The Knowledge Base: A Conference for Cleaning and Coating of Mission-critical Electronics
Defense Speak Interpreted: Is DARPA Still Around After CHIPS?
Beyond the Board: Orbital High Ground—Why Space Superiority Is Slipping Away
Listen Up! The Intricacies of PCB Drilling Detailed in New Podcast Episode
April 25, 2024 | I-Connect007Estimated reading time: 1 minute
In episode 5 of the podcast series, On the Line With: Designing for Reality, Nolan Johnson and Matt Stevenson continue down the manufacturing process, this time focusing on the post-lamination drilling process for PCBs. Matt and Nolan delve into the intricacies of the PCB drilling process, highlighting the importance of hole quality, drill parameters, and design optimization to ensure smooth manufacturing. The conversation covers topics such as drill bit sizes, aspect ratios, vias, challenges in drilling, and ways to enhance efficiency in the drilling department. Listeners will also learn about the critical relationship between design choices and manufacturing capabilities, as well as subsequent steps of metalizing the drilled holes through an electrolysis process.
This series is all about the specifics that can affect your circuit board during the manufacturing process and includes tips and tricks for optimizing design, fabrication, yields, and cost.
I-Connect007 is committed to providing digital content that meets the needs of the electronics industry, including magazines, books, newsletters, market reports, podcasts, and event coverage. As the industry's longest-running digital media company, I-Connect007 is a leading publisher of exclusive content for the global electronics industry.
Click here to listen to episode 5 of On the Line With: Designing for Reality. Visit our educational resource center to access more free content.
Share on:
Suggested Items
New Podcast Series Launches: Optimize the Interconnect
07/10/2025 | I-Connect007I-Connect007 is excited to announce the debut of Optimize the Interconnect—a new podcast series featuring guest Chris Ryder, senior director of business development at MKS’ ESI. This insightful series explores how MKS’ ESI is rethinking microvia formation for today’s most advanced HDI PCB and substrate designs.
Trouble in Your Tank: Can You Drill the Perfect Hole?
07/07/2025 | Michael Carano -- Column: Trouble in Your TankIn the movie “Friday Night Lights,” the head football coach (played by Billy Bob Thornton) addresses his high school football team on a hot day in August in West Texas. He asks his players one question: “Can you be perfect?” That is an interesting question, in football and the printed circuit board fabrication world, where being perfect is somewhat elusive. When it comes to mechanical drilling and via formation, can you drill the perfect hole time after time?
Excellon Installs COBRA Hybrid Laser at Innovative Circuits
06/23/2025 | ExcellonExcellon is pleased to announce the successful installation of a second COBRA Hybrid Laser System at Innovative Circuits, located in Alpharetta, Georgia. The Excellon COBRA Hybrid Laser System uniquely combines both UV and CO₂ (IR) laser sources on a single platform—making it ideal for high-density prototype and production printed circuit boards (PCBs).
Gorilla Circuits Elevates PCB Precision with Schmoll’s Optiflex II Alignment System
06/23/2025 | Schmoll MaschinenGorilla Circuits, a leading PCB manufacturer based in Silicon Valley, has enhanced its production capabilities with the addition of Schmoll Maschinen’s Optiflex II Post-Etch Punch system—bringing a new level of precision to multilayer board fabrication.
The Evolution of Picosecond Laser Drilling
06/19/2025 | Marcy LaRont, PCB007 MagazineIs it hard to imagine a single laser pulse reduced not only from nanoseconds to picoseconds in its pulse duration, but even to femtoseconds? Well, buckle up because it seems we are there. In this interview, Dr. Stefan Rung, technical director of laser machines at Schmoll Maschinen GmbH, traces the technology trajectory of the laser drill from the CO2 laser to cutting-edge picosecond and hybrid laser drilling systems, highlighting the benefits and limitations of each method, and demonstrating how laser innovations are shaping the future of PCB fabrication.