CELEBRATING OUR 4TH YEAR OF PUMANEWS™ |
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As I See It!
Our Materials Go
the Distance
JULY 2022
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Last week, the James Webb Space Telescope sent its first batch of photographs from deep space. We have pictured several in this news magazine to showcase NASA's incredible achievement.
Part of the success of the JWST was a sun shield created from DuPont™ Kapton® polyimide - a material we are beginning to distribute and convert.
It's amazing how many of the highly-engineered materials we distribute, from our world-class supplier partners, are changing our lives and our futures with new circuits.
Medical devices, computers, aerospace, automotive, and defense - to name just a few - incorporate our laminates, prepregs, pastes, and dryfilm into microelectronics whose manufacture is also enhanced by our offerings of lamination assist products, backup and entry, chemistry, and precision cutting tools.
We take pride that we can enable our customers to build better circuits, faster.
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PCBAA, the Printed Circuit Board Association of America, welcomes their newest members: DuPont and Nano Dimension.
Existing members include AGY, Amphenol, Bowman, Calumet, Insulectro, Isola, Summit Interconnect, TTM Technologies, Denkai America, MacDermid Alpha, Nano Dimension, Pacothane Technologies, Sanmina, Uyemura, and Rogers Corporation.
The Printed Circuit Board Association of America is a consortium of companies, representatives, and enthusiasts who are advocating for U.S. manufacture of printed circuit boards.
Insulectro is proud to support PCBAA's effort as a founding member.
We encourage you to not stand on the sidelines but get involved to support PCBAA's three main objectives:
- Support the Domestic Production of PCBs
- Enhance Domestic Supply Chain Security
- Advocate for Initiatives that Create Fair Market Conditions
This organization is your voice in Washington.
Visit PCBAA.org today to learn more about membership. See below for more information and a link to inquire about membership.
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PCBAA LEADERSHIP SPEAKS OUT |
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"A couple of months ago, we had requested to have a carrier sheet placed at the bottom of each stack of .005" DuPont Teijin Films MELINEX® ST-506. This sheet allows the material to slide a little bit easier during cutting and processing.
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"We just had the opportunity to break open your latest shipment. True to your word, these stacks of sheets do have the requested carrier sheet. Gustavo, our print room supervisor, wanted me to thank you for initiating this change and getting it implemented. The inclusion of the carrier sheets makes our cutting and stacking operations more efficient and likely safer.
"We really appreciate you and your team going above and beyond to make our jobs a little bit easier."
Kind regards,
Jeff Friedman
Quality Control Manager
Nameplate & Panel Technology
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Reshore! Bring it Back home!
New Bipartisan Legislation Promotes U.S. Manufacturing of Printed Circuit Boards
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Two bipartisan lawmakers introduced new legislation on Friday, May 6, that would strengthen the production and distribution of printed circuit boards within the U.S. manufacturing industry.
Titled the Supporting American Printed Circuit Boards Act, the bill is sponsored by House Reps. Anna G. Eshoo, D-Calif., and Blake Moore, R-Utah. It serves as an incentive for American companies to manufacture printed circuit boards which are used to power a bevy of electronic devices.
It also aims to strengthen the supply chain and promote equal opportunities for businesses owned by those in minority demographics.
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SALES & OPERATIONS MANAGEMENT |
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Ken Parent Speaks Out!
"Smell the sea and feel the sky, Let your soul and spirit fly"
JULY 2022
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Ahhhhhhh Summertime! How sweet it is. The lyrics above were written by Van Morrison for his song Into the Mystic.
Morrison's quote about summertime reminds me at Insulectro this is a time for reflecting on our first half of the year ending and preparing for a strong second half of 2022. We are certainly seeing slight summer doldrums but are blessed with some strong tailwinds and strength in certain markets.
[An Insulectro Favorite! Kona Beach - Big Island of Hawaii pictured]
We are hearing several reasons for the softness including component shortages to inventory burn-off, timing of defense spending, and program releases. I believe the biggest challenge many of us are facing is the challenge of keeping people in place and hiring additional people for the growth we are investing in. In other words, we are living in a people-constrained business today. Insulectro has programs in place to help our customers with training their team to help overcome these people constraints.
On the bright side of the business, Insulectro continues to invest in new products for our portfolio. Our customers have asked Insulectro to support them in:
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More inventory and materials are available fast. Isola and DuPont have helped us get our inventories extremely healthy again. Our goal is to be the easiest and fastest supplier of laminates to you.
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More equipment options are needed in North America, and we are moving forward on this front. Our demand for InduBond® systems is progressing. We also expect to announce exciting news about our equipment offering very soon.
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To help bring a hybrid substrate material for the substrate/interposer designs and we are moving forward on this front with our suppliers to bring a technology needed for next-generation very high-density designs.
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Offer a resin-enriching film to be used for filling vias and heavy copper at the lamination process to eliminate process steps. Insulectro and Kaneka are working on a solution and are in the initial stages of field testing.
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Employ several needs from our expanding chemistry portfolio including better process control systems to higher performance metallization capabilities. Insulectro is investing in our chemistry business, and we are getting tailwinds to support this investment. We are making more investments in our chemical business with people, equipment, and process automation and controls.
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Support in improving registration. I am a firm believer that “PCB Registration” is the biggest challenge in the PCB fabrication process. We are going to keep improving our solutions for improving the process around registration starting with process education through a proven solution using Bullseye entry materials and more technology offering in the drill and lamination departments. Have you heard about how our Pacothane's PACO•CLUTCH can improve your registration budget? Also, ask us about the InduBond® Registration systems available.
- Education and training are important to us. We want to help you.
Ask your Technical Account Manager how we can help you solve some of your training problems.
In the interest of getting you back to your summer work and fun I will close by saying thank you for your business and support. Have a great summer!
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Ken Parent
Chief Operating Officer
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Livin' in a Material World!
Delivering Customer Value
JULY 2022
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Supporting every process step in the manufacturing of Printed Circuit Boards (PCB) is critical to Insulectro’s vision of being vital to the design and manufacture of future circuits. |
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The recent announcement of our exclusive distribution of with Kyocera SGS Precision Tools is exciting news since this new partnership fills a gap in our ability to fully support the Drill Room.
Insulectro has a history of strategic, long-term partnerships with world-class suppliers, so we are proud to be able to add Kyocera to our line card of elite manufacturers.
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We strive to deliver customer value by supporting the full complement of drill room materials including LCOA® best-in-class manufactured backup and entry materials, Kyocera drills, routers, endmills and repointing services, combined with Insulectro’s knowledge and expertise on optimal drill processing, registration best practices, and drill hole prep, and metallization with DuPont Chemistry for a wide range of rigid and flexible laminate materials.
This new Supplier relationship also allows us to expand our training program with additional resources to Educate drill processing best practices to the new workforce in our industry.
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We are fortunate to have an in-house subject matter expert, Geraldine Arseneau [pictured right], who worked for Kyocera prior to joining the Insulectro team as our Drill Product Manager. Geraldine will be using her years of experience and expertise to coordinate a smooth transition for both existing and new customers using Kyocera drill tools. Geraldine’s prior work with Kyocera has prepared her with the skills and knowledge to not only train our internal sales and support teams but also introduce customers to the technology and product advantages that Kyocera brings to the PCB market.
We look forward to building on this new relationship and leveraging the strengths of Kyocera’s tool reliability, and designs and Insulectro’s distribution logistics, technical support, and full Drill room process ownership.
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Michelle Walsh
Vice President of Product Management
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Insulectro Welcomes Kyocera SGS Precision Tools as New Supplier |
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For immediate release
Insulectro, the largest distributor of materials for use in the manufacture of printed circuit boards and printed electronics, welcomes Kyocera SGS Precision Tools to its family of world-class manufacturers.
