CELEBRATING OUR 4TH YEAR OF PUMANEWS™ |
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As I see it. . .
When my dad, Don Redfern, bought the company forty years ago, the owners that he purchased the company from told him, “Sorry sucker! This business is dying!”
After I witnessed the crash in 2001, I worried they might have been correct. Fabricators continued closing by the hundreds. However, if you watched closely you would see the fabricators who survived, slowly rebuild, and strategically invest in their businesses. They carved niches with talent and technology, positioning to take advantage of this growth cycle.
It feels good to prove those guys wrong. I'm convinced that our industry hasn't even scratched the surface of what's possible.
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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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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!
PCBAA Brings Us All Together to Support A Shared Vision
JUNE 2022
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The members of PCBAA met in May for the first face to face meeting. 17 member companies were present.
Come join our cause to Educate, Advocate and Legislate. Together we can help increase our share of the global PCB market.
Travis Kelly, President and CEO of Isola Group, is CEO of PCBAA while William Marsh VP of TTM Technologies (pictured below) serves as President.
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This organization is making a real difference for the PCB industry and it is invigorating to see the membership continue to grow as fabricators, OEMs, suppliers, and fabricators push aside their competitive nature to unite on beliefs we can all get behind.
Over the next 12 months, we will continue to add to the PCBAA membership to garner support of the mission of PCBAA regarding:
- Supporting domestic production of PCBs and PCB materials.
- Secure domestic supply of critical materials and systems for national defense and vital commercial needs.
- Educate, Advocate, Legislate everyone in our domestic supply chain of PCB manufacturing about the phrase “CHIPs Don’t Float” and the need for PCBs we provide.
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There is great progress and investments being made by so many people already in our industry. Imagine what will be possible with the support of more government agencies and passionate people like yourself.
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Ken Parent
Chief Operating Officer
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Livin' in a Material World!
Service Partnerships: Us with You
JUNE 2022
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I continue to hear feedback from our customer-facing teammates that our customers are struggling and need help.
One common theme is there are not enough talented process engineers to improve yields, implement process changes to keep up with evolving technologies, or to trouble shoot on going manufacturing challenges.
Prior to the pandemic, our Technical Account Managers (TAMs) were regularly engaging with our customers on site and able to dig into their challenges together. They would bring in our team of Field Application Engineers (FAEs) and/or Product Managers (PMs) as an outside set of eyes to problem solve together. Providing detailed process area audits, interviewing the operators to understand how a process is being run vs. SOPs, and comparing against the best practice recommendations was a regular occurrence.
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Our teams proudly perform this service to enable our customers to build better circuits and ensure our customers not only use our products as recommended, but also achieve the highest yields, thus lowest operating costs. Understanding the bottlenecks and process gates also drive to providing manufacturing efficient recommendations.
Early in my PCB industry career as Technical Service for DuPont, I leveraged a training course in Design of Experimentation (DOE). I found time and again the power of a well-designed test to explore multiple variable interactions would solve problems quicker, point to root cause and define an optimal process.
This DOE approach delivered better results than the traditional one variable at a time test or just changing out a consumable product hoping the problem would go away. Trained as an engineer, I’ve always enjoyed the scientific method, but also relied on process knowledge and past experiences, creative thinking and brainstorming with others as tools to approach problem solving.
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Having a cross functional team with diverse experiences is known to benefit an organization. Please consider the Insulectro team of resources as an extension of your team to fill the gap in process engineer talent. We have teammates who have worked for PCB Fabricators, OEMs, and Industry Suppliers, collectively with hundreds of years of experiences, and we understand not only the design and base materials of the PCB, but how each of the fabrication steps interact together and influence the impact of upstream and downstream processes.
Our team wants to help solve your challenges, it is likely we have seen the issue before, have solved a similar problem, or are the subject matter experts with diverse problem-solving approaches to work to improve your processes together.
How can we help?
