use glass fabric. ere is a place for these large panel inter- connects. However, there's also a place for PCB substrates using conventional materi- als with some areas on them using other tech- nologies. I can see a lot of hybrid work happen- ing. Is there too much talk about advanced packaging right now? We won't see a wholesale change on this, but chip packaging and materials are absolutely hot topics. ere is no doubt that we're see- ing a lot of growth in the packaging area and that we need to invest in and be educated in these technologies in the West, or we will be le behind. But I see everything coexisting, and there's a place for all of this. So, we won't see a complete replacement, but we'll certainly see massive growth in packaging, which cov- ers what we're talking about with using the You may be familiar with some of the metal-in-board technologies, heavy copper, or embedded coins—things to actually con- nect the silicon to a heat sink to get the heat out, even using the back of the board and any medium. Again, this is a standard technology and a big area of interest for Ventec. But with this technology, you can now use a bondply layer to add additional resin to embed these heat sink devices, which is also ther- mally conductive. You can use these materi- als in the structure as well, and that really fits for high thermal demand devices—metal-in- board, heavy copper, and power circuits, in general, rectifiers, motor drivers, and high voltage. We're seeing more of that with electric vehicles. With the shi in energy generation toward solar panels on your roof with inverters and wind turbines, these high-power devices have a lot of current flowing through them and, consequently, a lot of heat to deal with. So, there's a whole world opening for these glassless, more flexible types of materials where thermal meets electrical. It solves a lot of prob- lems, and it's a fascinating area. We launched the pro-bond and thermal-bond products at IPC APEX EXPO in Anaheim. ey are a great addi- tion to Ventec's portfolio of specialty materials. Interposers are interesting in terms of pack- aging. They seem like something the PCB fabricators could participate in, but is that more of an assembly thing? Interposers are just a progression of the inter- relationship between the silicon and the sub-