PCB-June2011.pdf
Content
Should You Be Using a
High-Frequency Laminate
Instead of FR-4?
by John Coonrod
16
Thin Laminates: Buried
Capacitance or What?
by Istvan Novak
22
Materials for HighReliability Applications
by Yash Sutariya
38
Does America Need
Manufacturing?
by Steven Williams
June 2011
PCB MATERIALS
10
June 2011 • The PCB Magazine
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Here’s what’s happening in the June Issue of The PCB Magazine!
If you’re reading this, you are just one click
away from the all-digital, The PCB Magazine!
This month, we present even more of the
relevant and compelling content, including
feature articles, videos, and interviews that
has the PCB industry buzzing. That “buzz”
has resulted in a steady stream of positive
feedback from around the globe, and for that,
we say THANK YOU!
If you haven’t already done so, don’t wait
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PCB Magazine delivered right to you inbox
each month.
Features on PCB Materials
This month, it’s a material world—and our
contributors have plenty to say on the subject:
In our first feature, Should You Be Using
a High-Frequency Laminate Instead of
FR-4?, John Coonrod, of Rogers Corporation,
reports on the reliability and affordability of
epoxy-based FR-4 circuit board materials, and
why they are not the answer for every circuit.
Next, Oracle’s Istvan Novak takes on
the controversial topic of thin laminates
in his feature, Thin Laminates: Buried
Capacitance or What? In it, Novak
examines the electrical properties of thin
laminates, and addresses their needs, benefits
and uses.
In Materials for High-Reliability
Applications, Saturn Electronic
Corporation’s Yash Sutariya points out that
discussions of high reliability materials for
printed circuit board applications usually
include strong opinions: is one material
system versus another better, or is it materials’
properties that imply reliability?
Rounding out our June Feature Articles
is Insulectro’s Ken Parent, with No Time
Like Now! The Peril and Thrill of Being
a Tech Early Adopter. Parent stresses
the importance of timing, with regard to
technology advancement, and whether there
is ever a perfect time to “jump in.”
This Month’s Video Interviews
Our June issue also contains Feature
Videos that don’t disappoint.
Straight from IPC APEX
EXPO, our “Real Time
with…” series includes
provocative discussions on
hot topics: Global Laminates
President Bruce Hurley in his
overview of the technology and its benefits
to the industry with New Ceramic Core
Material Beats the Heat; Oak-Mitsui
Technologies VP John Andresakis, discussing
how his company differentiates itself in
the market with Copper Foil Technology:
A Fine Balance; and Greg Bull of Rogers
Corporation discussing its new material in
Rogers New High-Frequency Laminate.
June Columns
Columnists this month include regulars
Paul Reid and Karl Dietz, and our newest
addition, Point of View by industry veteran
Steven Williams. Dale Smith is also back
with the second of five installments on Lean
Manufacturing.
We hope you enjoy the June issue of
The PCB Magazine, and don’t hesitate to let
us know what you think!
June2011
2011••The
ThePCB
PCBMagazine
Magazine 3
3
June
introduction
They have arrived — New advanced PCB materials
new advanced
PCB MATERIALS
June 2011
contents
Volume 1
Number 2
the definitive
interactive magazine
dedicated to the
global PCb industry
www.pcb007.com
10
Features—pcb materials
Should You Be Using a High-Frequency
Laminate Instead of FR-4?
by John Coonrod
16 Thin Laminates: Buried
Capacitance or What?
by Istvan Novak
22 Materials for High-Reliability Applications:
All IPC-4101-Grouped Materials are not
Created Equal
by Yash Sutariya
28 No Time Like Now! The Peril and Thrill
of Being a Tech Early Adopter
by Ken Parent
columns
6 Onshoring—Can We Bring PCBs
Back from China?
by Ray Rasmussen
articles
32 PCB Design Techniques for DDR,
DDR2 & DDR3, (Part 2)
by Barry Olney
42 What It Takes to Thrive: The Research
and Experimentation (R&E) Tax Credit
An Interview with Hunter Technology
Video Shorts
15 Copper Foil Technology:
A Fine Balance
20 New Ceramic Core
Material Beats the Heat
27 Rogers’ New High-Frequency Laminate
31 Europe: Ready for Change
Shorts
38 Does America Need Manufacturing?
9 ASC Earns Military Polyimide Qualification
15 Arlon Introduces New Composite Material
46 Repeat Defects
20 Maskless Lithography Welcomes
50 How to Implement Lean Manufacturing
44 All Flex Minneapolis Facility Completes
by Steven Williams
by Karl H. Dietz
into a Printed Circuit Board Shop, Part 2
by Dale Smith
56 Microvia Separation
by Paul Reid
66 China
Two Senior Executives
Upgrade, Expansion
49 Honeywell Relies on Standards to Set
Contractor Expectations
55 Atotech to Enhance Technology;
Collaborate with CWRU
by Barry Matties
Extras
News
64 Events Calendar
PCB007 This Month
69 Advertisers Index & Masthead
62 Top Ten Most-Read News Highlights from
4
The PCB Magazine • June 2011
summary
the way i see it
column
Onshoring —
Can We Bring PCBs
Back from China?
It is going take more than increased labor
rates, harsher environmental penalties, and
subsidies to motivate PCB multinationals to
begin even thinking about bringing work
back home.
by Ray Rasmussen
I-Connect007
I’ve read quite a few
articles about the return of
manufacturing to the U.S., and
what it would take to make
that happen. In fact, we’ve
published a few ourselves. It’s
an intriguing idea and certainly
plays well in the mainstream
press and on Capitol Hill. As
much as I like the idea, I can’t
see how it would work for PCBs;
it’s a lot more complicated than
it seems on the surface. In fact,
it’s way too little, too late.
Yes, China has had, and continues to
have, unfair advantages such as manipulated
currency exchange rates designed to favor
their producers over the rest of the world, and
subsidies, which have encouraged exports
over the last decade. Both of these scenarios
have spurred a huge shift of wealth from,
mostly, the U.S. and Europe. However, as
you can read in the mainstream and trade
press, things are changing. Labor rates are
increasing and the RMB (China’s currency) is
under pressure from most of the developed
world, resulting in a couple-point rise in
the exchange rate over the last year or two.
That’s not enough, but it’s a start. China
has also come down hard on industries like
PCBs, which use a lot of water and discharge
a significant amount of heavy metals into
their streams and rivers. This has slowed
the unbridled expansion of the industry
(at least in the East) and increased costs for
compliance. It’s a slow process, but it does
show that the tide is starting to turn. Still,
it’s going take more than that before the PCB
multinationals start to look at bringing work
back home.
6
The PCB Magazine • June 2011
In a recent earnings report,
Viasystems mentioned the
rise of the cost of labor in
China, which has increased 1820% over the last year. In an
interview, CEO David Sindelar
gave this quote: “We don’t like
inflation and our customers
don’t like inflation, but it
will take a long time before
our costs in China get up to
Western World levels.”
Companies like Viasystems
are in China for the long haul
and won’t be moving PCB production back
to the U.S. any time soon. They’ve made big
investments in China and continue to do so
(Viasystems just announced $100 million in
capacity expansions).
Consumer Electronics Inertia
Now, iPods, iPhones and iPads don’t
represent all the electronics China produces,
but the consumer electronics industry has
been the life’s blood of the Chinese PCB
factories and represents the lion’s share of the
business there. The Chinese have used lowercost consumer electronics to develop their
electronics-manufacturing base, following
the examples left by the Japanese in the ‘70s
and ‘80s, and the four tigers in the ‘80s and
‘90s. This massive effort by the Chinese has
allowed the country to build an electronics
infrastructure that is self-sustaining; they have
almost all they need, including rare earth
metals (China produces 95% of the world’s
supply). Another thing they have going for
them is their huge middle class, which will
buy more and more consumer products in the
years to come. (Chinese consumers already
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onshoring—can we bring pcbs back from china? continues
buy more PCs than U.S. consumers.) As a
result, product manufacturers, EMS and OEMs
not only get the benefit of low-cost PCBs, but
also lower-cost components, assemblies and
box-builds. Additionally, the PCB fabs buy
their materials from multinational suppliers at
Chinese prices. This, along with the growth of
their own consumer market, is why we won’t
see the return of volume PCBs to the U.S. or
Europe anytime soon.
As you can see, the PCB is only part of the
story. Without the rest of the supply chain to
support lower-cost consumer products, there’s
little chance for the resurgence of consumer
PCBs in the West.
in China. These are dedicated PCB fabricators
in addition to those EMS providers that
have their own Chinese PCB capabilities.
I’m not talking about Chinese-owned PCB
companies, which represent a small fraction
of the market. I know we all tend to view the
Chinese PCB industry as this single entity
which has unfairly attacked our livelihoods,
but it’s not the Chinese who are deciding
to keep PCB production in China; it’s the
Americans, the Europeans, the Japanese and
Taiwanese, along with the Koreans. They’re
the ones making the decisions to manufacture
and expand in China. They’re in China to
serve their EMS or
OEM customers who
We’ll
see
growth
in
the
The Big Get Bigger
are also building their
U.S. for higher-tech PCBs
With about a third of
products in China.
the world’s PCBs being
They (the OEM or
used in military/aerospace,
manufactured in China
EMS) get most of their
medical and industrial
along with most of the
components from other
applications. Unless something
electronic products (by
multinational suppliers
changes, serious volume
volume), there’s a ton
doing business there, as
will still need to go
of inertia driving that
well.
somewhere
else,
perhaps
market. The energy from
to some mega-factory in
consumers around the
That Sucking Sound
globe, and at home,
I think it’s safe to
China, India or Brazil.
continues to feed the
say the Chinese gold
electronics industry in
rush of the last decade
China, which is evidenced by the continued
is basically over. The flow of manufacturing
expansion of their PCB industry. Recently, I
to China has stopped and, in some cases,
was forwarded an email with comments from
has actually returned. Most OEMs (tier 1 or
Dr. Hayao Nakahara, arguably the world’s
2 making lower-volume electronics), today,
leading expert on that market, talking about
know that the perceived advantages of
the incredible new PCB capacity being added
manufacturing in China really aren’t there
with more mega-factories being built. Here are
when all things are considered. And, as costs
some of the names he mentions: Wus, Nan
continue to rise, China will stabilize with
Ya PCB, Evertek, Unimicron and Ruwel, GBM
the rest of the world and keep the business
Yuanmao and Sanmina. Then Naka goes on to
that makes sense; the rest will go somewhere
say: “I could use three or four pages to write
else. That will be the case for the U.S. as well.
about all these new plants and expansions.”
Business has stabilized and fabricators (those
Many, if not all, of these expansions were
that are left) will find their niche. Those that
approved before the Chinese government
do a good job will remain, and those who
started cracking down on new PCB plants. It
don’t will disappear. We’ll see growth in the
would seem that this next round of expansions
U.S. for higher-tech PCBs used in military/
is free to proceed. Future factories will likely
aerospace, medical and industrial applications.
have to be built further west or outside of
Unless something changes, serious volume
China. We’ll see.
will still need to go somewhere else, perhaps
By the way, when I say “Chinese,” I mean
to some mega-factory in China, India or
the multinational companies doing business
Brazil.
“
”
8
The PCB Magazine • June 2011
onshoring—can we bring pcbs back from china? continues
Can We Compete?
It does seem to me that these evermore
sophisticated fabricators in China (again,
mostly multinationals) will make greater
efforts to bring those capabilities into the
Western markets and will have an advantage
over their U.S.-only competitors. The expertise
they’ve developed while building very hi-tech,
high-volume boards for the likes of Apple in
Asia will serve them well with those tier 2
OEMs and EMS providers back in the States.
Being of a certain size has its advantages,
and U.S.-only fabs will likely have to attain a
certain size just to stay in the game.
There’s always the argument these
Chinese fabricators can’t produce the quality
and technology that those in the U.S. and
Europe can. That may be true for the Chinese
nationals, but not for the multinational
companies. These are the guys who will
continue to gain market share and, as a result,
we will likely see more and more consolidation
(Viasystems buying Merix, TTM buying
Meadville, etc.).
What Will it Take to Compete?
Go big, merge with other companies, find
backers, become global and compete headto-head with the big guys. Heck, TTM was a
nobody 10 years ago, and now they’re one of
the largest fabricators on the planet. If you
elect to stay small and under the radar, then
you’ve got to come up with a strategy that
makes you unique. If you’re too small, how
will you be able develop the technologies you
need to stay competitive? That’s probably
going to be the biggest challenge.
There may be opportunities for smaller
companies to hang on to their market share
by going beyond traditional PCBs. It may take
a little chutzpah, but there are opportunities
with some new interconnect technologies, like
printed electronics or Occam. Getting really
good at something like this might make a
smaller PCB company an acquisition target or
open up opportunities for investments to grow
and expand. One thing’s for sure: the huge
volumes of PCBs being built in Asia, or the rest
of the world, are there to stay. They won’t be
coming back anytime soon. PCB
Ray Rasmussen is the publisher
and chief editor for I-Connect007
publications. He has worked in
the industry since 1978 and is the
former publisher and chief editor
of CircuiTree Magazine. Ray can be
contacted at: [email protected]
ASC Earns Military Polyimide Qualification
we continue to provide with regard to our customers’
Polyimide products.”
Explaining the significant role of polyimide
material for the PCB industry, Steve Sekenina of Isola
Group said, “Polyimide materials offer the ability to
operate in environments with extreme operating
temperatures including severe assembly processing,
multiple thermal excursions and other high reliability
applications. Polyimide materials are utilized in a
wide variety of mission critical applications including
military, avionics, burn-in boards, missile systems,
satellites, down hole, and other demanding
applications.”
American Standard has been a provider of RF
circuitry, high-reliability and thermally sensitive PCBs
for the military, aerospace and commercial industries
for more than nine years.
June 2011 • The PCB Magazine
9
short
American Standard Circuits, Inc. (ASC) which
specializes in the manufacture of high reliability PCBs
for the military, defense and aerospace industries has
applied for and received polyimide qualification under
MIL-PRF-55110, Amendment 3 and MIL-PRF-31032.
CEO Anaya Vardya commented, “ASC has a
tremendous amount of experience and technical
expertise in the manufacture of RF circuitry, as well
as other high-reliability products. Our technical
commitment to this market is apparent in our
numerous patents for thermally conductive material
and adhesives. Although we have manufactured
product using polyimide material for a long time,
we thought it a logical step to add the polyimide
certification to our military certification. ASC
is committed to military manufacturing. The
qualification provides official verification of the quality
they have arrived!
f e at u r e — n e w a d va n c e d p c b m at e r i a l s
Should You
Be Using a
High-Frequency
Laminate
Instead of FR-4?
by John Coonrod
Market Development Engineer
Advanced Circuit Materials Division
Rogers Corp.
summary
They may be reliable and affordable, but
there are several reasons why epoxy-based
FR-4 circuit board materials are not the
answer for every circuit, especially for a wide
range of high-frequency designs.
Epoxy-based FR-4 circuit board materials
are popular for a wide range of electronics
applications, and for good reason. These lowcost, glass-reinforced substrates are reliable,
with well-understood mechanical and electrical
characteristics. They are used in everything
from audio circuits to microwave designs.
However, they are not the answer for every
circuit, especially for a wide range of highfrequency designs, and for several reasons.
When trying to decide between FR-4 or
a high-frequency laminate, the lower cost
10
The PCB Magazine • June 2011
of FR-4 may be important, but it may not
be the only consideration. For example,
how critical is signal loss to your design?
In most passive circuits, such as filters, loss
increases as frequency increases. FR-4 has a
higher dissipation factor (Df) than laminates
engineered for high-frequency use, and circuits
fabricated on FR-4 will suffer higher losses than
similar circuits formed on a high-frequency
circuit. Typical values are about 0.020 for FR-4
and about 0.004 for a high-frequency laminate,
or a dissipation factor that is about one-fourth
that of FR-4. This translates into a meaningful
difference in insertion loss between the two
circuit-board materials. Some designs can
tolerate a certain amount of loss, but it will
depend upon the loss budget for a given
project.
Another factor to consider when trying to
choose between FR-4 and a high-frequency
laminate is how those losses occur. Are they
evenly distributed across the frequency band
of operation? FR-4 is characterized by a Df
that increases steadily with frequency, so as
frequency rises, insertion loss increases. Highfrequency laminates typically exhibit a more
stable Df characteristic with frequency, with
considerably less loss at higher frequencies.
“
Stable impedance is important to many designs, and this is another area
where FR-4 and high-frequency laminates can deliver much different results.
”
Figure 1. Insertion loss comparisons for microstrip circuits using different materials.
Figure 1 shows a comparison of insertion loss
for simple microstrip circuits made on different
materials of the same thickness.
Stable impedance is important to many
designs, and this is another area where FR-4
and high-frequency laminates can deliver
much different results. Stable impedance
depends on maintaining a stable dielectric
constant (Dk) across the length and width of
a substrate, including as temperature changes.
While they are low in cost, FR-4 materials can
suffer relatively wide variations in Dk across
the length and width of a circuit board, and
with temperature. This can make it impossible,
for example, to achieve flat amplitude response
with frequency in an amplifier. High-frequency
laminates, on the other hand, provide a
Dk that remains constant across the length
and width of a board. This means more
predictable performance in large circuits and
more repeatable performance in multiple
similar circuits formed from the same board.
For designs that must perform over
temperature, FR-4 and high-frequency
laminates can also provide very different
results. To evaluate performance variations
with temperature, circuit-board materials
are characterized by the thermal coefficient
of dielectric constant (TCDk). It is simply a
measure of how much the dielectric constant
changes over a defined temperature range.
For FR-4, it is typically 200 parts per million
(ppm) per degree Celsius (°C) change in
temperature. While that might seem like a
small number, it can result in large variations
over a wide temperature range. Compare
June 2011 • The PCB Magazine
11
should you be using a high-frequency laminate instead of fr-4? continues
th e y have arri ve d — ne w advanced pcb materials
Figure 2. TCDk curves for several high-frequency laminates as well as FR-4 (Epoxy/WG).
it to about 40 ppm/°C for high-frequency
laminates, a much smaller number resulting
in much less variations with temperature. If
a circuit must work with little variation over
a wide temperature range, a high-frequency
laminate is probably a better choice than
FR-4. Comparisons of different circuit
materials are shown in Figure 2, regarding
TCDk.
Sometimes, the very value of a circuit
board’s Dk can play an important part
in choosing a particular material. In a
wavelength-dependent circuit, such as an
RF or microwave design, the value of the
dielectric constant will impact the size of
the circuit’s transmission lines, and thus
the size of the circuit. Simply put, circuitboard materials with higher Dk values can
yield smaller circuits. If the size of a circuit is
important, then the value of the Dk should
be part of the decision process in choosing
a circuit-board material. FR-4 typically has
12
The PCB Magazine • June 2011
a Dk of about 4.5. That’s higher than most
PTFE high-frequency materials, but lower
than a number of high-frequency laminates
which offer Dk values of 6.15, and even as
high as 11.0. Using materials with these higher
values can shave 25% or more off the size of a
circuit built on FR-4. A typical example of the
miniaturization of a microstrip filter circuit
element is shown in Figure 3.
There are several other factors to consider
when deciding between FR-4 and a highfrequency laminate, including the type of
operating environment and the power/thermal
requirements. For circuits where moisture
might be a problem, for example, most
high-frequency laminates have much lower
moisture absorption than FR-4, which can be
critical in outdoor applications. Also, highfrequency thermoset-based laminates may be
more thermally robust than FR-4, and better
able to handle the high temperatures of leadfree soldering processes.
should you be using a high-frequency laminate instead of fr-4? continues
th e y have arri ve d — ne w advanced pcb materials
Figure 3. Example of possible circuit size reduction due to using a substrate with a higher dielectric
constant.
What is the best way to decide if your
project might work better with a highfrequency laminate than with FR-4? Size up
the electrical and mechanical requirements
for the job, and see how they might be
handled, first by FR-4 and then using a highfrequency laminate. For ease of comparison,
data sheets are readily available for both
types of circuit board materials and provide
the key facts on electrical and mechanical
parameters and tolerances. If the mechanical
and electrical variations of FR-4 are too wide
for your application, consider paying a bit
more for a high-frequency laminate, but with
much improved performance and reliability.
In the end, the higher yields from using a
dielectric material with tighter manufacturing
tolerances, such as RO4000® thermoset
substrates, might even mean lower production
costs than when using FR-4. PCB
14
The PCB Magazine • June 2011
RO3000, RO3035, RO4000, RO4350B
and LoPro are licensed trademarks of Rogers
Corporation.
John Coonrod is a Market
Development Engineer for Rogers
Corporation, Advanced Circuit
Materials Division. He has more
than 24 years experience in
the PCB industry, about half of
which was in the Flexible Printed Circuit Board
industry doing circuit design, applications,
processing and materials engineering. John
has also supported the High Frequency Rigid
Printed Circuit Board materials made by Rogers
for the past 10 years. Reach John Coonrod at
[email protected].
Copper Foil Technology: A Fine Balance
video interview
by Real Time with...Designers Forum
John Andresakis, Vice President of
Strategic Technologies with Oak-Mitsui
Technologies, discusses copper foil, how his
company differentiates itself in the market,
and the efforts to reduce the copper foil
profile while maintaining adhesion. OakMitsui has been selling embedded materials
for years, and John talks about the growing
interest in these materials.
www.realtimewith.com
Arlon Introduces New Composite Material
a unique combination of properties for high speed,
high frequency, multi-layer applications:
• Low dielectric constant and loss
(2.8/0.002 at 10 GHz);
• Low water absorption (0.04%);
• Stable dielectric constant over frequency
and temperature;
• Excellent adhesion to a variety of PTFE and
other RF/microwave cores;
• High Decomposition Temperature
(443°C) and T288 (>>60 sec) for lead-free
solder compatibility;
• Low Z-direction CTE (45-50 ppm/°C) for
enhanced PTH reliability; and
• RoHS-Compliant.
Contact Arlon Material for Electronics at
909-863-1097 or visit www.arlon-med.com for
additional information on GenClad 280 and other
high-performance Arlon materials.
June 2011 • The PCB Magazine
15
short
Arlon Materials for Electronics announces
the introduction of GenClad 280 bond-ply,
a proprietary woven fiberglass reinforced,
ceramic-filled composite material engineered
for optimal cost/performance efficiency in
multi-layer RF and high frequency PCBs.
Combining a non-polar thermoset resin system
with controlled-expansion ceramic filler and
a low-loss thermoplastic material, GenClad
offers next generation electrical performance
that matches the electrical performance of
traditional PTFE laminate systems, but offers
designers the ability to use cost-effective multilayer designs.
GenClad 280 is engineered for use
in bonding dissimilar and hard-to-bond
materials in multilayer PCB structures,
particularly in high speed and microwave
applications. Compatible with PTFE laminate
materials, GenClad 280 pre-preg processes in
conventional FR-4 lamination cycles, yet offers
they have arrived!
f e at u r e — n e w a d va n c e d p c b m at e r i a l s
Thin
Laminates:
Buried Capacitance
or What?
by Istvan Novak
Oracle
A pair of rectangular parallel sheet
conductors, a power/ground layer pair,
separated by dielectrics, as shown in Figure 1,
creates static capacitance.
summary
After the heated debate about the proper
selection of bypass capacitors, probably
the next-most controversial topic is thin
laminates. Are they really beneficial? Do we
really need them? Can thin laminates help
us eliminate many of the high-frequency
bypass capacitors we’re accustomed to
using? Let’s look at the electrical properties
of thin laminates.
After the heated debate about the proper
selection of bypass capacitors, probably the
next most controversial topic is thin laminates.
Are they really beneficial? Do we really need
them?
Since the early 1990s, thin laminates have
been mostly marketed as buried capacitance,
many times also suggesting, or at least
implying, that by using thin laminates we can
eliminate many of the high-frequency bypass
capacitors on the board. Is it really possible?
The answer lies in the electrical properties of
thin laminates.
16
The PCB Magazine • June 2011
Figure 1: A pair of metal layers forms a parallelplate capacitor.
The capacitance (C) is proportional to
the dielectric constant of the laminate (eoer)
and area of conductors (l*w) and inversely
proportional to the dielectric thickness (h):
The dielectric constant of free space, e0
is 8.85 pF/m, and the er relative dielectric
constant is around 4 for many of our PCB
laminates. If we plug in l, w and h in meters,
we get the capacitance in farads.
The expression tells us where the name
“buried capacitance” comes from: A power-
“
So if we use thin laminates for power-ground layers, can we really
Eliminate many bypass capacitors from the board? The answer is yes...
”
Figure 2: We can get more static capacitance between power and ground planes by placing them
next to each other, without a signal layer in between.
ground layer pair gives us capacitance buried
in the stackup; we get more capacitance as we
use thinner laminates and/or higher dielectric
constants. A one-inch square power-ground
pair of the popular 50 um (2-mil) buried
capacitance laminate produces approximately
450 pF of capacitance. If we double the
dielectric thickness, the capacitance goes down
by a factor of two; if we cut the dielectric
thickness in half, the capacitance doubles.
A simple stackup choice, as shown in
Figure 2, gives us the opportunity to increase
the amount of capacitance: by placing the
power and ground layers next to each other,
without a signal layer in between, we can place
the plane layers much closer and we get more
capacitance. When we have a signal layer
between power and ground, the minimum
separation is limited by how narrow traces we
can etch reliably. The closer we put the planes,
the narrower traces we would need to use to
maintain our impedance target.
For 50-ohm traces and assuming regular
materials and processes, the plane-to-plane
separation is limited to about 10 mils (250 um)
or more. In contrast, if we pair up the power
and ground layers, we can put the layers much
closer, limited only by the risk of shorting due
to finite surface roughness. Note that Figure 2
shows only part of a multi-layer stackup and
during the definition of a full stackup we need
to take into account various additional factors,
such as symmetry, thickness limitation of the
board, etc.
So if we use thin laminates for power-
ground layers, can we really eliminate many
bypass capacitors from the board? The
answer is yes, but not because the increased
capacitance of the thin laminate, rather due
to its lower inductance. Figure 3 shows the
measured impedance on a board similar to
the one we showed in Figures 2 and 3 of the
column Power Distribution and the Big Bang
(PCB007 December 25, 2010).
The vertical scale of the figure is dBohm.
Zero dBohm corresponds to one ohm, -20
dBohm refers to 0.1 ohms, and so on. At
low frequencies the curve shows a straight
downslope; on a log-log scale this indicates
capacitance. We can calculate the static
Figure 3: Measured self-impedance magnitude of
a power rail on a bare PCB with 2-mil dielectric.
June 2011 • The PCB Magazine
17
thin laminates: buried capacitance or what? continues
th e y have arri ve d — ne w advanced pcb materials
capacitance for instance from the 60MHz
frequency point, where the impedance
magnitude is zero dBohm, or one ohm.
This value corresponds to about 3nF static
capacitance. At 200MHz the curve has a
minimum, followed by an upslope, which
corresponds to inductance. If for now we
neglect the small resonances (we will cover
those in later columns), we can approximate
the curve with an average line, which goes
through the zero dBohm value at 1GHz. This
corresponds to about 150 pH inductance.
The 3nF static capacitance is not much
on a power rail: unless the circuit draws
very little power, we usually need orders
of magnitude more capacitance to keep
the impedance below our target value at
lower frequencies. The real electrical benefit
of the thin laminate comes from its low
inductance. The inductance of a plane pair
is approximately L[pH] = 33*h[mil], which
yields 66 pH for our 2-mil plane separation
in the above example. As opposed to the
static capacitance of the laminate, which
stays the same everywhere on the plane,
inductance changes with location. It is the
lowest in the middle of the plane and goes
up rather sharply towards the sides and
edges.
The impedance of Figure 3 was measured
at one of the corners, this explains the 150
pH inductance value (instead of the 66 pH
value expected from the 2-mil thickness).
