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September 2014 • The PCB Magazine 55 MAKING THE IMPOSSIBLE POSSIBLE continues Too Good to be True? If you've been around the PCB industry for as long as I have, you know that if something sounds too good to be true, it usually is! We've seen a couple of hopeful additive processes come along in the past 30 years or so, and they fiz - zled out as quickly as they came. As a result, many have a crusty cynicism that has lingered because of the failed promises of the past. Quite frankly, I've been try- ing to shoot holes in the eSurface technology for a while now with little to no success. There are only two potential limitations I see thus far—and they don't appear to be deal- breakers. The first is that using the eSurface co- valent bond and electroless copper only allows you to plate up to a maximum of a half-ounce of copper. Of course, if you are plating fine fea- tures, this is more than enough copper because the ratio of the width and height of a trace. If you want more copper, you can flood the panel with copper, after the eSurface build up, and then use regular print-and-etch on top of the eS- urface layer. This is considered a semi-additive solution which stills works extremely well. The second issue is related to aspect ratio. On a very thick board, it is difficult to fully flood the inside of the hole-wall with light for photo exposure. Any surface not exposed with light could result in voids. Again, a simple solu- tion is to simply photo print one side at a time so the hole-wall gets fully exposed. A unique Model When faced with the decision to be an intel- lectual property company or a chemical compa- ny, eSurface chose to be the former. This means they are going to license the technology to PCB manufacturers, handing over their IP and letting the innovators in our industry develop applica- tions that have not yet been dreamed of. The tech- nology has so shattered the mold of how boards can be made that it may enable untold innova- tions within the electronics industry. However, this is the PCB industry, and we have survived a decimation of our industry in this country and continue to white-knuckle every ounce of business we have. We don't like licenses, or ambiguities, and innova - tion seems too risky when we are operating on razor-thin margins. In short—risk is too risky! In my opinion, this is the one thing that is slowing adoption of eSurface. As part of our due diligence here at Transline, I am working on two things that will hopeful - ly offer some concrete data. I am having some microwave test structures de- signed and will run side-by-side samples of eS- urface with print-and-etch samples. Afterward, we will measure performance and physical ge- ometries, which will give us some actual data to support eSurface claims. Secondly, we are await- ing data to support real-world cost savings in a commercial environment. Additionally, much testing is taking place at the eSurface lab and, over time, we will certainly see the results of that work. I will certainly share these results with you, as they become available. The Future of eSurface An eSurface line has been in place since January 2014 at one PCB shop in Silicon Valley. Since the installation of eSurface, yields have risen sharply and dramatically. The owner com- mented that, after a few short days, they were able to produce the "best boards they have ever made." On one particularly challenging design with very fine lines, the yields went from under 17% to approximately 90%. Transline Technology is currently evaluating eSurface; the leaders of our company are in the end stages of their evaluation process now. Doz- ens of other PCB manufacturers in California and across North America are in varying stages of evaluation or adoption and installation. Con- currently, Japan is quickly and eagerly adopt- ing the technology due to the high demand for