Agfa Enters Development Agreement with Electra Polymers on Solder Mask Ink Jet Inks for the PCB Industry

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Agfa Speciality Products and Electra Polymers Ltd announce they have entered into an exclusive Joint Development Agreement to develop and manufacture InkJet Soldermask Technology for the PCB manufacturing market.

This Joint Development Agreement combines Electra’s proven capabilities in the development of world class, high performance soldermasks and wafer-level dielectrics with Agfa’s leadership in inkjet material technology, product development, and state-of-the-art manufacturing capabilities.

“Industrial inkjet printing for PCB Digital technology has recently become available to replace analog imaging technology. Especially inkjet technology based on UV-curable inks jetted by piezo-based industrial print heads is ready for real production implementation, making inkjet printing a valid digital alternative to photo-tooling film process. Agfa’s continued research and development in this area, has led to DiPaMat Legend inks for marking on PCB’s, and DiPaMat Etch Resist inks for patterning the Cu laminates. This unique partnership with Electra Polymers will bring Agfa to the next step in the portfolio of inkjet inks for the PCB industry,” says Frank Louwet, Business Manager Advanced Coatings and Chemicals.

“The PCB industry is in need of the next step-change in soldermask technology. It is over 30 years since photoimageable technology transformed the way soldermask is processed. Since then we have seen a slow evolution; firstly to aqueous developing systems and more recently a movement towards direct image exposure. Inkjet soldermask will provide the step-change customers are looking for and deliver a true digital solution to a critical process in PCB manufacture.

This development partnership is an exciting opportunity to combine Agfa’s vast experience with Electra’s wealth of soldermask knowledge to provide a reliable and robust technology.” Shaun Tibbals, Sales & Marketing Director for Electra Polymers Ltd.

About Agfa

The Agfa-Gevaert Group develops, manufactures and distributes an extensive range of analogue and digital imaging systems and IT solutions, mainly for the printing industry and the healthcare sector, as well as for specific industrial applications.

The Agfa-Gevaert Group’s headquarters and parent company are located in Mortsel, Belgium.

The Group’s operational activities are divided in three independent business groups, Agfa Graphics, Agfa HealthCare and Agfa Specialty Products. All business groups have strong market positions, well-defined strategies and full responsibilities, authority and accountability.

The Agfa-Gevaert Group has production facilities around the world, with the largest production and research centers in Belgium, the United States, Canada, Germany, France, China and Brazil.

The company is commercially active worldwide through wholly owned sales organizations in more than 40 countries. In countries where the company does not have its own sales organization, the market is served by a network of agents and representatives.

In 2014, the Agfa-Gevaert Group achieved a turnover of 2,620 million Euro.

About Electra Polymers Ltd

Since 1984 Electra has been a leader in the development of advanced specialty polymer products for use in the global printed circuit board (PCB) and related Electronics manufacturing industries.

Today we provide major PCB and Wafer Level Packaging manufacturers worldwide with polymer resist products and our capabilities in conductive ink technology increasingly reach into the Printed Electronics sector.

Using our extensive laboratories and a flexible range of partnership/development models, Electra provides off-the-shelf products, bespoke materials and contract R&D services to a wide range of industry sectors and world-class OEMs.