Issue link: https://iconnect007.uberflip.com/i/782967
42 The PCB Magazine • February 2017 for sure. You are serving the global market, and of course, you're here in Europe. How's the European market for you? Fix: The European market is going well. It's very similar or evolving into what the U.S. market was. The U.S. market used to be a thriv- ing market, which over the years has become more specialized into high mix, low volume. We're starting to see the same evolution in Europe. A lot of the larger shops have shrunk a bit and there are more partnerships with China. There are still larger shops here in Eu- rope, there are still some very large shops serv- ing the automotive industry, but you still see that change happening. They're not as large as they once were and they're starting to look at making those higher layer cir cuit boards that create more value. DI has been a driving force as well. A lot more HDI types are being built. More prototype, which I think will be a driver as well here in Europe. Matties: In terms of DI in America, there are still quite a few shops from what I understand that have not committed, or they want it but they have not installed it yet. Just seems to me that it's a no-brainer. What would be the reasons that they wouldn't do that, other than financial? Fix: It's mainly financial. Matties: You would think the ROI would be rela- tively quick, especially when you start looking at the process that you're talking about. The solder mask and the elimination of all these other steps in other areas. It just seems like it would be a quick ROI. Fix: Sure. Like I said, I still see it moving more and more. We think probably in the next three years it might be all DI by then. I think you'll see the technology change relatively quickly now that there are more options. There was quite a bit of change initially, with the LDI, which was the first option for es- sentially everybody. Now that you have a doz- en-plus equipment manufacturers out there, it gives everyone so many more options. Matties: Right, and pricing becomes a little more competitive. Fix: Absolutely. Now you have more options and you have more market-to-price competi- tiveness. Everyone's offering something that's a little different and there's something for every- body now. Matties: By the way, what was Walt's [Custer] question from a little earlier? Fix: Walt was asking about its electrical proper- ties and its great crack resistance. What we've found with our heat spreader material is that it is shown to have better crack resistance than some of our standard automotive-type solder masks. We think a contributing factor is that it's dissipating some of the heat. Walt Custer: What about the moisture and in- sulation resistance? Fix: We find that the moisture and insulation resistance is comparable to the standard solder mask. We're not seeing any absorption of mois- ture into it. The curious thing we were probably more surprised with was that the crack resis- tance was as good as it was. The theory behind it was that a lot of the heat is being transferred out of it so it's not in there to cause any stresses. Custer: Solder masks have so many require- ments. When new suppliers bring them out, the first thing they think is it's green and it images but then all the electrical properties, resistance to various assembly operations and things like that. I see a lot of naïve people that say, "Oh, we have a new solder mask." Especially the equip- THE POWER OF THREE : TAIYO'S JOHN FIX ON NEW MATERIALS, PRODUCTS IN THE WORKS " We're starting to see the same evolution in Europe. A lot of the larger shops have shrunk a bit and there are more partnerships with China. "