52 DESIGN007 MAGAZINE I DECEMBER 2025
C O N N ECT T H E D OTS
by Mat t Stevenson, ASC Sunstone C ircuits
If you read my column regularly, you know I'm
passionate about helping designers get the most
from their designs. With the demands on electronic
devices and board complexity increasing, it is
important to look to the future of designing for the
reality of manufacturing.
The future for many electronic products is ultra
high density interconnect (UHDI) PCBs. When
designing UHDI boards, the choices you make are
key to achieving more functionality in your PCBs
and the electronic devices they power.
In my November column, I focused on designer
best practices for the electroless copper compo-
The Future of Designing for
Reality: Outer Layer Imaging
nent of the manufacturing process. The next step
is outer layer imaging: the transition from digital to
physical, and where the designer's IP meets the
board.
The conversion of digital designs to physical
products was the topic of an episode of I-Con-
nect007's On the Line with… podcast, explain-
ing how the outer layer imaging process maps the
design's unique features onto the board.
Designers must have a solid working knowledge
of how their manufacturing partners apply the
photo image to the external layers—the method of
physically transferring the digital image onto cop-