“I am pleased to announce that Insulectro will soon become the exclusive North American distributor of drills, routers, endmills, and other cutting tools manufactured by Kyocera,” announced Michelle Walsh, Insulectro Vice President of Product Management, “Kyocera has long been a dominant player in this market segment and their offerings strengthen our already robust array of materials used throughout the PCB industry.”
Insulectro CEO and President Patrick Redfern commented, “The addition of Kyocera precision cutting tools to our lineup is a very strategic move to complete our drill room offering. It’s a perfect complement to the American-made backup and entry materials manufactured by LCOA®. Our companies realize so many of the challenges our customers encounter can be traced back to drilling. I’m also pleased both Kyocera and Insulectro share the strategic vision of supporting the critical North American PCB market.”
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Kyocera SGS designs and manufactures tight tolerance precision carbide cutting tools for PCB applications. Products include drills, routers, end mills, and specialized cutting tools ranging from 0.05mm to 6.70mm diameters (0.0020" - 0.2638").
Kyocera’s renowned array of drills, routers, endmills, and specialty tools offer many benefits and advantages to customers for all their drilling and routing needs. Kyocera’s tool reliability and design flexibility are key strengths of their products, along with a complete R&D facility in the US, new tool manufacturing capability, and local technical resources, all available to support customer needs.
Repointing will be a new service offered by Insulectro through Kyocera. The company has recently invested in fully-automated, state-of-the-art equipment and all repointing will be done in Southern California.
Tasked with overseeing the sales of these tools is Insulectro Drill Room Product Manager Geraldine Arseneau. Arseneau joined Insulectro several years ago after a lengthy career with Kyocera.
“I am thrilled to again be working with my former employer and welcoming them to Insulectro. Kyocera is known throughout the industry for manufacturing highly reliable cutting tools. We can’t wait until August 1, 2022, when the products will be ready to go at Insulectro. Plus, our Technical Account Managers and Field Application Engineers are undergoing training to ensure product familiarity," exclaimed Arseneau.
"We look forward to the transition of existing Kyocera customers to the Insulectro family, and to presenting Kyocera cutting tools to our existing customers,” she concluded.
Tom Haag, President of Kyocera SGS, looks forward to contract as well, “Kyocera is very pleased to establish our new relationship with such a premier distribution channel as Insulectro. This will accomplish a national distribution network for our PCB products as well as a collaboration in customer service and engineering to meet our objective to improve our products and services to the electronics industry. The proven track record of Insulectro has our Kyocera team invigorated for future growth together.”
Kyocera’s Joe Negron, Sales Manager, voiced his enthusiasm, “I am very excited and look forward to working with Insulectro as Kyocera’s exclusive North American Distributor for our PCB Cutting Tool Product lines. I am confident the combined strengths of Kyocera and Insulectro will bring high value to our PCB manufacturers.
“The combination of Kyocera’s well-engineered cutting tools and Insulectro’s extensive distribution and support channels will bring an unmatched ability to deliver value to drill rooms everywhere. The most exciting aspect of having Insulectro distribute, sell, and support our products is that we can increase and further concentrate on developing new cutting tool drills, routers, end mills, and special applications for advanced circuitry.”
Redfern added, “Insulectro continues to grow and expand as most recently demonstrated by our acquisition of ECEMS and its teammates who were already supporting Kyocera products. Kyocera coming on board is a significant advance for Insulectro’s dominance in the industry - another step forward to enable our customers build better circuits, faster.”
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Zero by 2030!
The Path to Carbon Neutral Operations
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DuPont Interconnect Solutions (ICS) — a part of the Electronics & Industrial (E&I) business segment — has set a business ambition of Zero by 2030, with the goal of reaching carbon neutral operations for the global ICS business segment by 2030.
On September 1, 2021 the ICS business achieved the milestone of 95 percent of global operations now powered with renewable electricity. This represents a significant step forward on DuPont’s corporate Acting on Climate commitment to source 60 percent renewable electricity by 2030 and deliver carbon neutral operations by 2050.
“At DuPont ICS, we want to be a leader in making impactful change by acting on climate,” said Avi Avula, DuPont Vice President, General Manager, ICS. “We are taking #OneStepGreener toward our business aspiration of Zero by 2030, by switching our electricity that is sourced from fossil fuels to renewables.
Sustainability is embedded in our vision, and as a total solutions partner, we are innovating in new ways for our customers. We also are taking action in our footprint to enable the entire value chain to reduce its carbon footprint as part of actions supporting the UN Climate Change Conference COP26, such as the #TogetherforOurPlanet,” said Avula.
“Achieving our sustainability goals means leading by example and partnering with suppliers and customers who are also committed to a sustainable future,” said John Singer, Vice President, Integrated Operations, DuPont Electronics & Industrial. “We are designing our new products with rigorous sustainability principles and we are developing programs to further reduce water consumption in our manufacturing facilities. We are not on this journey alone, and we encourage all our supply chain partners to join with us.”
This commitment propels ICS to a leadership position in the electronic materials industry and demonstrates how we deliver on our sustainability-driven business goals. At DuPont, we are proud that our customers’ devices — ranging from the Mars Rover to the next generation 5G smartphones and advanced automobiles — use printed circuit boards, antennas, connectors, thermal management and shielding systems enabled by our use of renewable electricity.
Whether on Mars, or enabling the latest devices on Earth, DuPont is on a journey to create more sustainable solutions for our customers while also reducing our own carbon footprint. We look forward to creating partnerships with our customers and suppliers in the coming years to reach our goals.
To learn more about DuPont’s 2030 Sustainability Goals, please click here.
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OPERATIONS & SUPPLY CHAIN
WORLD-CLASS MANUFACTURING
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WCM: Safety & Equipment
Risk Mitigation through
Daily Visibility
JULY 2022
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DATELINE: LONDONDERRY, NEW HAMPSHIRE |
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I shared last month about the surge in focus, in all our locations, to engage our employees to “Make Problems Visible."
In the last 30 days, our Londonderry, New Hampshire branch has been bustling with much activity related to these efforts. The facility continues to experience explosive growth primarily driven by our strengthening Printed Electronics/Substrates and DuPont Chemistry product lines.
Last month we completed our yearly ISO 9001:2015 surveillance audit in Londonderry. As expected, the Londonderry facility passed with flying colors!
Our auditor this year gave us two of the greatest compliments we could hope to receive:
- “This is the first audit I have ever conducted where I was unable to find any non-conformances” and...
- “This is the most prepared company I have ever audited. I could take all the work you have done and just paste it into my report”.
Londonderry’s commitment to quality shined through in the audit process. We strive to replicate this focus in all our locations every day.
In June, we also completed our first ever wall-to-wall Safety Risk Assessment at the facility. Many opportunities to improve our already outstanding safety performance were highlighted, documented, and assigned action plans to resolve in the next few months.
A special shout out to Ryan Linfield on our Quality Team for preparation and facilitation of both the ISO audit and the internal Safety Risk Assessment! Ryan is helping us Get the Right Stuff Done around our two top priorities in Operations – Safety and Quality!
Finally, we shared some photos and stories last month about our facilities beginning to have more structured daily huddles, using simple visual management boards, aimed at key metrics in the areas of Safety, Quality, Service, and Cost.
The Londonderry site started to hit its stride this month by complementing its already strong and consistent daily huddle meetings with a visual management World Class Manufacturing board.
Feedback from our COO Ken Parent after witnessing the daily WCM huddle meeting recently: “Today I got to witness the Londonderry team running their daily huddle, using a visual WCM board. I was so impressed with Tina’s (Boissonneau, Operations Supervisor) style and the way she engaged everyone.