This inductance, however, even at the
corner, is much lower than what we can
achieve with a single bypass capacitor. In
contrast, the inductance of a single bypass
capacitor is usually around 1nH, at least ten
times higher than the average inductance of
a 2-mil plane pair.
Whether it is a discrete bypass capacitor
or a power-ground plane pair, the impedance
becomes inductive above the series
resonance frequency. At high frequencies,
all that matters is the inductance, and
thin laminates create very low inductance
indeed. So, when it comes to thin laminates,
think about their inductance rather their
capacitance. PCB
Suggested Further Reading:
1. John R. Sisler, “Method of making
multilayer printed circuit board,” US Patent
5,010,641, April 30, 1991.
2. James R. Howard and Gregory L. Lucas,
“Capacitor laminate for use in capacitive
printed circuit boards and methods of
manufacture,” US Patent 5,079,069, January
7, 1992.
3. Joel S. Peiffer, “The history of embedded
distributed capacitance,” Printed Circuit
Design and Manufacture, August, 2004, pp.
32-37.
4. TecForum HP-TF2: “Thin PCB
Laminates for Power Distribution. How
Thin is Thin Enough?” February, 2002,
DesignCon 2002. Available at
www.electrical-integrity.com.
Dr. Istvan Novak is a
distinguished engineer at Oracle,
working on signal and power
integrity designs of mid-range
servers and new technology
developments. Novak received
his M.S. degree from the
Technical University of Budapest, Hungary, and
his Ph.D. degree from the Hungarian Academy
of Sciences in 1976 and 1989, respectively.
With 25 patents to his name, Novak is coauthor of “Frequency-Domain Characterization
of Power Distribution Networks.” To contact
Istvan, click here.
PCB007.com
For more information on this subject visit us online at: pcb007.com
18
The PCB Magazine • June 2011
New Ceramic Core Material Beats the Heat
video interview
by Real Time with...Electronics IPC Midwest
Global Laminates has introduced a new
material, which is causing a stir in the
industry as OEMs and their fab suppliers
look for better thermal management
solutions. Global Laminates President
Bruce Hurley gives an overview of
the technology and its benefits to the
industry.
www.realtimewith.com
Maskless Lithography Welcomes Two Senior Executives
short
Maskless Lithography, a leading supplier of
direct-write, digital imaging (DI) systems to the
global PCB industry announced the appointment
of two senior executives to its management team.
Former Foxconn executive Richard Chenoweth
was named Vice President of Global Sales and
Marketing, and former Sanmina-SCI executive
William Pappani was named Chief Financial Officer.
The two new senior PCB industry executives
will support the growing adoption of the
company’s innovative DI products. With an
industry best cost-of-ownership and superior
gray level imaging (GLI) technology, Maskless’
award-winning, digital imaging technology is fast
becoming the digital lithography of choice for
the PCB industry as it moves away from contact
printing, at 50-micron feature sizes.
“We are very pleased to welcome both Bill
and Rich to our management team,” said Dr.
William Elder, President and Chief Executive
Officer of Maskless Lithography. “The response
by our customers to the new DI systems has
20
The PCB Magazine • June 2011
been exceptionally positive. With demand
accelerating, adding two seasoned PCB industry
executives clearly strengthens our team as
we deploy our new systems and support our
expanding customer base throughout Asia and
North America.”
Chenoweth has a wealth of PCB industry
knowledge both in North America and
throughout Asia, particularly China. He has
held senior management positions at Foxconn,
GBM, Flextronics and Sanmina-SCI. He has built
successful global sales organizations, driving
strategy and exceeding top-line growth goals.
Pappani joined Maskless from Sanmina-SCI
where he served as Vice President of Finance
and Controller for the company’s PCB Division.
Pappani drove efforts to expand the global
footprint of Sanmina, implemented a successful
global integration strategy, and led gross-margin
improvements at Sanmina. He has traveled
extensively throughout China, Malaysia and
Singapore.
they have arrived!
f e at u r e — n e w a d va n c e d p c b m at e r i a l s
Materials for High-Reliability Applications:
All IPC-4101-Grouped Materials are not Created Equal
By Yash Sutariya
Saturn Electronics Corporation/
Saturn Flex Systems, Inc.
summary
When discussing high-reliability materials
for printed circuit board applications, the
conversation typically gears towards opinions
of reliability: is one material system versus
another better? Other times, it’s materials’
properties that are stressed to imply reliability.
Materials Callouts
One commonly cited document is the
IPC-4101C Specification for Base Materials
for Rigid and Multilayer Printed Boards. This
standard creates slash sheets, or “silos,” to
combine like materials based on meeting
product or performance characteristics such
as resin type or a minimum Glass Transition
(Tg) rating. In recent years, new slash sheets
have been created to address materials capable
for lead-free assembly that incorporates Glass
Decomposition Temperature (Td).
For purposes of this discussion, we will
focus on these lead-free capable materials.
22
The PCB Magazine • June 2011
A summary table of three commonly called
out standards is provided in Figure 1 for
reference.
Once stacked next to each other, it’s easy
to see why one could infer reliability via
higher-level IPC categories and/or underlying
materials properties such as Tg or Td. We argue,
however, that these characteristics are almost
meaningless when taken in a vacuum. They
are merely indicators of the raw material,
not the finished product, when it comes to
reliability. Materials contribute only one part
of a combination of systems that dictate the
reliability of a product. In order to test the
system, we have to undergo reliability testing.
Test Methods
Thanks to our industrious friends on
the other side of the Great Wall, we’ve been
pushed to diversify our customer base over
the past decade away from our historical
automotive supply base. This allowed us to
experience a broad array of what people like
to rely on for reliability testing. Industries
we serve as a significant part of our business
include Automotive, Military/Aerospace,
Industrial Controls and Telecommunications.
Typically, the most intensive tests focus on
via hole wall reliability. We’ll review a few of
the common ones below.
“
Materials contribute only one part of a combination
of systems that dictate the reliability of a product.
”
Figure 1: IPC-4101 Summary Table.
Delphi C7000
Delphi’s testing attempts to simulate real
operating conditions of the PCB by applying
temperature cycling to Daisy Chain coupons.
Each coupon contains a series of vias linked
to each other through plated vias and inner
layer connections. The test qualifies the
vendor based on layer count and min via
diameter. Testing is performed using two airto-air test chambers. Standard parameters are
five minutes transition time between peak
temperatures, and 25 to 30 minutes at peak
temperatures. Measurements are performed
five times during the process, which terminates
at 1000 cycles. Needless to say, this is not a
quick test.
Highly Accelerated Thermal Shock
(“HATS”)
The HATS test simulates the C7000 testing
requirements by using an air-to-air thermal
cycling procedure that rapidly heats and
cools the test vehicles to the min and max
temperatures by using a single chamber
and introducing heated and cooled air. The
benefit of this method is that it requires
approximately 1/6 to 1/7 the time required for
the C7000 testing. However, there are schools
of thought that believe this method is not as
aggressive as the full thermal cycling required
by Delphi’s testing.
Interconnect Stress Test (“IST”)
IST is another accelerated method of
testing. Rather than use an air-to-air method to
bring the test vehicles to temperature, this test
method relies on an electrical charge to heat
the coupon and stress the vias. To date, we are
not aware of a direct correlation between this
method and the previous air-to-air methods.
The main difference between these tests is
how they attempt to stress the test vehicles.
The main commonality is that they measure
reliability based on resistance measurements of
the daisy-chained vias.
Materials Comparison Testing
Before we discuss the reliability of one
material over another, it’s critical to establish
why a particular material may display better
reliability testing results. Notice that the
reliability test results are not of a particular
June 2011 • The PCB Magazine
23
materials for high-reliability applications continues
th e y have arri ve d — ne w advanced pcb materials
characteristic or measurement of the laminate
itself, but rather a measurement of a feature
created in the material—the via itself.
The fact that we are testing the vias for
reliability means that we are not testing the
material, but rather the effect of the material on
various manufacturing processes, and vice versa.
The process/material combinations that
have the most impact on these reliability tests
are as follows:
Materials: Finally, there are the
physical properties of the material itself. These
include Tg, Td, CTE, among others. IPC-4101C
uses these and other materials’ properties to
create classifications that are often used for
product selection for particular applications.
In order to establish a difference in
reliability between two resin systems, the
proper method would require us to hold as
many things constant between the two test
procedures, such as:
Drilling: Drilling parameters (feed,
speed, retract, max hit count) must be
Material Choice: We chose two materials
optimized by resin system. Some systems are
that are qualified to the IPC-4101/126 slash
more abrasive against drill tools, while others
sheet. Both have similar Tg and Td values
are more brittle. Incorrect or non-optimum
that are the most commonly called out
parameters can result in rough holes walls,
characteristics in customer fabrication notes
gouges, incomplete de-smear and interthat we see as part of the normal course of
connect defects, among others.
business.
Desmear: Regardless of whether the
Test Vehicle: Eight-layer daisy chain
fabricator uses plasma or permanganate
coupon with finished hole sizes (in mils): 6, 8,
methods, the process must be modified based
10, 12 and 14.
on the resistance of each
resin system. Cycles
times may have to be
increased if inefficient
drill parameters
result in excess smear
across inner layer
interconnects.
Copper
PLATING: Cycles
to failure is often
correlated directly
with copper plating
thickness. Rough holes
can create turbulence
during copper
electroplating that
has a negative effect
on average plating
thickness in the hole.
Of course, plating a
fine grain structure
copper with high
tensile strength and
elongation properties
is critical to increased
life in a thermal cycling
Figure 2: Failures recorded at test intermission points.
environment.
24
The PCB Magazine • June 2011
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materials for high-reliability applications continues
th e y have arri ve d — ne w advanced pcb materials
Quantity: 11 coupons per resin system.
Preconditioning: All coupons were passed
six times through a lead-free reflow cycle.
Test parameters: -40°C to 120°C
temperature range. Five minutes transition
between extremes. Twenty-five minutes at
temperature.
Test requirements: Endpoints of each
daisy chain (one per hole size) are measured
throughout the test at hours 0, 336, 504, 750
and 1,000. Hole size fails for qualification
if any of the coupons show a change in
resistance of more than 10%. Coupons
that pass are cross-sectioned to validate no
potential for latent failures exist, such as cracks
in the copper plating.
Figure 3: Barrel cracks due to Z-axis expansion.
Test results
As the charts display (Figure 2), there is a
significant change in performance by changing
the material type, but holding all other inputs
constant (i.e., manufacturing process).
Figure 4: Stress Crack in Copper plating.
Figure 5: Stress Cracks in Copper plating.
26
The PCB Magazine • June 2011
materials for high-reliability applications continues
Failure analysis
Failures in this test can include blistering
and delamination, but are predominantly hole
wall cracks or interconnect separations (Figures
3, 4 and 5).
The thermal cycling causes the material
to expand and contract in the Z-axis. As seen
in the photos at left, this can cause hole wall
failures if the expansion is too great compared
to the ability of the copper plating in the hole
wall to adjust accordingly.
Conclusion
When it comes to materials reliability, our
first stop is typically and IPC-4101 category, or
a specific material property, such as CTE, Tg or
Td. We have found that materials categorized
into the same IPC slash sheet are not all equal.
Unfortunately, laminators trying to meet
a particular value of a higher performance
property can overlook other properties that
sometimes are not found on a datasheet or
IPC- 4101 listing. The benefits of those
properties can be easily diminished if the
material diminishes the performance of other
processes such as drilling or plating.
If true reliability is of utmost concern,
the PCB user must qualify not only the resin
system, but also the entire system used to
produce the PCB to ensure that the fabricator
and laminate system are compatible. PCB
Yash Sutariya is Vice President
of Corporate Strategy at Saturn
Electronics Corporation (SEC) and
Owner/President of Saturn Flex
Systems, Inc. (SFS). Since joining the
team, SEC has successfully navigated
from a low-mix, high volume, automotive
supplier to a high-mix, medium-to-high-volume
diversified supplier to a broad range of industries.
Sutariya received his BBA from the University of
Michigan, School of Business Administration.
video interview
Rogers’ New High-Frequency Laminate
by Real Time with...IPC APEX EXPO 2011
Greg Bull of Rogers Corporation
discusses RT/Duroid 6035HTC High
Frequency laminate, their new material
that’s getting plenty of attention from
designers, for its ability to manage
heat. Bull also explains more about
his company and their new factory in
China.
www.realtimewith.com
June 2011 • The PCB Magazine
27
they have arrived!
f e at u r e — n e w a d va n c e d p c b m at e r i a l s
No Time Like Now!
The Peril and Thrill of Being a Tech Early Adopter
by Ken Parent, Vice President
Integral Technology
summary
In technology advancement, timing is
everything. If you wait to balance your
investment against a perceived advantage
of being on the cutting edge, you may
miss out. Time never stands still. Is there
a perfect time to jump, or, are the only
choices “early” or “late”?
Technology today is changing so fast, it
makes you wonder if it is safe to jump in. Do I
buy my next tablet, smart phone or TV today
knowing that tomorrow I can undoubtedly
buy more technology at a lower price?
In technology advancement, timing
is everything. You have to balance your
investment against a perceived advantage of
being on the cutting edge. If you wait, you
28
The PCB Magazine • June 2011
may miss out. Even if you hesitate with your
decision-making, opportunities may pass you
by. Time never stands still. Is there a perfect
time to jump, or, are the only choices “early”
or “late”?
This concept is hitting very close to home
today, as I write this. Thirty years ago this
month, I graduated from college and landed
my first job making Printed Circuit Boards
at Buckbee Mears in Nashua, NH. Today, I’m
an executive at Integral Technology, Inc.,
launching the much-acclaimed Zeta® line of
products.
What a difference a few decades make! By
today’s standards, a printed circuit board was
a simple affair back then—eight mil lines and
spaces and disc drive circuits the size of steak
knives, assembled using tin lead solder. Even
though new technologies are taking us to
places not even remotely imaginable in 1981,
every year I’ve been in the business I’ve felt
the rush of adrenaline brought about from
new product development and cutting-edge
innovation in Printed Circuit Board materials. I
have worked with many successful materials in
my 30 years of building PCBs—lots of exciting
No time like now! continues
th e y have arri ve d — ne w advanced pcb materials
times pioneering the public’s evolving thirst
products that drive revenue and profit. Simple,
for electronics. Yet, nothing compares to the
right? Not quite! I cannot do justice to this
excitement of the new technologies available
topic without paying some attention to IPC
now. Today I am working with manufacturers
and UL, who want to make sure the products
and users of PCB materials that are innovating
are safe and documented to specifications.
new technology and processes, which will
Anyone who has worked in PCB electronics
reach far into our next generation of techno
knows that UL and IPC’s involvement in the
gadgets.
process is easy and creates no delays Okay,
Integral Technology, Inc., was established
enough wishful thinking and back to the real
to support the development, marketing and
world.
sales of new product technologies, advancing
Our challenge as manufacturers is to
the use of existing products through new
create a streamlined process for bringing
application techniques and market awareness
new materials to the end user. The reality of
as well as the technical engineering support
innovation is that it is hard work, expensive
and laboratory services. All of this leads to
and takes a lot of time.
accomplishing objectives and servicing the
Everywhere, I hear a common desire to
industries we support.
improve the time warp
Integral is
of product innovation,
This process begins
headquartered in Orange
development and
County, California,
adoption—from the
with an idea and
where it has a research
suppliers I work with
evolves by developing
and development
in developing the
solutions and processes
laboratory and
materials, to the PCB
engineering resources.
manufacturers building
that can be manufactured
Integral utilizes resources
with the materials and
at an acceptable cost
from around the world,
the OEMs designing the
to the consumer.
working with companies
systems. We all want
that are leaders in their
it better, faster and
industry in developing
cheaper!
groundbreaking technologies and next
Integral Technology has developed a series
generation materials to meet tomorrow’s most
of products around its Zeta® technology
critical challenges.
to help solve some of the industry’s most
There are opportunities at all stages of the
perplexing problems. For the last three years,
“innovation time line” that impact the cost
we’ve been working on what we believe are
(time and money) of bringing new ideas to
breakthrough materials. The portfolio of
the user. It’s an exciting process! Ideas lead to
Zeta products was spawned as a direct result
many things: critical thinking, developing,
of conversations with OEMs and suppliers
refining, crafting, testing and presenting,
about how to expand product lines and solve
which in turn are enhanced by listening,
problems. The original idea was to solve a
scrapping (ouch), investing and consulting.
problem in lead-free assembly called pad
Factor in the benefits of manufacturing,
cratering, which has been a silent, yet growing
promoting, selling and servicing, add some
threat to the electronics business. Together,
rethinking, and revising, and you’ve got a
with all stakeholders, we were able to develop a
net result that is a highly functional, effective
solution to this emerging industry problem.
portfolio of products—solutions TODAY for
As we continue our trek to innovate, we
TOMORROW’s technology.
will always listen to our customers and users
This process begins with an idea and
of our products. This reconnaissance and vital
evolves by developing solutions and processes
feedback maps our progress towards new and
that can be manufactured at an acceptable
expanded product offerings. As a result, we’ve
cost to the consumer. Innovative ideas create
been able to evolve our product portfolio to
“
”
30
The PCB Magazine • June 2011
provide our customers new opportunities
in High Density Interconnects. These new
interconnect materials are fiberglass-free
laminate and bonding materials that meet
the needs of the next generation of electrical,
mechanical and thermal demands due to the
fact they are thin, high Tg, Low Dk and Low
Df materials.
Integral Technology has made significant
progress in testing the Zeta materials with
PCB Manufacturers, Contract Manufacturers
and OEMs in North America, Europe and Asia.
Testing and evaluations have been focused
on the need to improve lead free assembly
yields, and drive higher layer count in thinner
packages. This has been fueled by the curiosity
to discover innovative ways to use the Zeta
materials outside of our original product
design scope.
It is exciting to imagine that our new Zeta
family of products—revolutionary today—may
be the new de facto standard of the future.
Early adopters enjoy sustained benefits from
having had the courage and the intellect
to recognize a game-changing product and
jump in quickly. When the rest of the world
catches up to you, you’ll be on to the next
frontier. PCB
Ken Parent is Vice President
of Product Management for
Insulectro and Vice President
of Vistana and Integral
Technologies, Inc. He started
in the PCB business after
graduating from Keene State
College with a Bachelor of Science Degree in
Industrial Engineering. Parent held a Process
Engineering position at Buckbee Mears
Company and Lockheed Martin (Sanders
Associates) before moving from engineering
to sales with a position at Dynachem (Morton
International). He has been with Insulectro in
September of 2000.
video interview
Europe: Ready for Change
by Real Time with...IPC APEX EXPO 2011
The European PCB industry continues
to struggle as OEMs increasingly move
work to Asia. Bernard Bismuth discusses
issues facing the industry, and some
possible solutions that may just help the
industry survive.
www.realtimewith.com
June 2011 • The PCB Magazine
31
article
PCB Design Techniques
for DDR, DDR2 & DDR3
(Part 2)
by Barry Olney
In-Circuit Design Pty Ltd, Australia
summary
This second and last part in a series examining
PCB Design Techniques will look at the
comparison of DDR2 to DDR3; DDR3 design
guidelines; pre-layout analysis; critical
placement; an example of design rules; and
finally, the post-layout analysis.
One major difference between DDR2
and DDR3 SDRAM is the use of levelling. To
improve signal integrity and support higher
frequency operations, the JEDEC committee
defined a fly-by termination scheme used
with the clocks, command and address bus
signals. Fly-by topology reduces simultaneous
switching noise (SSN) by deliberately causing
flight-time skew between the data and strobes
at every chip/DRAM, requiring controllers
to compensate for this skew by adjusting the
timing per byte lane (Table 1).
During a write, DQS groups are launched
at separate times to coincide with a clock
DDR2/DDR3 Comparison
DDR2
DDR3
Max Clock Frequency
533/1066
800/1600
ODT Static Dynamic
VDD
1.8V
1.5V (may also be 1.35V)
VTT
0.9V
0.75V
Vref
0.9V
0.75V
Input thresholds
0.9V
0.75V
Match Addr/CMD/CTRL to CLK tightly
yes
yes
Match DQ/DMO/DSQ tightly
yes
yes
Match DQS to clock loosely
yes
not required
Table 1.
32
The PCB Magazine • June 2011
“
In general, try to keep the SDRAM as close as possible to the controller, but bear in
mind that sometimes it will not be not possible because of other physical constraints.
arriving at components on the DIMM/PCB,
and must meet the timing parameter between
the memory clock and DQS defined as tDQSS
of ± 0.25 tCK.
The design process can be simplified
using the new levelling feature of DDR3 and
controller IC’s. The fly-by daisy chain topology
increases the complexity of the data path and
controller design to achieve levelling, but also
greatly improves performance and eases board
layout for DDR3.
DDR3 Design Guidelines—
Critical Constraints:
• Clock nets, DQ (data) and DQS (strobes)
are routed differentially. 4.5” max length
+/- 25MIL
• Net length from driver to first DIMM or
chip: between 2” to 3” max depending
on load
• Net length between DIMM’s or chips:
0.5”
• Net length from last DIMM or Chip to
the VTT Termination: 0.2” to 0.55”
• All DSQ/DQ (data and data strobe) should
be minimized to reduce the skew within
groups (or lanes) and across groups. 50
MIL within groups and 800 MIL across
groups.
• Skew between address nets should be
200MIL. Address and command nets
are daisy chained with a VTT pull-up for
termination.
Other constraints to consider:
• DDR3 data nets have dynamic On-Die
”
Termination (ODT) built into the
controller and SDRAM. The
configurations are 40Ω, 60Ω and 140Ω
so VTT pull-up is not necessary.
• Zo for DDR3 is 50Ω. Zdiff is 100Ω.
Pre-layout Analysis
I can’t emphasize enough the importance
of pre-layout analysis. Without which, you
are just relying on luck—which is not a design
parameter. The pre-layout simulation is used
to predict and eliminate signal integrity issues
early, proactively constraining routing and
optimizing clock, critical signal topologies and
terminations prior to board layout.
As previously mentioned, the value and
placement of the series resistors and VTT pullups for data, address and command signals
depends on the distances between the loads,
number of loads and the stackup of the board
and are best determined by simulation. The
series terminator may not be required if a
single SDRAM is used and the trace length
is short—but how do you know if you don’t
simulate the proposed layout?
In general, try to keep the SDRAM as close
as possible to the controller, but bear in mind
that sometimes it will not be not possible
because of other physical constraints. Also,
if there are two or more SDRAM chips, this
becomes more difficult and requires extended
signal lengths terminators. Now the question
becomes, where should they be placed and
what values should be used?
The series terminator would normally
be placed close to the driver. Surprisingly,
however, in the above case, the signal integrity
Figure 1: 2.375<x<2.652” DDR3 topology using levelling.
June 2011 • The PCB Magazine
33
PCB Design Techniques for DDR, DDR2 & DDR3 (Part 2) continues
order to get a tighter match, although the
JEDEC Spec is 50 MIL. These special high-speed
design rules should be given top priority in the
design rule hierarchy.
Final Post-Layout Analysis
The final post-layout analysis includes a
batch mode simulation of all the nets. This flags
signal integrity, crosstalk and EMI hot spots.
Basically, look carefully through this report to
see any issues that may have to be dealt with.
Figure 2: In this design, signal integrity will be
better if the series terminator is placed 4.5” away
from the driver.
was much better with a long distance (4.5
inches) away from the driver, and then the
signal split through two series resistors and into
each bank of DDR2 SDRAM. This is unusual,
but demonstrates the importance of simulation
in order to achieve the best possible outcome.
By the way, this design ran at full rate with no
rework required.
Placement
If you have completed the pre-layout
analysis, then placement is a matter of following
the constraints determined for length and
placement rules. Series terminators are normally
placed in RESNET 1206 (4 resistor packages) or
0402 on the bottom of the board, as the top is
typically taken up by large active devices.
Decaps should be placed directly beneath
the devices where possible, using 20 MIL
traces connected to the supply pins to reduce
inductance. It is sometimes possible to use the
vias coming down from fine pitch BGA supply
pins as one pin for the 0402 Decap and routing
the other to ground.
Matched Length and Differential
Pair Routing
Setting up the design rules is a little tedious in
any PCB tool, but, once done on the first design,
you can export them into the next design to save
time. Below (Table 2) is an example of DDR2
High-Speed Design Rules for Altium Designer.
When possible, I normally reduce the
tolerance within Data Lanes 0-3 to 25 MIL in
34
The PCB Magazine • June 2011
The batch mode simulation reports:
• Signal Integrity issues including over/
under shoot.
• Nets that are too long and need
termination.
• Crosstalk from multiple aggressor nets.
• Possible EMI sources.
Go through these items one at a time and
look at whether there needs to be action taken.
For instance, a long ‘Reset’ signal or a signal
going to a static pull-up may be reported as
being too long, but we can obviously ignore
these particular warnings. Another possible
case that needs to be addressed: a critical signal
that is routed over the Manhattan length and
needs termination.
Crosstalk is quite common in high speed
designs because of the cramped real estate;
signals have to be packed tightly into a
small area. Crosstalk can be minimized by
increasing trace spacing and by reducing the
signal layer to reference plane separation. Try
to keep prepreg thickness to 3 MIL to tightly
couple the signals to the plane. Also, it may
be necessary to add additional planes to the
stackup to isolate the offending aggressor
signals. Routing adjacent signal layers
orthogonally also helps reduce noise coupling.
Crosstalk problems can cause intermittent
operation due to timing glitches and
interference, dramatically reducing your
product’s reliability. So, it is best to address
these issues at the source.
If a good job has been done routing the
high-speed signals, on the internal layers and
away from the edges of the board, then EMI
should be minimal. However, if there is an EMI
PCB Design Techniques for DDR, DDR2 & DDR3 (Part 2) continues
Rule Name
Rule Type
Scope
Atttribute
Length Length
(InNetClass(‘Lane0’) AND Min Length = 500mil
InNetClass(‘Lane1’) AND Max Length = 1000mil
InNetClass(‘Lane2’) AND
InNetClass(‘Lane3’))
Parallel Segment Parallel Segment All - All
Gap = 4mil
Limit = 500mil
Layer = Same Layer
USB Data and Control Matched Net Lengths InNetClass(‘USB_length’) Tolerance = 100mil
Diff Pair USB Matched Lengths Matched Net Lengths InDifferentialPair (‘USB’) Tolerance = 25mil
Diff Pair Matched Lengths Matched Net Lengths (InDifferentialPairClass Tolerance = 25mil
(‘All Differential Pairs’))
DDR CLK Matched Lengths Matched Net Lengths InDifferentialPair Tolerance = 25mil
(‘DDR_MCK’)
DDR2 CTL Matched Net Lengths InNetClass(‘DDR2_CTL’) Tolerance = 200mil
DDR2 Addr Matched Net Lengths InNetClass(‘DDR2_Addr’) Tolerance = 200mil
Lane3 Matched Net Lengths InNetClass(‘Lane3’) Tolerance = 50mil
Lane2 Matched Net Lengths InNetClass(‘Lane2’) Tolerance = 50mil
Lane1 Matched Net Lengths InNetClass(‘Lane1’) Tolerance = 50mil
Lane0 Matched Net Lengths InNetClass(‘Lane0’) Tolerance = 50mil
All Lanes Matched Net Lengths (InNetClass(‘Lane0’) AND Tolerance = 500mil
InNetClass(‘Lane1’) AND
InNetClass(‘Lane2’) AND
InNetClass(‘Lane3’))
Table 2.
issue then different routing strategies can be
tried to eliminate the problem. EMC can be
measured, during the design process, to FCC,
CISPR, VCCI Class A & B standard—this alone
saves multiple iterations of a design.
All critical high-speed signals should be
individually checked. Signal flight times need
to be within spec, and eye diagrams need to
have eyes wide open.
By simulating during the design process,
you can be assured that your PCB layout will
be of the highest quality and will pass the
relevant EMC tests—saving you time, money
and frustration for a fraction of the cost of
board iterations and multiple compliancy
testing. Plus, the simulation can be done
before the design is finalized (before Gerber
output or even earlier in the design process) to
further reduce production time and costs. PCB
36
The PCB Magazine • June 2011
References:
1. Advanced Design for SMT – Barry Olney,
In-Circuit Design Pty Ltd.
