Issue link: https://iconnect007.uberflip.com/i/950499
26 PCB007 MAGAZINE I MARCH 2018 Dreiza: I would start by saying that I think the overall approach to one of a green manufacturing site, or a highly sustainable manufactur- ing site, that can handle some of the most advanced PCB materi- als and PCB projects, certainly is generating a good deal of inter- est from what we've heard in the North American market. It's a bold step, but it shows the possibilities of what is achievable. I'm seeing a high degree of interest in the market for comparable ap- proaches. Maybe not necessarily to the whole way that Alex has put it together, because Alex has filled in a lot of the blanks and connect- ed the dots between the different processes, which is already in its own right quite a good deal of work. But I think that certainly people are starting to sit up and take notice of what is possible with some of the more advanced sys- tems, which is really the combination of equip- ment and chemistry. Matties: I would think that the zero-discharge requirement was a challenge and one that would be sought after as well. Dreiza: Yes. So far as our horizontal systems, by design, are low-flow, low-water consump- tion. We have things, for example, like con- densers on our exhaust, which capture a lot of the chemistry that is in the exhaust and brings it back into the tanks so that you're not just ex- hausting a lot of the chemistry and a lot of the water that you are bringing into the system. Our systems are, by default, already quite con- servative in their use of water as Daniel also underlined. We are seeing that as a thing of very high interest in the market in all regions. I've seen it in the Northeast, and in the South- west of the U.S., and in Canada. People are paying a lot more attention to it than I've ever seen before. What Alex has done of course is take that and multiply it across his entire fac- tory, which is a great deal and achievement. Goldman: It is. I guess a lot of people didn't think it was possible. Schmidt: Yes, I agree. The results are remarkable and we are looking back at a great deal and achieve- ment. Our systems have always run at a much lower chemical or water consumption rates compared to any of our competitors, and therefore also at a much lower process cost. In addition, we are looking at high productivity and yield rates at the GreenSource site. At GreenSource, our systems could be even further trimmed to perform at almost zero raw material consump- tions, water and energy levels, as well as al- most no liquid waste/discharge. What Alex and his team have accomplished here is really a great deal. Extensive clean- ing cycles in the desmear process, what is to- day considered standard could be almost com- pletely eliminated. The electroless copper pro- cess saves a lot of water, as well as sodium hydroxide and formaldehyde, compared to a vertical system. In the electrolytic copper plat- ing step, we can realize fast plating, excellent surface distribution and yield at lowest chem- istry consumptions when compared to other insoluble anode systems using copper oxide or copper carbonate; several tons of plating solu- tion can be saved per year. Last, but not least, a high copper loading bonding enhancement bath allows GreenSource to reduce the bleed amount and make-up frequencies, while keep- ing the same reliable performance of the high- end bonding solutions from Atotech. Matties: It is remarkable, indeed. It's an achievement that doesn't go unnoticed here. You guys have mentioned the growing demand for HDI production in North America. What sort of inquiries are you getting specifically re- lated to HDI from North America? Have you seen a large increase in that? Dreiza: We are seeing a high interest in, for ex- ample, microvia reliability. That seems to be one of the hot topics that we've heard about in maybe the last six months. But in terms of people adapting new equipment, new process- es, to address those, I think those are still com- Moody Dreiza