A Growing PCB Market for Plasma

Concord, CA - March Plasma Systems reports increased industry interest in plasma treatment for PCB manufacturing. Worldwide sales volume was up significantly the first quarter over last quarter 2002. Future project activity is running at high double-digit rate increases over previous periods. "March is well positioned to support the innovations in PCB design that have resulted in multi-layer boards with high-density interconnects with finer pitch and smaller vias," reports Peter Bierhuis, President, March Plasma Systems. "Our new PCB 2800 system is tailored to meet the specific need for desmear and etchback in high-volume applications."

To further strengthen their position in the PCB marketplace, March named Dennis McGee their Global PCB Market Manager, and hired Dave Selestak as Eastern U.S. Regional Sales Manager. Newly added PCB representative firms have been appointed in both the U.S. and Asia recognizing their in-depth knowledge of PCB manufacturing and complimentary line product lines.

Other related activities include participation at the CPCA show in Shanghai, China mid March, and the IPC tradeshow immediately following in Long Beach, CA. Their PCB-1600 system was displayed at both shows and available for demonstration. March is also publishing technical articles that address the benefits of plasma treatment over traditional chemical processing.

March is the leader in gas plasma technology for PCB, micro- and opto-electronic packaging, 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. A complete review of March's plasma treatment systems may be found on the Web site at www.marchplasma.com.