She has set the bar high for all our sites on how to effectively conduct a daily WCM huddle meeting. I was wowed by Tina’s ability to run the storyboard. It was the best news of my day."
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Congratulations and a big “Thank You” to leaders like Tina (and also to Ryan Egan, our Shipping/Receiving Lead in New Hampshire, pictured above) for taking engagement and making problems visible to the next level, catapulting our WCM journey forward!
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After 22 Years
East Region Ops Manager
Mike Plouffe Retires
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After 22 years of dedicated service, Mike Plouffe, our East Region Operations manager, is moving on to the retired life.
Mike joined Insulectro after 27 years in the U.S. Air Force, where he circled the globe in service to his country. He began his career as a Puma in July of 2000, in our then Mountain View, CA branch as the Operations Manager there.
In 2004, he moved across country to head up operations in our Londonderry, New Hampshire location. Mike spent the rest of his career in Londonderry, with expanded responsibilities over time, eventually overseeing operations for multiple warehouses in the East Region.
Mike led countless Operational projects over the years including corporate freight management, the ORACLE ERP start-up, the move from Mountain View to San Jose, and onboarding several acquisitions (ECEMS, Beck’s Light Gauge, ABC, Focus Tech, etc.), and many, many more.
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In April of 2022, Mike led the start-up of our Toronto, Canada facility.
Mike did a fantastic job (working nights and weekends, enduring several long border crossings, and powering through with his new favorite, Tim Hortons coffee!) coordinating personnel, equipment, racking, and supplies, as well as the under-roof construction, to get us to the point of launch.
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Mike’s strengths were captured well upon his departure by his long-time work associate Dave Klebba, currently our Director of Safety, Quality and Training. Dave summed Mike up as follows:
- No one has a “GSD” (Get Stuff Done) attitude more than Mike!
- No one tells it like it is better than Mike!
- No one is as humble as Mike!
- No one will give you the shirt off his back like Mike!
- No one grills a steak better than Mike!
Could not have said it better myself!
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We had a great retirement gathering for Mike on July 7th in Londonderry, where numerous co-workers, friends, and family were able to say “thanks”, have a few laughs, and send Mike off to the joy of retirement.
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Mike reports that he is most looking forward to fishing (a LOT!) and spending quality time with family and friends as he stays planted at his home in New Hampshire.
We hope to bump into him often and maybe on occasion have him grill some of his famous steaks for the Londonderry Crew!
Thank you Mike for everything you did to GSD for Insulectro! We wish you the very best in your retirement!
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And thanks to everyone for another remarkable month.
Jason Shuppert
Vice President of Operations
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Protected by DuPont™ Kapton® Sun Shield
NASA's First Images from the
James Webb Space Telescope
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The dawn of a new era in astronomy has begun as the world gets its first look at the full capabilities of NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope, a partnership with ESA (European Space Agency) and CSA (Canadian Space Agency). The telescope’s first full-color images and spectroscopic data were released during a televised broadcast at 10:30 a.m. EDT (14:30 UTC) on Tuesday, July 12, 2022, from NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland.
DuPont technology, in the form of ultra-thin Kapton® polyimide films, is the crucial material protecting the JWST from the light and the heat of the sun, enabling it to function properly in space.
Crucial to the JWST’s performance is a five-layer sunshield because it keeps sunlight and background heat from interfering with the ISIM instruments. The sunshield is a diamond-shaped system of five layers of Kapton® polyimide film approximately 70 feet long and 47 feet wide. Each layer of the Kapton® polyimide film is coated with aluminum, and the sun-facing side of the two hottest layers (Layer 1 and Layer 2) also has a treated silicon coating to reflect the sun's heat back into space.
Each layer of the sunshield made by Kapton® polyimide film is incredibly thin. Layer 1 will face the sun and is only 50 microns (0.002 inches) thick, while the other four layers of Kapton® polyimide film are 25 microns (0.001 inches). The thickness of the aluminum and silicon coatings are even smaller. The silicon coating is approximately 0.05 microns (50 nanometers) thick, while the aluminum coating is approximately 0.1 microns (100 nanometers) thick. JWST’s sunshield was designed to be folded origami-style, twelve times in order to fit inside the Ariane 5 rocket, so the Kapton® polyimide film layers needed to be ultra-thin.
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Credits: NASA, ESA, CSA, and STScI
This landscape of “mountains” and “valleys” speckled with glittering stars is actually the edge of a nearby, young, star-forming region called NGC 3324 in the Carina Nebula. Captured in infrared light by NASA’s new James Webb Space Telescope, this image reveals for the first time previously invisible areas of star birth.
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Credits: NASA, ESA, CSA, and STScI
Stephan’s Quintet, a visual grouping of five galaxies, is best known for being prominently featured in the holiday classic film, “It’s a Wonderful Life.” Today, NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope reveals Stephan’s Quintet in a new light. This enormous mosaic is Webb’s largest image to date, covering about one-fifth of the Moon’s diameter. It contains over 150 million pixels and is constructed from almost 1,000 separate image files. The information from Webb provides new insights into how galactic interactions may have driven galaxy evolution in the early universe.
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Credits: NASA, ESA, CSA, and STScI
Some stars save the best for last. The dimmer star at the center of this scene has been sending out rings of gas and dust for thousands of years in all directions, and NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope has revealed for the first time that this star is cloaked in dust.
Two cameras aboard Webb captured the latest image of this planetary nebula, cataloged as NGC 3132, and known informally as the Southern Ring Nebula. It is approximately 2,500 light-years away.
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Geoff shouts: "Heat of the Moment"
In Stock! Pyralux® HP & HT
High-Performance Materials
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Pyralux® HT and HP adhesive systems are in stock and ready for orders!
Pyralux® HT is a polyimide thermoplastic adhesive that is ideal for high temperature applications. It can be used as a CoverLay, sheet adhesive or bondply due its nature of being a single homogenous material. No additional film layers are needed for the material unlike Pyralux® FR and LF.
With an IPC MOT service ceiling of 200C, Pyralux® HT is has proven itself in under-hood, down-well and other intense heat applications.
Stocked in 1 mil, 2 mil and 3 mil thick constructions. 4 mil and 1.5 mil thickness also available by order.
Pyralux® HP is a modified low loss epoxy adhesive that is ideal for any high-speed flex project. Unlike acrylic based adhesives, HP has a Dk & DF lower than that of Pyralux® AP and other commonly available FCCL. This enables best-in-class insertion loss performance for epoxy based flex adhesive when used with Pyralux® AP.
Certified to IPC 4203/19 & IPC 4203/2 Pyralux HP is offered as a sheet adhesive and coverlay. Stocked in 1 mil & 2 mil sheet adhesive with several coverlay constructions also available.
Please call or reach out to Insulectro to see how we can support your design needs.
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Geoff Leeds
Product Manager, DuPont Flex Laminates
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PCEA Meeting July 26 - Santa Ana Elks Lodge
Insulectro Triad of Power Presenters
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Our triad of power presenters - Michael Creeden, Chris Hunrath, and Geoff Leeds are speaking at the PCEA Lunch and Learn this month. Hold the date!
From PCEA: "This will be our first in-person meeting event in 2½ years, and we are pleased to have Insulectro sponsor our Lunch ‘n Learn meeting at the beautiful new Elks Lodge in Santa Ana. We will have 3 knowledgeable speakers making educational presentations to our audience and to engage your questions."
Topic #1: Signal Integrity Applications in Layout
Speaker: Mike Creeden, CID+, Master Inst. PCE-Edu
Insulectro Technical Director, Design Education
Mike will talk about applying SI theory to your layout, covering EM fields, laminates, copper profile, uninterrupted GND return Path, impedance discontinuities from your routing, and proper shielding.