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Michelle Walsh
Vice President of Product Management
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Improved Current Density Range
DuPont Introduces Solderon™ ST-400
High-Speed Matte Tin Plating Process
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WILMINGTON, Del., June 8, 2022 – DuPont Interconnect Solutions (ICS) has introduced Solderon™ ST-400, a new high-speed tin plating process that offers a substantial increase in plating speed with stable deposit properties across the wide operating range and low whiskering propensity.
The new product also features a novel, non-toxic antioxidant that reduces tin oxidation and sludge creation, reducing downtime and maintenance costs.
When electronic components are connected to printed circuit boards, cables, or fibres, the component interface is most often electroplated tin.
The lifecycle performance of the component and electronic assembly depends on the characteristics of the plated tin deposit.
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According to DuPont’s David Wayness, Finishing Marketing Leader for the Electronics and Industrial business, platers and component manufacturers demand the tin plating process be easy to use and control, demonstrate a wide operating window, and exhibit very high and consistent quality using sustainable process chemistry.
“In extensive testing by leading and demanding customers and OEMs, DuPont’s Solderon™ ST-400 High Speed Tin has been shown to provide an improved current density range and excellent stability,” said Wayness. “This novel tin plating solution is suitable for high-speed reel-to-reel, strip, and wire plating operations.”
Interconnect Solutions, part of DuPont Electronics & Industrial business, brings a unique depth and breadth of knowledge, applications and technical expertise, and product portfolio to address customer needs for connectivity today and in the future.
Our drive to provide our customers with industry-leading innovation is complimented by large scale, best-in-class manufacturing capability, and a team of scientists with deep materials science expertise to make next generation technology a reality for our customers.
With research centers and manufacturing operations located close to our customers in the U.S., China, Taiwan, Korea, and Japan, we pride ourselves on a customer-centric view to ensure we support our customers’ success.
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OPERATIONS & SUPPLY CHAIN
WORLD-CLASS MANUFACTURING
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Employee Engagement
Making Problems Visible &
Solving Them Together
JUNE 2022
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As we begin to shape our World Class Manufacturing (WCM) cultural vision, there has been much focus on ensuring that employees feel more engaged to “Make Problems Visible."
With daily huddles now more formalized in all our major branches, there is a standard forum where all Teammates have an opportunity to highlight opportunities that should be addressed in the areas of Safety, Quality, Service, and Cost.
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This sense of empowerment has sparked some amazing work and improvement efforts on common pain points in several of our branches.
In my floor “GEMBA” walks, the question I always ask employees is “what’s your biggest pain point today?"
I am finding that this direct question instantly knocks down any barriers of fear to share, or feelings of “it has ALWAYS been this way” or “we’ve brought this up for years but nothing ever gets resolved."
I believe it also conveys genuine care for the Teammate and sincere interest in making their work quality of life better. With this “tell me about your pain” approach, we are gaining more visibility to chronic problems in our branches as they begin to rise to the surface.
A couple of these examples are outlined below in post improvement project storyboards we use called a “Before & After” summary. We are beginning to complete these for every Kaizen/SRE (“Small Reversible Experiment”) event. One problem area involved addressing an ongoing pallet damage issue on our branch-to-branch shipments, and one involved improving the daily # of trips for our automated conveyance robot (“PumaBot”) in our San Jose branch.
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We are beginning to live out the WCM/Lean Mental Models of “Make Problems Visible” and “Everyone Solves Problems Using Simple Methods”; the above examples are just a taste of what we’ve done so far, and where we’re headed.
I’m very proud of our Puma Operations Teammates who are energized by this next level of personal engagement, and how they are responding by surfacing ongoing, common pain points so we can use their feedback to solve the problems.
A “Make problems visible” mentality is gaining momentum in our culture, and I cannot wait to share more of our successes and growth as we move down the WCM path.
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Jason Shuppert
Vice President of Operations
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Join Isola & Insulectro in Denver
Microwave Week Is Back
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Isola Group will be well represented by circuit material professionals at the 2022 IEEE International Microwave Symposium (IMS2022) Exhibition in Denver, Colorado.
