-
- News
- Books
Featured Books
- smt007 Magazine
Latest Issues
Current IssueCertifications
Certifications have historically been seen as a cost of doing business, but how do we turn them into a positive ROI and a value to both customer and vendor?
The Butterfly Effect
The basis of chaos theory is a key concept known as the “butterfly effect.” It’s the idea that a small event in one place creates a cascading set of events elsewhere. So, how is the EMS landscape changing? We’re tracking the concerns and dynamics of this landscape, and there’s a lot to learn.
Coming to Terms With AI
In this issue, we examine the profound effect artificial intelligence and machine learning are having on manufacturing and business processes. We follow technology, innovation, and money as automation becomes the new key indicator of growth in our industry.
- Articles
- Columns
Search Console
- Links
- Events
||| MENU - smt007 Magazine
Beyond Prepreg: The Glassless ‘Revolution’
June 25, 2024 | Marcy LaRont, PCB007 MagazineEstimated reading time: 2 minutes
As our industry rallies around the call to action for HDI and UHDI, we find unparalleled and myriad laminate options. This abundance is rivaled only by the question surrounding them: Can they measure up to the high technology packaging demands required in our near future? Unsurprisingly, recent developments in FR-4-esque materials for high-speed and high-density designs, as well as newer, glassless technology for replacing traditional glass-impregnated laminates and prepreg, are garnering much interest. I caught up with Alun Morgan, technology ambassador for Ventec International Group, to ask about the impending “glassless revolution” and how it’s poised to solve some of our manufacturing challenges.
Marcy LaRont: Alun, can you explain glassless epoxy filler? Is it liquid?
Alun Morgan: It's not liquid; it’s a rubber-like unreinforced dielectric material. The industry vernacular for this is bondply. It is a non-glass reinforced resin that can be delivered in two standard formats: resin-coated copper foil (RCC) or resin-coated film (RCF).
There are many ways of delivering resin into a circuit board. The standard way is to use prepreg, which is a resin-impregnated fiber, and usually a glass fabric. Another option is to screen-print the resin onto the printed circuit board material, which has been available for years. Then there is the bondply technique, which has a few specific advantages.
LaRont: We heard about this at a recent UHDI conference. Please explain bondply.
Morgan: It's a dielectric layer used in multilayer stackups where you want to build bonding in sequential layers. Imagine you have a circuit, and you want to make HDI layers on the outside with very thin dielectrics, 25–50 microns, just one or two mils. You take the board, which has copper on one side and laminate a layer of bondply onto it. In this case, that could be resin-coated copper foil. You form a pattern on the copper and laser drill through that layer to connect down to the layer beneath. You can build up layers that way, adding one layer after another. This is a standard technique for making multilayer, high density circuits, typically with microvias on the outside using such standard constructions as 2+4+2 or 2+8+2, etc. That is one area where these bondply films can be used and it is a standard method of forming thin layers.
Continue reading the rest of this interview which was originally published in the June 2024 issue of PCB007 Magazine.
Suggested Items
Don’t Overconstrain Your Board Materials
07/02/2024 | I-Connect007 Editorial TeamWhen we started planning May’s issue, which centers on the use of traditional laminates in certain high-frequency PCBs, we knew we had to interview Kris Moyer and Ed Kelley together. Kris teaches advanced PCB design classes for IPC, and Ed is the former CTO of Isola and founder of Four Peaks Innovation. What ensued was a wide-ranging discussion on the evolution of “standard” PCB laminates and the recent trend by some OEMs to use these materials in high-frequency and even RF boards.
Traditional Materials, High-Frequency Boards?
06/18/2024 | I-Connect007 Editorial TeamNot long ago, high-frequency and RF boards required specialized laminates, which tend to be costly and difficult to manufacture. But now, high-frequency designers use traditional PCB laminates for certain high-frequency boards. How is this possible? For some insight, we asked Ed Kelley, founder of Four Peaks Innovation and former CTO of Isola, to discuss how traditional materials have improved and what this means to PCB designers and design engineers today.
KYZEN to Highlight 3D Printing Process Resin Cleaners at RAPID + TCT
06/06/2024 | KYZEN'KYZEN, the global leader in innovative environmentally responsible cleaning chemistries, will exhibit at RAPID + TCT 2024, scheduled to take place June 25-27, 2024, at the Los Angeles Convention Center.
Happy’s Tech Talk #29: Bend-to-Install Semi-flex FR-4
06/05/2024 | Happy Holden -- Column: Happy’s Tech TalkA special case of rigid board applications is when you would like to bend the board but don’t need it to flex. We have called this case “bend-to-install” or sometimes “semi-flex.” Many electronics applications are in this class of assembly, as illustrated: Rigid board needing height adjustments, automotive lighting, industrial cameras, engine control units, and and-held portable units.
Paul Cooke of Ventec Talks About Glassless Revolution, High Reliability
04/09/2024 | Marcy LaRont, PCB007 MagazineMarcy LaRont from I-Connect007 caught up with Paul Cooke from Ventec at the SMTA UHDI Symposium on March 26 in Arizona. Paul discusses the challenges in developing future product lines for extremely high density, high reliability manufacturing, and focuses on the transition from glass to glassless substrate technology. He explains the advantages of using pure resin systems, enabling fabricators to create thinner materials for micro vias.