Topic #2: Advanced Via Solutions using Ormet Pastes
Speaker: Chris Hunrath CID+, Insulectro Vice President of Technology
Chis will present Z-Axis Interconnects for Multi-lam HDI, Back-drill elimination, solving high aspect ratio plating on high layer count boards, and any-layer-via usage.
Topic #3: Overcoming Flex Design Challenges
Speaker: Geoffrey Leeds, CID, Insulectro Flex Product Manager
Geoffrey will talk about overcoming Flex Design challenges by understanding the Building Blocks; pitfalls to avoid during layout; Dynamic vs. Static design constraint; and the proper materials and their applications.
Reserve a spot on your calendar on Tuesday, July 26th from 11:30 am to 1:30 pm for this educational “Lunch ‘n Learn” meeting event.
Santa Ana Elks Lodge “Emerald Room”
1751 S. Lyon Street
Santa Ana, CA 92705
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PCBAA LEADERSHIP SPEAKS OUT |
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PRINTED ELECTRONICS INKS & PASTES,
SUBSTRATES & FILMS
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Kevin Miller Can See it!
PE Team Wraps Up SEMICON/FLEX
JULY 2022
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By the time you read this, the Insulectro Printed Electronics team will be wrapping up a new tradeshow for us: SEMICON WEST HYBRID which includes FLEX. |
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SEMICON WEST is the flagship annual event for the global microelectronics industry. It is the premier event for the display of new products and technologies for microelectronics design and manufacturing, featuring technologies from across the microelectronics supply chain, from electronic design automation, to device fabrication (wafer processing), to final manufacturing (assembly, packaging, and test).
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More than semiconductors, SEMICON West is also showcase for emerging markets and technologies born from the microelectronics industry, including micro-electromechanical systems (MEMS), photovoltaics (PV), flexible electronics and displays, nano-electronics, solid state lighting (LEDs), and related technologies.
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This year DuPont MCM partnered with Insulectro to talk about product offerings used in advanced packaging and various printed electronics applications.
The FLEX 2022 show co-located with SEMICON WEST was held at the Moscone Center in downtown San Francisco July 12 -14, 2022. FLEX, the Flexible Hybrid Electronics (FHE) go-to event is the center of technical and informative demonstration of flexible hybrid and printed electronics products, equipment, processes & materials, and the applications they enable.
The FLEX Conference features the latest advances in flexible and printed electronics, including applications that deepen interactions between users and their surroundings.
FLEX is the annual touchpoint centered around flexible hybrid, printed electronics products, equipment, processes, and materials, emphasizing the latest technical breakthroughs, unique electronics applications, and business strategies.
We will let you how it went for us.
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Please call INSULECTRO at 1-855-955-0200 with any questions regarding these product offerings or visit our E-Commerce site at the LINK BELOW.
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Kevin Miller
VP of Sales - Insulectro Printed Electronics
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Chris Hunrath on Future Tech
High Speed/Low Loss PCB Traces and Copper Bond Treatments
JULY 2022
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Most of us in the business know the importance of surface topography of copper traces when it comes to high speed, low loss circuits. Combined with the need for lower loss and the development of better resin systems, the drive for “smooth” bond treatments becomes apparent.
The industry has gone through evolutions of copper bonding treatment systems. Some are done by the copper foil manufacturers and some at the PCB fabricator. Both are important contributors to the final performance for speed and adhesion.
The copper foil manufacturers use plated on copper nodules (dendrites) in combination with metallic, metallic oxide, silane, sometimes in combination with other treatments.
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At the PCB fabricator, we have seen transitions from mechanical scrub, to black oxide, to brown oxide, to reduced black or brown oxide to alternative oxide and now chemical “coupling” compounds.
The PCB fabricator having capabilities in house is critical since advanced PCBs often need processes and platings that will “erase” any exposed factory treatment.
The current most popular bond treatment is “Alternative Oxide” which is an etch system that acts fastest on the copper foil’s grain boundaries thereby roughening the surface. Increase surface area increases bond strength between most materials.
There is a point of diminishing return in that too much etch will not increase the bond and even lower its strength if taken too far (too rough). Most of these systems do best with 50 to 100 microinches of copper removal (etching) imparting 1.5 to 3.5 Rz of additional roughness to the foil.
The high end of this range can be too much for certain designs, and we have seen cases where the same PCB built with the same material preforms differently in signal loss testing when “over etched” in the bond treatment process.
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Different amount of etching in alternative oxide can produce very different surface roughness results.
Normal and even low amounts of etch can be used successfully. The only catch is understanding the bond strength and assembly reliability aspects for each resin system at these etch amounts. Generally, surface roughening is more “universal” in increasing bond strengths between two materials. However, all the applied variables can get complex, so testing is recommended.
Chemical bonding systems can be a bit more resin specific, so testing is even more important.
Another key point is the thermal stability of the coating. Chemical “coupling” agents have been used in PCB processes for various purposes. It’s important to understand that some of these coatings are intended for temporary applications. One example is the adhesion promotors in dry film photoresist. This family of compounds would not be suitable for a permanent bond treatment as they lack thermal stability.
One example of a coating that can withstand both the lamination and solder reflow assembly processes is the Shikoku GliCap™ GC-750. This chemistry has functional groups that chemically bond to both copper and resin.
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Shikoku GliCap™ does not need mechanical roughening for prepreg bonding.
The GliCap™ process is simple consisting of copper cleaning followed by immersion in the bath to impart the coating. Then during the lamination process, a bond is formed linking the resin and copper.
If you have interest in testing GliCap™, we can help. Just let us know.
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Chris Hunrath
Vice President of Technology & Vice President of Sales - Western Region
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Focus Tech CR-2180 (Half Etch)
Do You Micro Etch Copper Foil Down
to Meet Wrap Plating Requirements?
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If so you need a micro etch that delivers superior etch control along with etch uniformity across the panel.
That’s where Focus Tech’s CR-2180 comes in. This is a proprietary hydrogen peroxide based micro etch that allows for maximum etch control along with high copper loading (up to 50g/L).
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If you are ready for a better copper reduction process, please contact me. |
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Jeff Johnson
Product Manager - Dryfilm/Chemistry/Paste & FAE
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Getting to Know the Midwest
There will be a change in the region and starting 7/15 you will be Getting to Know the Midwest in a different structure as I step down from my role as Regional VP at Insulectro. I write this article on 7/5 which is one day before my 18th Anniversary.
It will be a BIG change going back inside a shop and not being in a different place almost every week.
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There are so many to thank at Insulectro and throughout our customer base and since the announcement it has been an amazing flood of calls, emails, and texts with support and well wishes, as well as job offers too. When I told my family I was going to make this change my two oldest said, “Huh?”
In 2004 Kevin Miller hired me to move from Portland Oregon back to my previous home in Chicagoland to help support the transition of Isola distribution from Tapco to Insulectro when TPG and the Redfern Partners acquired the Isola Group. I spent many nights during those first 5 months on an air mattress in our warehouse office before buying a home and having my family join me in December.
After initially incorporating all the Isola and CAC business, we then had to work on the Pacothane® product line and the products just kept coming. The hard work and endless support by everyone involved across all segments of the company paved the way for an extremely exciting career working for an amazing family headed up by Don Redfern.
The time has truly flown by with never a dull moment knowing something else would be just around the corner. I first ran Chicago, then added Dallas, then added Minneapolis. Then we change the regions back into just East and West so I covered the Eastern half of the US for a time frame. During all these regional changes I supported the Northwest off and on because of my 9+ years there and knowing all the accounts throughout OR, WA, UT, and BC. I leave you all in good hands with many in the company able to chip in as needed and I am only a phone call away and happy to support you and Insulectro for years to come.