They will welcome visitors to exhibition booth #5090 with detailed data and free guidance on how to trim loss, size, and weight from their high-speed, high-frequency PCBs using Isola’s advanced circuit materials. These include materials carefully formulated for low loss in RF/microwave and millimeter-wave (mmWave) circuits to 110 GHz and beyond and excellent signal integrity (SI) in high-speed-digital (HSD) circuits well into the Gb/s speed range. Isola’s representatives will be accompanied by professionals from Insulectro at the booth.
The RF/microwave industry’s largest annual exhibition and symposium is making a “face-to-face” comeback from the debilitating global effects of the Covid-19 virus pandemic. Over 400 companies are scheduled to exhibit in Denver’s Colorado Convention Center from Tuesday-Thursday, June 21-23, 2022. The full IEEE 2022 IMS conference, workshops, and exhibition extends from June 19-24, 2022.
Isola offers visitors to their exhibition booth the latest news and views on their advanced circuit materials and how to apply those circuit materials to achieve the best results in applications extending across aerospace, commercial, defense, industrial, medical, and space markets. Isola’s circuit materials support the current industry trends in higher-frequency operation and miniaturization, but they do so while paying close attention to manufacturing requirements, with materials that can be transformed into PCBs using the same processes used for many popular circuit materials, such as mid-and-high-Tg FR-4 materials.
For example, Astra® MT77 features low loss through mmWave frequencies, with characteristics such as dielectric constant (Dk) and dimensions that are stable over wide temperature ranges, making this an ideal circuit material for automotive and military radar applications. It exhibits a Dk of 3.00 at 10 GHz with a dissipation factor (Df) of 0.0017 at 10 GHz denoting extremely low loss. For digital circuits, Tachyon® 100G laminates and prepregs support speeds to 100 Gb/s and higher. They have characteristics closely matched to Astra® MT77, with Dk of 3.02 at 10 GHz and Df of 0.0021 at 10 GHz.
The coefficient of thermal expansion (CTE)—how the materials’ dimensions change with temperature—are also similar across operating temperatures from -55 to +125°C, making these materials well matched for hybrid material blends in PCB assemblies for HSD and microwave/mmWave circuits.
Another circuit material well matched to Astra® MT77 in CTE, I-Tera® MT40 (RF/MW), has a slightly higher Dk, 3.45 at 10 GHz, but also with very low loss, signified by a Df of 0.0031 at 10 GHz. Both have the qualities needed for many emerging mmWave circuit applications, such as in automotive radar collision-avoidance systems and in 5G wireless communications networks. And both materials are FR-4 process compatible for ease of circuit fabrication.
In fact, many of Isola’s circuit laminates and prepreg materials support a hybrid design and fabrication approach to assembling circuits, by combining materials best suited to different circuit functions, such as for analog microwave signals and high-speed digital signals.
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Visitors to the Isola IMS 2022 exhibition booth can learn about how different combinations of Isola’s circuit materials, such as I-Tera® MT40 (HSD) and I-Tera® MT40 (RF/MW), halogen-free TerraGreen® (HSD) and TerraGreen® (RF/MW), and halogen-free TerraGreen® 400G (HSD) and TerraGreen® 400G (RF/MW), can work together to help them achieve the most challenging goals for size, weight, and power (SWaP) as well as budget.
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Geoff shouts: "A Welcome Return"
Material Availability of Pyralux® AP Clads
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With DuPont’s recent opening of their new K4 film line, ample Pyralux® AP material availability has returned!
Insulectro, the sole distributor of Pyralux® AP in North America, has built back significant inventory of common constructions.
Pyralux® AP copper clad laminates required for high reliability, high frequency or high temperature environments are readily available once again.
With a strong material stocking situation, Insulectro can support prototypes and quick turn business once again for our customers and designers. With volumes and material availability changing daily, 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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PCBAA LEADERSHIP SPEAKS OUT |
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Londonderry, NH
Insulectro Passes ISO 9001 Audit
with Flying Colors
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Insulectro just completed its yearly ISO 9001:2015 surveillance audit in Londonderry. As expected, the Londonderry facility passed with flying colors!
According to the auditor, “This is the first audit I have ever conducted where I was unable to find any nonconformances. This is the most prepared company I have ever audited.”
