Manufacturing Differently With Digital Technology

Estimated reading time: 2 minutes

As circuit board manufacturing companies and their equipment suppliers go, you don’t see too many new ones, but groundbreaking technology is a different story. Founded in 2012 and based in Schwetzingen, Germany, Notion Systems is an industry leader in additive manufacturing technology of functional materials and inkjet printing equipment. Their tagline, “The future of additive manufacturing,” was demonstrated when I spoke with Antonio Schmidt, senior vice president of sales and marketing, and David Hahn, vice president of process R&D.

Case in point, I had never heard the term electrohydrodynamic (EHD) printing, which is a more advanced additive inkjet technology that can be used in microfabrication for sub-micron resolution. We talked about how Notion is working to mainstream additive technology in the PCB and PCBA industries step by step, replacing current technology while they develop additive technologies.

Marcy LaRont: Notion would be considered a “new” company in this industry, having been founded in 2012.

Antonio Schmidt: Yes, but the core Notion team has made inkjet systems for decades when we were part of a company that designed and built equipment for the solar industry. For the past two years, we have been part of the German-based Lab 14 group.

LaRont: What is Notion’s DNA—your special sauce, if you will?

Schmidt: We design and build all systems on our own, and we wrote the software core for all inkjet systems. We have a huge application know-how, and all our machines have very high stability and repeatability. We are active in many industries, PCB fabrication being one of them. Our main markets are the display industry, where we print color filters of OLED displays; the electronics industry, where we print sensors; and the semiconductor market, where we are active in several new applications. The semiconductor market, especially, is picking up fast. In PCB manufacturing, we currently have 20 installed machines and we estimate our market share at approximately 50% worldwide. Inkjet technology offers tremendous benefits to replace traditional process technologies in all these industries and makes manufacturing more ecological and economical.

LaRont: When we talk generally about inkjet technology, and inkjet solder mask specifically, you are removing several processes. That is key to greater adoption of this process in places like the U.S.

David Hahn: The number and type of processes that are eliminated with inkjet depends on how you manufacture the PCBs. Typically, you can remove several process steps, such as spray coating (which is a very dirty process), drying/curing, direct imaging, and the development process. You have no waste as you only print the solder mask where it is required. In addition, you are using a UV-based ink, which is cured right after printing. It is not required to use a solvent-based ink, which is hazardous to health and smells bad. You also get rid of maintenance tasks because you do not have so many different machines that need to be maintained. This all translates directly to money saved.

To read this entire conversation, which appeared in the May 2024 issue of PCB007 Magazine, click here.