Issue link: https://iconnect007.uberflip.com/i/1525368
AUGUST 2024 I PCB007 MAGAZINE 23 you can, at the very least, know what parameters were used. Part of that process includes building up confi- dence with the large amount of sup- porting data that justifies the param- eters you've automated. is helps discourage manual changes to the parameters/process on the floor level. Alex, what are the most challenging materials when it comes to drilling? For materials, there are a few that stand out. One of them is the PTFE family of materials. ey're very so, and oentimes they're sand- wiched between regular FR-4 or something else that is much harder. You're talking about hybrid stackups? Yes, that presents a unique challenge for drill- ing because it's almost like drilling through a sandwich made with concrete bread and a bubble gum filling. You can imagine how that presents a challenge for drilling. e coated tools have the added benefit of being more wear-resistant than standard tools. Recent analysis has indicated that they get more than three times the amount of wear vs. an uncoated tool. at allows the tool to remain as sharp as possible even when hit counts rise. Reducing wear and maintaining sharpness is very impor- tant when cutting through soer materials to ensure you're cutting and not tearing the mate- rial. Worn tools also lead to increased operat- ing temperatures, leading to increased occur- rence of heat-related defects. Not only does coating make the tools last lon- ger and more precise, it keeps them at peak sharpness, providing clean cutting through very soft surfaces and hard surfaces simulta- neously, and you're not smearing. Yes, exactly. People using standard tools oen have resorted to very low hit counts to accom- plish a similar effect, but that is costly, not only from a tool consumption standpoint, but it is also costly from a time standpoint. e lower the maximum hit count, the higher the fre- quency of your tool changes and thus your cycle time becomes unwieldy. If you can have a tool that is wearing less and gets more hits while maintaining hole wall quality, it's a big positive net effect on your process without having to take extreme measures and grind your drill process to a halt. For example, we had a customer drilling a PTFE hybrid build with standard tools. e best they could get was about eight hours per load simply due to the number of tool changes and parameter modifications that were SEM of CARBONITE Coating Thickness (0.178um, .000007")