My new role will be VP of Operations at Price Circuits in Elgin Illinois working with 3 brothers and close friends that I worked with over 30 years ago when we were all at Circuit International (CI) and Electronics Support Systems (ESS) which were local PCB shops at the time. In fact, American Standard is in the old ESS building so it is always a memory lane walk when I visit this facility.
Price builds complex Flex, Rigid Flex, and Rigid boards and I look forward to again learning some of the many things I have forgotten about manufacturing over the years, learning new techniques that have been in play and coming down the pipe, but adding value where I can with many of the things I have learned from the distribution world.
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For the first time in over 25 years I will sleep at home every night instead of a hotel room. This change will allow me more time to do the things I enjoy, like playing bags on my new specially made boards, or riding one of my Dane’s around the house before bedtime.
And definitely more time at the lake with Amy!
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I will miss you all but now it is time to write a new chapter so Take Care and I will NOT be seeing you here in PumaNews™ next Month. |
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Teammates' Note:
Everyone in the Insulectro family wishes Trey and his family the very best.
A quote comes to mind about Trey's unique personality: "If you are always trying to be normal, you will never know how amazing you can be.”
He never tried to be normal. He is amazing.
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Trey Adams
Regional Vice President, Sales
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@Mike Creeden
Advanced Via Solutions
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Advanced circuit requirements are presenting new challenges every year.
These challenges are driven by the ever-increasing need to be smaller, faster, accomplish more, cheaper, and often must be accomplished quicker.
So, each year we try to meet these needs by working smarter, faster, and more efficiently, adding technology and innovation. One of the most challenging features on our circuit boards is the vias by which we make Z-axis interconnects. Advanced challenges require advanced innovations. We will take a look at the challenges that vias are facing over the next three articles.
The historical overview of conventional vias is as follows: Z-axis interconnects are used to continue a signal from one layer to another. They are typically drilled, treated, plated with copper, and then filled. There are many relational features that make for what is known as a Producibility Level indicating the potential for high yield, low cost, and reliability.
High-Density Interconnect (HDI) has been driven in the industry by the need to put more functionality into the ICs on our boards. More functionality in our devices is typically the adding of more transistors in the silicon enabling more and faster operations. More transistors create more heat, so the voltage is always being lowered. This causes the transistors to be reduced in size on the silicon and then the number of pins on BGA chips increases, yet the actual package size gets smaller. This is accomplished by reducing the land pad size along with the pin pitch of separation in the grid array. The image below shows several 100-pin BGA packages with reduced pin pitches.
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Many engineers when confronted with the potential to utilize HDI respond with, “We don’t like to use HDI”. What that inexperience really conveys is that they do not comprehend the fact that HDI is no longer a choice once they have selected to utilize BGAs with a .65mm pin pitch or smaller.
HDI becomes a requirement and not a choice, in most instances. Microvias are used extensively with HDI µBGAs .65mm and below. A microvia is often laser drilled with a .75:1 aspect ratio drill depth to width. They are plated, filled, coplanar finished, and should not be stacked upon other drills for reliability reasons...
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Contact any of our Technical Account Managers or call any of our branch offices to schedule your Virtual Training Session soon.
Stay safe, happy, and healthy!
Mike Creeden CID+ MIT
Technical Director, Insulectro Design & Education
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Making An Impact!
The Hustle & Bustle of People & Machines
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In the few months I have been with Insulectro, I have had the opportunity to visit several PWB fabrication shops around the US. Although each shop has its own uniqueness, the sounds and smells are the same. There is something about the lively hustle and bustle of people and machines moving product through the shop that will always be exciting to me.
What I have noticed during these visits is the PCB industry investing in new equipment, new processes, new materials, and people. What energizes me most is the investment in people and the opportunity to educate these people on PCB processes and future bleeding edge technology.
I am excited to visit a university with one of our customers this month to explore a PCB technology partnership.
Education of the next generation of PCB builders is something I plan to make an impact on.
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Laura Martin
Director of Technology
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PCBAA LEADERSHIP SPEAKS OUT |
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Welcome to the July Edition of Insulectro PumaNews™ Magazine
I thought I would share again one of my openings from our OEM Forums from 2021.
It was one of my favorite forums that set the precedent for how to make REV 1 work from the Designer's perspective.
As a reminder, Insulectro brought the OEM Forum to our industry at the height of the pandemic. The OEM Forum was created not only because travel and customer visits were stifled but we recognized that there was a key element missing in our Industry that was exacerbated by the pandemic.
Simply stated, there were too many islands and not enough bridges to connect us all; OEM-Designers, material suppliers, and fabricators. You could add IPC and several other new advocacy groups including PCEA, PCBAA, etc.
The bottom line is we realized that the industry was trying to solve complex designs using old and outdated technologies. Designers needed a new toolbox and instructions but more importantly, there was a need to educate.
Insulectro’ s Leadership and Technical team combined with our World Class Suppliers decided to change this dynamic and hence the Insulectro OEM Forum was born and the focus on Training and Education which still today is a vital factor in our business.
Our focus is on design education, material sciences, new product technology, and adaptive process innovations.
Indeed, we were and are still building bridges and forging collaborations to Build Better Boards Faster, which was inspired by our Insulectro President and CEO Patrick Redfern and our COO, Ken Parent.
The Forum I mention here, making Rev 1 work, started with this opening:
"Well, there never seems to be enough time. Designers are constantly up against deadlines, getting Rev 1 spun and off to the fabricator has its own rewards.
But often it’s the 11th hour when the fabricator receives the Gerber files for the hottest job on the planet. Deadlines and QTAs also often imply paying the dreaded premium…
There’s a saying 'if you don’t have time to do it right the first time where will you find the time to do it over?' At the heart of this Forum, and at the center of the “Designers Triangle” is the goal of Making REV1 Work.
The complexity of today’s designs obviously has an impact on the fabricator and often the supplier. The fabricator is often surprised by the conditions and requirements of the design for which they had no input.
It’s all too commonplace that Fabricators have long lists of jobs sitting on hold awaiting answers to questions and requested deviations from the originally specified requirements. Resolving these questions and getting approvals on deviations can add unacceptable time to mission-critical PCBs.
This scenario epitomizes the missed opportunity to have engaged and collaborated with your fabricator and supplier of material.
Independently, Designers, Suppliers, and Fabricators are experts but consider the combined brain trust when we all together early in the design phase and collaborate to make REV 1 work.
We have added another teammate that has already had a positive impact on our business and yours…Laura Martin, Insulectro's new Director of Technology. Laura has joined our team and has complemented our material SMEs Norm Berry, Chris Hunrath, Michael Creeden, and Geoffrey Leeds.
One of the key operatives in our ACT! strategy (Accomplish Change Together) is bringing the assets together to solve the Designer Triangle. We have the best team in the business with countless contacts and a desire to GSD."
Always Learning, Always Teaching! Thank you,
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Ron Murdock
Director of Sales - Eastern Region/ Canada
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PCBAA LEADERSHIP SPEAKS OUT |
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Isola's ALEX IPPICH Explains
The Importance of Circuit Board Material for Millimeter-wave Circuits
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Growing demands for higher data rates and real-time video require wide bandwidths that are only available at 24 GHz and above.
This calls for more than simple network infrastructure additions or modifications as the shorter wavelengths at these frequencies propagate over shorter distances than at microwave frequencies.
For expanding 5G network coverage and performance, 5G cells will be much smaller than their lower-frequency counterparts, while 5G macro cells employ distributed antenna systems to bring signals at 6 GHz and below to many users over large areas. The same approach does not work effectively at millimeter-wave frequencies where the small signal wavelengths have limited propagation distances and signals can be blocked by nearly anything.