2. JEDEC Specifications JESD 79F, JESD792E & JESD79-3D.
3. Altera Board Layout Guidelines, EMI_
Plan_Board.
Barry Olney is Managing Director
of In-Circuit Design Pty Ltd (ICD),
Australia, a PCB Design Service Bureau
and Board Level Simulation Specialist.
Among many other awards through
the years, ICD was awarded “Top
2005 Asian Distributor Marketing” and
“Top 2005 Worldwide Distributor Marketing” by
Mentor Graphics, Board System Division.
summary
point of view
column
Does America Need
Manufacturing?
by Steven Williams
The topic for
this discussion came
to me, as most of
my best ideas do,
during a casual
conversation about
life over a cold beer.
Having finished our
weekly volleyball
league match, my
friend Mike and
I had just settled
in at our favorite
watering hole to
soothe away the
aches and pains
that accompany
playing competitive
volleyball after
the age of 50. We
have had some
very interesting
discussions over the
years, on a variety
of topics, but mostly
our conversations tended to center around
Harleys, sports or politics.
This particular evening Mike turned
to me and asked, “Steve, I want your
opinion on something. Does America need
manufacturing?” Now, this is not quite the
radical departure from our normal topics as
you may think. You see, Mike is not only a
good friend and fellow Harley enthusiast,
he is also a small business owner whose
business has been significantly impacted by
Asian competition. Like Mike, I had grown
up in this business “making stuff,” and
before I had time to even think about an
answer, I blurted out a resounding “Hell yeah
we need manufacturing!” as my American
38
The PCB Magazine • June 2011
The data is clear: America is no longer a
manufacturing nation. With only 23% of
our GDP, and 20% of jobs coming from the
manufacturing sector, this disturbing reversal
of fortune from the “good old days” begs
the question, “Is there hope?” Perhaps, but
one thing remains crystal clear: American
manufacturers control their own destiny.
pride and loyalty
involuntarily
kicked in. However,
after thinking more
about it in the
following days, I
decided it would
be worthy of some
research to support
my well-intended
gut reaction.
Sobering Facts
If you are a
U.S. manufacturer,
the following
information from
the CIA’s World
Factbook should
scare the hell out
of you. Using the
metric of Services as
a Percent of Gross
Domestic Product
(GDP), in the year
2010 the United States was in the top three
of all industrialized countries at 77%. Simply
put, 77% of our revenue as a country comes
from service-related industries, with only
23% from manufacturing. The data provided
by the Handbook of U.S. Labor Statistics for
the percent of the U.S. labor force in each
sector are equally disturbing. Using 1950 as
a baseline, 60% of U.S. employees worked in
manufacturing and 40% in service industries.
By the year 2009, this mix has changed to only
20% in manufacturing and 80% in service.
While these statistics are great news if you
are a service provider, they are catastrophic
for the once mighty American manufacturing
sector. The United States is no longer a
does america need manufacturing? continues
manufacturing nation, and I really don’t
believe there will be enough service jobs to
support our growing population if this trend
is not arrested. Looking next at 1998-2008
data published by the International Labor
Organization, it clearly shows just how far
America has fallen in global manufacturing
employment compared with our competition.
As Figure 1 shows, America’s 22% decline is last
among major manufacturing countries, and we
need to consider that this number is probably
conservative when factoring in how “U.S.
employment” is defined within multi-national
organizations.
It gets worse. In 2007, the United States
ranked 168th out of 182 nations in Industrial
Production Growth Rate with a rate of .5%.
Sudan is number one at 32%, and China is
number six at 12.9%. The United States is the
largest importer in the world, bringing in over
$1.6 trillion in goods and services during 2009.
The United States had a population of around
312 million and a workforce of 155 million
people in 2010. Compare that to China’s
population of 1.4 billion and a workforce of
800 million people and it is painfully easy to
see why we are where we are today.
On-shoring
Referring to the preservation of existing
manufacturing in America, on-shoring is
the result of companies becoming more
globally competitive through efforts such
as Lean, product design, reduced labor cost
through increased efficiencies and improved
customer responsiveness. Evaluating the value
proposition in total cost terms, it is entirely
possible that America could become a low-cost
country option!
Re-shoring
This interesting new buzzword refers to
the return of work to America that had been
previously lost to offshore competition. This
reversal is being driven by a number of factors,
namely, recent economic conditions are
forcing customers to change their focus from
unit cost to total cost of ownership. Perhaps
the grass isn’t always greener on the other
side (of the world!).
40
The PCB Magazine • June 2011
Re-shoring Drivers
• Increasing transportation and fuel costs
• Higher foreign wages
• IP/counterfeiting concerns
• Reduction of pipeline inventory for JIT
• Localizing manufacturing near R&D
facilities
• Regulatory compliance risk
• Design and delivery flexibility
• Political and infrastructure stability
• Improved U.S. competitiveness through
Lean
• Higher reject rates/quality
• Product liability
Is There Hope?
Some encouraging trends do give us hope.
The U.S. has dropped from number one to
number three in the world ranking of GDP
from services over the last decade, and we have
seen a 26% drop from 2008 to 2009 in dollars
imported (2008 was a staggering $2.1 trillion).
The key to both preserving the manufacturing
business that we still have (on-shoring), and
bringing lost manufacturing jobs back to
America (re-shoring), is going to hinge on the
ability of domestic suppliers to become, and
remain, globally competitive.
So, does America need manufacturing?
Hell, yeah! It is my hope that, as a nation,
we can collectively take the steps to preserve
manufacturing in America. However, in what
may very well be our last chance, will America
once again regain its manufacturing homefield advantage in today’s global environment?
I don’t know, but to use another sports
metaphor, the ball is clearly in our court. PCB
Steven Williams is a 35-year
veteran in the electronics
industry and an authority on
manufacturing and management.
He is currently the commodity
manager for a large global EMS
provider, a distinguished faculty
member at several Universities and author of
the book Survival Is Not Mandatory: 10 Things
Every CEO Should Know About Lean
(www.survivalisnotmandatory.com).
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article
WHAT IT TAKES TO THRIVE:
The Research and Experimentation (R&E) Tax Credit
An interview with: HUNTER TECHNOLOGY
summary
Designed to offer assistance and incentive
to companies who are engaged in the
development of technologically progressive
products, the Research and Experimentation
Tax Credit has had a longer than expected
lifespan, yet is surprisingly underused.
Originally enacted in 1981 as part of the
Economic Recovery Tax Act, the Research and
Experimentation (R&E) Tax Credit (also referred
to as the R&D Tax Credit) has expired eight times
and been extended 14 times during the past
30 years. Having experienced several economic
downturns, corrections and a couple of outright
recessions during the past three decades, it is
no surprise that this vital aide to American
business continues to get consistent support from
Congress, regardless of political party.
The R&E Tax Credit is designed to offer
assistance and incentive to companies who are
engaged in some part of the development of
products that are considered technologically
progressive, thereby reinforcing our national
hope (need) to maintain a technological edge
within the global economy. Surprisingly, there
42
The PCB Magazine • June 2011
are many more companies that qualify for
this benefit than participate in it—a fact that
confounds Joe O’Neil, President of Hunter
Technology, in California.
Joe O’Neil and the company’s controller,
Jill DeDios, sat down to discuss the importance
of the R&E Tax Credit to manufacturing
business in the U.S., and why some companies
don’t take advantage of it.
I-Connect007: In the simplest of terms, what
is the R&E Tax Credit?
Joe O’Neil/Hunter Technology: The
R&E Tax Credit was originally introduced
in the Economic Recovery Act of 1981 and
is available to help reduce the tax burden
and the cost of investing in research and
experimentation by U.S. manufacturers.
I-Connect007: Jill, under this statute, what is
the working definition of R&D? Who qualifies for
the R&E Tax Credit?
Jill DeDios: The Research & Experimentation Tax Credit is a general business tax
credit for companies who incur research and
development expense in the United States. The
IRS defines “Research & Experimentation” as
“research which is undertaken for the purpose
of discovering information
“
Not taking full advantage of this credit is leaving money
that could be re-invested back into the company on the table.
(i) which is technological in
nature, and
(ii) the application of which
is intended to be useful in the
development of a new or improved
business component of the taxpayer.”
I-Connect007: Joe, one of the
reasons that you felt a discussion
Joe O’Neil
on the R&E Tax Credit was warranted
is because, even after three decades, there are
many misconceptions about who qualifies for this
benefit and how difficult it is
to participate in receiving the credit. I know
it is your opinion that there are many U.S.
manufacturers that are not taking advantage
of this benefit and should be. What are the
most common misconceptions or reasons why
companies that qualify for the tax credit do not
participate?
JO: The most common misconception is,
“We are a manufacturing company. We do
not perform R&D.” This is, quite simply, a
misunderstanding of the term, “R&D,” as we
just discussed. R&D for the purposes of the
tax code is not R&D in the strict scientific or
university sense. It is a much broader working
definition. Any manufacturing company in
the U.S. who is working with an OEM on
new product development (i.e., developing
new and improved manufacturing processes,
increasing automation, etc.) should work
with their accountant to take advantage of
this credit. Why would a business owner not
want to take advantage of this? Not taking full
advantage of this credit is leaving money that
could be re-invested back into the company on
the table.
Another comment we hear is that it is not
cost effective to hire people and buy special
software to track the R&D Tax Credit. The
R&D Tax Credit seems too complex, but in
reality, it’s not. It takes some up-front research
and preparation, but no significant resources,
software or personnel are required. It is simply
a matter of due diligence. I think folks have
a gut fear reaction in regards to anything
tax related, especially where there is even
greater government involvement or perceived
government exposure, but that is really just
”
ignorance. Take the time to figure it
out. You may be very happy you did.
I-Connect007: How does the R&D/
R&E Tax Credit apply specifically to EMS
companies, as in Hunter’s case, for instance?
JO: Hunter Technology uses this
credit to offset the cost of process
engineers who focus on new process
development and improvement which
benefits our customers’ (and our) bottom
line. We also use the credit to experiment
with new, advanced materials in our PCB fab
manufacturing facility.
I-Connect007: Hunter has been taking this
tax credit since 2007. How much would you say
Hunter has benefited from the R&E Tax Credit
over the years? Can you quantify it?
JD: Yes. We started taking the R&E Tax
Credit in 2007. Over the past three years, we
have saved more than 17% of our operating
income by utilizing this credit.
I-Connect007: Wow! That is significant. Are
there any other, perhaps less tangible benefits
that you have experienced from participation in
the R&E Tax Credit? Is there a positive association
with customers, for instance, being “officially”
declarative about your involvement in R&D?
JO: On the “customer perception side,” I
believe that our customers look to us to assist
them in determining the most reliable advance
technology solutions available in the market.
Those typically cost both time and money
to bring up through R&D. EMS and PCB
suppliers who reinvest in their companies are
at a significant market advantage.The R&E Tax
Credit simply allows manufacturers like us to
be more aggressive in our R&D efforts, which
is something that draws customers to us.
I-Connect007: The last official expiration
date for the R&E Tax Credit was December 31,
2010. It was extended temporarily (December 31,
2011), yet again. But, what is the status of the
current R&E Tax Credit? Is there any likelihood
that it will ever be enacted into a permanent
credit for business? Are there any likely changes to
the tax credit going forward?
June 2011 • The PCB Magazine
43
hunter technology interview continues
JD: Yes, in answer to your last two
questions, President Obama is pushing for a
permanent R&E Tax Credit as part of the 2012
federal budget. Given the tax credit’s 30 year
history, having had 14 temporary extensions,
and couple that with the indisputable need
for America to be technologically present
if we hope to remain a leader in the global
business economy, I have high hopes that this
will indeed become part of the 2012 budget.
This is something that both Republicans
and Democrats should be able to agree upon
without controversy.
I-Connect007: Is there anything current
business owners and advocates can do to push
this permanent credit? Whom should they
contact, and what is the most effective means of
communication with government and business
organizations to this end?
JO: One of the simplest and most effective
things manufacturers and business owners
can do is to work through the IPC to appeal
to congress. Contact the IPC Government
Relations Committee or any of your IPC
contacts to find out how to support this
initiative. As always, we need all of the support
that we can get for the benefit of all of our
businesses. It really is worth the small amount
of time and effort to lend your support.
If you are interested in becoming more
involved, again, contact the IPC. They are
always appreciative of those who are willing
to contribute their time and expertise for the
betterment of our industry and our member
companies.
JD: Also, contact your CPA to find out
about implementing the credit for your
organization. It is a call worth making. PCB
References:
1. History of the R&D Tax Credit
Legislation.
2. IRS: Research and DevelopmentManufacturing Tax Tips.
All Flex Minneapolis Facility Completes Upgrade, Expansion
short
All Flex Flexible Circuits, LLC, manufacturer
of flexible printed circuits and heaters, has
completed significant capital equipment and
infrastructure improvements to the company’s
second production facility in Bloomington,
Minnesota.
All Flex has manufactured flexible circuits
since its inception 20 years ago. Over the last
several years, growing business had to be
accommodated with more space. Most finishing
and assembly operations were moved 35 miles
north to the Bloomington facility, where Lean
Manufacturing Principles were implemented
along with ISO 9001:2008, AS9100 and ITAR
Certification.
The purchase of additional 5,000 square
feet was necessary to manage additional
business that All Flex has been supporting and
to prepare for future growth. This required the
upgrading and reconfiguring of several processes
throughout the facility to include clean rooms,
44
The PCB Magazine • June 2011
automated assembly, testing, etc.
According to Kai Warnock, Vice President
and Operations Manager, the major drive for
further expansion was to significantly ramp up
process automation for improved efficiency and
repeatability in the area of assembly capability.
“With our strategic investments our surface
mount assembly processes are now more
automated and our internal supply chain is even
better streamlined, putting All Flex in great
capability position,” says Warnock.
Bloomington Facility Manager, Chad
Nevils says, “The 30% increase in footprint has
allowed for additional capacity and improved
management of manufacturing constraints.
Transitioning from compact compartmentalized
work areas to a single open production floor has
greatly increased overall efficiency throughout
the manufacturing process.”
For more information, please visit:
www.allflexinc.com/.
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summary
tech talk
column
Repeat Defects
Random defects, “repeat” defects and even
“pseudo repeat defects” may affect several
panels, or plague an entire production run in
printed wiring board fabrication. Before you
can do something about them, the key is
locating and identifying them.
by Karl H. Dietz
In printed wiring
board fabrication,
random defects and
so-called repeat (or
repetitive) defects may
be seen on several
panels or plague an
entire production run.
These repeat defects
are characterized by
a distinct pattern. In
some cases, the defects
are always in the
same location on the
panel. In other cases,
the defects may be
noticed on a narrow
strip on the panel in
machine direction
of the conveyorized
spray process
modules. Or, the
repeat defect pattern
is one where two defects always appear at the
same distance from each other in machine
direction; however, the absolute position of
the two defects on the panel may vary, while
the transverse direction location of the two
defects pretty much stays the same. Then there
are repeat defects that we would refer to as
“pseudo repeat defects,” not because they did
not fit the description of repeating defects that
originate from the same problem source, but
because they might appear on some panels,
but not on all; or, they might show up for a
while and then disappear.
To identify repeat defects by location, we
used a clear polyester foil overlaid on top of
the AOI inspected defective panel that bore
the defect ink identification marks of the
AOI. We then circled the defect locations on
46
The PCB Magazine • June 2011
the polyester with a
permanent marker
ink and placed this
defect template on
subsequent defective
panels. If the circles
on the polyester
foil fell in the same
position as a defect
on subsequent
panels, this was a
good indication that
we had located a
repeat defect. Today,
some AOI software
programs will
allow you to do the
same exercise more
elegantly.
A repeat defect
characterized by
the fact that it is
always in the same
location on the panel is invariably linked to
the photolithographic process. It could be a
defective phototool. Or, it could originate from
a piece of dirt trapped on the exposure frame.
Whether such a defect appears on all panels
or intermittently depends on the size of the
imperfection and how good the contact was
between the phototool and the photoresist
for a particular exposure step. Of course, if a
routine cleaning step of the phototool or the
exposure frame removes the piece of dirt, or
if it dislodges accidentally, then the defect no
longer repeats.
If defects concentrate in a lane in machine
direction, there are several potential sources for
such defects. A damaged conveyor wheel could
cause mechanical damage to the photoresist
in the developer, or a partially plugged spray
repeat defects continues
nozzle can cause highly localized, highpressure spray impact in the developer or
etcher resulting in over-development or overetching.
Repeat defects related to hot roll
lamination have two causes: either by a pit,
indentation or cut in the rubber cover of the
roll, or by a bump on the roll resulting from
a nodule of foreign material on the otherwise
smooth roll surface (see Figures 1 and 2 ).
A pit on the roll surface causes inadequate
lamination pressure, which can cause an air
void or low dry film adhesion that will not
survive the rest of the process (see Figure
1). Bumps on the roll are usually caused by
resist contamination. Such bumps increase
lamination pressure, causing resist thinning.
Such thin resist may not survive downstream
processing. A thick bump with steep sidewalls
may cause air voids or low adhesion around
the edge of the bump as well as resist thinning
(see Figure 2). Both types of roll defects will
cause opens or nicks in etching applications,
and shorts or excess copper in pattern plate
applications.
Repetitive lamination voids can easily
be detected. Most appear as light spots on
laminated boards due to air under the resist.
Thin resist spots without air voids are seen
as dimples in the resist when observed at
an angle. All defects caused by lamination
rolls will repeat at the distance equal to the
circumference of the roll. Note that, due to
the spacing between boards, defects may not
appear at the same location on each board.
Bumps on the lamination rolls caused by
resist contamination can usually be removed
by cleaning with isopropyl alcohol (caution:
it’s flammable!). Problems caused by pits
on the lamination rolls can be corrected
permanently only by replacing the rolls. Some
vendors offer repaired (recovered) rolls as a
less costly alternative. Temporary repairs by
filling the pits with a high temperature silicone
adhesive sealant are possible, but they may fail
within days because of thermal cycling. PCB
Karl Dietz is President of Karl
Dietz Consulting, LLC. He is
offering consulting services
and tutorials in the field of
circuit board & substrate
fabrication technology. Karl
can be reached by e-mail
at [email protected] or phone
(001) 919 870 6230.
Graphic PLC Receives Award from BAE Systems
short
Graphic PLC of Devon, England has
received a special “Supplier Recognition Award”
from BAE Systems. The award recognizes
Graphic’s on-time Delivery, Quality and Support
performance for the past 12 months to BAE
Systems.
This is the third such award received
from Graphic’s major OEM customers in the
past six months, and shows the company’s
commitment to world class manufacturing
performance at the highest level. Graphic PLC
is involved with the SC21 program and has
achieved AS9100 and NADCAP amongst other
International Business Quality awards.
48
The PCB Magazine • June 2011
About Graphic PLC
Graphic PLC is one of the most technicallycompetent manufacturers of high-technology
PCBs. Located in the heart of the English
countryside, Graphic focuses on leadingedge technology released to the most
demanding international quality standards.
Constantly looking at innovative solutions to
customer requirements, Graphic is an expert
at prototyping and developing new “first-tomarket” products. With facilities in the UK
and in China for medium- to large-volume
production, Graphic is able to offer complete
services for PCB manufacturing.
Honeywell Relies on Standards to Set Contractor Expectations
by Terry Costlow
June 2011 • The PCB Magazine
49
short
When Honeywell Aerospace writes contracts with
suppliers and subcontractors, it relies on IPC documents to establish many details.
Language barriers occur just as regularly when
technologists in one discipline communicate as they
do when people from different countries talk to each
other. In the technical world, standards help alleviate
these misunderstandings, making it much easier for
companies that work with suppliers and subcontractors.
Large companies that deal with more outsiders—
and have more insiders who work in many disparate
disciplines—often make extensive use of standards in
order to reduce the number of mistakes that can and
will arise.
Guidelines by standards bodies such as IPC are
used throughout the relationship between companies.
Good documentation can help companies forge strong
relationships from the start, ensuring that a supplier or
subcontractor can meet the requirements of an OEM.
“When we’re looking for
new suppliers or partners, we
need a way to look at their
technical capabilities. If they can
say that they’re able to build printed boards or printed
board assemblies to the relevant Class 3 IPC requirements, it gives us a lot more confidence that they will
be able to fulfill a production run,” said Dewey Whittaker, staff engineer at Honeywell Aerospace.
One of the most important aspects of standards
and guidelines is that they define the terms in unambiguous language. Many technical terms mean
different things to people in different disciplines, so
they need to be defined for communication that goes
outside a single group.
“Some of the things set in IPC documents sound
simplistic, but you need universal agreement for what
the term “eight” means. Not that “eight” is acceptable
to everyone, but that it is understood by everyone before you can move forward,” Whittaker said, only half
in jest. He added that it’s always important to ensure
that what seems apparent to one side is also apparent
to the other.
This move to standardization helps foster good
relationships between companies by reducing the aggravation that occurs when one party doesn’t view an
issue in the same way as the other. Many times, one
party will think everything is fine until managers at the
other company are upset about problems.
“In the past, if you had a problem you could spend
a week going through white board discussions just
trying to get commitment that a problem is a problem.
That’s very frustrating,” Whittaker said.
With a standard, it’s very clear whether or not
the requirements were met. “Data is data, there’s no
longer any language barrier,” Whittaker said. “Using a
standard hopefully ensures that you understood what
was meant and that you can do what the standard
says.”
Whittaker is a big proponent of standards, but he
noted that no document will ever ensure that confusion won’t rear its ugly head. While standards can
reduce the likelihood of misunderstandings, nothing
can eliminate miscommunication when people are
involved. “We’ve worked with companies that look
at all our requirements, things like building IPC-6012
Class 3 printed boards with varying types of vias and
reviewed by staffers that have gone through IPC-certified training programs and said yes to all of them.
Then we find that they don’t necessarily have plans
to use all those capabilities nor understand that it is
a mandate of ours to invoke all those requirements
when they produce our printed boards. It’s flabbergasting, but it happens,” Whittaker said.
Though these types of problems can occur,
they’re thankfully rare. Providing
a common base of understanding is a huge step for companies
that are attempting to work
with a growing number of subcontractors. However,
many guidelines give companies some flexibility in
the way they do things. That openness may not be
effective for a company that’s setting guidelines for a
contract. Nonetheless, the guidelines can be tweaked
by simply telling the subcontractor where minor
changes must be made.
“When you start outsourcing, you have to be
very clear,” Whittaker said. “That can create some
huge documents. But I can keep them short by saying
they must meet IPC-6012 Class 3 or 3/A acceptance
criteria with some exceptions/deviations. I replace will
with shall, so they have to do those things,” Whittaker said.
Though standards aren’t designed to boost a
country’s self-esteem or its standing in the world,
they can help emerging nations step forward. Corporations in these nations can use standards to show
that they match the capabilities of more experienced
companies in countries that have been industrialized
for longer periods. When these companies in emerging nations bring in business from top-tier providers,
the entire country benefits.
“A standard breaks down the barriers, changing how companies in different countries rank and
view themselves,” Whittaker said. “In many emerging countries, there’s a lot of prestige and honor by
having a major corporation have a presence in their
country.”
summary
the lean mean pcb specialist
column
How to Implement Lean Manufacturing
into a Printed Circuit Board Shop
Part 2:
Common Questions
Part 2 of this five-part series on
implementing Lean Manufacturing
into a PCB shop, columnist Dale
Smith unravels the common questions
surrounding the issue: What are the
excuses? What are the wastes? What are
my expectations?
by Dale Smith
Here are a few common reasons cited by companies who do not implement Lean:
In General:
1. We are a small company. We don’t have the resources that bigger companies have and we can’t
afford it.
2. We’re too busy. We don’t have time to make changes or to train.
3. We don’t have highly skilled factory operators. We have a hard time just getting them to follow
procedures, and you want us to empower them?
4. Fear factor. We are afraid to make changes; we don’t want to make things worse.
5. We don’t know how to implement. Where do we begin?
6. We would consider asking for help, but outside instructors don’t understand our business.
Specific to the PCB industry:
1. We manufacture a custom product. It’s different all the time.
2. We manufacture many different product types, with varying numbers of process steps.
3. Our product is highly complex and technical.
4. We have product that requires a flow back to a previous operation.
5. We only build prototypes. A part number may only be manufactured one time.
6. We have many “new” part numbers that we have never built before.
7. We build prototypes and volume production quantities in the same facility; therefore, there is a
demand conflict. The prototype work needs to be processed immediately, causing the
“production” work to suffer delivery issues (or vice-versa).
8. We do not have much automated equipment.
There are more, but quite frankly, they too
are just excuses. Lean Manufacturing is about
removing waste. Removing waste is a good
thing no matter what is being produced! You
can “Lean Out” your garage or basement. Have
you ever looked for tools that you know you
own, but can’t find? A half-hour job ends up
taking all afternoon because you couldn’t find
the tools. What a waste of time! You probably
could have completed several more tasks in
50
The PCB Magazine • June 2011
that time period. This is just an example of
how improved efficiencies can reduce cost and
cycle time (two or three tasks completed in
an afternoon instead of one, and a single task
completed in thirty minutes).
In a PCB shop, most people think waste
is scrap and rework. Yes, these are important
wastes to eliminate or reduce, but there are
other types of waste that nobody considers
which are just as important.
Why choose Fein-Line?
Because there is a Fine Line between winning
...and the alternative.
After more than 44 years in the industry, just about
everyone knows the name Dan (Baer) Feinberg.
There are few in our industry that have his experience
and expertise in just about every aspect of the business.
Dan knows what works, and perhaps more importantly,
what doesn’t.
When additional expertise is needed, or when senior
management just needs an independent opinion,
companies large and small alike get the guidance of
Fein-Line Associates, especially in the areas of New
Product Market Entry and M&A Due Diligence.
In our business, there's a lot on the line, not just
sometimes, but every time. The line between success and
the alternative can be razor thin. That’s why winning
companies choose Fein-Line time after time.
Dan (Baer) Feinberg
Fein-Line Associates
Sales Training General Marketing Assistance · New Product Market Entry
Merger and Acquisition Due Diligence · Printed Circuit Technology assessment
Market Research (It may work but will it sell) · Expert Witness assignments
Technology Transfer
Fein-Line Associates, Inc.
P.O. Box 73355, San Clemente, CA 92673-0112
(949) 498-7866
[email protected]
www.feinline.com
Lean manufacturing, Part 2: Common Questions continues
What is “waste” in a manufacturing
operation?
Waste: Any activity which utilizes
equipment, materials, parts, space, employee
time or other resources beyond the minimum
amount required for value-added operations
to ensure manufacturability. These situations
should be considered as opportunities for
improvement. Ideally, we only want to be
performing tasks that the customer will pay for
(you will see the importance of this statement
in later commentary). More specifically, waste
activities are as follows:
make the commitment with focused efforts on
waste reduction can experience the substantial
types of gains mentioned above.
How quickly would I expect to see results?
Again, results would depend upon the
effort. From my experience, the expectation
would be to begin seeing results in about
three to six months. Initially, there needs to
be an intense focus on training. For this to
occur, upper management must “buy in.”
Management must be committed to the
principles and have a basic understanding
of them. It’s fine to have some doubts,
1. Overproduction (producing more
but management must believe that the
product than the customer needs)
program is good for the company and, once
2. Delays (any time when value is not
implemented, will yield results. Management
being added to the product)
also needs to understand what is required of
3. Transporting of materials from process to
them, specifically. It is helpful to have a “Lean
process
Road Map” outlining the path forward with
4. Over-processing (doing more work than
an estimated timeline to complete the tasks.
required to meet customer requirements)
Therefore, it is extremely important to have
5. Inventory (WIP and storage)
one or more experienced Lean Coordinators
6. Motion (moving product more than
to advise and guide the company through the
required to manufacture)
process. Don’t forget—you are talking about
7. Scrap and Rework
changing the culture of the company! It must
8. Lack of Innovation (failure to encourage
be implemented carefully or pessimism will
new ideas or develop better methods)
grow and try to defeat the effort. To get the
program off on the right
If I eliminate or reduce
foot, get some positive
It is helpful
these wastes, what
results early, and build on
results could I expect to
that momentum.
to have a
gain?
