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Current IssueThe Hole Truth: Via Integrity in an HDI World
From the drilled hole to registration across multiple sequential lamination cycles, to the quality of your copper plating, via reliability in an HDI world is becoming an ever-greater challenge. This month we look at “The Hole Truth,” from creating the “perfect” via to how you can assure via quality and reliability, the first time, every time.
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Multiple Markets Merge for PCBs at H&T Global
August 19, 2016 | Patty Goldman, I-Connect007Estimated reading time: 7 minutes
DiGiovanni: Insulated metal substrate are your metal circuit boards, and there are several acronyms for it, like I stated above. Now, IMS happens to be a patented acronym from a North American manufacturer of a specific brand. They went off and patented the phrase IMS. We work with all the top brands, you'll also hear IMPCB, insulated metal printed circuit board. Aluminum backed. A very common acronym is metal core, although it's actually inappropriately used.
Goldman: It's incorrect. It's not really a core, it's just on the back.
DiGiovanni: That's right. However, it is possible to make a metal core part.
Goldman: You could laminate to both sides of it.
DiGiovanni: Yes.
Goldman: Then it seems like the heat wouldn't come out so easily.
DiGiovanni: Again, that’s depending on the application. Years ago I did a blinking light for an F-35 wing tip. A completely sealed unit, nowhere for the heat to go. The board had to be completely self-sustained and heat-dissipating by itself. There was nowhere to put the heat except internally so we created acopper core circuit board. What it did is it pulled the heat away from the components into the center of the board using a 0.060 copper core, and the copper just melted the heat away. A very interesting design. Not completely uncommon, but very small applications now due to cost.
Goldman: I can imagine with a copper core. Nice.
Goldman: Anything else you’d like to talk about?
DiGiovanni: Are you a hockey fan?
Goldman: You asked me that because I live in the Pittsburgh area. I'm not really a hockey fan but I did pay attention and know the Penguins won the Stanley Cup! We beat the San Jose Sharks, but my colleagues from California are not really hockey fans either. There was a cute comic in the Post-Gazette but it was lost on them, darn it.
DiGiovanni: All right, good enough.
Goldman: Well, Rob, thank you very much for your time.
DiGiovanni: You're very welcome.
Page 2 of 2Suggested Items
I-Connect007 Editor’s Choice: Five Must-Reads for the Week
07/11/2025 | Andy Shaughnessy, Design007 MagazineThis week, we have quite a variety of news items and articles for you. News continues to stream out of Washington, D.C., with tariffs rearing their controversial head again. Because these tariffs are targeted at overseas copper manufacturers, this news has a direct effect on our industry.I-Connect007 Editor’s Choice: Five Must-Reads for the Week
Digital Twin Concept in Copper Electroplating Process Performance
07/11/2025 | Aga Franczak, Robrecht Belis, Elsyca N.V.PCB manufacturing involves transforming a design into a physical board while meeting specific requirements. Understanding these design specifications is crucial, as they directly impact the PCB's fabrication process, performance, and yield rate. One key design specification is copper thieving—the addition of “dummy” pads across the surface that are plated along with the features designed on the outer layers. The purpose of the process is to provide a uniform distribution of copper across the outer layers to make the plating current density and plating in the holes more uniform.
Trump Copper Tariffs Spark Concern
07/10/2025 | I-Connect007 Editorial TeamPresident Donald Trump stated on July 8 that he plans to impose a 50% tariff on copper imports, sparking concern in a global industry whose output is critical to electric vehicles, military hardware, semiconductors, and a wide range of consumer goods. According to Yahoo Finance, copper futures climbed over 2% following tariff confirmation.
Happy’s Tech Talk #40: Factors in PTH Reliability—Hole Voids
07/09/2025 | Happy Holden -- Column: Happy’s Tech TalkWhen we consider via reliability, the major contributing factors are typically processing deviations. These can be subtle and not always visible. One particularly insightful column was by Mike Carano, “Causes of Plating Voids, Pre-electroless Copper,” where he outlined some of the possible causes of hole defects for both plated through-hole (PTH) and blind vias.
Trouble in Your Tank: Can You Drill the Perfect Hole?
07/07/2025 | Michael Carano -- Column: Trouble in Your TankIn the movie “Friday Night Lights,” the head football coach (played by Billy Bob Thornton) addresses his high school football team on a hot day in August in West Texas. He asks his players one question: “Can you be perfect?” That is an interesting question, in football and the printed circuit board fabrication world, where being perfect is somewhat elusive. When it comes to mechanical drilling and via formation, can you drill the perfect hole time after time?