Select the following link as Alex Ippich explores this subject further.
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About Isola
Isola is a leading global material sciences company that designs, develops, manufactures and markets laminate materials used to fabricate advanced multilayer printed circuit boards, which provide the physical platforms for the semiconductors, passive components, and connection circuitry that power and control virtually all modern electronic products. Isola operates a network of factories worldwide.
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Norm Berry
Director, Laminates & OEM Marketing
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News from the DuPont Chemistry Desk
Communication & Collaboration
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In early June, Insulectro joined DuPont at the SUR/FIN 2022 trade show in Chicago to present DuPont’s latest technology developments in the industrial and surface finishing market. The show was well attended by suppliers, manufacturers, and OEMs. DuPont presented two technical papers at the show:
- High Throw, High Leveling, Low Stress Acid Copper Electroplating
- Liquid Crystal Polymer Metallization
Highlighted products featured at the DuPont booth included:
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Ecoposit™ CF-800—a chrome-free etch, REACH-compliant pretreatment for ABS and ABS-PC plastic metallization.
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Ecoposit™ 95HT—a high throw, low stress acid copper designed for optimum performance with chrome-free pretreatment.
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Ecoposit™ XF-1000—a formaldehyde-free, uniquely stable electroless copper, enabling replacement of electroless nickel and strike, thereby eliminating phosphates, borates and ammonia.
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Nikal™ BF-100—a high-performance boric acid-free nickel electrolyte that improves corrosion resistance, with high throw, higher CD range and reduced deposit stress.
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Silveron™ GT-210—a cyanide-free silver electrolyte producing deposits exhibiting very low friction and wear characteristics.
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Solderon™ ST-400—a high-speed matte tin, providing 40% higher plating speed, simplified packaging and analysis, with superior electrolyte stability and deposit performance.
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Teleposit™ 8000—designed to metallize filled and unfilled LCP substrates, enabling consistent metal coverage and adhesion without the use of abrasive mechanical techniques.
DuPont continues to develop and innovate metallization technologies to meet the ever-changing demands of the Industrial & Surface Finishing market.
For any questions, technical process or training and education needs, do not hesitate to reach out to me:
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Paul Welter
Product Manager - Chemistry
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At-A-Glance
The DuPont Chemistry Line
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With the acquisition of East Coast Electronic Material Supply (ECEMS) in late March, Insulectro has brought another best-in-class product line to our customers. The addition of the DuPont Electronics Imaging & Interconnect Solutions (ICS) chemistry line, which was legacy Dow Chemicals before the Dow-DuPont merger, adds a complimentary piece to an already robust Insulectro product offering.
DuPont ICS is innovating new metallization technologies across many platforms:
Electroplating Applications
HDI
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Microfill™ EVF-III for advanced via filling and through-hole plating
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Microfill™ LVF-IV for next generation SLP applications
MLB
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Copper Gleam™ PPR-II for high aspect ratio pulse plating
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Electroposit™ EP-1600 for high aspect ratio DC plating
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Copper Gleam™ HS-200 for horizontal DC plating in FPC applications
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Copper Gleam™ ST-920 for DC vertical continuous plating (VCP)
IC Package Substrate
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Microfill™ SFP-II & Microfill™ LVF-IV for advanced SAP applications
Making Holes Conductive
Electroless Copper Solutions:
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Circuposit™ 3350-1 Vertical Electroless Copper
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Circuposit™ 4000 Horizontal electroless copper for FPC/RFPC
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Circuposit™ 6700 Horizontal Ionic Catalyst for Advanced HDI applications
Direct Metallization Solutions:
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Next Generation Crimson™ & Conductron™ palladium-based systems
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Next Generation Graphite 2000™ carbon-based system
ENIG:
Duraposit™ SMT-88 & Aurolectroless™ SMT 520
Process Chemistries:
DuPont offers a full line of cleaners, developers, strippers and other ancillary products to support printed circuit applications.
General Metal Finishing:
Full line engineering, decorative and precious metal offerings
As you can see, through this addition of the DuPont ICS chemistry line, Insulectro is now providing chemistry and technical support to the general metal finishing, plating-on-plastics, and wire plating industries, which we see as an area of growth.
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Ormet® PCB-710
Eliminate Lamination and Plating Steps
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Ormet® PCB-710 is a lead-free, copper-based, paste formulated for creating microvias in printed circuit boards. This can be done to replace stacked via designs with multiple lamination steps, or to bond subs together without requiring a through-hole drill to electrically connect the subs.
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The Ormet® paste is processed at normal PCB lamination temperatures. The final product offers superior thermal and electrical performance.
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For more information on Ormet®, please contact me. |
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Jeff Johnson
Product Manager - Dryfilm/Chemistry/Paste & FAE
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Our teammates in San Jose continue with GSD (Get Stuff Done) through a month with lots of vacations, various shipping challenges, and customer needs.
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Not only does San Jose cut, tool and ship HSD/RF materials for the whole country, but they even support customer needs by picking up and delivering large equipment from a local warehouse.
From staying late to coming in after hours, I am glad I am a part of their team.
Be sure to check our inventory portal to check on the components for your next QTA build.
To sign-up for the Insulectro Customer Portal, send an email with your Company name and Contact information to: portal@insulectro.com with the subject “Sign me up.”
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Chris Hunrath
Vice President of Technology &
Vice President of Sales - Western Region
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PRINTED ELECTRONICS INKS & PASTES,
ADVANCED SUBSTRATES & FILMS
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Growth in Advanced Substrates
Insulectro Welcomes DuPont Kapton®
to Substrate Product Line
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As a world class materials supplier, DuPont has looked to Insulectro as a distributor of their Kapton® line of Polyimide films.
As you may know, Kapton® is a polyimide film used in flexible printed circuits (flexible electronics) and space blankets, which are used on spacecraft, satellites, and various space instruments.
Invented by the DuPont Corporation in the 1960s, Kapton® remains stable (in isolation) across a wide range of temperatures, from 4 to 673 K (−269 to +400 °C).
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Over the last year, Insulectro has been preparing to support this diverse product line with our initial focus on their wire wrap technology. Key personnel met in the DuPont plant (Circleville, OH) giving us firsthand experience to the converting (slitting, sheeting, rewinds, etc.) capabilities required for this performance material.
DuPont team members recently met in our main converting facility (Londonderry, NH) where they qualified our converting procedures and plans. Insulectro is also investing in the future with new capital equipment capable of processing this performance material, slitting down to 1/8” widths! It is well known that we are the largest supplier of materials used to manufacture printed circuit boards and Kapton® is a welcome addition to carry on that legacy.
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Jeff Crawford
Advanced Substrate Specialist
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We are excited to say our first InduBond® inductive heating press has been installed in Southern California! Shortly after we signed on with InduBond® in 2021, Pancho Castillo was talking the press up at his customers.
One customer was dealing with a voiding issue at the time and Pancho was there to help. He looked at the press cycle which looked fine but without a recording of what actually happened during the cycle, it was hard to pinpoint where the issue was coming from.
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At that point, a conversation around InduBond®’s press ensued. At a minimum, it would offer a modern self-contained data logger with a super simple user interface that could be tied into the customer’s network.
But that wasn’t what got people excited. The ability to increase book size and throughput captured their attention. Not to mention the precision rate-of-rise across all panels equally of 1F, the energy consumption of 20% of standard presses, the high temp capability up to 750F, and all in a small footprint of roughly 5’x5’.
Testing was done to look at using CAC’s Copper-Steel-Copper (CSC™) product to aid in the induction process while eliminating the bulkier 062 separators common for a lot of shops that don’t already use CAC. It was demonstrated that with CSC we could get a minimum of 24 panels into a book for the single opening InduBond® press (InduBond® also offers a two-opening press).