“Lean Road Map”
We are not talking about
What are the costs?
outlining the path
gains of three, five or 10%.
There are some costs
forward with an
I have seen companies
to consider. Consultant(s)
gain over 50% in their
hired for guiding/advising
estimated timeline
productivity output! Some
must have their fees
to complete
companies have reduced
budgeted. Time must
the tasks.
their lead times by over
be allotted for company
60%! On top of these gains,
associates to be trained
some have realized reduction in WIP by as
(work will not be performed during these
much as 30%.
sessions). As you progress further into
However, success depends on the
implementation, it may be advantageous to
effort and commitment to the principles.
move equipment, re-organize work areas or
Companies who only commit limited time
add resources. This should be weighed and
and/or resources, and are unwilling to make
analyzed to ensure that the investment brings
changes (which can be significant), will not
rewards. After all, you don’t want to spend
realize much improvement for their efforts.
$20k for a $10k return, or wait for returns
Companies that believe in the principles and
that will not pay back for many years. It is
“
”
52
The PCB Magazine • June 2011
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Lean manufacturing, Part 2: Common Questions continues
also more difficult to qualify the returns of
some investments. For example, if we don’t
reduce our lead times, we may never get the
opportunity to win business from a potential
customer because we cannot meet their needs.
How do you put a price on that? Usually these
types of decisions are obvious. Having a longrange plan will be important, but it’s too early
to worry about now. You don’t have enough
data yet to understand what the needs will be.
This will be discussed in subsequent columns.
Do I have a capable management staff?
Good question! Moreover, an important
one! Lean is not complicated; it’s mostly
common sense. Obviously, a strong staff
is critical for achieving success in any
organization or implementing a new program.
My experience is that most companies have
a capable staff. Most have the skills that
are necessary for planning, implementing
and executing. The staff should be able to
challenge the status quo, focus on continuous
improvement (removing waste) and build
on the positive results. Further, you want to
develop this culture throughout the entire
organization, so it is important that the
team listen to all concerns in order to avoid
making rash decisions that could lead to
mistakes affecting performance or quality. Two
important questions for you to consider are:
1. Can management work together as a
team?
2. Will the team apply the necessary effort
for planning, implementing, executing
and sustaining the program?
Do I have capable manufacturing
associates?
My experience is that most companies’
manufacturing associates (supervision and
operators) have adequate skills to adopt the
new principles. I find they are mostly willing
to participate in the improvement process.
In fact, many find that for the first time,
the company is listening to them. What a
revelation! This is exactly what you will be
encouraging.
Again, do not underestimate the
54
The PCB Magazine • June 2011
importance of listening to all concerns to
avoid decisions that could negatively affect
performance or quality.
Can lean fail?
Yes!
The main reason for failure typically lies
in upper management. If upper management
sings from the same song sheet, that is,
demonstrates commitment, focus and
agreement with the plan, the rest of the
organization will usually follow along.
As within any organizational structure,
if individual(s) are not committed to the
program, it can cause impediment to the
planning, implementation or execution.
Ultimately, this could affect results or cause
delays.
Here are a few of the reasons why Lean
fails, or is not nearly as effective:
• No “buy in,” or misunderstanding of the
principles
• No priority status and therefore no focus
• Lack of clearly defined objectives/goals
• Belief that the effort should be delegated
• Inability to work together as a
management team
• Absence of a plan for implementation or
execution
Now we have some understanding of what
Lean Manufacturing is all about and what
the expectations are for implementing the
program. We have some reasons to get excited!
In Part 3, we will discuss key customer values
that will help keep us focused. PCB
Dale A. Smith is President of
DAS Flex Circuit Consultant
and has more 30 years
experience in the printed
circuit industry. He specializes
in Rigid/Flex high reliability
manufacturing and Lean
Manufacturing implementation into PCB
shops. Reach Dale at 267-424-0690 or
email [email protected].
Multiple research and development
agreements have been signed by Atotech and
Case Western Reserve University (CWRU) for the
support and enhancement of Atotech’s global
metallization technology development and
material science and application failure analysis
activities in Europe, Asia and the U.S.
The established agreements with the
department of Materials Science and Engineering,
as well as with the Institute of Advanced
Materials, will further strengthen Atotech’s
chemistry and analytical capabilities. Atotech’s
potential is catalyzed by the 16 global technology
centers, which include the semiconductor
chemistry R&D and application center at the
College of Nano-scale Science and Engineering
(CNSE) in Albany, New York.
Each technology center site is responsible
for supporting local
and international
development and
optimization activities
of plating chemistries
for tailored regional
processes and
applications.
The department
of Materials Science
and Engineering at
Case Western Reserve
University supports nano-scale inspections, as
well as failure and property analysis that include
trace element analytics with high-resolution
instruments.
The collaborative agreement includes the
establishment of an organic chemistry laboratory
dedicated to the support of new plating additive
development that is specialized for small scale,
feature-size plating. The laboratory will further
enable and enhance Atotech’s semiconductor
R&D activities, which focus primarily on the
optimization of copper plating process solutions
using advanced polymers for structures down
to the 22 nm node. Additional research is being
performed on plating process development for
sub-22 nm node structures.
The new organic laboratory focuses on the
physical treatment of existing organic polymers
as well as on the development of new polymers.
These organic additives play a major role in
defect-free bottom-up fill technologies of copper
Damascene structures, which are critical for the
chip’s wiring from M1 up to Mx copper layers.
These polymers must be optimized to fulfill the
requirements for scaled barrier liner, seed layers
or for direct plating on liner layers in advanced
structures.
Wide process windows are needed to plate
semiconductor metal structures in various types
of equipment, especially when dealing with a vast
range of structure sizes from the nano-scale to
the micro-scale.
The same plating bath chemistry must
perform uniformly across the wafer. As structures
are sensitive to contamination, leading to a
risk of yield losses or reliability exposures, the
target is to achieve low
incorporation levels of
organics or organic byproducts. Minimizing
the consumption rate
over the throughput in
an ECD plating tool is
also a goal.
Atotech’s
Vice President of
Semiconductor
Technology, Robert
Preisser, stated after signing the contracts that he
is very pleased with the new agreements between
Case Western Reserve University and Atotech.
“This new collaboration addresses open
activities that will support R&D for nano
scale metallization chemistry and process
development. This collaboration is a strategic
continuation of the existing cooperation between
Electrochemical Research group at Case Western
Reserve’s department of Chemical Engineering
and Atotech.”
Professor Uziel Landau, Chair of the Chemical
Engineering Department and a long-time
research collaborator of Atotech states that he is
delighted with the progress made so far under
the sponsorship of Atotech in advancing the state
of interconnect plating technology, and looks
forward to the enhanced collaboration.
June 2011 • The PCB Magazine
55
short
Atotech to Enhance Technology;
Collaborate with CWRU
summary
reid on reliability
column
Microvia
Separation
Microvias can fail in many ways, but by far
the most common is a separation between
the base of the microvia and the target
pad. Frequently, the separation is below the
electroless copper or direct metallization layer
and the target pad. The challenge is cleaning
organic residues off the base of the microvia.
by Paul Reid
PWB Interconnect Solutions
Microvias are
Microvias are
best described as
very small. As a
small blind vias.
means of comparison
They usually have
I have fine hair
a diameter of .004”
which is rather thin,
to .006” or less,
measuring about
and aspect ratios
.002”. Two or three
are frequently in
of my hairs would
the range of, but by
fit side by side inside
no means limited
a microvia. Surface
to, between 1:1
tension, viscosity,
and 3:1. Although
wetting and the small
the microvia has a
size of the opening
relatively modest
makes it difficult for
aspect ratio, as
fresh chemistries to
compared to HDI
get into a microvia
Figure 1: Anatomy of a microvia.
boards with plated
and for spent
through vias, they are a challenge to fabricate,
chemistries to be replaced.
mostly due their small size.
For the purpose of this article, and
Of all the interconnect structures, wellbased on reliability testing, we can place
made microvias consistently outperform all
microvias into two distinct groups: simple and
other interconnect types based on thermal
compound. Simple structures are microvias
cycle testing. At the same time, poorly
that are not stacked on top of either other
fabricated microvias fail catastrophically in
microvias or buried vias. Compound microvias
assembly and in the end-use environment.
are defined as those microvias that are directly
Conventional test methods like solder float
stacked on top of other microvias or buried
and thermal cycle testing at 150°C have been
vias. Simple microvias may span one or more
known to produce false-positive results on
dielectric layers, but tend to be floating with
marginal microvias that subsequently failed in
dielectric material directly below. Stacked
assembly.
microvia connect directly on top of other
The anatomy of a microvia includes a
copper interconnections.
capture pad through which a hole is drilled
Usually, we find a simple microvia between
or ablated, the target pad at which the hole
other interconnect structures like plated
terminates and the sides of the hole walls, or
through holes (PTHs). During a thermal
barrel of the microvia. The microvia may be
excursion, if a microvia is between two
open or filled with epoxy or copper, and may
adjacent PTHs, the PTHs will act like rivets,
or may not have a copper cap. Usually the
constraining the z-axis expansion. Dielectric
microvia is penetrating approximately .003”
material will expand, bulging out between
or .004” of the dielectric. Microvias are
PTHs, pushing the microvia structure upward
frequently found in sequential lamination
(or down) as it floats on a bed of expanding
applications.
dielectric. The microvia, because of its
56
The PCB Magazine • June 2011
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microvia separation continues
Figure 2: Forces acting on a microvia.
diminutive size, experiences pad rotation
downward (toward the center of the board)
during the thermal excursion.
In 2004, a cooperative study that
included Paul Andrews (Curtiss Wright),
Gareth Parry (Coretec) and the team at PWB
Interconnect Solutions demonstrated that
known compromised microvias (microvias
that failed in assembly) had survived to the
end of 1,000 test cycles that tested to 150°C.
The associated boards had an approximate
30% failure rate in tin/lead assembly. That case
study demonstrated that testing microvias at
190°C causes known compromised microvias
to fail in less than 500 cycles without inducing
artifact failure modes. The findings from that
study set the standard for the 190°C testing of
microvias that continues today.
It appears that microvias need to be near
or above Tg in order to produce enough stress
to break weak microvias—microvias that will
fail in tin/lead assembly and rework. These
findings, with microvias tested at 190°C, have
been reiterated many times over the years
in studies and practical applications. The
effectiveness of 190°C testing of microvias has
been repeatedly reinforced with unexpected
assembly and field failures as a result of
companies testing at 150°C.
There are many ways microvias can fail,
but by far the most common is a separation
between the base of the microvia and the
target pad. Frequently, the separation is below
the electroless copper or direct metallization
layer and the target pad. The challenge is
cleaning organic residues off the base of the
microvia. The residue from laser ablation
coats the walls and the base of the microvia
and acts as a protective coating, resisting
cleaning and microetching of the target pad.
The contaminating residue is often not visible
using optical microscopy. The presence of
residue is inferred when the target pad is not
visibly etched by the microetch bath.
By comparing the degree of etch at the base
of the microvia to, say, an interconnection in
the PTH that is being cleaned at the same time
as the base of the microvia, one can determine
whether the residue in the microvia has
been removed or is still present and resisting
adequate etching. Generally robust microvia
show evidence of some degree of etching
at the target pad. Undoubtedly, evidence of
microetch is not required for a microvia to
be robust, but, when present, it offers visible
evidence that cleaning has been adequate.
By using thermal cycle testing to study
robustness of microvias, we can plot the
resistance change throughout the thermal
excursion and determine when failure (a 10%
increase in resistance) occurs. Microvias that
fail due to a separation to the target pad tend
to fail catastrophically in just a few cycles after
IST Thermal Cycles to Failure –
Preconditioned 5 X 2300C
Test Temperature
150C
170C
190C
210C
220C
Mean IST Cycles
1000
789
464
76
44
Table 1: Cycle-to-failure data on compromised microvias at various temperatures.
58
The PCB Magazine • June 2011
microvia separation continues
Note that the animation
shows a microvia that
floats on a base of
dielectric without another
interconnect structure in
the near vicinity. Because
the microvia is floating on
a base of dielectric, the pad
rotation is down (or up)
toward the center zone of
the board. Small inclusions
and cracks coalesce into a
large crack in the heating
cycle. Cracks that close at
ambient, presenting little or
no increase in resistance at
ambient, may be described as
self-healing between thermal
excursions. Microvias that fail
due to microvia-to-target pad
separation frequently exhibit
intermittent opens that are
hard to find in failed product.
Although microvias are
Figure 3: Still shot from animation showing microvia separation.
demonstrated to be the
Click here for animation.
most robust interconnect
structures when fabricated
onset. Based on how microvias fail during
correctly, most companies evolve their
thermal cycle testing, the animation in Figure
processes to achieve that result. The learning
4 has been drawn to show a crack at the base
curve is sometimes steep and occurs over too
of the microvia; the crack is induced in the
long a time. In the interim, failures may be
heating cycle and then opens in the cooling,
expected. Thermal cycle testing is a perfect
only to close again at ambient.
tool for the fabricator to hone their process
and can significantly reduce time to results
by producing objective evidence to rank the
effects of process changes. When tested at
190°C, thermal cycle results from microvia
testing is objective evidence of capability for
potential customers. PCB
Figure 4: Microvia separation.
60
The PCB Magazine • June 2011
Paul Reid is a program
coordinator at PWB
Interconnect Solutions Inc.,
Ottawa, where his duties
include reliability testing, failure
analysis material analysis and
PWB reliability consulting.
Contact Paul Reid at [email protected].
news
Top
Ten
Most-Read News Highlights
from PCB007 this Month
Black Pad & Brittle
APEX Honors Best
a
c
Fracture: Controlling the
Industry Posters,
ENIG Process
Michael Carano of OMG Electronic Chemicals
is well aware that the use of ENIG poses quite a
few challenges, but millions of dollars worth of
PCBs are successfully produced on a monthly
basis using ENIG. It is critical to review the
ENIG process and set the stage for success.
Do You Know Your
b
PTH from a Hole in the
Ground?
Regardless of your score on this quiz, you
will be a hero to your product managers and
assemblers if you design your PTHs with
the proper thermal relief and ground plane
locations. Trust us, we’re Geeks.
62
The PCB Magazine • June 2011
Competition Winners
Celebrating the best of electronic interconnection research being conducted by both industry
leaders and academia, IPC announced the 2011
Best Industry Posters, and the winners of the
IPC Academic Poster Competition at IPC APEX
Expo, held April 12-14, 2011, in Las Vegas,
Nevada.
The Way I See It: Prophet
d
of Doom, Again!
Physicist Michio Kaku has written a book, “The
Physics of the Future,” which takes my angst
about the demise of the PCB up a couple of
notches. Kaku forecasts the demise of Moore’s
Law and says how it will end, and what replaces
it, depends on the laws of physics. The answers
to these physics questions will eventually rock
the economic structure of capitalism.
John Ling Reviews IEEE
e
Workshop on Reliability
and Safety
A thoroughly worthwhile event held within
the magnificent buildings of the University
of Greenwich, comprising a thoughtful
programme of papers from a wide variety of
speakers, all of whom held to the one theme
announced in the banner—reliability and
safety.
f
It’s Only Common Sense:
Is the U.S. the New China?
I read recently that the Swedish furniture
and household goods giant IKEA is moving
their operations out of Sweden. In fact,
they’re moving their operations out of Europe
completely.
I-Connect007 Launches
g
Free Flex Video Series
I-Connect007 has launched the “Flexible
Circuit Technology Online Training Video
Series.” Divided into nine sessions, this firstof-its-kind video series is a companion to Joe
Fjelstad’s exhaustive book, “Flexible Circuits
Technology.” Welcome to learning on demand,
on your schedule!
PCB Imaging &
h
Registration Focus of
EIPC Seminar
EIPC Executive Director Dr. Konrad Wundt
introduced an outstanding program of
presentations that provided PCB fabricators
with state-of-the-art knowledge, addressing the
realities of tolerances and registration to enable
the improvement of manufacturing yields, and
to understand what could be achieved with the
latest developments.
APEX: Record Donations
i
for Japanese Red Cross
Betting on the generosity of the electronics
industry gathered at IPC APEX Expo recently
in Las Vegas, Nevada, IPC held a raffle to raise
funds for the Japan relief fund of the Red
Cross. A total of $4,195 was raised from the
raffle with 100% of the proceeds going to the
Japanese Red Cross.
It’s Only Common Sense:
j
Make Your Company
Famous
PCB companies are now ready to let people
know who they are and what they are doing.
This week, Dan Beaulieu offers six easy and,
yes, economical ways to make your company
famous.
June 2011 • The PCB Magazine
63
calendar
EVENTS
• IPC Complete Calendar of Events
• SMTA Calendar of Events
• iNEMI Calendar
• PCB007 Events
MILESTONE
June 2011
Baltimore, New England, Los Angeles
Space Coast Chapter Expo,
Technical Forum and Barbeque
June 9, 2011
Melbourne Auditorium,
Melbourne, Florida
IPC Summit on American
Competitiveness
June 15 - 16, 2011
Washington, D.C.
IPC International Conference
on Flexible Circuits
June 21 - 23, 2011
Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA
Energy Harvesting & Storage
Europe 2011
June 21 - 22, 2011
Munich, Germany
Wireless Sensor Networks &
RTLS Europe 2011
June 21 - 22, 2011
Munich, Germany
64
The PCB Magazine • June 2011
Nepcon Thailand
Jun 23 - 26, 2011
Bitec, Bangkok, Thailand
Assembly Technology 2011
June 23 - 26, 2011
BITEC, Bangkok, Thailand
LEDforum Shanghai 2011
July 6 - 7, 2011
Jumeirah Himalayas Hotel Shanghai,
1108 Meihua Road, Pudong Xinqu
IPC Summit on
American Competitiveness
Combining Capitol Hill Day with a conference
focused on the needs of the U.S. electronics industry
Washington, D.C. | June 15–16, 2011
THE IPC SUMMIT ON AMERICAN COMPETITIVENESS combines informative presentations, legislative and regulatory briefings and key
lobbying visits with members of Congress to discuss critical issues that impact the U.S. electronics industry’s ability to compete globally.
LEARN HOW YOUR COMPANY CAN INCREASE ITS COMPETITIVENESS
• Discover what technologies represent the best chance for your company’s success as a U.S. electronics manufacturer.
• Hear how other U.S. electronics manufacturing companies are ensuring their competitiveness.
• Find out how you can use government resources to strengthen your business.
MEET WITH YOUR MEMBERS OF CONGRESS ON CRITICAL ISSUES
THAT IMPACT YOUR BUSINESS
• Electronics companies throughout the supply chain will be encumbered with significant
costs and burdensome reporting requirements for conflict minerals.
• Congressional actions and inactions will affect the future ability of the North American
electronics industry to meet military and aerospace needs.
• Legislators need to hear about the consequences on the electronics supply chain of
over-regulation.
IPC will make lobbying easy for you by briefing you on the legislative issues and giving you
the necessary materials. IPC will arrange your congressional appointments before you arrive,
making your experience smooth and efficient. Your participation will help you build a beneficial
relationship with your elected officials.
PARTICIPATE IN SPECIAL FUNCTIONS WITH MEMBERS OF THE
NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF MANUFACTURERS
• Hear directly from Members of Congress and senior level administration officials during
two special presentations.
• Network at a reception with more than 350 U.S. manufacturing executives.
Learn more and register today at www.IPC.org/CHD.
summary
the sales cycle
column
China
by Barry Matties
I recently spent a few weeks in China
attending a two trade shows, NEPCON China
and Circuitex. Organized by the Reed group,
Nepcon focuses primarily on the assembly
market, while Circuitex is mainly a PCB
fabrication event. Circuitex, organized by the
Taiwanese Printed Circuit Association, takes
place in Suzhou, about an hour from Shanghai.
One thing that was clear at both shows is the
rush to get to China is well past; the supply
base has been established.
Not too many years ago, companies were
rushing to navigate the cultural difference
and the language barriers, searching to set
up partnerships, open offices and just trying
to figure out how to conduct business in
China. Well, the dust has settled and if you
are doing business in China, great. If you
aren’t, it may be too late. I spoke with a few
of the PCB suppliers that have been in China
for several years. They reported that their
business is great, for the moment. In fact,
several suppliers said they could not take any
66
The PCB Magazine • June 2011
The rush to establish a presence in China has
hit a snag; that is, the country may be full.
After several years of companies scrambling
to seek out and secure partnerships, and
open offices, not to mention navigate the
cultural differences, the dust has settled, and
the supply base has been established. That
was our impression recently after attending
NEPCON China and Circuitex.
more orders for the year; they just don’t have
capacity to handle all that they currently have.
From wet processing to inspection, no one
seems to be complaining. But a few I talked
with are concerned that next year might be
considerably slower as the pent-up demand for
equipment is being satisfied this year.
More than just suppliers have made the
jump into the China market; IPC has also
developed a strong presence there. They are
still busy hiring new people, opening offices
and training the industry. Many, over the
years, have been critical of IPC for this effort,
but in the end, they are a business like all
others, vulnerable to market conditions.
In business, no matter what type, market
conditions will always have an influence, and
you can either adapt or disappear. IPC has
definitely adapted; in fact, some there have
said, in the coming years, they expect to have
more employees in China than they do in
the U.S. I don’t find that surprising. All you
have to do is visit a trade show there to gain
china continues
an understanding of this. IPC’s board did just
that by holding its annual meeting at the
recent CPCA show in Shanghai.
If you would like to learn more about
IPC’s global strategy, check out this video:
IPC Video.
I still experience moments in China that
make me wonder how anything gets done.
Sometimes it just seems that logic escapes
their thought process (if you have spent any
time there you clearly understand what I
mean), yet they continue to grow. Maybe that
lack of logic is residual from the old China,
because the new China strategy is focused on
competing on a worldwide level, with a strong
desire to become the world’s superpower.
With 1.6 billion people and a thriving
economy, they seem to be on that path. I have
never seen as many Ferrari dealerships in one
city as I have in Shanghai. Not only are the
dealers there, but there are plenty of Ferraris,
Lamborghinis, Aston Martins and other highend cars on the road. Their wealth continues
to be explosive.
We often hire helpers in China to assist
us in our trade show coverage effort. They
help with the camera, running errands and
providing security in our booth against
thieves. Yes, there are plenty of thieves. In
fact, during this visit, my rented bicycle was
stolen. When I shared the story with some of
our Chinese friends, none were surprised. As it
turns out, most have had their bikes stolen at
one point or another.
Education is clearly one noticeable
difference between China and the U.S. The
helper we hired for extra security was only a
few credits away from becoming a Ph.D. As
many of our kids graduate from high school,
68
The PCB Magazine • June 2011
it is very sad to say that many cannot even
point out China on a map. Many that do go
to college for a degree are graduating now
only to find jobs at fast food restaurants,
supermarkets, etc. When I look at our
industry, I do not see many young people
coming into it. It seems to me that part of
our competitive advantage, as a nation, lies
within a higher educational level. Certainly,
China understands this concept and so does
the IPC, hence their growth in China.
If you have not yet been to China, I
recommend that you plan a trip to see for
yourself what all the buzz is about. Visit
a trade show, a factory and some of the
suppliers. I think you will be amazed and it
will give you a greater appreciation for the
global economy. PCB
Barry Matties started in PCB
manufacturing in the early
1980s. In 1987, he co-founded
CircuiTree Magazine. Nearly 13
years later, CircuiTree was sold
as the leading publication in the industry. In
the early 2000s Barry and his former CircuiTree partner, Ray Rasmussen, joined forces
again and acquired PCB007. Over the years,
PCB007 has grown and continues to thrive. In
July of last year, Barry and Ray acquired SMT
Magazine. With his many years of business
leadership skills, Barry now produces this column for anyone who has a desire for success.
The column relates 25 years of successful
business leadership, including marketing and
selling strategies that really work. Read a few
and decide for yourself.
TECHNICAL EDITOR: PETE STARKEY
+44 (0) 1455 293333; [email protected]
PUBLISHER: RAY RASMUSSEN
(916) 294-7147; [email protected]
MAGAZINE PRODUCTION CREW:
SALES: Angela Alexander
(408) 915-2198; [email protected]
PRODUCTION MANAGER: Mike Radogna
[email protected]
MAGAZINE LAYOUT: RON MEOGROSSI
EDITORIAL:
GROUP EDITORIAL DIRECTOR: RAY RASMUSSEN
(916) 294-7147; [email protected]
AD DESIGN: Mike Radogna, BRYSON MATTIES,
MANAGING EDITOR: Lisa Lucke
(209) 304-4011; [email protected]
INnovative TECHNOLOGY: BRYSON MATTIES
PCB007 Presents
masthead
PUBLISHER: Barry Matties
[email protected]
Shelly Stein
cover: Mike Radogna, BRYSON MATTIES
The PCB Magazine® is published by BR Publishing, Inc., PO Box 50, Seaside, OR 97138
©2011 BR Publishing, Inc. does not assume and hereby disclaims any liability to any person for loss or
damage caused by errors or omissions in the material contained within this publication, regardless of
whether such errors or omissions are caused accidentally, from negligence or any other cause.
June 2011, Volume 1, Number 2 • The PCB Magazine© is published monthly, by BR Publishing, Inc.
Ad Index
atg Luther & Maelzer GmbH..... 53
Atotech.................................. 1, 2
Bürkle North America................ 47
CA Picard.................................. 37
Christopher Associates............... 7
Fein-Line Assoc......................... 51
I-Connect007..................... 59, 61
Integral Technologies............... 29
IPC..................................... 57, 65
Maskless Lithography................ 21
Microcraft................................. 25
Microtek Labs........................... 67
OEM Press Systems................... 45
OMG Electronic Chemicals....... 19
Rogers Corp............................. 13
Semblant................................... 5
Taiyo-America........................... 39
Technica, USA.......................... 35
Ventec...................................... 41
Next Month in
The PCB Magazine
It’s all about imaging in the July issue of
The PCB Magazine, with feature articles and
video from industry insiders including Gordon
Quinn, writing on LED imaging technology;
Maskless Lithography; and Karl Dietz’s Tech
Talk, presenting an introduction to PCB
Imaging.
Our monthly columnists have plenty to
say, about imaging and a few other things, too.
Dale Smith, of DAS Flex Circuit Consultant,
continues with his column, The Lean Mean PCB
Specialist, focusing on how to implement Lean
in a printed circuit board shop. In July, Smith
will address the question of how to understand
customer values in part three of his five-part
series. We’ll have 35-year electronics industry
veteran, Steven Williams, and his Point of View
column that takes on the impact of unions
on American manufacturing. Of course, Ray
Rasmussen and Barry Matties bookend the issue
with their unique perspectives in The Way I See
It and The Sales Cycle.
If you aren’t a subscriber yet of the The PCB
Magazine, what are you waiting for? Click here
to have it delivered straight to your inbox every
month!
See you in July!
June 2011 • The PCB Magazine
69
High-Frequency Laminate
Instead of FR-4?
by John Coonrod
16
Thin Laminates: Buried
Capacitance or What?
by Istvan Novak
22
Materials for HighReliability Applications
by Yash Sutariya
38
Does America Need
Manufacturing?
by Steven Williams
June 2011
PCB MATERIALS
10
June 2011 • The PCB Magazine
1
Electronics Materials
VIALAM ® MV products are high performance base materials
for use in sequential and non-sequential build up constructions
of HDI PCBs and ultra thin high layer count interconnects.
Typical applications are handheld devices and IC-Substrates.
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substrates.
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ADEPT
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Halogen free resin coated copper foil manufactured based
on the Atotech ADEPT process technology.