ISO 9001 is defined as the international standard that specifies requirements for a quality management system (QMS). Organizations use the standard to demonstrate the ability to consistently provide products and services that meet customer and regulatory requirements. It is the most popular standard in the ISO 9000 series and the only standard in the series to which organizations can certify.
Insulectro takes its commitment to quality very seriously. The auditor's comments reflect what what we do and who we are as a company.
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Ryan Linfield
Quality Manager
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PRINTED ELECTRONICS INKS & PASTES,
SUBSTRATES & FILMS
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Kevin Miller Can See it!
PE Team Tours DuPont's Circleville OH Plant
June 2022
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Insulectro's PE Team recently took a trip to visit the DuPont Circleville plant in Ohio. This facility manufactures the Kapton polyimide film and has recently invested $250 million in an expansion project.
This additional capacity is for the Kapton® polyimide film and Pyralux® flexible circuit materials to meet growing global demand. This expansion project will allow us to better support the marketplace and provide better service and delivery to our customer base.
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We met with the team that manufactures, converts and technically support this product offering in the Americas and Europe. Insulectro will be distributing and converting this product from master rolls to smaller rolls, sheets, and narrow web product types.
We spent the day getting a better understanding of the equipment set utilized to handle this product and quality standards to effectively support multiple markets including wire and motor wrapping industries, industrial, and flexible circuits markets.
Other areas that we discussed were different pieces of equipment that provide the ability to convert narrow web traverse and step slitting and rewinding. The DuPont team will be visiting our Londonderry facility in New Hampshire to qualify and support our converting center.
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Kapton® film is utilized in many applications where extremes of heat and vibration are the norm, designers rely on Kapton® because of its ability to maintain its unique combination of mechanical properties under the harshest of conditions.
DuPont™ Kapton® polyimide films have set the industry standard for over 45 years in high performance, reliability, and durability, with a unique combination of electrical, thermal, chemical, and mechanical properties that withstand extreme temperature, vibration, and other demanding environments.
We look forward to supporting your future needs and material requirements. All customers have access to our custom converting services plus rapid delivery and as well as our in-house technical assistance.
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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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MOSCONE CENTER, SAN FRANCISCO
JULY 12 - 14, 2022
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DuPont MCM & Insulectro Printed Electronics
Team up for Joint Exhibtion at
SEMICON WEST & FLEX in San Francisco
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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).
This year DuPont MCM will be partnering with Insulectro to talk about product offerings used in advanced packaging and various printed electronics applications. FIND US AT BOOTH #2450.
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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.
The FLEX 2022 show is co-located with SEMICON WEST 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.
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Road Trip!
LCOA & Insulectro Deliver Drill Room Expertise to Fabricators' Shops
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Ron Murdock and Paul St. John cover 4 states in 4 days.
It’s been said…by Paul St. John, Director of Sales and Product Technology for LCOA® and CAC companies, “The drill room should be the most reliable and consistent process in the manufacturing of PCBs because you tell the machine what you want, and you get what you ask for.”
Now, if only it was that easy.
Because drilling is mostly highly automated and CNC technology is so advanced it makes sense that customers want to remove the human variable of interaction and changing parameters, etc.
Paul St. John shared with several of our customers that he believes that CNC drill machines should have only two buttons: 1. Select Part Number, and 2. Cycle Start.
Many customers will exploit a tool supplier's strengths in both the drill room. There are a myriad of tools and geometries, both drills and endmills and router bits that can solve problems.
Did you know that one such supplier is known for its low tool breakage? In most scenarios, a broken drill in a drill cycle will ruin an otherwise good day.
Did you also know that many customers will resort to pilot drilling to improve registration? Paul taught a few of our customers how to effectively employ a pilot drill process.
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Pilot drilling if not done correctly can be counterproductive. The best news about pilot drill is that it may not be necessary. That’s right. Paul shared that our LCOA® entry product BULLSEYE® can be used to eliminate pilot drill altogether.
One fabricator we met with, who does a lot of pilot drilling, will be evaluating Bullseye® -imagine the time savings.
