While walking the floor at IPC APEX EXPO 2017 it became very clear that Direct Imaging is the hottest technology on the market right now. I saw more companies selling the equipment and more people talking about Direct Imaging than ever before.
And we at Taiyo are on it
As I've mentioned several times in the past both Orbotech and Schmoll have given us a tremendous amount of support even to the point of installing their equipment in our lab in Carson City so that we could develop the best possible ink solutions for this technology. Through their partnership and generosity, we have been able to greatly improve our Direct Imaging solder mask especially when it comes to registration; by them helping us we have been able to bring our customers the very best DI solder mask solutions on the market today.
Did you see the demonstration at the Meyer Burger Booth?
Another example of how far this technology has come was demonstrated in the Meyer Burger booth, they had their inkjet process on display and let me tell you, inkjet has made some major strides in the past year. Gone are printing streaks, poorly shaped solder mask defined pads and jagged solder mask dams. If you want to see for yourself, check out the photograph below.
Notice how smooth the solder mask is printed, no signs of streaks from one printed head to another. How about how nice the solder mask defined pads look, they are squares! Lastly the solder mask dams are very straight and not as digitized in appearance as they were just twelve months ago; this is concrete evidence of the progress we have made.
Also, I hope you noticed that this panel has ENIG as the final finish so you can see that the solder mask has very good chemical resistance. We at Taiyo have worked very hard designing this inkjet solder mask to meet the harsh requirements of the automotive industry, and we are pleased to say we have succeeded. This new inkjet solder mask is withstanding the toughest thermal cycle testing (TCT) requirements as well as standing up to the most strenuous hot storage requirements.
As always, it is our goal at Taiyo to provide you, our customers with the very highest quality products matching them synergistically with any new equipment that is introduced to the market. We strive to not only meet today's requirements, but to exceed them as well. We want to be there for you both today and in the future.
As an example of this, two very large PCB manufacturers in Europe are working with us to push their inkjet technology to the next level, getting it to the production floor as quickly as possible and we are right there working side by side with them to make it happen. We are as eager to make this technology a success as they are, so stay tuned!
For more on inkjet solder mask or direct imaging solder mask please contact Taiyo America for the latest developments on these fascinating technologies.
