Applications > Printed Circuit Boards
Printed Circuit Board Applications
Accelerated performance requirements in the telecommunications, military, aerospace and commercial markets are driving the demand for increasingly complex circuit boards. Higher I/Os and faster speeds require high-density interconnects, resulting in dense multi-layer board designs. With 8 to 64 layers or more, these advanced board designs call for high aspect ratios and ever smaller vias. The traditional manufacturing methods for drilling panels and removing resin smear from vias have limitations. The demand for high-performance boards has stimulated the use of new material technologies with high glass transition temperatures and low loss factors. While these materials solve coefficient of thermal expansion (CTE) and speed issues, difficulties arise during the drill and etchback steps.
For PCB manufacturing, plasma technology can deliver higher uniformity and reproducibility than chemical or mechanical processes. It is efficient, economical and environmentally benign. Plasma processing increases the surface energy of advanced materials, including Teflon®, providing excellent lamination and wettability for plating through-holes without the use of wet chemicals. It also allows metalization to the inner layers by removing resin smear created in the drilling process and removes carbon byproducts from blind vias.
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PCB Applications Team
James Getty, PCB Market Manager
Getty leads March’s Applications Engineering and Business Development activities, including the Marketing activities supporting the business’ Semiconductor, Printed Circuit Board, and Life Sciences market segments. Getty joined March in 2000. Prior to March Getty has held positions in the semiconductor industry. Getty has a BS, Chemistry from the University of California at Irvine and a PhD in Physical Chemistry from the University of California at Davis.
Lou Fierro, Applications Development Manager, PCB
Lou Fierro joined March Plasma Systems in 1997. Prior to coming to March he spent more than 23 years in engineering, building rigid, flex and exotic printed circuit boards. He now manages applications and contract service at March Plasma Systems Florida facility. Lou is also responsible for process development and technical support.
Ask the Experts
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