Highlights of the ICT 50th Anniversary Symposium

Estimated reading time: 16 minutes

Inkjet Technology
The afternoon session commenced with a presentation entitled “Precision Printed” from Lee Corfe, inkjet development manager at Electra Polymers, discussing the future of inkjet technology in PCB manufacturing.

“It’s no longer a thing of the future; it’s a thing of the now,” Corfe said as he avoided dwelling upon the subject of inkjet benefits “already repeated to the point of becoming monotonous.” Instead, he looked at the characteristics of different printheads, principles of operation and process parameters, together with current and potential future applications in the PCB industry.

He discussed drop-on-demand (DOD) printhead technology in detail, describing how the heads are constructed and the principles of piezoelectric operation, explaining how each nozzle can reliably eject uniform ink droplets of 15–20 microns diameter with a velocity of 6–8 metres per second at a frequency of 100,000 droplets per second. Nozzle density is increasing every year, and modern industrial printheads have been proven suitable to deliver high-resolution images for solder masks and etch resists. Printheads currently emerging had the capability to deliver sub-15 micron droplets for even higher print quality.

Corfe reviewed a range of commercially available printheads and then discussed operating temperatures and viscosities, waveform characteristics, and the mechanics of ink droplet formation, print settings, and the factors determining print resolution.

He explained the principles of multi-pass printing and techniques like initially printing ramps and dams then subsequently infilling to optimise solder mask coverage and definition. Higher resolution and smaller droplet size were enabling the printing of fine-line etch resist and plating resist features.

It was realistic to expect the continued uptake of inkjet printing of solder mask, etch resist, and plating resist, and that as printhead resolution continues to increase, finer and finer features will be achievable. With the graphics inkjet industry as a point of reference, more and more printheads will be incorporated into the equipment and productivity in PCB manufacture could far exceed that of traditional technologies. Moreover, inkjet will enable the realisation of a whole range of creative options.

Satellite Technology
From PCB manufacture to something completely different: “Made in Space” was the title of the presentation by Dr. Darren Cadman, business and bid development manager at Space Forge, a UK-based aerospace company developing returnable and fully reusable satellites that can take advantage of the unique environmental benefits of space in manufacturing next-generation super-materials not possible on Earth.

He explained that the ForgeStar manufacturing platform is designed to operate in low-Earth orbit with a payload of semiconductor growth tools that enable the creation of advanced compound semiconductor substrates, specifically super-pure defect-free seed crystals, by chemical vapour deposition.

The first satellite, ForgeStar-0, was launched in early 2023 onboard the Virgin Orbit, but sadly a premature shutdown in the rocket meant the satellites it was carrying could not be released and ForgeStar-0 was lost in the sea. Its replacement, ForgeStar-1, larger and with extended capability, is planned to be launched in 2025 from Florida to orbit at a height of 550 km. The satellite is intended to operate for up to six months, then be returned to Earth, recovered from the sea and taken back to base for inspection, refurbishment, and returned to service. Space Forge’s patented re-entry system ensures a soft landing. Their high-temperature alloy folding heat shield is designed to not burn away and to be re-usable.

Why manufacture in space? Dr Cadman explained that in-space manufacturing enables the production of semiconductor products with performance superior to anything that can be achieved on Earth. Space offers unique environmental benefits that can facilitate the creation of near-perfect seed crystals by chemical vapour deposition. There is no gravity. Therefore, defects caused by buoyancy preventing the perfect mixing of gases, solutions, or alloys of different densities are eliminated. Vacuum is near-perfect without the use of pumps, so atmospheric contamination issues are avoided, and temperatures close to absolute zero can be achieved without the need for cryogenics.

AI Seniors in Manufacturing
The final presentation, subtitled “Smart factory using intelligent vision sensing” came from Andrew Puntan, new business development and engineer at Sony UK Technology Centre, who described how his team has navigated their manufacturing journey through adopting edge artificial intelligence sensors. (Note: Edge AI is a combination of artificial intelligence and edge computing that allows devices to process data locally and make decisions in real time.)

He explained that Sony UK Technology Centre, a division of Sony Europe BV, is the manufacturing and customer service centre of excellence for Sony in the UK, offering a full turnkey solution, adaptable and flexible for all manufacturing requirements. Their collaborative manufacturing centre of excellence is driving Factory of the Future and facilitating new emerging technology and innovation. The “Fourth Industrial Revolution—Digitalisation” had driven Sony UK Tech to embrace new digital innovations, to allow automation and now AI.

Puntan discussed case studies that had been identified within their production environments for enabling technologies and how they had developed their manual processes to include collaborative robots and implemented IIoT devices, supporting the advancement of automation within their production environment. Their original production process has effectively been converted to an Industry 4.0 production process.

He explained how they had navigated their manufacturing journey through adopting edge AI sensors, initially by identifying case studies within their production environments for enabling technologies in areas of smart automation, smart safety, and smart assistance.

He defined six key steps for the creation and application of AI to vision sensors and the visualisation and validation of the data: Clearly define the use case, create an AI model, package the AI model, capture and visualise the metadata, validate the relevant data and use the data to develop a more efficient operation. He illustrated the methodology and results with examples of identifying adherence to personal protection equipment standards by identifying if a person is wearing the correct PPE, identifying adherence to posture gesture when performing a lifting task so that data could be used to resolve legal injury challenges, and detecting correct location of wire harness placement so that the results could be developed into an in-line process quality check.

Emma Hudson wrapped up the formal proceedings, thanking all who had attended and contributed. And a special vote of thanks to Bill Wilkie, the retiring chair for his sterling service over the years.

She was delighted to announce that Mat Beadel, managing director of Merlin Circuit Technology agreed to accept the Chairman’s role as Bill’s successor.

The 50th anniversary of the Institute was celebrated with a splendid evening meal, the highlight of which was a Bill Wilkie monologue, in which he nostalgically recalled companies, personalities and amusing anecdotes from the past. He was presented with an engraved decanter and a quaich, the traditional Scottish friendship bowl, by Richard Wood-Roe, and was appointed an Honorary Fellow of the Institute, Mat Beadel presenting him with his fellowship certificate.

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