Issue link: https://iconnect007.uberflip.com/i/950499
24 PCB007 MAGAZINE I MARCH 2018 Moody Dreiza: The nickel-gold process obvious- ly is a surface finish process, and we're also very excited to partner with Alex on that. Patty, you asked what is new that has not been done before. From my perspective, I would certainly say a lot of these activities have not been done before in the North American market. Key to many of the systems is our transportation sys- tems, which are most likely the most advanced in North America. Also, we did some customization, which is potentially one of a kind worldwide. The plumbing in the equipment was customized to conform to Alex's concept for minimal water use within the lines and the ability to handle multiple electrolytes. The flexibility mentioned is only possible be- cause of Atotech's unique status as both equip- ment fabricator and chemistry. Atotech provides the overall system solution of both equipment and chemistry, of which we are very proud. We talked a little bit about some of the in- novations on equipment and on the chemistry, like our Printoganth T1. This is the first instal- lation of this process in North America. Printo- ganth T1 is really targeting those blind micro- vias, specifically reliability of blind microvias, which is something that is becoming increas- ingly important in the industry as the via sizes shrink. And automotive requirements that we want are introduced into the market. We see a very high focus on reliability of blind micro- vias and from that perspective; we believe that we have a very robust overall solution. Matties: You mentioned your conveyor trans- port. Tell us what makes that so special now? Dreiza: The ability to handle different thick- nesses of material was something that we wanted to make sure was an option that was available to our customer. And I would prob- ably turn to Gerhard, if you would like to give more detail on that. Gerhard, maybe you can dive into some of the aspects of our UTS ac- cess system. Kruse: Yes, as Moody and Daniel just said, we have different lines at the facility. The differ- ent lines are equipped with different convey- or systems. One conveyor system is equipped to transport thick panels, and another one is equipped to transport very thin panels. And the UTS-xs concept is designed to process standard panels of 44 microns in thickness in- cluding 2 x 2 microns of copper clad, which I would consider is already very, very thin and flexible material. Fluid management is key to enable reliable transport in UniPlate systems and we have im- plemented a lot of control devices to do this. For example, we control the solution level in the process area of the modules, and we con- trol the pressure of the solution flow from the pumps through the fluid devices to the pan- els. We have built-in devices, which look dif- ferent and which are more advanced com- pared to what we normally use to enable reli- able transport. By these means we achieve the latest requirements for transport capabilities as required in the industry today. And we have also implemented fine filtration systems for all lines. This was required because GreenSource also wanted to process fine-line structures on these lines. To allow exactly that, we have a fine filtration concept for all modules, not only active modules, but also on rinses and on the plating modules. Matties: From this experience of all this new technology, how is this going to come forward or help other fabricators or how is that impact- ing your offerings in the North American mar- ket? What should others learn from this? Figure 3: Atotech's alternative oxide BondFilm HC (high copper).