Concord, CA - When it came time to increase capacity, FTG turned to March Plasma Systems to purchase their second March gas plasma treatment system. With a growing requirement for high-performance PCBs that require plasma treatment in the manufacturing process, FTG needed March's 28-panel machine to supplement their current 6-panel system.

When asked why FTG purchased a second system, Greg Smith, VP of Sales responded, "Our first March system has been operating virtually 24 hours/day for six years straight, and was 5 years old when we bought it. We have confidence in the March equipment and had no reason to switch vendors."

At FTG, plasma treatment is required for both Teflon® activation and removal of drill smear after drilling through-holes and vias. Plasma increases the surface energy of Teflon®, providing an excellent surface for lamination and wettability for plating through holes without use of wet chemicals. Teflon® materials, with or without fillers, require plasma activation to change the surface energy for electroless copper adhesion.

In addition, the Firan Technology Group's mil-spec and high-end PCB customers require positive etchback to establish a 3-point connection at the inner layers of the plated through-hole. Multi-layer etchback/desmear is the removal of smeared resin from the barrels of the inner-layer posts to ensure an electrical connection after plating. "It's one of the first steps in the integrity of a plated through-hole, and we can't compromise on that," stated Smith.

Traditional chemical methods for removing resin smear from vias have limitations. The use of radio-frequency, low pressure plasma is an efficient, cost effective, and environmentally friendly method of surface activation and removing drill smear.

FTG, located in Toronto, Ontario, is a specialty manufacturer of complex mil-spec and high-end commercial printed circuit boards, and has been a supplier of choice to the aerospace, military and communications industries for over 30 years. They provide a comprehensive product offering, from build-to-print manufacturing to complete turnkey custom product solutions. With the recent merger with PC World, an 84,000 sq. ft. facility, they have now added HDI, Micro Via, buried capacitor and buried resistor capabilities to their portfolio. Visit their website, www.firantechnology.com, for a complete overview of their product offerings.

March Plasma Systems is the leader in gas plasma technology for micro- and opto-electronic packaging, PCB, and webbed material industries. Batch systems are available in several chamber sizes with multiple-shelf configurations to accommodate magazines, strips, circuit boards, wafer and process carriers. In-line systems can support multiple substrates or carriers per run, and are SMEMA-compatible.