The annual TPCA Show in Taipeh is one of the world’s leading trade fairs for the PCB industry. More than 400 exhibitors and 4,000 visitors from 50 countries will get together in Taipeh on October 23-25, 2019 to gather information on current trends and issues. 5G networks, autonomous driving or integrated systems present the industry with new challenges. Schlötter will also participate in TPCA 2019: together with AGES, their long-year technology and sales partner in Taiwan, Schlötter will present various processes for superfilling, through-hole plating and direct metallisation from their current product range.
SLOTOCOUP SF 1960: Superfilling for Automotive Boards
With annual growth rates of approx. 6%, the automotive electronics industry is one the fastest growing areas of the electronics industry. The widespread use of advanced driver assistance systems and the increasing significance of automated and connected driving create a stable demand. Schlötter’s copper electrolyte SLOTOCOUP SF 1960 was specifically developed for automotive boards and unites superfilling with an excellent throwing power and uniform deposition. SLOTOCOUP SF 1960 is operated with MMO anodes in standard VCP lines. With SLOTOCOUP SF 1960, it is possible to both fill larger blind vias completely (i.e. without voids) and to metallize through-holes with 0.3 mm in diameter and 1.6 mm in depth (aspect ratio 1:5) in one single process step.
depth through-hole
1.6 mm
Copper SLOTOCOUP SF 1960 was successfully launched in the market in the beginning of 2019 and is used in several installations in Asia.
SLOTOCOUP SF 50: Single-process solution for HDI PCBs
Miniaturisation and more complex circuits lead to high technical requirements to PCB design. HDI technology (HDI: High Density Interconnect) enables a compact, reliable printed circuit board design with significantly higher packing densities. HDI PCBs offer very fine traces structures (10 x 10 μm), the smallest holes and blind and buried microvias. Schlötter’s Copper SLOTOCOUP SF 50 can be used for all manufacturing steps of HDI multilayers, including the filling of through-holes in the core layer, BMV filling in inner layers and through-hole filling in outer layers.
Direct Metallisation in the Times of 5G
The higher frequencies inherent to 5G will pose a key challenge to PCB manufacturing. The more demanding performance parameters of 5G will require even greater care in the design and selection of PCB materials as the higher frequency mmWave systems are more sensitive to effects such as copper roughness, thickness variation and thermal dissipation. These requirements also lead to new direct metallisation processes, which are used to create a conductive layer on the substrate and have to ensure good adhesion of the subsequent copper layer. Schlötter’s product range includes three new processes for direct metallisation suitable for 5G materials: SLOTOSIT PCB 3500, SLOTOGO PCB 3600 and SLOTOSIT PCB 3800. In his talk Next Generation Metallisation Process for 5G, held at the Technology symposium of the Alliance of Micro- and Nano-Metallisation Technology on Friday, 25 October 2019, Dr. Stefan Henne (Schlötter) will present SLOTOSIT PCB 3800. Using SLOTOSIT PCB 3800, PCB substrates such as polyimide are activated in gaseous SO3 without increasing the roughness of the surface which is especially important in order to minimise signal losses. First inhouse trials showed promising results.