VIALAM MV 1000 Series
Resin Coated Copper (RCC)
Foil for Handheld Devices
MV 1000 has a mid Tg range of 150 ºC making it suitable
for handheld device applications such as mobile phones,
PDAs and GPS devices.
▪ VIALAM MV 2000 Series
Halogen free reinforced resin coated copper foil. It offers
a Tg > 150 ºC and is designed for very thin dielectric
thicknesses and sub 50 μm microvia diameters. Its applications are wide ranging from handheld wireless devices
to automotive products.
VIALAM MV 2000 Series
Reinforced Resin Coated Copper
(R-RCC) Foil for High Reliability
Applications
▪ VIALAM MV 4000 Series
Halogen free reinforced resin coated copper foil suitable
or IC packaging applications.
Its higher Tg, low CTE and excellent thermal stability values
make it a natural choice for IC-Substrates such as FC-CSP
and BGA.
Atotech Headquarters
P.O. Box 21 07 80 · 10507 Berlin · Germany · www.atotech.com
Tel. +49 (0) 30-349 85-0 · Fax +49 (0) 30-349 85-777
VIALAM MV 4000 Series
Higher Tg Reinforced Resin
Coated Copper (R-RCC) Foil for
IC Packaging Applications
Here’s what’s happening in the June Issue of The PCB Magazine!
If you’re reading this, you are just one click
away from the all-digital, The PCB Magazine!
This month, we present even more of the
relevant and compelling content, including
feature articles, videos, and interviews that
has the PCB industry buzzing. That “buzz”
has resulted in a steady stream of positive
feedback from around the globe, and for that,
we say THANK YOU!
If you haven’t already done so, don’t wait
another minute to subscribe, and have The
PCB Magazine delivered right to you inbox
each month.
Features on PCB Materials
This month, it’s a material world—and our
contributors have plenty to say on the subject:
In our first feature, Should You Be Using
a High-Frequency Laminate Instead of
FR-4?, John Coonrod, of Rogers Corporation,
reports on the reliability and affordability of
epoxy-based FR-4 circuit board materials, and
why they are not the answer for every circuit.
Next, Oracle’s Istvan Novak takes on
the controversial topic of thin laminates
in his feature, Thin Laminates: Buried
Capacitance or What? In it, Novak
examines the electrical properties of thin
laminates, and addresses their needs, benefits
and uses.
In Materials for High-Reliability
Applications, Saturn Electronic
Corporation’s Yash Sutariya points out that
discussions of high reliability materials for
printed circuit board applications usually
include strong opinions: is one material
system versus another better, or is it materials’
properties that imply reliability?
Rounding out our June Feature Articles
is Insulectro’s Ken Parent, with No Time
Like Now! The Peril and Thrill of Being
a Tech Early Adopter. Parent stresses
the importance of timing, with regard to
technology advancement, and whether there
is ever a perfect time to “jump in.”
This Month’s Video Interviews
Our June issue also contains Feature
Videos that don’t disappoint.
Straight from IPC APEX
EXPO, our “Real Time
with…” series includes
provocative discussions on
hot topics: Global Laminates
President Bruce Hurley in his
overview of the technology and its benefits
to the industry with New Ceramic Core
Material Beats the Heat; Oak-Mitsui
Technologies VP John Andresakis, discussing
how his company differentiates itself in
the market with Copper Foil Technology:
A Fine Balance; and Greg Bull of Rogers
Corporation discussing its new material in
Rogers New High-Frequency Laminate.
June Columns
Columnists this month include regulars
Paul Reid and Karl Dietz, and our newest
addition, Point of View by industry veteran
Steven Williams. Dale Smith is also back
with the second of five installments on Lean
Manufacturing.
We hope you enjoy the June issue of
The PCB Magazine, and don’t hesitate to let
us know what you think!
June2011
2011••The
ThePCB
PCBMagazine
Magazine 3
3
June
introduction
They have arrived — New advanced PCB materials
new advanced
PCB MATERIALS
June 2011
contents
Volume 1
Number 2
the definitive
interactive magazine
dedicated to the
global PCb industry
www.pcb007.com
10
Features—pcb materials
Should You Be Using a High-Frequency
Laminate Instead of FR-4?
by John Coonrod
16 Thin Laminates: Buried
Capacitance or What?
by Istvan Novak
22 Materials for High-Reliability Applications:
All IPC-4101-Grouped Materials are not
Created Equal
by Yash Sutariya
28 No Time Like Now! The Peril and Thrill
of Being a Tech Early Adopter
by Ken Parent
columns
6 Onshoring—Can We Bring PCBs
Back from China?
by Ray Rasmussen
articles
32 PCB Design Techniques for DDR,
DDR2 & DDR3, (Part 2)
by Barry Olney
42 What It Takes to Thrive: The Research
and Experimentation (R&E) Tax Credit
An Interview with Hunter Technology
Video Shorts
15 Copper Foil Technology:
A Fine Balance
20 New Ceramic Core
Material Beats the Heat
27 Rogers’ New High-Frequency Laminate
31 Europe: Ready for Change
Shorts
38 Does America Need Manufacturing?
9 ASC Earns Military Polyimide Qualification
15 Arlon Introduces New Composite Material
46 Repeat Defects
20 Maskless Lithography Welcomes
50 How to Implement Lean Manufacturing
44 All Flex Minneapolis Facility Completes
by Steven Williams
by Karl H. Dietz
into a Printed Circuit Board Shop, Part 2
by Dale Smith
56 Microvia Separation
by Paul Reid
66 China
Two Senior Executives
Upgrade, Expansion
49 Honeywell Relies on Standards to Set
Contractor Expectations
55 Atotech to Enhance Technology;
Collaborate with CWRU
by Barry Matties
Extras
News
64 Events Calendar
PCB007 This Month
69 Advertisers Index & Masthead
62 Top Ten Most-Read News Highlights from
4
The PCB Magazine • June 2011
summary
the way i see it
column
Onshoring —
Can We Bring PCBs
Back from China?
It is going take more than increased labor
rates, harsher environmental penalties, and
subsidies to motivate PCB multinationals to
begin even thinking about bringing work
back home.
by Ray Rasmussen
I-Connect007
I’ve read quite a few
articles about the return of
manufacturing to the U.S., and
what it would take to make
that happen. In fact, we’ve
published a few ourselves. It’s
an intriguing idea and certainly
plays well in the mainstream
press and on Capitol Hill. As
much as I like the idea, I can’t
see how it would work for PCBs;
it’s a lot more complicated than
it seems on the surface. In fact,
it’s way too little, too late.
Yes, China has had, and continues to
have, unfair advantages such as manipulated
currency exchange rates designed to favor
their producers over the rest of the world, and
subsidies, which have encouraged exports
over the last decade. Both of these scenarios
have spurred a huge shift of wealth from,
mostly, the U.S. and Europe. However, as
you can read in the mainstream and trade
press, things are changing. Labor rates are
increasing and the RMB (China’s currency) is
under pressure from most of the developed
world, resulting in a couple-point rise in
the exchange rate over the last year or two.
That’s not enough, but it’s a start. China
has also come down hard on industries like
PCBs, which use a lot of water and discharge
a significant amount of heavy metals into
their streams and rivers. This has slowed
the unbridled expansion of the industry
(at least in the East) and increased costs for
compliance. It’s a slow process, but it does
show that the tide is starting to turn. Still,
it’s going take more than that before the PCB
multinationals start to look at bringing work
back home.
6
The PCB Magazine • June 2011
In a recent earnings report,
Viasystems mentioned the
rise of the cost of labor in
China, which has increased 1820% over the last year. In an
interview, CEO David Sindelar
gave this quote: “We don’t like
inflation and our customers
don’t like inflation, but it
will take a long time before
our costs in China get up to
Western World levels.”
Companies like Viasystems
are in China for the long haul
and won’t be moving PCB production back
to the U.S. any time soon. They’ve made big
investments in China and continue to do so
(Viasystems just announced $100 million in
capacity expansions).
Consumer Electronics Inertia
Now, iPods, iPhones and iPads don’t
represent all the electronics China produces,
but the consumer electronics industry has
been the life’s blood of the Chinese PCB
factories and represents the lion’s share of the
business there. The Chinese have used lowercost consumer electronics to develop their
electronics-manufacturing base, following
the examples left by the Japanese in the ‘70s
and ‘80s, and the four tigers in the ‘80s and
‘90s. This massive effort by the Chinese has
allowed the country to build an electronics
infrastructure that is self-sustaining; they have
almost all they need, including rare earth
metals (China produces 95% of the world’s
supply). Another thing they have going for
them is their huge middle class, which will
buy more and more consumer products in the
years to come. (Chinese consumers already
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onshoring—can we bring pcbs back from china? continues
buy more PCs than U.S. consumers.) As a
result, product manufacturers, EMS and OEMs
not only get the benefit of low-cost PCBs, but
also lower-cost components, assemblies and
box-builds. Additionally, the PCB fabs buy
their materials from multinational suppliers at
Chinese prices. This, along with the growth of
their own consumer market, is why we won’t
see the return of volume PCBs to the U.S. or
Europe anytime soon.
As you can see, the PCB is only part of the
story. Without the rest of the supply chain to
support lower-cost consumer products, there’s
little chance for the resurgence of consumer
PCBs in the West.
in China. These are dedicated PCB fabricators
in addition to those EMS providers that
have their own Chinese PCB capabilities.
I’m not talking about Chinese-owned PCB
companies, which represent a small fraction
of the market. I know we all tend to view the
Chinese PCB industry as this single entity
which has unfairly attacked our livelihoods,
but it’s not the Chinese who are deciding
to keep PCB production in China; it’s the
Americans, the Europeans, the Japanese and
Taiwanese, along with the Koreans. They’re
the ones making the decisions to manufacture
and expand in China. They’re in China to
serve their EMS or
OEM customers who
We’ll
see
growth
in
the
The Big Get Bigger
are also building their
U.S. for higher-tech PCBs
With about a third of
products in China.
the world’s PCBs being
They (the OEM or
used in military/aerospace,
manufactured in China
EMS) get most of their
medical and industrial
along with most of the
components from other
applications. Unless something
electronic products (by
multinational suppliers
changes, serious volume
volume), there’s a ton
doing business there, as
will still need to go
of inertia driving that
well.
somewhere
else,
perhaps
market. The energy from
to some mega-factory in
consumers around the
That Sucking Sound
globe, and at home,
I think it’s safe to
China, India or Brazil.
continues to feed the
say the Chinese gold
electronics industry in
rush of the last decade
China, which is evidenced by the continued
is basically over. The flow of manufacturing
expansion of their PCB industry. Recently, I
to China has stopped and, in some cases,
was forwarded an email with comments from
has actually returned. Most OEMs (tier 1 or
Dr. Hayao Nakahara, arguably the world’s
2 making lower-volume electronics), today,
leading expert on that market, talking about
know that the perceived advantages of
the incredible new PCB capacity being added
manufacturing in China really aren’t there
with more mega-factories being built. Here are
when all things are considered. And, as costs
some of the names he mentions: Wus, Nan
continue to rise, China will stabilize with
Ya PCB, Evertek, Unimicron and Ruwel, GBM
the rest of the world and keep the business
Yuanmao and Sanmina. Then Naka goes on to
that makes sense; the rest will go somewhere
say: “I could use three or four pages to write
else. That will be the case for the U.S. as well.
about all these new plants and expansions.”
Business has stabilized and fabricators (those
Many, if not all, of these expansions were
that are left) will find their niche. Those that
approved before the Chinese government
do a good job will remain, and those who
started cracking down on new PCB plants. It
don’t will disappear. We’ll see growth in the
would seem that this next round of expansions
U.S. for higher-tech PCBs used in military/
is free to proceed. Future factories will likely
aerospace, medical and industrial applications.
have to be built further west or outside of
Unless something changes, serious volume
China. We’ll see.
will still need to go somewhere else, perhaps
By the way, when I say “Chinese,” I mean
to some mega-factory in China, India or
the multinational companies doing business
Brazil.
“
”
8
The PCB Magazine • June 2011
onshoring—can we bring pcbs back from china? continues
Can We Compete?
It does seem to me that these evermore
sophisticated fabricators in China (again,
mostly multinationals) will make greater
efforts to bring those capabilities into the
Western markets and will have an advantage
over their U.S.-only competitors. The expertise
they’ve developed while building very hi-tech,
high-volume boards for the likes of Apple in
Asia will serve them well with those tier 2
OEMs and EMS providers back in the States.
Being of a certain size has its advantages,
and U.S.-only fabs will likely have to attain a
certain size just to stay in the game.
There’s always the argument these
Chinese fabricators can’t produce the quality
and technology that those in the U.S. and
Europe can. That may be true for the Chinese
nationals, but not for the multinational
companies. These are the guys who will
continue to gain market share and, as a result,
we will likely see more and more consolidation
(Viasystems buying Merix, TTM buying
Meadville, etc.).
What Will it Take to Compete?
Go big, merge with other companies, find
backers, become global and compete headto-head with the big guys. Heck, TTM was a
nobody 10 years ago, and now they’re one of
the largest fabricators on the planet. If you
elect to stay small and under the radar, then
you’ve got to come up with a strategy that
makes you unique. If you’re too small, how
will you be able develop the technologies you
need to stay competitive? That’s probably
going to be the biggest challenge.
There may be opportunities for smaller
companies to hang on to their market share
by going beyond traditional PCBs. It may take
a little chutzpah, but there are opportunities
with some new interconnect technologies, like
printed electronics or Occam. Getting really
good at something like this might make a
smaller PCB company an acquisition target or
open up opportunities for investments to grow
and expand. One thing’s for sure: the huge
volumes of PCBs being built in Asia, or the rest
of the world, are there to stay. They won’t be
coming back anytime soon. PCB
Ray Rasmussen is the publisher
and chief editor for I-Connect007
publications. He has worked in
the industry since 1978 and is the
former publisher and chief editor
of CircuiTree Magazine. Ray can be
contacted at: [email protected]
ASC Earns Military Polyimide Qualification
we continue to provide with regard to our customers’
Polyimide products.”
Explaining the significant role of polyimide
material for the PCB industry, Steve Sekenina of Isola
Group said, “Polyimide materials offer the ability to
operate in environments with extreme operating
temperatures including severe assembly processing,
multiple thermal excursions and other high reliability
applications. Polyimide materials are utilized in a
wide variety of mission critical applications including
military, avionics, burn-in boards, missile systems,
satellites, down hole, and other demanding
applications.”
American Standard has been a provider of RF
circuitry, high-reliability and thermally sensitive PCBs
for the military, aerospace and commercial industries
for more than nine years.
June 2011 • The PCB Magazine
9
short
American Standard Circuits, Inc. (ASC) which
specializes in the manufacture of high reliability PCBs
for the military, defense and aerospace industries has
applied for and received polyimide qualification under
MIL-PRF-55110, Amendment 3 and MIL-PRF-31032.
CEO Anaya Vardya commented, “ASC has a
tremendous amount of experience and technical
expertise in the manufacture of RF circuitry, as well
as other high-reliability products. Our technical
commitment to this market is apparent in our
numerous patents for thermally conductive material
and adhesives. Although we have manufactured
product using polyimide material for a long time,
we thought it a logical step to add the polyimide
certification to our military certification. ASC
is committed to military manufacturing. The
qualification provides official verification of the quality
they have arrived!
f e at u r e — n e w a d va n c e d p c b m at e r i a l s
Should You
Be Using a
High-Frequency
Laminate
Instead of FR-4?
by John Coonrod
Market Development Engineer
Advanced Circuit Materials Division
Rogers Corp.
summary
They may be reliable and affordable, but
there are several reasons why epoxy-based
FR-4 circuit board materials are not the
answer for every circuit, especially for a wide
range of high-frequency designs.
Epoxy-based FR-4 circuit board materials
are popular for a wide range of electronics
applications, and for good reason. These lowcost, glass-reinforced substrates are reliable,
with well-understood mechanical and electrical
characteristics. They are used in everything
from audio circuits to microwave designs.
However, they are not the answer for every
circuit, especially for a wide range of highfrequency designs, and for several reasons.
When trying to decide between FR-4 or
a high-frequency laminate, the lower cost
10
The PCB Magazine • June 2011
of FR-4 may be important, but it may not
be the only consideration. For example,
how critical is signal loss to your design?
In most passive circuits, such as filters, loss
increases as frequency increases. FR-4 has a
higher dissipation factor (Df) than laminates
engineered for high-frequency use, and circuits
fabricated on FR-4 will suffer higher losses than
similar circuits formed on a high-frequency
circuit. Typical values are about 0.020 for FR-4
and about 0.004 for a high-frequency laminate,
or a dissipation factor that is about one-fourth
that of FR-4. This translates into a meaningful
difference in insertion loss between the two
circuit-board materials. Some designs can
tolerate a certain amount of loss, but it will
depend upon the loss budget for a given
project.
Another factor to consider when trying to
choose between FR-4 and a high-frequency
laminate is how those losses occur. Are they
evenly distributed across the frequency band
of operation? FR-4 is characterized by a Df
that increases steadily with frequency, so as
frequency rises, insertion loss increases. Highfrequency laminates typically exhibit a more
stable Df characteristic with frequency, with
considerably less loss at higher frequencies.
“
Stable impedance is important to many designs, and this is another area
where FR-4 and high-frequency laminates can deliver much different results.
”
Figure 1. Insertion loss comparisons for microstrip circuits using different materials.
Figure 1 shows a comparison of insertion loss
for simple microstrip circuits made on different
materials of the same thickness.
Stable impedance is important to many
designs, and this is another area where FR-4
and high-frequency laminates can deliver
much different results. Stable impedance
depends on maintaining a stable dielectric
constant (Dk) across the length and width of
a substrate, including as temperature changes.
While they are low in cost, FR-4 materials can
suffer relatively wide variations in Dk across
the length and width of a circuit board, and
with temperature. This can make it impossible,
for example, to achieve flat amplitude response
with frequency in an amplifier. High-frequency
laminates, on the other hand, provide a
Dk that remains constant across the length
and width of a board. This means more
predictable performance in large circuits and
more repeatable performance in multiple
similar circuits formed from the same board.
For designs that must perform over
temperature, FR-4 and high-frequency
laminates can also provide very different
results. To evaluate performance variations
with temperature, circuit-board materials
are characterized by the thermal coefficient
of dielectric constant (TCDk). It is simply a
measure of how much the dielectric constant
changes over a defined temperature range.
For FR-4, it is typically 200 parts per million
(ppm) per degree Celsius (°C) change in
temperature. While that might seem like a
small number, it can result in large variations
over a wide temperature range. Compare
June 2011 • The PCB Magazine
11
should you be using a high-frequency laminate instead of fr-4? continues
th e y have arri ve d — ne w advanced pcb materials
Figure 2. TCDk curves for several high-frequency laminates as well as FR-4 (Epoxy/WG).
it to about 40 ppm/°C for high-frequency
laminates, a much smaller number resulting
in much less variations with temperature. If
a circuit must work with little variation over
a wide temperature range, a high-frequency
laminate is probably a better choice than
FR-4. Comparisons of different circuit
materials are shown in Figure 2, regarding
TCDk.
Sometimes, the very value of a circuit
board’s Dk can play an important part
in choosing a particular material. In a
wavelength-dependent circuit, such as an
RF or microwave design, the value of the
dielectric constant will impact the size of
the circuit’s transmission lines, and thus
the size of the circuit. Simply put, circuitboard materials with higher Dk values can
yield smaller circuits. If the size of a circuit is
important, then the value of the Dk should
be part of the decision process in choosing
a circuit-board material. FR-4 typically has
12
The PCB Magazine • June 2011
a Dk of about 4.5. That’s higher than most
PTFE high-frequency materials, but lower
than a number of high-frequency laminates
which offer Dk values of 6.15, and even as
high as 11.0. Using materials with these higher
values can shave 25% or more off the size of a
circuit built on FR-4. A typical example of the
miniaturization of a microstrip filter circuit
element is shown in Figure 3.
There are several other factors to consider
when deciding between FR-4 and a highfrequency laminate, including the type of
operating environment and the power/thermal
requirements. For circuits where moisture
might be a problem, for example, most
high-frequency laminates have much lower
moisture absorption than FR-4, which can be
critical in outdoor applications. Also, highfrequency thermoset-based laminates may be
more thermally robust than FR-4, and better
able to handle the high temperatures of leadfree soldering processes.
should you be using a high-frequency laminate instead of fr-4? continues
th e y have arri ve d — ne w advanced pcb materials
Figure 3. Example of possible circuit size reduction due to using a substrate with a higher dielectric
constant.
What is the best way to decide if your
project might work better with a highfrequency laminate than with FR-4? Size up
the electrical and mechanical requirements
for the job, and see how they might be
handled, first by FR-4 and then using a highfrequency laminate. For ease of comparison,
data sheets are readily available for both
types of circuit board materials and provide
the key facts on electrical and mechanical
parameters and tolerances. If the mechanical
and electrical variations of FR-4 are too wide
for your application, consider paying a bit
more for a high-frequency laminate, but with
much improved performance and reliability.
In the end, the higher yields from using a
dielectric material with tighter manufacturing
tolerances, such as RO4000® thermoset
substrates, might even mean lower production
costs than when using FR-4. PCB
14
The PCB Magazine • June 2011
RO3000, RO3035, RO4000, RO4350B
and LoPro are licensed trademarks of Rogers
Corporation.
John Coonrod is a Market
Development Engineer for Rogers
Corporation, Advanced Circuit
Materials Division. He has more
than 24 years experience in
the PCB industry, about half of
which was in the Flexible Printed Circuit Board
industry doing circuit design, applications,
processing and materials engineering. John
has also supported the High Frequency Rigid
Printed Circuit Board materials made by Rogers
for the past 10 years. Reach John Coonrod at
[email protected].
Copper Foil Technology: A Fine Balance
video interview
by Real Time with...Designers Forum
John Andresakis, Vice President of
Strategic Technologies with Oak-Mitsui
Technologies, discusses copper foil, how his
company differentiates itself in the market,
and the efforts to reduce the copper foil
profile while maintaining adhesion. OakMitsui has been selling embedded materials
for years, and John talks about the growing
interest in these materials.
www.realtimewith.com
Arlon Introduces New Composite Material
a unique combination of properties for high speed,
high frequency, multi-layer applications:
• Low dielectric constant and loss
(2.8/0.002 at 10 GHz);
• Low water absorption (0.04%);
• Stable dielectric constant over frequency
and temperature;
• Excellent adhesion to a variety of PTFE and
other RF/microwave cores;
• High Decomposition Temperature
(443°C) and T288 (>>60 sec) for lead-free
solder compatibility;
• Low Z-direction CTE (45-50 ppm/°C) for
enhanced PTH reliability; and
• RoHS-Compliant.
Contact Arlon Material for Electronics at
909-863-1097 or visit www.arlon-med.com for
additional information on GenClad 280 and other
high-performance Arlon materials.
June 2011 • The PCB Magazine
15
short
Arlon Materials for Electronics announces
the introduction of GenClad 280 bond-ply,
a proprietary woven fiberglass reinforced,
ceramic-filled composite material engineered
for optimal cost/performance efficiency in
multi-layer RF and high frequency PCBs.
Combining a non-polar thermoset resin system
with controlled-expansion ceramic filler and
a low-loss thermoplastic material, GenClad
offers next generation electrical performance
that matches the electrical performance of
traditional PTFE laminate systems, but offers
designers the ability to use cost-effective multilayer designs.
GenClad 280 is engineered for use
in bonding dissimilar and hard-to-bond
materials in multilayer PCB structures,
particularly in high speed and microwave
applications. Compatible with PTFE laminate
materials, GenClad 280 pre-preg processes in
conventional FR-4 lamination cycles, yet offers
they have arrived!
f e at u r e — n e w a d va n c e d p c b m at e r i a l s
Thin
Laminates:
Buried Capacitance
or What?
by Istvan Novak
Oracle
A pair of rectangular parallel sheet
conductors, a power/ground layer pair,
separated by dielectrics, as shown in Figure 1,
creates static capacitance.
summary
After the heated debate about the proper
selection of bypass capacitors, probably
the next-most controversial topic is thin
laminates. Are they really beneficial? Do we
really need them? Can thin laminates help
us eliminate many of the high-frequency
bypass capacitors we’re accustomed to
using? Let’s look at the electrical properties
of thin laminates.
After the heated debate about the proper
selection of bypass capacitors, probably the
next most controversial topic is thin laminates.
Are they really beneficial? Do we really need
them?
Since the early 1990s, thin laminates have
been mostly marketed as buried capacitance,
many times also suggesting, or at least
implying, that by using thin laminates we can
eliminate many of the high-frequency bypass
capacitors on the board. Is it really possible?
The answer lies in the electrical properties of
thin laminates.
16
The PCB Magazine • June 2011
Figure 1: A pair of metal layers forms a parallelplate capacitor.
The capacitance (C) is proportional to
the dielectric constant of the laminate (eoer)
and area of conductors (l*w) and inversely
proportional to the dielectric thickness (h):
The dielectric constant of free space, e0
is 8.85 pF/m, and the er relative dielectric
constant is around 4 for many of our PCB
laminates. If we plug in l, w and h in meters,
we get the capacitance in farads.
The expression tells us where the name
“buried capacitance” comes from: A power-
“
So if we use thin laminates for power-ground layers, can we really
Eliminate many bypass capacitors from the board? The answer is yes...
”
Figure 2: We can get more static capacitance between power and ground planes by placing them
next to each other, without a signal layer in between.
ground layer pair gives us capacitance buried
in the stackup; we get more capacitance as we
use thinner laminates and/or higher dielectric
constants. A one-inch square power-ground
pair of the popular 50 um (2-mil) buried
capacitance laminate produces approximately
450 pF of capacitance. If we double the
dielectric thickness, the capacitance goes down
by a factor of two; if we cut the dielectric
thickness in half, the capacitance doubles.
A simple stackup choice, as shown in
Figure 2, gives us the opportunity to increase
the amount of capacitance: by placing the
power and ground layers next to each other,
without a signal layer in between, we can place
the plane layers much closer and we get more
capacitance. When we have a signal layer
between power and ground, the minimum
separation is limited by how narrow traces we
can etch reliably. The closer we put the planes,
the narrower traces we would need to use to
maintain our impedance target.
For 50-ohm traces and assuming regular
materials and processes, the plane-to-plane
separation is limited to about 10 mils (250 um)
or more. In contrast, if we pair up the power
and ground layers, we can put the layers much
closer, limited only by the risk of shorting due
to finite surface roughness. Note that Figure 2
shows only part of a multi-layer stackup and
during the definition of a full stackup we need
to take into account various additional factors,
such as symmetry, thickness limitation of the
board, etc.
So if we use thin laminates for power-
ground layers, can we really eliminate many
bypass capacitors from the board? The
answer is yes, but not because the increased
capacitance of the thin laminate, rather due
to its lower inductance. Figure 3 shows the
measured impedance on a board similar to
the one we showed in Figures 2 and 3 of the
column Power Distribution and the Big Bang
(PCB007 December 25, 2010).
The vertical scale of the figure is dBohm.
Zero dBohm corresponds to one ohm, -20
dBohm refers to 0.1 ohms, and so on. At
low frequencies the curve shows a straight
downslope; on a log-log scale this indicates
capacitance. We can calculate the static
Figure 3: Measured self-impedance magnitude of
a power rail on a bare PCB with 2-mil dielectric.
June 2011 • The PCB Magazine
17
thin laminates: buried capacitance or what? continues
th e y have arri ve d — ne w advanced pcb materials
capacitance for instance from the 60MHz
frequency point, where the impedance
magnitude is zero dBohm, or one ohm.
This value corresponds to about 3nF static
capacitance. At 200MHz the curve has a
minimum, followed by an upslope, which
corresponds to inductance. If for now we
neglect the small resonances (we will cover
those in later columns), we can approximate
the curve with an average line, which goes
through the zero dBohm value at 1GHz. This
corresponds to about 150 pH inductance.