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24 is the same number of panels the customer could get into their three opening press. More work is being done to increase the number and also reduce the overall press cycle times by utilizing a more efficient cool-down cycle with chiller.
The goal is to reduce the overall from 120 minutes to 90 minutes. Ultimately, the tests showed that this system can successfully produce more product per opening with uniform thickness distribution and minimal image transfer. A bonus benefit of this press is that all installation, training, and ongoing maintenance is supported by Insulectro’s equipment service team in conjunction with the InduBond® technical staff.
We are looking forward to more good news about this press in the coming weeks as it is brought online, dialed in and optimized, and also used in some high temp applications at 700-750F!
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Sean Redfern
Technical Account Manager - Southern California
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A Super Matchup!
Make Your InduBond® Press
Sit Up & Take Notice
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Bacon and eggs. Black and tan. Mac and cheese. Bert and Ernie. InduBond® and Copper-Steel-Copper!
Bonded Copper foil including VLP profiles onto a Steel carrier ensures that not only the low-profile topography is protected but the surface is clean, free from causing signal integrity defects as all FOUR edges are sealed. It's a star performer in an InduBond® press!
Carrier foil is available from 1µm up to 5µm, now CSC bridges that gap offering foils from 6µm to 140µm.
CSC is available in 8 mil which has twice the image transfer resistance as 15 mil aluminum AND can replace up to SEVEN standard 62 mil steel separators. Those separators not only cause circuit surface imperfections impacting trace lines but reduce stack height allowing more panels per lamination cycle.
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I've got a lot to tell you about this matchup!
Mark Satchwell
Product Manager, Foil & CAC®
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The People
Behind the Puma
Meet Tina Boissonneau
Operations Supervisor, NH
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BIO
I've been with Insulectro now going on 25 years now including Mid-Atlantic, and I have worked really hard to move up in this company learning different departments and learning shipping and receiving.
Now I have been tasked with running the Londonderry team, so my responsibilities are the fab centers including shipping and that means making sure we meet our goals and making sure our customers are happy with our products and on-time delivery!
Tina's nickname could be GSD but it's T. . .
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When you were in grade school, what did you want to grow up to be? Singer.
What three values did you learn from your parents that you will honor today? Hard work, independence, honesty.
When you were in high school, did you have any nicknames? Everyone called me "T."
When you see pictures of yourself in your yearbook, what goes through your head? Goofy! Because of the clothes we wore.
Best subjects in school? History.
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Do you recall any past wardrobe choices that make you roll you eyes today? Corduroys and chinos.
What is your strongest memory of your first day on the job? Being very nervous.
A relaxing evening at home for you involves reading a book? Watching television? Sipping a cocktail? Or what? Reading History books, especially about the Civil war.
Your favorite comfort food and your favorite sneak food? Pizza, ice cream.
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Your dream vehicle is: 1965 Mustang
How would your girlfriends describe you? Fun. Goofy!
What embarrassing thing you’ve done still haunts you today? That i have a tendency to lose everything.
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Favorite musical group or singer? Ozzy Osbourne. Cris Stapleton.
Contrast how you feel at the beginning of your work week with the end of the week. Inspired at the beginning.
What recent comment from a fellow teammate made you feel good? Insulectro COO Ken Parent's - about our Operations storyboard
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Name three things your teammates don’t know about you? I do reenactments. That i sing. I collect Civil War artifacts.
Looking back, what is the worst vehicle you’ve ever driven? An old beat up Bronco.
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If a biop movie was made about you, what actress would be play you? Faith Hill.
What do you do to really let your hair down? Follow the path of the Civil War.
How would you like to be remembered at insulectro? Someone who made a difference with my teammates, my bosses, and I did the best job I could!
Any last comments? I've so enjoyed and learned from great mentors like Mike Plouffe and Mark Jones! They have taught me so much over the years. . .I just wanted to say thank you!
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Contact your Insulectro or Isola sales representative for more information.
Norm Berry
Director of Laminates & OEM Marketing
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Join our
Puma Team!
Help us define the future of Printed Circuit Boards and Printed Electronics!
Join our Puma team and be a part of our growth.
Business Development
Operations
Pricing
Production
Warehouse
Others
Click on the ad (left) to see various positions we are recruiting.
As advertised in i-connect007's PCB Magazine
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Click-Out our
Pyralux® Flexible Laminates Selector Guide. . .
(click on product name)
The standard copper clad laminate systems for any flex or rigid flex designs.
The standard copper clad laminate systems for any flex or rigid flex designs.
Single sided flex copper clad substrate
Standard acrylic adhesives for building multi-layer flex designs. Offered as coverlay, sheet adhesives and bondplys.
Standard acrylic adhesives for building multi-layer flex designs. Offered as coverlay, sheet adhesives and bondplys.
An epoxy-based adhesive system demonstrating both low loss and high reliability, specifically designed for OEMs and PCB design manufacturers. Offered as coverlay and sheet adhesive.
High temperature flexible adhesive system with an MOT of 225C.
Teflon®/Laminate system offered as a clad laminate or bondply. Ideal for RF designs.
Embedded resistance double sided laminate
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Geoffrey Leeds
Flex Product Manager
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It's Not Too Late!
Past OEM FORUMS Available for Viewing
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MOST OF OUR OEM FORUMS available for viewing
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QUALITY CONCERNS
JUNE 24, 2021
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As A Replacement
PACO•CLUTCH™ - for the Lamination of Flexible & Multilayer Circuit Boards
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PACOTHANE TECHNOLOGIES is the world's leading manufacturer of products to enhance and assist the production and quality assurance process for the lamination and manufacture of printed circuit boards [PCB].
Pacothane services the worldwide PCB and Smart Card markets, which includes Rigid Multilayer, Rigid/Flex, Cover-layer Flex, Flexible Multilayer, Copper, and Un-Clad Laminates.
These circuit boards are integrated into a wide variety of applications and markets that include telecom, data communications, high-speed computing, mobile devices, military, smart cards, medical and effectively all electronic products.
WE ARE COMMITTED TO INNOVATION AND EXCELLENCE
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We develop and produce consistent, dependable, functional products that help to eliminate the hidden variables in PCB manufacture, reducing scrap rates and reworks
- We provide uncompromising support to our distributors and their customers, through training, sales, and technical support
WE ARE COMMITTED TO INNOVATION AND EXCELLENCE
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We develop and produce consistent, dependable, functional products that help to eliminate the hidden variables in PCB manufacture, reducing scrap rates and reworks
- We provide uncompromising support to our distributors and their customers, through training, sales, and technical support
WE ARE COMMITTED TO PROVIDING THE MOST COST-EFFECTIVE SOLUTIONS
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We help customers select the correct product for their specific application
- We continuously improve functionality to reduce customers' finished product costs
PACOTHANE TECHNOLOGIES® offers products that give our customers the ability to produce PCBs by using our high-quality materials to obtain higher yields and enhance their bottom line! Less scrap means more profit for our Customers.
PACOTHANE TECHNOLOGIES® Proudly Produced in the USA with American Labor and American Materials!
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Geraldine Arseneau
Product Manager - Pacothane® Products
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And, don't forget, recently published Pacothane® Product Sample Guide available. Contact me for details. |
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Geraldine Arseneau
Product Manager - LCOA®
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CAC® Inc
Superior surface quality,
supporting thinner foils
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Remove those hard to clean, defect causing and throughput limiting separator plates.
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Reduce stack height - More panels per book per opening, CSC 7.5x thinner than separators
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Eliminate surface defects as the factory finish copper surface and profile is protected
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Production Efficiency gains by reducing the overall mass to heat AND cool in a cycle
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Layup Efficiency – No separators to clean, resurface or polish - labor intensive & costly
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Consistency in press stack mass CTE to copper & prepreg with CSC
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Increase quality assurance as image impressions and FOD concerns are minimized
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For additional information, samples, or data sheet, please contact me.
