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60 The PCB Magazine • March 2016 DMS-E Process DMS-E technology is based on intrinsic con- ductive polymers that allow metallization of dielectric and electrically non-conductive areas without electroless copper as a seed layer. The conductive polymer film is generated in situ by a three-step process (conditioner, initiator and catalyst) on the non-conductive areas of the PCB (Figure 6). Conditioner The primary function of the conditioner is to wet the non-conductive part of the drilled hole to prepare for the initiator step. One pos- sibility for a conditioner is to use a sweller in Special treatment is necessary to prepare the drilled hole surface, especially with glass rein- forced rigid substrates for metallization. There are different approaches to achieve this objec- tive. Of which, direct metallization is one of the most desirable processes due to some of its unique advantages. These are lower energy consumption and greener technology. Figure 5 shows a typical direct metallization process known as DMS-E. Flexible as well as rigid-flex- ible PCBs do pose substantially enhanced chal- lenges on manufacturing because of cost sensi- tivity and the need for high reliability, making the use of direct metallization systems and opti- mized pretreatment procedures essential. direCt metallization system for flexible printed CirCuits Figure 3: Typical four-layer rigid-flex construction. Figure 4: Typical rigid-flex substrate detail. Figure 5: DMs-E process.