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At PCB Carolina, Matt Lake and Ken Araujo of NAMICS Technologies spoke with Andy Shaughnessy about the introduction of an innovative thermoset material to PCB fabrication. This groundbreaking material, originally developed for the semiconductor packaging industry, addresses a longstanding demand for unreinforced thermoset films that enhance dielectric properties in PCB applications and allow for manufacturing the very finest of features, 0.002" and below. With its ability to integrate seamlessly into existing processes and equipment, this promises to meet the evolving needs of fabricators, particularly in UHDI and high-frequency products.
Andy Shaughnessy: Matt and Ken, you have a material that's actually been used in the packaging world for quite some time, but you are now introducing it into PCB fabrication. Is this addressing a long-time need?
Matt Lake: I've been in this industry for the better part of 42 years as either a laminate or board manufacturer. At least once a month, a board supplier has said to me, “Can you supply us with your resin simply cast onto a film for applications where we need to fill heavy coppers not necessarily for via fill?”
NAMICS has been making this material for a long time but for a different industry. Traditionally, films that are thermoplastics just don’t work well in these applications. The NAMICS product is a thermoset material. The range of thicknesses fits perfectly into the PCB market. It's been very well received, and enough to keep me from fully retiring.
Shaughnessy: Ken, what are the specifics of this thermoset material, and how was it originally developed for the semiconductor packaging industry?
Ken Araujo: We developed this film called ADFLEMA (Advanced Flexible Materials) well over 15 years ago. The idea was to develop a very low-loss A-stage thermoset film that can be used in developing build-up layers in advanced packaging, commonly on the wafer level.
To continue reading this interview, which originally published in the December 2024 issue of PCB007 Magazine, click here.