The 3nF static capacitance is not much
on a power rail: unless the circuit draws
very little power, we usually need orders
of magnitude more capacitance to keep
the impedance below our target value at
lower frequencies. The real electrical benefit
of the thin laminate comes from its low
inductance. The inductance of a plane pair
is approximately L[pH] = 33*h[mil], which
yields 66 pH for our 2-mil plane separation
in the above example. As opposed to the
static capacitance of the laminate, which
stays the same everywhere on the plane,
inductance changes with location. It is the
lowest in the middle of the plane and goes
up rather sharply towards the sides and
edges.
The impedance of Figure 3 was measured
at one of the corners, this explains the 150
pH inductance value (instead of the 66 pH
value expected from the 2-mil thickness).
This inductance, however, even at the
corner, is much lower than what we can
achieve with a single bypass capacitor. In
contrast, the inductance of a single bypass
capacitor is usually around 1nH, at least ten
times higher than the average inductance of
a 2-mil plane pair.
Whether it is a discrete bypass capacitor
or a power-ground plane pair, the impedance
becomes inductive above the series
resonance frequency. At high frequencies,
all that matters is the inductance, and
thin laminates create very low inductance
indeed. So, when it comes to thin laminates,
think about their inductance rather their
capacitance. PCB
Suggested Further Reading:
1. John R. Sisler, “Method of making
multilayer printed circuit board,” US Patent
5,010,641, April 30, 1991.
2. James R. Howard and Gregory L. Lucas,
“Capacitor laminate for use in capacitive
printed circuit boards and methods of
manufacture,” US Patent 5,079,069, January
7, 1992.
3. Joel S. Peiffer, “The history of embedded
distributed capacitance,” Printed Circuit
Design and Manufacture, August, 2004, pp.
32-37.
4. TecForum HP-TF2: “Thin PCB
Laminates for Power Distribution. How
Thin is Thin Enough?” February, 2002,
DesignCon 2002. Available at
www.electrical-integrity.com.
Dr. Istvan Novak is a
distinguished engineer at Oracle,
working on signal and power
integrity designs of mid-range
servers and new technology
developments. Novak received
his M.S. degree from the
Technical University of Budapest, Hungary, and
his Ph.D. degree from the Hungarian Academy
of Sciences in 1976 and 1989, respectively.
With 25 patents to his name, Novak is coauthor of “Frequency-Domain Characterization
of Power Distribution Networks.” To contact
Istvan, click here.
PCB007.com
For more information on this subject visit us online at: pcb007.com
18
The PCB Magazine • June 2011
New Ceramic Core Material Beats the Heat
video interview
by Real Time with...Electronics IPC Midwest
Global Laminates has introduced a new
material, which is causing a stir in the
industry as OEMs and their fab suppliers
look for better thermal management
solutions. Global Laminates President
Bruce Hurley gives an overview of
the technology and its benefits to the
industry.
www.realtimewith.com
Maskless Lithography Welcomes Two Senior Executives
short
Maskless Lithography, a leading supplier of
direct-write, digital imaging (DI) systems to the
global PCB industry announced the appointment
of two senior executives to its management team.
Former Foxconn executive Richard Chenoweth
was named Vice President of Global Sales and
Marketing, and former Sanmina-SCI executive
William Pappani was named Chief Financial Officer.
The two new senior PCB industry executives
will support the growing adoption of the
company’s innovative DI products. With an
industry best cost-of-ownership and superior
gray level imaging (GLI) technology, Maskless’
award-winning, digital imaging technology is fast
becoming the digital lithography of choice for
the PCB industry as it moves away from contact
printing, at 50-micron feature sizes.
“We are very pleased to welcome both Bill
and Rich to our management team,” said Dr.
William Elder, President and Chief Executive
Officer of Maskless Lithography. “The response
by our customers to the new DI systems has
20
The PCB Magazine • June 2011
been exceptionally positive. With demand
accelerating, adding two seasoned PCB industry
executives clearly strengthens our team as
we deploy our new systems and support our
expanding customer base throughout Asia and
North America.”
Chenoweth has a wealth of PCB industry
knowledge both in North America and
throughout Asia, particularly China. He has
held senior management positions at Foxconn,
GBM, Flextronics and Sanmina-SCI. He has built
successful global sales organizations, driving
strategy and exceeding top-line growth goals.
Pappani joined Maskless from Sanmina-SCI
where he served as Vice President of Finance
and Controller for the company’s PCB Division.
Pappani drove efforts to expand the global
footprint of Sanmina, implemented a successful
global integration strategy, and led gross-margin
improvements at Sanmina. He has traveled
extensively throughout China, Malaysia and
Singapore.
they have arrived!
f e at u r e — n e w a d va n c e d p c b m at e r i a l s
Materials for High-Reliability Applications:
All IPC-4101-Grouped Materials are not Created Equal
By Yash Sutariya
Saturn Electronics Corporation/
Saturn Flex Systems, Inc.
summary
When discussing high-reliability materials
for printed circuit board applications, the
conversation typically gears towards opinions
of reliability: is one material system versus
another better? Other times, it’s materials’
properties that are stressed to imply reliability.
Materials Callouts
One commonly cited document is the
IPC-4101C Specification for Base Materials
for Rigid and Multilayer Printed Boards. This
standard creates slash sheets, or “silos,” to
combine like materials based on meeting
product or performance characteristics such
as resin type or a minimum Glass Transition
(Tg) rating. In recent years, new slash sheets
have been created to address materials capable
for lead-free assembly that incorporates Glass
Decomposition Temperature (Td).
For purposes of this discussion, we will
focus on these lead-free capable materials.
22
The PCB Magazine • June 2011
A summary table of three commonly called
out standards is provided in Figure 1 for
reference.
Once stacked next to each other, it’s easy
to see why one could infer reliability via
higher-level IPC categories and/or underlying
materials properties such as Tg or Td. We argue,
however, that these characteristics are almost
meaningless when taken in a vacuum. They
are merely indicators of the raw material,
not the finished product, when it comes to
reliability. Materials contribute only one part
of a combination of systems that dictate the
reliability of a product. In order to test the
system, we have to undergo reliability testing.
Test Methods
Thanks to our industrious friends on
the other side of the Great Wall, we’ve been
pushed to diversify our customer base over
the past decade away from our historical
automotive supply base. This allowed us to
experience a broad array of what people like
to rely on for reliability testing. Industries
we serve as a significant part of our business
include Automotive, Military/Aerospace,
Industrial Controls and Telecommunications.
Typically, the most intensive tests focus on
via hole wall reliability. We’ll review a few of
the common ones below.
“
Materials contribute only one part of a combination
of systems that dictate the reliability of a product.
”
Figure 1: IPC-4101 Summary Table.
Delphi C7000
Delphi’s testing attempts to simulate real
operating conditions of the PCB by applying
temperature cycling to Daisy Chain coupons.
Each coupon contains a series of vias linked
to each other through plated vias and inner
layer connections. The test qualifies the
vendor based on layer count and min via
diameter. Testing is performed using two airto-air test chambers. Standard parameters are
five minutes transition time between peak
temperatures, and 25 to 30 minutes at peak
temperatures. Measurements are performed
five times during the process, which terminates
at 1000 cycles. Needless to say, this is not a
quick test.
Highly Accelerated Thermal Shock
(“HATS”)
The HATS test simulates the C7000 testing
requirements by using an air-to-air thermal
cycling procedure that rapidly heats and
cools the test vehicles to the min and max
temperatures by using a single chamber
and introducing heated and cooled air. The
benefit of this method is that it requires
approximately 1/6 to 1/7 the time required for
the C7000 testing. However, there are schools
of thought that believe this method is not as
aggressive as the full thermal cycling required
by Delphi’s testing.
Interconnect Stress Test (“IST”)
IST is another accelerated method of
testing. Rather than use an air-to-air method to
bring the test vehicles to temperature, this test
method relies on an electrical charge to heat
the coupon and stress the vias. To date, we are
not aware of a direct correlation between this
method and the previous air-to-air methods.
The main difference between these tests is
how they attempt to stress the test vehicles.
The main commonality is that they measure
reliability based on resistance measurements of
the daisy-chained vias.
Materials Comparison Testing
Before we discuss the reliability of one
material over another, it’s critical to establish
why a particular material may display better
reliability testing results. Notice that the
reliability test results are not of a particular
June 2011 • The PCB Magazine
23
materials for high-reliability applications continues
th e y have arri ve d — ne w advanced pcb materials
characteristic or measurement of the laminate
itself, but rather a measurement of a feature
created in the material—the via itself.
The fact that we are testing the vias for
reliability means that we are not testing the
material, but rather the effect of the material on
various manufacturing processes, and vice versa.
The process/material combinations that
have the most impact on these reliability tests
are as follows:
Materials: Finally, there are the
physical properties of the material itself. These
include Tg, Td, CTE, among others. IPC-4101C
uses these and other materials’ properties to
create classifications that are often used for
product selection for particular applications.
In order to establish a difference in
reliability between two resin systems, the
proper method would require us to hold as
many things constant between the two test
procedures, such as:
Drilling: Drilling parameters (feed,
speed, retract, max hit count) must be
Material Choice: We chose two materials
optimized by resin system. Some systems are
that are qualified to the IPC-4101/126 slash
more abrasive against drill tools, while others
sheet. Both have similar Tg and Td values
are more brittle. Incorrect or non-optimum
that are the most commonly called out
parameters can result in rough holes walls,
characteristics in customer fabrication notes
gouges, incomplete de-smear and interthat we see as part of the normal course of
connect defects, among others.
business.
Desmear: Regardless of whether the
Test Vehicle: Eight-layer daisy chain
fabricator uses plasma or permanganate
coupon with finished hole sizes (in mils): 6, 8,
methods, the process must be modified based
10, 12 and 14.
on the resistance of each
resin system. Cycles
times may have to be
increased if inefficient
drill parameters
result in excess smear
across inner layer
interconnects.
Copper
PLATING: Cycles
to failure is often
correlated directly
with copper plating
thickness. Rough holes
can create turbulence
during copper
electroplating that
has a negative effect
on average plating
thickness in the hole.
Of course, plating a
fine grain structure
copper with high
tensile strength and
elongation properties
is critical to increased
life in a thermal cycling
Figure 2: Failures recorded at test intermission points.
environment.
24
The PCB Magazine • June 2011
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materials for high-reliability applications continues
th e y have arri ve d — ne w advanced pcb materials
Quantity: 11 coupons per resin system.
Preconditioning: All coupons were passed
six times through a lead-free reflow cycle.
Test parameters: -40°C to 120°C
temperature range. Five minutes transition
between extremes. Twenty-five minutes at
temperature.
Test requirements: Endpoints of each
daisy chain (one per hole size) are measured
throughout the test at hours 0, 336, 504, 750
and 1,000. Hole size fails for qualification
if any of the coupons show a change in
resistance of more than 10%. Coupons
that pass are cross-sectioned to validate no
potential for latent failures exist, such as cracks
in the copper plating.
Figure 3: Barrel cracks due to Z-axis expansion.
Test results
As the charts display (Figure 2), there is a
significant change in performance by changing
the material type, but holding all other inputs
constant (i.e., manufacturing process).
Figure 4: Stress Crack in Copper plating.
Figure 5: Stress Cracks in Copper plating.
26
The PCB Magazine • June 2011
materials for high-reliability applications continues
Failure analysis
Failures in this test can include blistering
and delamination, but are predominantly hole
wall cracks or interconnect separations (Figures
3, 4 and 5).
The thermal cycling causes the material
to expand and contract in the Z-axis. As seen
in the photos at left, this can cause hole wall
failures if the expansion is too great compared
to the ability of the copper plating in the hole
wall to adjust accordingly.
Conclusion
When it comes to materials reliability, our
first stop is typically and IPC-4101 category, or
a specific material property, such as CTE, Tg or
Td. We have found that materials categorized
into the same IPC slash sheet are not all equal.
Unfortunately, laminators trying to meet
a particular value of a higher performance
property can overlook other properties that
sometimes are not found on a datasheet or
IPC- 4101 listing. The benefits of those
properties can be easily diminished if the
material diminishes the performance of other
processes such as drilling or plating.
If true reliability is of utmost concern,
the PCB user must qualify not only the resin
system, but also the entire system used to
produce the PCB to ensure that the fabricator
and laminate system are compatible. PCB
Yash Sutariya is Vice President
of Corporate Strategy at Saturn
Electronics Corporation (SEC) and
Owner/President of Saturn Flex
Systems, Inc. (SFS). Since joining the
team, SEC has successfully navigated
from a low-mix, high volume, automotive
supplier to a high-mix, medium-to-high-volume
diversified supplier to a broad range of industries.
Sutariya received his BBA from the University of
Michigan, School of Business Administration.
video interview
Rogers’ New High-Frequency Laminate
by Real Time with...IPC APEX EXPO 2011
Greg Bull of Rogers Corporation
discusses RT/Duroid 6035HTC High
Frequency laminate, their new material
that’s getting plenty of attention from
designers, for its ability to manage
heat. Bull also explains more about
his company and their new factory in
China.
www.realtimewith.com
June 2011 • The PCB Magazine
27
they have arrived!
f e at u r e — n e w a d va n c e d p c b m at e r i a l s
No Time Like Now!
The Peril and Thrill of Being a Tech Early Adopter
by Ken Parent, Vice President
Integral Technology
summary
In technology advancement, timing is
everything. If you wait to balance your
investment against a perceived advantage
of being on the cutting edge, you may
miss out. Time never stands still. Is there
a perfect time to jump, or, are the only
choices “early” or “late”?
Technology today is changing so fast, it
makes you wonder if it is safe to jump in. Do I
buy my next tablet, smart phone or TV today
knowing that tomorrow I can undoubtedly
buy more technology at a lower price?
In technology advancement, timing
is everything. You have to balance your
investment against a perceived advantage of
being on the cutting edge. If you wait, you
28
The PCB Magazine • June 2011
may miss out. Even if you hesitate with your
decision-making, opportunities may pass you
by. Time never stands still. Is there a perfect
time to jump, or, are the only choices “early”
or “late”?
This concept is hitting very close to home
today, as I write this. Thirty years ago this
month, I graduated from college and landed
my first job making Printed Circuit Boards
at Buckbee Mears in Nashua, NH. Today, I’m
an executive at Integral Technology, Inc.,
launching the much-acclaimed Zeta® line of
products.
What a difference a few decades make! By
today’s standards, a printed circuit board was
a simple affair back then—eight mil lines and
spaces and disc drive circuits the size of steak
knives, assembled using tin lead solder. Even
though new technologies are taking us to
places not even remotely imaginable in 1981,
every year I’ve been in the business I’ve felt
the rush of adrenaline brought about from
new product development and cutting-edge
innovation in Printed Circuit Board materials. I
have worked with many successful materials in
my 30 years of building PCBs—lots of exciting
No time like now! continues
th e y have arri ve d — ne w advanced pcb materials
times pioneering the public’s evolving thirst
products that drive revenue and profit. Simple,
for electronics. Yet, nothing compares to the
right? Not quite! I cannot do justice to this
excitement of the new technologies available
topic without paying some attention to IPC
now. Today I am working with manufacturers
and UL, who want to make sure the products
and users of PCB materials that are innovating
are safe and documented to specifications.
new technology and processes, which will
Anyone who has worked in PCB electronics
reach far into our next generation of techno
knows that UL and IPC’s involvement in the
gadgets.
process is easy and creates no delays Okay,
Integral Technology, Inc., was established
enough wishful thinking and back to the real
to support the development, marketing and
world.
sales of new product technologies, advancing
Our challenge as manufacturers is to
the use of existing products through new
create a streamlined process for bringing
application techniques and market awareness
new materials to the end user. The reality of
as well as the technical engineering support
innovation is that it is hard work, expensive
and laboratory services. All of this leads to
and takes a lot of time.
accomplishing objectives and servicing the
Everywhere, I hear a common desire to
industries we support.
improve the time warp
Integral is
of product innovation,
This process begins
headquartered in Orange
development and
County, California,
adoption—from the
with an idea and
where it has a research
suppliers I work with
evolves by developing
and development
in developing the
solutions and processes
laboratory and
materials, to the PCB
engineering resources.
manufacturers building
that can be manufactured
Integral utilizes resources
with the materials and
at an acceptable cost
from around the world,
the OEMs designing the
to the consumer.
working with companies
systems. We all want
that are leaders in their
it better, faster and
industry in developing
cheaper!
groundbreaking technologies and next
Integral Technology has developed a series
generation materials to meet tomorrow’s most
of products around its Zeta® technology
critical challenges.
to help solve some of the industry’s most
There are opportunities at all stages of the
perplexing problems. For the last three years,
“innovation time line” that impact the cost
we’ve been working on what we believe are
(time and money) of bringing new ideas to
breakthrough materials. The portfolio of
the user. It’s an exciting process! Ideas lead to
Zeta products was spawned as a direct result
many things: critical thinking, developing,
of conversations with OEMs and suppliers
refining, crafting, testing and presenting,
about how to expand product lines and solve
which in turn are enhanced by listening,
problems. The original idea was to solve a
scrapping (ouch), investing and consulting.
problem in lead-free assembly called pad
Factor in the benefits of manufacturing,
cratering, which has been a silent, yet growing
promoting, selling and servicing, add some
threat to the electronics business. Together,
rethinking, and revising, and you’ve got a
with all stakeholders, we were able to develop a
net result that is a highly functional, effective
solution to this emerging industry problem.
portfolio of products—solutions TODAY for
As we continue our trek to innovate, we
TOMORROW’s technology.
will always listen to our customers and users
This process begins with an idea and
of our products. This reconnaissance and vital
evolves by developing solutions and processes
feedback maps our progress towards new and
that can be manufactured at an acceptable
expanded product offerings. As a result, we’ve
cost to the consumer. Innovative ideas create
been able to evolve our product portfolio to
“
”
30
The PCB Magazine • June 2011
provide our customers new opportunities
in High Density Interconnects. These new
interconnect materials are fiberglass-free
laminate and bonding materials that meet
the needs of the next generation of electrical,
mechanical and thermal demands due to the
fact they are thin, high Tg, Low Dk and Low
Df materials.
Integral Technology has made significant
progress in testing the Zeta materials with
PCB Manufacturers, Contract Manufacturers
and OEMs in North America, Europe and Asia.
Testing and evaluations have been focused
on the need to improve lead free assembly
yields, and drive higher layer count in thinner
packages. This has been fueled by the curiosity
to discover innovative ways to use the Zeta
materials outside of our original product
design scope.
It is exciting to imagine that our new Zeta
family of products—revolutionary today—may
be the new de facto standard of the future.
Early adopters enjoy sustained benefits from
having had the courage and the intellect
to recognize a game-changing product and
jump in quickly. When the rest of the world
catches up to you, you’ll be on to the next
frontier. PCB
Ken Parent is Vice President
of Product Management for
Insulectro and Vice President
of Vistana and Integral
Technologies, Inc. He started
in the PCB business after
graduating from Keene State
College with a Bachelor of Science Degree in
Industrial Engineering. Parent held a Process
Engineering position at Buckbee Mears
Company and Lockheed Martin (Sanders
Associates) before moving from engineering
to sales with a position at Dynachem (Morton
International). He has been with Insulectro in
September of 2000.
video interview
Europe: Ready for Change
by Real Time with...IPC APEX EXPO 2011
The European PCB industry continues
to struggle as OEMs increasingly move
work to Asia. Bernard Bismuth discusses
issues facing the industry, and some
possible solutions that may just help the
industry survive.
www.realtimewith.com
June 2011 • The PCB Magazine
31
article
PCB Design Techniques
for DDR, DDR2 & DDR3
(Part 2)
by Barry Olney
In-Circuit Design Pty Ltd, Australia
summary
This second and last part in a series examining
PCB Design Techniques will look at the
comparison of DDR2 to DDR3; DDR3 design
guidelines; pre-layout analysis; critical
placement; an example of design rules; and
finally, the post-layout analysis.
One major difference between DDR2
and DDR3 SDRAM is the use of levelling. To
improve signal integrity and support higher
frequency operations, the JEDEC committee
defined a fly-by termination scheme used
with the clocks, command and address bus
signals. Fly-by topology reduces simultaneous
switching noise (SSN) by deliberately causing
flight-time skew between the data and strobes
at every chip/DRAM, requiring controllers
to compensate for this skew by adjusting the
timing per byte lane (Table 1).
During a write, DQS groups are launched
at separate times to coincide with a clock
DDR2/DDR3 Comparison
DDR2
DDR3
Max Clock Frequency
533/1066
800/1600
ODT Static Dynamic
VDD
1.8V
1.5V (may also be 1.35V)
VTT
0.9V
0.75V
Vref
0.9V
0.75V
Input thresholds
0.9V
0.75V
Match Addr/CMD/CTRL to CLK tightly
yes
yes
Match DQ/DMO/DSQ tightly
yes
yes
Match DQS to clock loosely
yes
not required
Table 1.
32
The PCB Magazine • June 2011
“
In general, try to keep the SDRAM as close as possible to the controller, but bear in
mind that sometimes it will not be not possible because of other physical constraints.
arriving at components on the DIMM/PCB,
and must meet the timing parameter between
the memory clock and DQS defined as tDQSS
of ± 0.25 tCK.
The design process can be simplified
using the new levelling feature of DDR3 and
controller IC’s. The fly-by daisy chain topology
increases the complexity of the data path and
controller design to achieve levelling, but also
greatly improves performance and eases board
layout for DDR3.
DDR3 Design Guidelines—
Critical Constraints:
• Clock nets, DQ (data) and DQS (strobes)
are routed differentially. 4.5” max length
+/- 25MIL
• Net length from driver to first DIMM or
chip: between 2” to 3” max depending
on load
• Net length between DIMM’s or chips:
0.5”
• Net length from last DIMM or Chip to
the VTT Termination: 0.2” to 0.55”
• All DSQ/DQ (data and data strobe) should
be minimized to reduce the skew within
groups (or lanes) and across groups. 50
MIL within groups and 800 MIL across
groups.
• Skew between address nets should be
200MIL. Address and command nets
are daisy chained with a VTT pull-up for
termination.
Other constraints to consider:
• DDR3 data nets have dynamic On-Die
”
Termination (ODT) built into the
controller and SDRAM. The
configurations are 40Ω, 60Ω and 140Ω
so VTT pull-up is not necessary.
• Zo for DDR3 is 50Ω. Zdiff is 100Ω.
Pre-layout Analysis
I can’t emphasize enough the importance
of pre-layout analysis. Without which, you
are just relying on luck—which is not a design
parameter. The pre-layout simulation is used
to predict and eliminate signal integrity issues
early, proactively constraining routing and
optimizing clock, critical signal topologies and
terminations prior to board layout.
As previously mentioned, the value and
placement of the series resistors and VTT pullups for data, address and command signals
depends on the distances between the loads,
number of loads and the stackup of the board
and are best determined by simulation. The
series terminator may not be required if a
single SDRAM is used and the trace length
is short—but how do you know if you don’t
simulate the proposed layout?
In general, try to keep the SDRAM as close
as possible to the controller, but bear in mind
that sometimes it will not be not possible
because of other physical constraints. Also,
if there are two or more SDRAM chips, this
becomes more difficult and requires extended
signal lengths terminators. Now the question
becomes, where should they be placed and
what values should be used?
The series terminator would normally
be placed close to the driver. Surprisingly,
however, in the above case, the signal integrity
Figure 1: 2.375<x<2.652” DDR3 topology using levelling.
June 2011 • The PCB Magazine
33
PCB Design Techniques for DDR, DDR2 & DDR3 (Part 2) continues
order to get a tighter match, although the
JEDEC Spec is 50 MIL. These special high-speed
design rules should be given top priority in the
design rule hierarchy.
Final Post-Layout Analysis
The final post-layout analysis includes a
batch mode simulation of all the nets. This flags
signal integrity, crosstalk and EMI hot spots.
Basically, look carefully through this report to
see any issues that may have to be dealt with.
Figure 2: In this design, signal integrity will be
better if the series terminator is placed 4.5” away
from the driver.
was much better with a long distance (4.5
inches) away from the driver, and then the
signal split through two series resistors and into
each bank of DDR2 SDRAM. This is unusual,
but demonstrates the importance of simulation
in order to achieve the best possible outcome.
By the way, this design ran at full rate with no
rework required.
Placement
If you have completed the pre-layout
analysis, then placement is a matter of following
the constraints determined for length and
placement rules. Series terminators are normally
placed in RESNET 1206 (4 resistor packages) or
0402 on the bottom of the board, as the top is
typically taken up by large active devices.
Decaps should be placed directly beneath
the devices where possible, using 20 MIL
traces connected to the supply pins to reduce
inductance. It is sometimes possible to use the
vias coming down from fine pitch BGA supply
pins as one pin for the 0402 Decap and routing
the other to ground.
Matched Length and Differential
Pair Routing
Setting up the design rules is a little tedious in
any PCB tool, but, once done on the first design,
you can export them into the next design to save
time. Below (Table 2) is an example of DDR2
High-Speed Design Rules for Altium Designer.
When possible, I normally reduce the
tolerance within Data Lanes 0-3 to 25 MIL in
34
The PCB Magazine • June 2011
The batch mode simulation reports:
• Signal Integrity issues including over/
under shoot.
• Nets that are too long and need
termination.
• Crosstalk from multiple aggressor nets.
• Possible EMI sources.
Go through these items one at a time and
look at whether there needs to be action taken.
For instance, a long ‘Reset’ signal or a signal
going to a static pull-up may be reported as
being too long, but we can obviously ignore
these particular warnings. Another possible
case that needs to be addressed: a critical signal
that is routed over the Manhattan length and
needs termination.
Crosstalk is quite common in high speed
designs because of the cramped real estate;
signals have to be packed tightly into a
small area. Crosstalk can be minimized by
increasing trace spacing and by reducing the
signal layer to reference plane separation. Try
to keep prepreg thickness to 3 MIL to tightly
couple the signals to the plane. Also, it may
be necessary to add additional planes to the
stackup to isolate the offending aggressor
signals. Routing adjacent signal layers
orthogonally also helps reduce noise coupling.
Crosstalk problems can cause intermittent
operation due to timing glitches and
interference, dramatically reducing your
product’s reliability. So, it is best to address
these issues at the source.
If a good job has been done routing the
high-speed signals, on the internal layers and
away from the edges of the board, then EMI
should be minimal. However, if there is an EMI
PCB Design Techniques for DDR, DDR2 & DDR3 (Part 2) continues
Rule Name
Rule Type
Scope
Atttribute
Length Length
(InNetClass(‘Lane0’) AND Min Length = 500mil
InNetClass(‘Lane1’) AND Max Length = 1000mil
InNetClass(‘Lane2’) AND
InNetClass(‘Lane3’))
Parallel Segment Parallel Segment All - All
Gap = 4mil
Limit = 500mil
Layer = Same Layer
USB Data and Control Matched Net Lengths InNetClass(‘USB_length’) Tolerance = 100mil
Diff Pair USB Matched Lengths Matched Net Lengths InDifferentialPair (‘USB’) Tolerance = 25mil
Diff Pair Matched Lengths Matched Net Lengths (InDifferentialPairClass Tolerance = 25mil
(‘All Differential Pairs’))
DDR CLK Matched Lengths Matched Net Lengths InDifferentialPair Tolerance = 25mil
(‘DDR_MCK’)
DDR2 CTL Matched Net Lengths InNetClass(‘DDR2_CTL’) Tolerance = 200mil
DDR2 Addr Matched Net Lengths InNetClass(‘DDR2_Addr’) Tolerance = 200mil
Lane3 Matched Net Lengths InNetClass(‘Lane3’) Tolerance = 50mil
Lane2 Matched Net Lengths InNetClass(‘Lane2’) Tolerance = 50mil
Lane1 Matched Net Lengths InNetClass(‘Lane1’) Tolerance = 50mil
Lane0 Matched Net Lengths InNetClass(‘Lane0’) Tolerance = 50mil
All Lanes Matched Net Lengths (InNetClass(‘Lane0’) AND Tolerance = 500mil
InNetClass(‘Lane1’) AND
InNetClass(‘Lane2’) AND
InNetClass(‘Lane3’))
Table 2.
issue then different routing strategies can be
tried to eliminate the problem. EMC can be
measured, during the design process, to FCC,
CISPR, VCCI Class A & B standard—this alone
saves multiple iterations of a design.
