Catching Up with HSIO’s James Rathburn

Estimated reading time: 12 minutes

Rathburn: The circuit fabrication facility operates as HSIO Circuit Technologies LLC and is a wholly owned subsidiary of HSIO Technologies LLC.

Beaulieu: And what are your plans for the near future and then a little further out?

Rathburn: Our plans are to enable 25 micron lines and spaces today with a path in place to 12 micron in 2016. We will support conventional flex, rigid-flex, and rigid PCB production and add the LCP technology to provide the best available quick turn domestic circuit supplier available.

Beaulieu: Let’s talk about the technology. Tell me in detail the kind of PCBs you will be able to produce at HSIO Technologies.

Rathburn: Our focus will be on smaller form factor circuits with precision and tuned performance. The existing equipment infrastructure is based on 12” x 18” panel sizes, and we will continue to support that but future focus will be on smaller panel fabrication in the 12” X 12” and 6” X 6” formats to provide geometry precision and very high yield. We will be adding capital equipment with state of the art imaging, laser ablation, lamination, direct metallization and high aspect ratio resist defined pattern plating. Conventional print and etch will be supported down to 40 micron features, but down to 12 micron impedance tuned structures require a different approach which we have become experts. The historical view of printed circuit fabrication will be advanced towards semiconductor style production techniques. Our unique approach to circuit fabrication influenced by the semiconductor industry sets us apart from the existing circuit fabrication industry which is focused on utilizing legacy methods that have hit a wall with geometry capability and build to print methods and lack of performance tuning.

Beaulieu: And what about the market? Whom do you see as your customer and why? What are their products?

Rathburn: Our target customer market is two-fold. The existing historical customer who uses circuits in an end-product delivered to consumers remains a focus. Customers in the medical, industrial, automotive, mil/aero, telecom, computer, consumer, wearable, IoT and mobile markets will be able to source leading edge capability for end product use. In addition, customers in the test, development, and silicon validation world will have a unique quick-turn, performance-tuned circuit capability that is tied to high performance socket and connector products. Development, platform validation, characterization and test customers will have support with unique low cost yet high performance, with wafer probe, probe card, space transformer MLO/MLC alternatives not available from any other source.

Beaulieu: Jim, where do you see this kind of technology going and what will drive it?

Rathburn: We are very fortunate to have the opportunity to implement our unique view of circuit fabrication without the legacy marketplace baggage of conventional infrastructure. The circuit industry has been focused on large panel sizes to maximize value per panel, while our approach is focused on fine geometry, yield and precision in a smaller form factor with tuned performance. Higher density is always a driver, but understanding the design rules required to achieve tuned performance is often lost in the attempt to accommodate the conventional rules of print and etch capability. Creating fine geometry circuits with localized dielectric properties and embedded passive or active function is our future.

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