Mark Satchwell
Product Manager, Foil & CAC®
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Design Education - An Insulectro Priority
Insulectro Sponsors New Design Trade Association
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Printed Circuit Engineering Association™ (PCEA) is an international network of engineers, designers, fabricators, assemblers, and anyone related to printed circuit development.
Our mission is to promote printed circuit engineering as a profession by encouraging and facilitating the exchange of information and the integration of new design concepts through communications, seminars, and workshops.
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If you are a professional serving in the printed circuit industry from any associated discipline, you are encouraged to join. Membership is free and you’re encouraged to be involved as we all seek to collaborate, educate and inspire one another. Visit the web-site at: www.pce-a.org
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As advertised in i-Connect 007's PCB Magazine.
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INSULECTRO'S COPPER & COPPER FOIL OFFERINGS |
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Not All Copper Foil is Created Equally
Copper Complexity and Clarification
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Copper foil is a technology enabler!
For this month’s Puma newsletter let us discuss chemistry, specifically Arsenic (As) which is used in trace amount within the barrier layer of many copper foil.
The barrier layer chemistry will protect the copper dendrites which are deposited during the nodulation process needed to support the mechanical anchor points for the resin during the lamination cycle.
Arsenic is an effective substance in the anti-tarnish treatment layer which prevents oxidization, visually noticeable in the form of surface discoloration or stains which can ultimately lead to panel delamination. Depending upon your etchants and processing chemical selection such as chlorides and mineral acids which remove/reduce the zinc component of the foil’s barrier layer, Arsenic is needed to prevent de-zincification, another failure point during the PCB panel development.
Finally, If a brominated (flame retardant) resin system is being used to create the panels a copper foil with an Arsenic barrier layer is required, even if it’s trace amounts to prevent adhesion fraction points.
Before we make the reaction to request As-free foils lets understand the resin system being used and if As-free means free I.E. 0.00% or if trace amounts ≤0.1% per EU REACH directive is acceptable?
A copy of the full technical paper covering Arsenic can be accessed via our website under the Copper Foil product line page.
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Special thank you and acknowledgement to Denkai America with over 45 years of continuous domestic foil production for sharing the benefit and data on As levels. |
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For further assistance, connect with me by email, phone, or in person!
Mark Satchwell
Product Manager, Foil & CAC®
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Fine-tuning Operations
Is Trying to “Stretch” the Most Out of Your Consumables Hurting You?
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Shur-loc, IBC Brush and Equipment Service are being recognized by customers as key contributing factors in Insulectro helping them to increase their departments efficiencies in areas of their facility.
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Screen printing has been around for ages and most companies may not monitor their screen frames and tensions as they should.
For those of you using the older frames and not yet on the Shurloc System, you may be overseeing issues with mask thickness and developing issues including mask in the hole etc.
Using the Shurloc system helps in reducing these types of issues through consistent tension from the beginning to the end of the mesh life. Also knowing that each mesh panel will be at the 22.5 degree angle every time for screening LPI.
If you’re not yet using Shurloc…..you should be!
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The startup is easy, and the ROI begins immediately though reduced labor and performance at the machine. We can get you set up whether you have a DP1000,1500, 2500 or 3500. We can provide frames for flatbed printers and hand tables as well.
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Contact your Insulectro Account Manager to see how the Shurloc frame system can better assist at your facility!
Shurloc can custom fit almost any size frame to your application.
- Ease of use, “anyone” can learn to stretch a frame.
- Continuous consistent tension throughout the frame
- Frames can be stretched in a matter of minutes
- Ready for use immediately (no more leaving frames/mesh settle out for hours and then having to re-tension before use.)
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Going Beyond
the Tool Case
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Are you running the correct pumice brush? Are they being installed correctly?
Insulectro service can tie in brush changes with proper preventative maintenance needed for this equipment.
- Too thin of a bristle will result in a softer brush that will require more pressure to try and achieve the proper copper surface needed for adhesion. This could also lead to nylon smear if your pumice concentration and pumps solution supply to the manifolds is not in spec!
- With the IBC brushes, they have been engineered specifically for this application so, with the proper footprint, the pumice can be rolled and driven across the copper as it should, while minimizing the bristle contact to the copper surface.
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Installing and securing the brush to the shaft in the correct manner can provide an even footprint across the panel at start up. |
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If you did happen to catch the “5 Reasons to Call Insulectro” for your Service needs! Well….here’s a few more to think about! |
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With multiple Service, Preventative Maintenance, and Equipment Rebuilds done so far this year, I think customers are realizing the importance and value our service team can provide. They are seeing the difference in equipment uptime, throughput, and performance that is desperately needed. |
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Reach out to us to see how we can help improve your equipment up time and performance through:
- Equipment Reviews and Audits
- Service and support
- Preventative Maintenance Programs
The calls for Preventative Maintenance Programs are increasing as customers understand the benefits this brings to their equipment’s overall performance and up time.
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Also, do you have a used piece of equipment you’re looking to get installed? We may be able to assist here as well!
Ruben Zambrano
Field Application Engineer
Cell: 847-345-3759
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Please reach out should you like to discuss any of these topics further.
Thank you.
Kevin Barrett,
Product Manager & TAM
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Today's Copper Foils
for Tomorrow’s Applications!
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Tailored to meet market trends such as compartment miniaturization, vehicle electrification and increased connectivity demands require improved characteristics of both wrought and ED foils.
Focus on wrought solutions such as:
- Low profile height (Rz) for signal integrity, as low as 0.4µm
- Consistent profile height across the web which does not change when ordering thicker foils
- Alloy foil with Increased tensile strengths which can exceed 700Mpa
- Grain structure in terms of large crystals and uniform orientation improves fatigue resistance and provides excellent vibration resistance.
- Thermal resistance to withstand hostile environments for automotive applications.
Wrought foils released to IPC 4562A in grade 5, grade 7 and grade 8.
Call us to find out more – we love to talk about this stuff!
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Give us a call to discuss how CAC can help you
make better circuits faster.
Mark Satchwell
Product Manager, Copper Foils
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Everyday Materials You Need, On Our Shelves Every Day
Insulectro recognizes the importance of maintaining adequate inventory to begin work. Designers know when you need it, you need it. Using the link getpumafast.com, you can see what PumaFast™ and standard materials we stock to get you up and running.
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Covid-19 has not stopped our ACT! initiatives!
We have successfully collaborated on many ACT! opportunities.
We are delivering on Technology, Design and Education while you can bank on the sales results!
We are virtually taking our ACT!
to another level!
Insulectro and our partners are moving the chains to help our customers exceed performance goals. Our team of professional and technical resources are now offering our customers access to design and education services.
This is a Game Changer!
Our ACT! Initiatives combined with our design and education services provide our customers a total solutions package with a one-stop-shop option.
Our customers now have total access to not only our Insulectro foot print, best in class products, materials on the shelf when you need them; but also the expertise to deliver solutions from design to delivery…FAST!
Call me and to set up a VIRTUAL ACT! with your customer.
There's a reason I'm smiling.
Ron Murdock
ACT! Manager & Technical Account Manager
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To be the easiest company to do business with. . .
Insulectro has a program for continual improvement, all designed to make ourselves as user-friendly as possible to our customers, their customers, and our suppliers. Speed Matters, so we focus a lot of attention on getting you the materials you need as quickly as possible.
Our PumaFast™ Program lists current inventory of everyday materials you need every day.
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Best-in-Class Materials
from our Premier Suppliers
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