All critical high-speed signals should be
individually checked. Signal flight times need
to be within spec, and eye diagrams need to
have eyes wide open.
By simulating during the design process,
you can be assured that your PCB layout will
be of the highest quality and will pass the
relevant EMC tests—saving you time, money
and frustration for a fraction of the cost of
board iterations and multiple compliancy
testing. Plus, the simulation can be done
before the design is finalized (before Gerber
output or even earlier in the design process) to
further reduce production time and costs. PCB
36
The PCB Magazine • June 2011
References:
1. Advanced Design for SMT – Barry Olney,
In-Circuit Design Pty Ltd.
2. JEDEC Specifications JESD 79F, JESD792E & JESD79-3D.
3. Altera Board Layout Guidelines, EMI_
Plan_Board.
Barry Olney is Managing Director
of In-Circuit Design Pty Ltd (ICD),
Australia, a PCB Design Service Bureau
and Board Level Simulation Specialist.
Among many other awards through
the years, ICD was awarded “Top
2005 Asian Distributor Marketing” and
“Top 2005 Worldwide Distributor Marketing” by
Mentor Graphics, Board System Division.
summary
point of view
column
Does America Need
Manufacturing?
by Steven Williams
The topic for
this discussion came
to me, as most of
my best ideas do,
during a casual
conversation about
life over a cold beer.
Having finished our
weekly volleyball
league match, my
friend Mike and
I had just settled
in at our favorite
watering hole to
soothe away the
aches and pains
that accompany
playing competitive
volleyball after
the age of 50. We
have had some
very interesting
discussions over the
years, on a variety
of topics, but mostly
our conversations tended to center around
Harleys, sports or politics.
This particular evening Mike turned
to me and asked, “Steve, I want your
opinion on something. Does America need
manufacturing?” Now, this is not quite the
radical departure from our normal topics as
you may think. You see, Mike is not only a
good friend and fellow Harley enthusiast,
he is also a small business owner whose
business has been significantly impacted by
Asian competition. Like Mike, I had grown
up in this business “making stuff,” and
before I had time to even think about an
answer, I blurted out a resounding “Hell yeah
we need manufacturing!” as my American
38
The PCB Magazine • June 2011
The data is clear: America is no longer a
manufacturing nation. With only 23% of
our GDP, and 20% of jobs coming from the
manufacturing sector, this disturbing reversal
of fortune from the “good old days” begs
the question, “Is there hope?” Perhaps, but
one thing remains crystal clear: American
manufacturers control their own destiny.
pride and loyalty
involuntarily
kicked in. However,
after thinking more
about it in the
following days, I
decided it would
be worthy of some
research to support
my well-intended
gut reaction.
Sobering Facts
If you are a
U.S. manufacturer,
the following
information from
the CIA’s World
Factbook should
scare the hell out
of you. Using the
metric of Services as
a Percent of Gross
Domestic Product
(GDP), in the year
2010 the United States was in the top three
of all industrialized countries at 77%. Simply
put, 77% of our revenue as a country comes
from service-related industries, with only
23% from manufacturing. The data provided
by the Handbook of U.S. Labor Statistics for
the percent of the U.S. labor force in each
sector are equally disturbing. Using 1950 as
a baseline, 60% of U.S. employees worked in
manufacturing and 40% in service industries.
By the year 2009, this mix has changed to only
20% in manufacturing and 80% in service.
While these statistics are great news if you
are a service provider, they are catastrophic
for the once mighty American manufacturing
sector. The United States is no longer a
does america need manufacturing? continues
manufacturing nation, and I really don’t
believe there will be enough service jobs to
support our growing population if this trend
is not arrested. Looking next at 1998-2008
data published by the International Labor
Organization, it clearly shows just how far
America has fallen in global manufacturing
employment compared with our competition.
As Figure 1 shows, America’s 22% decline is last
among major manufacturing countries, and we
need to consider that this number is probably
conservative when factoring in how “U.S.
employment” is defined within multi-national
organizations.
It gets worse. In 2007, the United States
ranked 168th out of 182 nations in Industrial
Production Growth Rate with a rate of .5%.
Sudan is number one at 32%, and China is
number six at 12.9%. The United States is the
largest importer in the world, bringing in over
$1.6 trillion in goods and services during 2009.
The United States had a population of around
312 million and a workforce of 155 million
people in 2010. Compare that to China’s
population of 1.4 billion and a workforce of
800 million people and it is painfully easy to
see why we are where we are today.
On-shoring
Referring to the preservation of existing
manufacturing in America, on-shoring is
the result of companies becoming more
globally competitive through efforts such
as Lean, product design, reduced labor cost
through increased efficiencies and improved
customer responsiveness. Evaluating the value
proposition in total cost terms, it is entirely
possible that America could become a low-cost
country option!
Re-shoring
This interesting new buzzword refers to
the return of work to America that had been
previously lost to offshore competition. This
reversal is being driven by a number of factors,
namely, recent economic conditions are
forcing customers to change their focus from
unit cost to total cost of ownership. Perhaps
the grass isn’t always greener on the other
side (of the world!).
40
The PCB Magazine • June 2011
Re-shoring Drivers
• Increasing transportation and fuel costs
• Higher foreign wages
• IP/counterfeiting concerns
• Reduction of pipeline inventory for JIT
• Localizing manufacturing near R&D
facilities
• Regulatory compliance risk
• Design and delivery flexibility
• Political and infrastructure stability
• Improved U.S. competitiveness through
Lean
• Higher reject rates/quality
• Product liability
Is There Hope?
Some encouraging trends do give us hope.
The U.S. has dropped from number one to
number three in the world ranking of GDP
from services over the last decade, and we have
seen a 26% drop from 2008 to 2009 in dollars
imported (2008 was a staggering $2.1 trillion).
The key to both preserving the manufacturing
business that we still have (on-shoring), and
bringing lost manufacturing jobs back to
America (re-shoring), is going to hinge on the
ability of domestic suppliers to become, and
remain, globally competitive.
So, does America need manufacturing?
Hell, yeah! It is my hope that, as a nation,
we can collectively take the steps to preserve
manufacturing in America. However, in what
may very well be our last chance, will America
once again regain its manufacturing homefield advantage in today’s global environment?
I don’t know, but to use another sports
metaphor, the ball is clearly in our court. PCB
Steven Williams is a 35-year
veteran in the electronics
industry and an authority on
manufacturing and management.
He is currently the commodity
manager for a large global EMS
provider, a distinguished faculty
member at several Universities and author of
the book Survival Is Not Mandatory: 10 Things
Every CEO Should Know About Lean
(www.survivalisnotmandatory.com).
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WHAT IT TAKES TO THRIVE:
The Research and Experimentation (R&E) Tax Credit
An interview with: HUNTER TECHNOLOGY
summary
Designed to offer assistance and incentive
to companies who are engaged in the
development of technologically progressive
products, the Research and Experimentation
Tax Credit has had a longer than expected
lifespan, yet is surprisingly underused.
Originally enacted in 1981 as part of the
Economic Recovery Tax Act, the Research and
Experimentation (R&E) Tax Credit (also referred
to as the R&D Tax Credit) has expired eight times
and been extended 14 times during the past
30 years. Having experienced several economic
downturns, corrections and a couple of outright
recessions during the past three decades, it is
no surprise that this vital aide to American
business continues to get consistent support from
Congress, regardless of political party.
The R&E Tax Credit is designed to offer
assistance and incentive to companies who are
engaged in some part of the development of
products that are considered technologically
progressive, thereby reinforcing our national
hope (need) to maintain a technological edge
within the global economy. Surprisingly, there
42
The PCB Magazine • June 2011
are many more companies that qualify for
this benefit than participate in it—a fact that
confounds Joe O’Neil, President of Hunter
Technology, in California.
Joe O’Neil and the company’s controller,
Jill DeDios, sat down to discuss the importance
of the R&E Tax Credit to manufacturing
business in the U.S., and why some companies
don’t take advantage of it.
I-Connect007: In the simplest of terms, what
is the R&E Tax Credit?
Joe O’Neil/Hunter Technology: The
R&E Tax Credit was originally introduced
in the Economic Recovery Act of 1981 and
is available to help reduce the tax burden
and the cost of investing in research and
experimentation by U.S. manufacturers.
I-Connect007: Jill, under this statute, what is
the working definition of R&D? Who qualifies for
the R&E Tax Credit?
Jill DeDios: The Research & Experimentation Tax Credit is a general business tax
credit for companies who incur research and
development expense in the United States. The
IRS defines “Research & Experimentation” as
“research which is undertaken for the purpose
of discovering information
“
Not taking full advantage of this credit is leaving money
that could be re-invested back into the company on the table.
(i) which is technological in
nature, and
(ii) the application of which
is intended to be useful in the
development of a new or improved
business component of the taxpayer.”
I-Connect007: Joe, one of the
reasons that you felt a discussion
Joe O’Neil
on the R&E Tax Credit was warranted
is because, even after three decades, there are
many misconceptions about who qualifies for this
benefit and how difficult it is
to participate in receiving the credit. I know
it is your opinion that there are many U.S.
manufacturers that are not taking advantage
of this benefit and should be. What are the
most common misconceptions or reasons why
companies that qualify for the tax credit do not
participate?
JO: The most common misconception is,
“We are a manufacturing company. We do
not perform R&D.” This is, quite simply, a
misunderstanding of the term, “R&D,” as we
just discussed. R&D for the purposes of the
tax code is not R&D in the strict scientific or
university sense. It is a much broader working
definition. Any manufacturing company in
the U.S. who is working with an OEM on
new product development (i.e., developing
new and improved manufacturing processes,
increasing automation, etc.) should work
with their accountant to take advantage of
this credit. Why would a business owner not
want to take advantage of this? Not taking full
advantage of this credit is leaving money that
could be re-invested back into the company on
the table.
Another comment we hear is that it is not
cost effective to hire people and buy special
software to track the R&D Tax Credit. The
R&D Tax Credit seems too complex, but in
reality, it’s not. It takes some up-front research
and preparation, but no significant resources,
software or personnel are required. It is simply
a matter of due diligence. I think folks have
a gut fear reaction in regards to anything
tax related, especially where there is even
greater government involvement or perceived
government exposure, but that is really just
”
ignorance. Take the time to figure it
out. You may be very happy you did.
I-Connect007: How does the R&D/
R&E Tax Credit apply specifically to EMS
companies, as in Hunter’s case, for instance?
JO: Hunter Technology uses this
credit to offset the cost of process
engineers who focus on new process
development and improvement which
benefits our customers’ (and our) bottom
line. We also use the credit to experiment
with new, advanced materials in our PCB fab
manufacturing facility.
I-Connect007: Hunter has been taking this
tax credit since 2007. How much would you say
Hunter has benefited from the R&E Tax Credit
over the years? Can you quantify it?
JD: Yes. We started taking the R&E Tax
Credit in 2007. Over the past three years, we
have saved more than 17% of our operating
income by utilizing this credit.
I-Connect007: Wow! That is significant. Are
there any other, perhaps less tangible benefits
that you have experienced from participation in
the R&E Tax Credit? Is there a positive association
with customers, for instance, being “officially”
declarative about your involvement in R&D?
JO: On the “customer perception side,” I
believe that our customers look to us to assist
them in determining the most reliable advance
technology solutions available in the market.
Those typically cost both time and money
to bring up through R&D. EMS and PCB
suppliers who reinvest in their companies are
at a significant market advantage.The R&E Tax
Credit simply allows manufacturers like us to
be more aggressive in our R&D efforts, which
is something that draws customers to us.
I-Connect007: The last official expiration
date for the R&E Tax Credit was December 31,
2010. It was extended temporarily (December 31,
2011), yet again. But, what is the status of the
current R&E Tax Credit? Is there any likelihood
that it will ever be enacted into a permanent
credit for business? Are there any likely changes to
the tax credit going forward?
June 2011 • The PCB Magazine
43
hunter technology interview continues
JD: Yes, in answer to your last two
questions, President Obama is pushing for a
permanent R&E Tax Credit as part of the 2012
federal budget. Given the tax credit’s 30 year
history, having had 14 temporary extensions,
and couple that with the indisputable need
for America to be technologically present
if we hope to remain a leader in the global
business economy, I have high hopes that this
will indeed become part of the 2012 budget.
This is something that both Republicans
and Democrats should be able to agree upon
without controversy.
I-Connect007: Is there anything current
business owners and advocates can do to push
this permanent credit? Whom should they
contact, and what is the most effective means of
communication with government and business
organizations to this end?
JO: One of the simplest and most effective
things manufacturers and business owners
can do is to work through the IPC to appeal
to congress. Contact the IPC Government
Relations Committee or any of your IPC
contacts to find out how to support this
initiative. As always, we need all of the support
that we can get for the benefit of all of our
businesses. It really is worth the small amount
of time and effort to lend your support.
If you are interested in becoming more
involved, again, contact the IPC. They are
always appreciative of those who are willing
to contribute their time and expertise for the
betterment of our industry and our member
companies.
JD: Also, contact your CPA to find out
about implementing the credit for your
organization. It is a call worth making. PCB
References:
1. History of the R&D Tax Credit
Legislation.
2. IRS: Research and DevelopmentManufacturing Tax Tips.
All Flex Minneapolis Facility Completes Upgrade, Expansion
short
All Flex Flexible Circuits, LLC, manufacturer
of flexible printed circuits and heaters, has
completed significant capital equipment and
infrastructure improvements to the company’s
second production facility in Bloomington,
Minnesota.
All Flex has manufactured flexible circuits
since its inception 20 years ago. Over the last
several years, growing business had to be
accommodated with more space. Most finishing
and assembly operations were moved 35 miles
north to the Bloomington facility, where Lean
Manufacturing Principles were implemented
along with ISO 9001:2008, AS9100 and ITAR
Certification.
The purchase of additional 5,000 square
feet was necessary to manage additional
business that All Flex has been supporting and
to prepare for future growth. This required the
upgrading and reconfiguring of several processes
throughout the facility to include clean rooms,
44
The PCB Magazine • June 2011
automated assembly, testing, etc.
According to Kai Warnock, Vice President
and Operations Manager, the major drive for
further expansion was to significantly ramp up
process automation for improved efficiency and
repeatability in the area of assembly capability.
“With our strategic investments our surface
mount assembly processes are now more
automated and our internal supply chain is even
better streamlined, putting All Flex in great
capability position,” says Warnock.
Bloomington Facility Manager, Chad
Nevils says, “The 30% increase in footprint has
allowed for additional capacity and improved
management of manufacturing constraints.
Transitioning from compact compartmentalized
work areas to a single open production floor has
greatly increased overall efficiency throughout
the manufacturing process.”
For more information, please visit:
www.allflexinc.com/.
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summary
tech talk
column
Repeat Defects
Random defects, “repeat” defects and even
“pseudo repeat defects” may affect several
panels, or plague an entire production run in
printed wiring board fabrication. Before you
can do something about them, the key is
locating and identifying them.
by Karl H. Dietz
In printed wiring
board fabrication,
random defects and
so-called repeat (or
repetitive) defects may
be seen on several
panels or plague an
entire production run.
These repeat defects
are characterized by
a distinct pattern. In
some cases, the defects
are always in the
same location on the
panel. In other cases,
the defects may be
noticed on a narrow
strip on the panel in
machine direction
of the conveyorized
spray process
modules. Or, the
repeat defect pattern
is one where two defects always appear at the
same distance from each other in machine
direction; however, the absolute position of
the two defects on the panel may vary, while
the transverse direction location of the two
defects pretty much stays the same. Then there
are repeat defects that we would refer to as
“pseudo repeat defects,” not because they did
not fit the description of repeating defects that
originate from the same problem source, but
because they might appear on some panels,
but not on all; or, they might show up for a
while and then disappear.
To identify repeat defects by location, we
used a clear polyester foil overlaid on top of
the AOI inspected defective panel that bore
the defect ink identification marks of the
AOI. We then circled the defect locations on
46
The PCB Magazine • June 2011
the polyester with a
permanent marker
ink and placed this
defect template on
subsequent defective
panels. If the circles
on the polyester
foil fell in the same
position as a defect
on subsequent
panels, this was a
good indication that
we had located a
repeat defect. Today,
some AOI software
programs will
allow you to do the
same exercise more
elegantly.
A repeat defect
characterized by
the fact that it is
always in the same
location on the panel is invariably linked to
the photolithographic process. It could be a
defective phototool. Or, it could originate from
a piece of dirt trapped on the exposure frame.
Whether such a defect appears on all panels
or intermittently depends on the size of the
imperfection and how good the contact was
between the phototool and the photoresist
for a particular exposure step. Of course, if a
routine cleaning step of the phototool or the
exposure frame removes the piece of dirt, or
if it dislodges accidentally, then the defect no
longer repeats.
If defects concentrate in a lane in machine
direction, there are several potential sources for
such defects. A damaged conveyor wheel could
cause mechanical damage to the photoresist
in the developer, or a partially plugged spray
repeat defects continues
nozzle can cause highly localized, highpressure spray impact in the developer or
etcher resulting in over-development or overetching.
Repeat defects related to hot roll
lamination have two causes: either by a pit,
indentation or cut in the rubber cover of the
roll, or by a bump on the roll resulting from
a nodule of foreign material on the otherwise
smooth roll surface (see Figures 1 and 2 ).
A pit on the roll surface causes inadequate
lamination pressure, which can cause an air
void or low dry film adhesion that will not
survive the rest of the process (see Figure
1). Bumps on the roll are usually caused by
resist contamination. Such bumps increase
lamination pressure, causing resist thinning.
Such thin resist may not survive downstream
processing. A thick bump with steep sidewalls
may cause air voids or low adhesion around
the edge of the bump as well as resist thinning
(see Figure 2). Both types of roll defects will
cause opens or nicks in etching applications,
and shorts or excess copper in pattern plate
applications.
Repetitive lamination voids can easily
be detected. Most appear as light spots on
laminated boards due to air under the resist.
Thin resist spots without air voids are seen
as dimples in the resist when observed at
an angle. All defects caused by lamination
rolls will repeat at the distance equal to the
circumference of the roll. Note that, due to
the spacing between boards, defects may not
appear at the same location on each board.
Bumps on the lamination rolls caused by
resist contamination can usually be removed
by cleaning with isopropyl alcohol (caution:
it’s flammable!). Problems caused by pits
on the lamination rolls can be corrected
permanently only by replacing the rolls. Some
vendors offer repaired (recovered) rolls as a
less costly alternative. Temporary repairs by
filling the pits with a high temperature silicone
adhesive sealant are possible, but they may fail
within days because of thermal cycling. PCB
Karl Dietz is President of Karl
Dietz Consulting, LLC. He is
offering consulting services
and tutorials in the field of
circuit board & substrate
fabrication technology. Karl
can be reached by e-mail
at [email protected] or phone
(001) 919 870 6230.
Graphic PLC Receives Award from BAE Systems
short
Graphic PLC of Devon, England has
received a special “Supplier Recognition Award”
from BAE Systems. The award recognizes
Graphic’s on-time Delivery, Quality and Support
performance for the past 12 months to BAE
Systems.
This is the third such award received
from Graphic’s major OEM customers in the
past six months, and shows the company’s
commitment to world class manufacturing
performance at the highest level. Graphic PLC
is involved with the SC21 program and has
achieved AS9100 and NADCAP amongst other
International Business Quality awards.
48
The PCB Magazine • June 2011
About Graphic PLC
Graphic PLC is one of the most technicallycompetent manufacturers of high-technology
PCBs. Located in the heart of the English
countryside, Graphic focuses on leadingedge technology released to the most
demanding international quality standards.
Constantly looking at innovative solutions to
customer requirements, Graphic is an expert
at prototyping and developing new “first-tomarket” products. With facilities in the UK
and in China for medium- to large-volume
production, Graphic is able to offer complete
services for PCB manufacturing.
Honeywell Relies on Standards to Set Contractor Expectations
by Terry Costlow
June 2011 • The PCB Magazine
49
short
When Honeywell Aerospace writes contracts with
suppliers and subcontractors, it relies on IPC documents to establish many details.
Language barriers occur just as regularly when
technologists in one discipline communicate as they
do when people from different countries talk to each
other. In the technical world, standards help alleviate
these misunderstandings, making it much easier for
companies that work with suppliers and subcontractors.
Large companies that deal with more outsiders—
and have more insiders who work in many disparate
disciplines—often make extensive use of standards in
order to reduce the number of mistakes that can and
will arise.
Guidelines by standards bodies such as IPC are
used throughout the relationship between companies.
Good documentation can help companies forge strong
relationships from the start, ensuring that a supplier or
subcontractor can meet the requirements of an OEM.
“When we’re looking for
new suppliers or partners, we
need a way to look at their
technical capabilities. If they can
say that they’re able to build printed boards or printed
board assemblies to the relevant Class 3 IPC requirements, it gives us a lot more confidence that they will
be able to fulfill a production run,” said Dewey Whittaker, staff engineer at Honeywell Aerospace.
One of the most important aspects of standards
and guidelines is that they define the terms in unambiguous language. Many technical terms mean
different things to people in different disciplines, so
they need to be defined for communication that goes
outside a single group.
“Some of the things set in IPC documents sound
simplistic, but you need universal agreement for what
the term “eight” means. Not that “eight” is acceptable
to everyone, but that it is understood by everyone before you can move forward,” Whittaker said, only half
in jest. He added that it’s always important to ensure
that what seems apparent to one side is also apparent
to the other.
This move to standardization helps foster good
relationships between companies by reducing the aggravation that occurs when one party doesn’t view an
issue in the same way as the other. Many times, one
party will think everything is fine until managers at the
other company are upset about problems.
“In the past, if you had a problem you could spend
a week going through white board discussions just
trying to get commitment that a problem is a problem.
That’s very frustrating,” Whittaker said.
With a standard, it’s very clear whether or not
the requirements were met. “Data is data, there’s no
longer any language barrier,” Whittaker said. “Using a
standard hopefully ensures that you understood what
was meant and that you can do what the standard
says.”
Whittaker is a big proponent of standards, but he
noted that no document will ever ensure that confusion won’t rear its ugly head. While standards can
reduce the likelihood of misunderstandings, nothing
can eliminate miscommunication when people are
involved. “We’ve worked with companies that look
at all our requirements, things like building IPC-6012
Class 3 printed boards with varying types of vias and
reviewed by staffers that have gone through IPC-certified training programs and said yes to all of them.
Then we find that they don’t necessarily have plans
to use all those capabilities nor understand that it is
a mandate of ours to invoke all those requirements
when they produce our printed boards. It’s flabbergasting, but it happens,” Whittaker said.
Though these types of problems can occur,
they’re thankfully rare. Providing
a common base of understanding is a huge step for companies
that are attempting to work
with a growing number of subcontractors. However,
many guidelines give companies some flexibility in
the way they do things. That openness may not be
effective for a company that’s setting guidelines for a
contract. Nonetheless, the guidelines can be tweaked
by simply telling the subcontractor where minor
changes must be made.
“When you start outsourcing, you have to be
very clear,” Whittaker said. “That can create some
huge documents. But I can keep them short by saying
they must meet IPC-6012 Class 3 or 3/A acceptance
criteria with some exceptions/deviations. I replace will
with shall, so they have to do those things,” Whittaker said.
Though standards aren’t designed to boost a
country’s self-esteem or its standing in the world,
they can help emerging nations step forward. Corporations in these nations can use standards to show
that they match the capabilities of more experienced
companies in countries that have been industrialized
for longer periods. When these companies in emerging nations bring in business from top-tier providers,
the entire country benefits.
“A standard breaks down the barriers, changing how companies in different countries rank and
view themselves,” Whittaker said. “In many emerging countries, there’s a lot of prestige and honor by
having a major corporation have a presence in their
country.”
summary
the lean mean pcb specialist
column
How to Implement Lean Manufacturing
into a Printed Circuit Board Shop
Part 2:
Common Questions
Part 2 of this five-part series on
implementing Lean Manufacturing
into a PCB shop, columnist Dale
Smith unravels the common questions
surrounding the issue: What are the
excuses? What are the wastes? What are
my expectations?
by Dale Smith
Here are a few common reasons cited by companies who do not implement Lean:
In General:
1. We are a small company. We don’t have the resources that bigger companies have and we can’t
afford it.
2. We’re too busy. We don’t have time to make changes or to train.
3. We don’t have highly skilled factory operators. We have a hard time just getting them to follow
procedures, and you want us to empower them?
4. Fear factor. We are afraid to make changes; we don’t want to make things worse.
5. We don’t know how to implement. Where do we begin?
6. We would consider asking for help, but outside instructors don’t understand our business.
Specific to the PCB industry:
1. We manufacture a custom product. It’s different all the time.
2. We manufacture many different product types, with varying numbers of process steps.
3. Our product is highly complex and technical.
4. We have product that requires a flow back to a previous operation.
5. We only build prototypes. A part number may only be manufactured one time.
6. We have many “new” part numbers that we have never built before.
7. We build prototypes and volume production quantities in the same facility; therefore, there is a
demand conflict. The prototype work needs to be processed immediately, causing the
“production” work to suffer delivery issues (or vice-versa).
8. We do not have much automated equipment.
There are more, but quite frankly, they too
are just excuses. Lean Manufacturing is about
removing waste. Removing waste is a good
thing no matter what is being produced! You
can “Lean Out” your garage or basement. Have
you ever looked for tools that you know you
own, but can’t find? A half-hour job ends up
taking all afternoon because you couldn’t find
the tools. What a waste of time! You probably
could have completed several more tasks in
50
The PCB Magazine • June 2011
that time period. This is just an example of
how improved efficiencies can reduce cost and
cycle time (two or three tasks completed in
an afternoon instead of one, and a single task
completed in thirty minutes).
In a PCB shop, most people think waste
is scrap and rework. Yes, these are important
wastes to eliminate or reduce, but there are
other types of waste that nobody considers
which are just as important.
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There are few in our industry that have his experience
and expertise in just about every aspect of the business.
Dan knows what works, and perhaps more importantly,
what doesn’t.
When additional expertise is needed, or when senior
management just needs an independent opinion,
companies large and small alike get the guidance of
Fein-Line Associates, especially in the areas of New
Product Market Entry and M&A Due Diligence.
In our business, there's a lot on the line, not just
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Lean manufacturing, Part 2: Common Questions continues
What is “waste” in a manufacturing
operation?
Waste: Any activity which utilizes
equipment, materials, parts, space, employee
time or other resources beyond the minimum
amount required for value-added operations
to ensure manufacturability. These situations
should be considered as opportunities for
improvement. Ideally, we only want to be
performing tasks that the customer will pay for
(you will see the importance of this statement
in later commentary). More specifically, waste
activities are as follows:
make the commitment with focused efforts on
waste reduction can experience the substantial
types of gains mentioned above.
How quickly would I expect to see results?
Again, results would depend upon the
effort. From my experience, the expectation
would be to begin seeing results in about
three to six months. Initially, there needs to
be an intense focus on training. For this to
occur, upper management must “buy in.”
Management must be committed to the
principles and have a basic understanding
of them. It’s fine to have some doubts,
1. Overproduction (producing more
but management must believe that the
product than the customer needs)
program is good for the company and, once
2. Delays (any time when value is not
implemented, will yield results. Management
being added to the product)
also needs to understand what is required of
3. Transporting of materials from process to
them, specifically. It is helpful to have a “Lean
process
Road Map” outlining the path forward with
4. Over-processing (doing more work than
an estimated timeline to complete the tasks.
required to meet customer requirements)
Therefore, it is extremely important to have
5. Inventory (WIP and storage)
one or more experienced Lean Coordinators
6. Motion (moving product more than
to advise and guide the company through the
required to manufacture)
process. Don’t forget—you are talking about
7. Scrap and Rework
changing the culture of the company! It must
8. Lack of Innovation (failure to encourage
be implemented carefully or pessimism will
new ideas or develop better methods)
grow and try to defeat the effort. To get the
program off on the right
If I eliminate or reduce
foot, get some positive
It is helpful
these wastes, what
results early, and build on
results could I expect to
that momentum.
to have a
gain?
“Lean Road Map”
We are not talking about
What are the costs?
outlining the path
gains of three, five or 10%.
There are some costs
forward with an
I have seen companies
to consider. Consultant(s)
gain over 50% in their
hired for guiding/advising
estimated timeline
productivity output! Some
must have their fees
to complete
companies have reduced
budgeted. Time must
the tasks.
their lead times by over
be allotted for company
60%! On top of these gains,
associates to be trained
some have realized reduction in WIP by as
(work will not be performed during these
much as 30%.
sessions). As you progress further into
However, success depends on the
implementation, it may be advantageous to
effort and commitment to the principles.
move equipment, re-organize work areas or
Companies who only commit limited time
add resources. This should be weighed and
and/or resources, and are unwilling to make
analyzed to ensure that the investment brings
changes (which can be significant), will not
rewards. After all, you don’t want to spend
realize much improvement for their efforts.
$20k for a $10k return, or wait for returns
Companies that believe in the principles and
that will not pay back for many years. It is
“
”
52
The PCB Magazine • June 2011
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Lean manufacturing, Part 2: Common Questions continues
also more difficult to qualify the returns of
some investments. For example, if we don’t
reduce our lead times, we may never get the
opportunity to win business from a potential
customer because we cannot meet their needs.
How do you put a price on that? Usually these
types of decisions are obvious. Having a longrange plan will be important, but it’s too early
to worry about now. You don’t have enough
data yet to understand what the needs will be.
This will be discussed in subsequent columns.
Do I have a capable management staff?
Good question! Moreover, an important
one! Lean is not complicated; it’s mostly
common sense. Obviously, a strong staff
is critical for achieving success in any
organization or implementing a new program.
My experience is that most companies have
a capable staff. Most have the skills that
are necessary for planning, implementing
and executing. The staff should be able to
challenge the status quo, focus on continuous
improvement (removing waste) and build
on the positive results. Further, you want to
develop this culture throughout the entire
organization, so it is important that the
team listen to all concerns in order to avoid
making rash decisions that could lead to
mistakes affecting performance or quality. Two
important questions for you to consider are:
1. Can management work together as a
team?
2. Will the team apply the necessary effort
for planning, implementing, executing
and sustaining the program?
Do I have capable manufacturing
associates?
My experience is that most companies’
manufacturing associates (supervision and
operators) have adequate skills to adopt the
new principles. I find they are mostly willing
to participate in the improvement process.
In fact, many find that for the first time,
the company is listening to them. What a
revelation! This is exactly what you will be
encouraging.
Again, do not underestimate the
54
The PCB Magazine • June 2011
importance of listening to all concerns to
avoid decisions that could negatively affect
performance or quality.
Can lean fail?
Yes!
The main reason for failure typically lies
in upper management. If upper management
sings from the same song sheet, that is,
demonstrates commitment, focus and
agreement with the plan, the rest of the
organization will usually follow along.
As within any organizational structure,
if individual(s) are not committed to the
program, it can cause impediment to the
planning, implementation or execution.
Ultimately, this could affect results or cause
delays.
Here are a few of the reasons why Lean
fails, or is not nearly as effective:
• No “buy in,” or misunderstanding of the
principles
• No priority status and therefore no focus
• Lack of clearly defined objectives/goals
• Belief that the effort should be delegated
• Inability to work together as a
management team
• Absence of a plan for implementation or
execution
Now we have some understanding of what
Lean Manufacturing is all about and what
the expectations are for implementing the
program. We have some reasons to get excited!
In Part 3, we will discuss key customer values
that will help keep us focused. PCB
Dale A. Smith is President of
DAS Flex Circuit Consultant
and has more 30 years
experience in the printed
circuit industry. He specializes
in Rigid/Flex high reliability
manufacturing and Lean
Manufacturing implementation into PCB
shops. Reach Dale at 267-424-0690 or
email [email protected].
Multiple research and development
agreements have been signed by Atotech and
Case Western Reserve University (CWRU) for the
support and enhancement of Atotech’s global
metallization technology development and
material science and application failure analysis
activities in Europe, Asia and the U.S.
The established agreements with the
department of Materials Science and Engineering,
as well as with the Institute of Advanced
Materials, will further strengthen Atotech’s
chemistry and analytical capabilities. Atotech’s
potential is catalyzed by the 16 global technology
centers, which include the semiconductor
chemistry R&D and application center at the
College of Nano-scale Science and Engineering
(CNSE) in Albany, New York.
Each technology center site is responsible
for supporting local
and international
development and
optimization activities
of plating chemistries
for tailored regional
processes and
applications.
The department
of Materials Science
and Engineering at
Case Western Reserve
University supports nano-scale inspections, as
well as failure and property analysis that include
trace element analytics with high-resolution
instruments.
The collaborative agreement includes the
establishment of an organic chemistry laboratory
dedicated to the support of new plating additive
development that is specialized for small scale,
feature-size plating. The laboratory will further
enable and enhance Atotech’s semiconductor
R&D activities, which focus primarily on the
optimization of copper plating process solutions
using advanced polymers for structures down
to the 22 nm node. Additional research is being
performed on plating process development for
sub-22 nm node structures.
The new organic laboratory focuses on the
physical treatment of existing organic polymers
as well as on the development of new polymers.
These organic additives play a major role in
defect-free bottom-up fill technologies of copper
Damascene structures, which are critical for the
chip’s wiring from M1 up to Mx copper layers.
These polymers must be optimized to fulfill the
requirements for scaled barrier liner, seed layers
or for direct plating on liner layers in advanced
structures.
Wide process windows are needed to plate
semiconductor metal structures in various types
of equipment, especially when dealing with a vast
range of structure sizes from the nano-scale to
the micro-scale.
The same plating bath chemistry must
perform uniformly across the wafer. As structures
are sensitive to contamination, leading to a
risk of yield losses or reliability exposures, the
target is to achieve low
incorporation levels of
organics or organic byproducts. Minimizing
the consumption rate
over the throughput in
an ECD plating tool is
also a goal.
Atotech’s
Vice President of
Semiconductor
Technology, Robert
Preisser, stated after signing the contracts that he
is very pleased with the new agreements between
Case Western Reserve University and Atotech.
“This new collaboration addresses open
activities that will support R&D for nano
scale metallization chemistry and process
development. This collaboration is a strategic
continuation of the existing cooperation between
Electrochemical Research group at Case Western
Reserve’s department of Chemical Engineering
and Atotech.”
Professor Uziel Landau, Chair of the Chemical
Engineering Department and a long-time
research collaborator of Atotech states that he is
delighted with the progress made so far under
the sponsorship of Atotech in advancing the state
of interconnect plating technology, and looks
forward to the enhanced collaboration.
June 2011 • The PCB Magazine
55
short
Atotech to Enhance Technology;
Collaborate with CWRU
summary
reid on reliability
column
Microvia
Separation
Microvias can fail in many ways, but by far
the most common is a separation between
the base of the microvia and the target
pad. Frequently, the separation is below the
electroless copper or direct metallization layer
and the target pad. The challenge is cleaning
organic residues off the base of the microvia.
by Paul Reid
PWB Interconnect Solutions
Microvias are
Microvias are
best described as
very small. As a
small blind vias.
means of comparison
They usually have
I have fine hair
a diameter of .004”
which is rather thin,
to .006” or less,
measuring about
and aspect ratios
.002”. Two or three
are frequently in
of my hairs would
the range of, but by
fit side by side inside
no means limited
a microvia. Surface
to, between 1:1
tension, viscosity,
and 3:1. Although
wetting and the small
the microvia has a
size of the opening
relatively modest
makes it difficult for
aspect ratio, as
fresh chemistries to
compared to HDI
get into a microvia
Figure 1: Anatomy of a microvia.
boards with plated
and for spent
through vias, they are a challenge to fabricate,
chemistries to be replaced.
mostly due their small size.
For the purpose of this article, and
Of all the interconnect structures, wellbased on reliability testing, we can place
made microvias consistently outperform all
microvias into two distinct groups: simple and
other interconnect types based on thermal
compound. Simple structures are microvias
cycle testing. At the same time, poorly
that are not stacked on top of either other
fabricated microvias fail catastrophically in
microvias or buried vias. Compound microvias
assembly and in the end-use environment.
are defined as those microvias that are directly
Conventional test methods like solder float
stacked on top of other microvias or buried
and thermal cycle testing at 150°C have been
vias. Simple microvias may span one or more
known to produce false-positive results on
dielectric layers, but tend to be floating with
marginal microvias that subsequently failed in
dielectric material directly below. Stacked
assembly.
microvia connect directly on top of other
The anatomy of a microvia includes a
copper interconnections.
capture pad through which a hole is drilled
Usually, we find a simple microvia between
or ablated, the target pad at which the hole
other interconnect structures like plated
terminates and the sides of the hole walls, or
through holes (PTHs). During a thermal
barrel of the microvia. The microvia may be
excursion, if a microvia is between two
open or filled with epoxy or copper, and may
adjacent PTHs, the PTHs will act like rivets,
or may not have a copper cap. Usually the
constraining the z-axis expansion. Dielectric
microvia is penetrating approximately .003”
material will expand, bulging out between
or .004” of the dielectric. Microvias are
PTHs, pushing the microvia structure upward
frequently found in sequential lamination
(or down) as it floats on a bed of expanding
applications.
dielectric. The microvia, because of its
56
The PCB Magazine • June 2011
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conference on Flexible CircuiTs
Workshops June 21
Technical Conference June 22–23
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• Discover flex opportunities and challenges as seen by Prismark Partners
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• Learn what the latest IPC studies reveals about the flex market
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• Special Considerations in Flex/Rigid Flex,instructor Greg Bartlett, general manager, Vulcan Flex
Circuit Corp.
• Design for Manufacture: Options for Optimum Manufacturing Reliability, instructor Tom
Gardeski, president, Gemini Sciences, LLC
To learn more and to register, visit www.ipc.org/flexible-circuits.
Get your message to this key audience with a table top exhibit or sponsorship!
For more information about how sponsorships enhance your marketing efforts, contact
[email protected] or call +1 847-597-2866.
microvia separation continues
Figure 2: Forces acting on a microvia.
diminutive size, experiences pad rotation
downward (toward the center of the board)
during the thermal excursion.
In 2004, a cooperative study that
included Paul Andrews (Curtiss Wright),
Gareth Parry (Coretec) and the team at PWB
Interconnect Solutions demonstrated that
known compromised microvias (microvias
that failed in assembly) had survived to the
end of 1,000 test cycles that tested to 150°C.
The associated boards had an approximate
30% failure rate in tin/lead assembly. That case
study demonstrated that testing microvias at
190°C causes known compromised microvias
to fail in less than 500 cycles without inducing
artifact failure modes. The findings from that
study set the standard for the 190°C testing of
microvias that continues today.
It appears that microvias need to be near
or above Tg in order to produce enough stress
to break weak microvias—microvias that will
fail in tin/lead assembly and rework. These
findings, with microvias tested at 190°C, have
been reiterated many times over the years
in studies and practical applications. The
effectiveness of 190°C testing of microvias has
been repeatedly reinforced with unexpected
assembly and field failures as a result of
companies testing at 150°C.
There are many ways microvias can fail,
but by far the most common is a separation
between the base of the microvia and the
target pad. Frequently, the separation is below
the electroless copper or direct metallization
layer and the target pad. The challenge is
cleaning organic residues off the base of the
microvia. The residue from laser ablation
coats the walls and the base of the microvia
and acts as a protective coating, resisting
cleaning and microetching of the target pad.
The contaminating residue is often not visible
using optical microscopy. The presence of
residue is inferred when the target pad is not
visibly etched by the microetch bath.
By comparing the degree of etch at the base
of the microvia to, say, an interconnection in
the PTH that is being cleaned at the same time
as the base of the microvia, one can determine
whether the residue in the microvia has
been removed or is still present and resisting
adequate etching. Generally robust microvia
show evidence of some degree of etching
at the target pad. Undoubtedly, evidence of
microetch is not required for a microvia to
be robust, but, when present, it offers visible
evidence that cleaning has been adequate.
By using thermal cycle testing to study
robustness of microvias, we can plot the
resistance change throughout the thermal
excursion and determine when failure (a 10%
increase in resistance) occurs. Microvias that
fail due to a separation to the target pad tend
to fail catastrophically in just a few cycles after
IST Thermal Cycles to Failure –
Preconditioned 5 X 2300C
Test Temperature
150C
170C
190C
210C
220C
Mean IST Cycles
1000
789
464
76
44
Table 1: Cycle-to-failure data on compromised microvias at various temperatures.
58
The PCB Magazine • June 2011
microvia separation continues
Note that the animation
shows a microvia that
floats on a base of
dielectric without another
interconnect structure in
the near vicinity. Because
the microvia is floating on
a base of dielectric, the pad
rotation is down (or up)
toward the center zone of
the board. Small inclusions
and cracks coalesce into a
large crack in the heating
cycle. Cracks that close at
ambient, presenting little or
no increase in resistance at
ambient, may be described as
self-healing between thermal
excursions. Microvias that fail
due to microvia-to-target pad
separation frequently exhibit
intermittent opens that are
hard to find in failed product.
Although microvias are
Figure 3: Still shot from animation showing microvia separation.
demonstrated to be the
Click here for animation.
most robust interconnect
structures when fabricated
onset. Based on how microvias fail during
correctly, most companies evolve their
thermal cycle testing, the animation in Figure
processes to achieve that result. The learning
4 has been drawn to show a crack at the base
curve is sometimes steep and occurs over too
of the microvia; the crack is induced in the
long a time. In the interim, failures may be
heating cycle and then opens in the cooling,
expected. Thermal cycle testing is a perfect
only to close again at ambient.
tool for the fabricator to hone their process
and can significantly reduce time to results
by producing objective evidence to rank the
effects of process changes. When tested at
190°C, thermal cycle results from microvia
testing is objective evidence of capability for
potential customers. PCB
Figure 4: Microvia separation.
60
The PCB Magazine • June 2011
Paul Reid is a program
coordinator at PWB
Interconnect Solutions Inc.,
Ottawa, where his duties
include reliability testing, failure
analysis material analysis and
PWB reliability consulting.
Contact Paul Reid at [email protected].
news
Top
Ten
Most-Read News Highlights
from PCB007 this Month
Black Pad & Brittle
APEX Honors Best
a
c
Fracture: Controlling the
Industry Posters,
ENIG Process
Michael Carano of OMG Electronic Chemicals
is well aware that the use of ENIG poses quite a
few challenges, but millions of dollars worth of
PCBs are successfully produced on a monthly
basis using ENIG. It is critical to review the
ENIG process and set the stage for success.
Do You Know Your
b
PTH from a Hole in the
Ground?
Regardless of your score on this quiz, you
will be a hero to your product managers and
assemblers if you design your PTHs with
the proper thermal relief and ground plane
locations. Trust us, we’re Geeks.
62
The PCB Magazine • June 2011
Competition Winners
Celebrating the best of electronic interconnection research being conducted by both industry
leaders and academia, IPC announced the 2011
Best Industry Posters, and the winners of the
IPC Academic Poster Competition at IPC APEX
Expo, held April 12-14, 2011, in Las Vegas,
Nevada.
The Way I See It: Prophet
d
of Doom, Again!
Physicist Michio Kaku has written a book, “The
Physics of the Future,” which takes my angst
about the demise of the PCB up a couple of
notches. Kaku forecasts the demise of Moore’s
Law and says how it will end, and what replaces
it, depends on the laws of physics. The answers
to these physics questions will eventually rock
the economic structure of capitalism.
John Ling Reviews IEEE
e
Workshop on Reliability
and Safety
A thoroughly worthwhile event held within
the magnificent buildings of the University
of Greenwich, comprising a thoughtful
programme of papers from a wide variety of
speakers, all of whom held to the one theme
announced in the banner—reliability and
safety.
f
It’s Only Common Sense:
Is the U.S. the New China?
I read recently that the Swedish furniture
and household goods giant IKEA is moving
their operations out of Sweden. In fact,
they’re moving their operations out of Europe
completely.
I-Connect007 Launches
g
Free Flex Video Series
I-Connect007 has launched the “Flexible
Circuit Technology Online Training Video
Series.” Divided into nine sessions, this firstof-its-kind video series is a companion to Joe
Fjelstad’s exhaustive book, “Flexible Circuits
Technology.” Welcome to learning on demand,
on your schedule!
PCB Imaging &
h
Registration Focus of
EIPC Seminar
EIPC Executive Director Dr. Konrad Wundt
introduced an outstanding program of
presentations that provided PCB fabricators
with state-of-the-art knowledge, addressing the
realities of tolerances and registration to enable
the improvement of manufacturing yields, and
to understand what could be achieved with the
latest developments.
APEX: Record Donations
i
for Japanese Red Cross
Betting on the generosity of the electronics
industry gathered at IPC APEX Expo recently
in Las Vegas, Nevada, IPC held a raffle to raise
funds for the Japan relief fund of the Red
Cross. A total of $4,195 was raised from the
raffle with 100% of the proceeds going to the
Japanese Red Cross.
It’s Only Common Sense:
j
Make Your Company
Famous
PCB companies are now ready to let people
know who they are and what they are doing.
This week, Dan Beaulieu offers six easy and,
yes, economical ways to make your company
famous.
June 2011 • The PCB Magazine
63
calendar
EVENTS
• IPC Complete Calendar of Events
• SMTA Calendar of Events
• iNEMI Calendar
• PCB007 Events
MILESTONE
June 2011
Baltimore, New England, Los Angeles
Space Coast Chapter Expo,
Technical Forum and Barbeque
June 9, 2011
Melbourne Auditorium,
Melbourne, Florida
IPC Summit on American
Competitiveness
June 15 - 16, 2011
Washington, D.C.
IPC International Conference
on Flexible Circuits
June 21 - 23, 2011
Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA
Energy Harvesting & Storage
Europe 2011
June 21 - 22, 2011
Munich, Germany
Wireless Sensor Networks &
RTLS Europe 2011
June 21 - 22, 2011
Munich, Germany
64
The PCB Magazine • June 2011
Nepcon Thailand
Jun 23 - 26, 2011
Bitec, Bangkok, Thailand
Assembly Technology 2011
June 23 - 26, 2011
BITEC, Bangkok, Thailand
LEDforum Shanghai 2011
July 6 - 7, 2011
Jumeirah Himalayas Hotel Shanghai,
1108 Meihua Road, Pudong Xinqu
IPC Summit on
American Competitiveness
Combining Capitol Hill Day with a conference
focused on the needs of the U.S. electronics industry
Washington, D.C. | June 15–16, 2011
THE IPC SUMMIT ON AMERICAN COMPETITIVENESS combines informative presentations, legislative and regulatory briefings and key
lobbying visits with members of Congress to discuss critical issues that impact the U.S. electronics industry’s ability to compete globally.
LEARN HOW YOUR COMPANY CAN INCREASE ITS COMPETITIVENESS
• Discover what technologies represent the best chance for your company’s success as a U.S. electronics manufacturer.
• Hear how other U.S. electronics manufacturing companies are ensuring their competitiveness.
• Find out how you can use government resources to strengthen your business.
MEET WITH YOUR MEMBERS OF CONGRESS ON CRITICAL ISSUES
THAT IMPACT YOUR BUSINESS
• Electronics companies throughout the supply chain will be encumbered with significant
costs and burdensome reporting requirements for conflict minerals.
• Congressional actions and inactions will affect the future ability of the North American
electronics industry to meet military and aerospace needs.
• Legislators need to hear about the consequences on the electronics supply chain of
over-regulation.
IPC will make lobbying easy for you by briefing you on the legislative issues and giving you
the necessary materials. IPC will arrange your congressional appointments before you arrive,
making your experience smooth and efficient. Your participation will help you build a beneficial
relationship with your elected officials.
PARTICIPATE IN SPECIAL FUNCTIONS WITH MEMBERS OF THE
NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF MANUFACTURERS
• Hear directly from Members of Congress and senior level administration officials during
two special presentations.
• Network at a reception with more than 350 U.S. manufacturing executives.
Learn more and register today at www.IPC.org/CHD.
summary
the sales cycle
column
China
by Barry Matties
I recently spent a few weeks in China
attending a two trade shows, NEPCON China
and Circuitex. Organized by the Reed group,
Nepcon focuses primarily on the assembly
market, while Circuitex is mainly a PCB
fabrication event. Circuitex, organized by the
Taiwanese Printed Circuit Association, takes
place in Suzhou, about an hour from Shanghai.
One thing that was clear at both shows is the
rush to get to China is well past; the supply
base has been established.
Not too many years ago, companies were
rushing to navigate the cultural difference
and the language barriers, searching to set
up partnerships, open offices and just trying
to figure out how to conduct business in
China. Well, the dust has settled and if you
are doing business in China, great. If you
aren’t, it may be too late. I spoke with a few
of the PCB suppliers that have been in China
for several years. They reported that their
business is great, for the moment. In fact,
several suppliers said they could not take any
66
The PCB Magazine • June 2011
The rush to establish a presence in China has
hit a snag; that is, the country may be full.
After several years of companies scrambling
to seek out and secure partnerships, and
open offices, not to mention navigate the
cultural differences, the dust has settled, and
the supply base has been established. That
was our impression recently after attending
NEPCON China and Circuitex.
more orders for the year; they just don’t have
capacity to handle all that they currently have.
From wet processing to inspection, no one
seems to be complaining. But a few I talked
with are concerned that next year might be
considerably slower as the pent-up demand for
equipment is being satisfied this year.
More than just suppliers have made the
jump into the China market; IPC has also
developed a strong presence there. They are
still busy hiring new people, opening offices
and training the industry. Many, over the
years, have been critical of IPC for this effort,
but in the end, they are a business like all
others, vulnerable to market conditions.
In business, no matter what type, market
conditions will always have an influence, and
you can either adapt or disappear. IPC has
definitely adapted; in fact, some there have
said, in the coming years, they expect to have
more employees in China than they do in
the U.S. I don’t find that surprising. All you
have to do is visit a trade show there to gain
china continues
an understanding of this. IPC’s board did just
that by holding its annual meeting at the
recent CPCA show in Shanghai.
If you would like to learn more about
IPC’s global strategy, check out this video:
IPC Video.
I still experience moments in China that
make me wonder how anything gets done.
Sometimes it just seems that logic escapes
their thought process (if you have spent any
time there you clearly understand what I
mean), yet they continue to grow. Maybe that
lack of logic is residual from the old China,
because the new China strategy is focused on
competing on a worldwide level, with a strong
desire to become the world’s superpower.
With 1.6 billion people and a thriving
economy, they seem to be on that path. I have
never seen as many Ferrari dealerships in one
city as I have in Shanghai. Not only are the
dealers there, but there are plenty of Ferraris,
Lamborghinis, Aston Martins and other highend cars on the road. Their wealth continues
to be explosive.
We often hire helpers in China to assist
us in our trade show coverage effort. They
help with the camera, running errands and
providing security in our booth against
thieves. Yes, there are plenty of thieves. In
fact, during this visit, my rented bicycle was
stolen. When I shared the story with some of
our Chinese friends, none were surprised. As it
turns out, most have had their bikes stolen at
one point or another.
Education is clearly one noticeable
difference between China and the U.S. The
helper we hired for extra security was only a
few credits away from becoming a Ph.D. As
many of our kids graduate from high school,
68
The PCB Magazine • June 2011
it is very sad to say that many cannot even
point out China on a map. Many that do go
to college for a degree are graduating now
only to find jobs at fast food restaurants,
supermarkets, etc. When I look at our
industry, I do not see many young people
coming into it. It seems to me that part of
our competitive advantage, as a nation, lies
within a higher educational level. Certainly,
China understands this concept and so does
the IPC, hence their growth in China.
If you have not yet been to China, I
recommend that you plan a trip to see for
yourself what all the buzz is about. Visit
a trade show, a factory and some of the
suppliers. I think you will be amazed and it
will give you a greater appreciation for the
global economy. PCB
Barry Matties started in PCB
manufacturing in the early
1980s. In 1987, he co-founded
CircuiTree Magazine. Nearly 13
years later, CircuiTree was sold
as the leading publication in the industry. In
the early 2000s Barry and his former CircuiTree partner, Ray Rasmussen, joined forces
again and acquired PCB007. Over the years,
PCB007 has grown and continues to thrive. In
July of last year, Barry and Ray acquired SMT
Magazine. With his many years of business
leadership skills, Barry now produces this column for anyone who has a desire for success.
The column relates 25 years of successful
business leadership, including marketing and
selling strategies that really work. Read a few
and decide for yourself.
TECHNICAL EDITOR: PETE STARKEY
+44 (0) 1455 293333; [email protected]
PUBLISHER: RAY RASMUSSEN
(916) 294-7147; [email protected]
MAGAZINE PRODUCTION CREW:
SALES: Angela Alexander
(408) 915-2198; [email protected]
PRODUCTION MANAGER: Mike Radogna
[email protected]
MAGAZINE LAYOUT: RON MEOGROSSI
EDITORIAL:
GROUP EDITORIAL DIRECTOR: RAY RASMUSSEN
(916) 294-7147; [email protected]
AD DESIGN: Mike Radogna, BRYSON MATTIES,
MANAGING EDITOR: Lisa Lucke
(209) 304-4011; [email protected]
INnovative TECHNOLOGY: BRYSON MATTIES
PCB007 Presents
masthead
PUBLISHER: Barry Matties
[email protected]
Shelly Stein
cover: Mike Radogna, BRYSON MATTIES
The PCB Magazine® is published by BR Publishing, Inc., PO Box 50, Seaside, OR 97138
©2011 BR Publishing, Inc. does not assume and hereby disclaims any liability to any person for loss or
damage caused by errors or omissions in the material contained within this publication, regardless of
whether such errors or omissions are caused accidentally, from negligence or any other cause.
June 2011, Volume 1, Number 2 • The PCB Magazine© is published monthly, by BR Publishing, Inc.
Ad Index
atg Luther & Maelzer GmbH..... 53
Atotech.................................. 1, 2
Bürkle North America................ 47
CA Picard.................................. 37
Christopher Associates............... 7
Fein-Line Assoc......................... 51
I-Connect007..................... 59, 61
Integral Technologies............... 29
IPC..................................... 57, 65
Maskless Lithography................ 21
Microcraft................................. 25
Microtek Labs........................... 67
OEM Press Systems................... 45
OMG Electronic Chemicals....... 19
Rogers Corp............................. 13
Semblant................................... 5
Taiyo-America........................... 39
Technica, USA.......................... 35
Ventec...................................... 41
Next Month in
The PCB Magazine
It’s all about imaging in the July issue of
The PCB Magazine, with feature articles and
video from industry insiders including Gordon
Quinn, writing on LED imaging technology;
Maskless Lithography; and Karl Dietz’s Tech
Talk, presenting an introduction to PCB
Imaging.
Our monthly columnists have plenty to
say, about imaging and a few other things, too.
Dale Smith, of DAS Flex Circuit Consultant,
continues with his column, The Lean Mean PCB
Specialist, focusing on how to implement Lean
in a printed circuit board shop. In July, Smith
will address the question of how to understand
customer values in part three of his five-part
series. We’ll have 35-year electronics industry
veteran, Steven Williams, and his Point of View
column that takes on the impact of unions
on American manufacturing. Of course, Ray
Rasmussen and Barry Matties bookend the issue
with their unique perspectives in The Way I See
It and The Sales Cycle.
If you aren’t a subscriber yet of the The PCB
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See you in July!
June 2011 • The PCB Magazine
69
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