In the drill room we heard several times that there is a need for a specialized endmill that is near flat or dish-shaped for control depth milling and back drill. We got that!
There is no substitute for visiting a customer and observing their processes firsthand, and side by side.
A good example of this was the lamination area. There are some low-hanging fruit to improve registration here. Steel quality (pits, dents), damaged bushings, damaged pins, warped or cupped caul plates, etc. These deficiencies will all negatively affect the finished product. In some shops, to overcome these issues we observed hammering of plates, stretching, and pulling layers over the pins that are all set at different heights low to high. This adds to improper pin and bushing engagement i.e., not enough pin contact within the bushing both top and bottom to create a strong and reliable book.
We recommended replacing all the bushing and pins and quarantining the used bushings and pins so that they can be inspected and dispositioned and provided recommendations for a quality process to manage this control going forward.
We learned that our customers are constantly battling misregistration, and misregistration is usually in the top 5 reason codes for scrap. Yes, we learned a lot about what keeps our customers up at night. And we collaborated with our customers. We brought new ideas, new technology, products, and best of all experiences - all of which will alleviate some of our customers' restless nights.
4 States in 4 Days! Visiting great customers could not have gone any better. It was a great opportunity to collaborate, train, and educate all face-to-face which makes a big difference when compared to virtual meetings.
Insulectro remains passionate about our training and education - it’s a priority. Bringing in our team of experienced resources and especially somone like Paul St. John really is a game-changer.
The good news is we have an awesome team of subject matter experts at Insulectro willing and wanting to help our customers.
The bad news is our customers have a long list of reasons that contribute to scrap and remakes. Give us a call.
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Ron Murdock
Director of Sales - Eastern Region/ Canada
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Chris Hunrath on Future Tech
PCB Fabs, HDI & Substrate Packaging
JUNE 2022
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What would it take for a fabricator to build PCBs that achieve the needed density for substrate packaging? A lot has changed over the years.
Some of these improvements include:
- Better imaging equipment and photoresists (dual or multi-wavelength)
- Thinner copper foils
- High adhesion additive plating
- Low loss, low CTE dielectrics
- Film-based extremely thin dielectrics
- Dual-wavelength laser drilling
- Copper via fill plating baths
- TLPS metal paste interconnects
- Improvements in sequential lamination
- Embedded passives
A mixing of these PCB technologies will get you different levels of density. That said, a fabricator will be most likely limited by the imaging equipment first. Even many of the photoresists available will outperform the exposure units typically found at the fabricator.
Thin film-based dielectrics have been around for a while for flexible PCBs, but there are newer, low 9 Layers in 16 mils using film dielectrics.
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The copper foil/C-stage/B-stage buildup material is ideal for thin, flat stacked via packaging. |
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Organic (non-ceramic) substrate packaging has a lot of advantages in density and design flexibility. If we extend that to the PCB fabricator, we can fill a need with domestic supply. Please let us know if you have interest in this area. We have many of the building blocks needed to advance this technology. |
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Chris Hunrath
Vice President of Technology & Vice President of Sales - Western Region
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East & Midwest Regions
Director of Operations
Joe Harbour
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Insulectro has hired industry veteran Joe Harbour as Director of Operations, East & Midwest Regions.
Harbour has over 15 years of operational experience, having spent the first 6 years of his career in the U.S. Air Force, as a Command Control Leader and Project Manager. Here Harbour achieved the highest ratings for conducting specialized and advanced training for military personnel.
Joe has spent the last eight years with the TJX Companies, Inc. (TJ Maxx, Home Goods, Marshalls) where most recently he held the position of Regional Operations/Loss Prevention Manager. In this role, he provided executive-level operational leadership in the Eastern U.S. for five, 1 million+ square feet distribution and fulfillment centers.
Joe is the recipient of the 2022 “World Class Winner Award” by TJX Inc., for his leadership in implementing a standard DC staffing model that supported a transition to 24/7 operations and for championing efforts to promote a safe work environment with focus on incident de-escalation and workplace safety awareness and compliance.
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Southern California
Account Manager
Greg Wong
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Insulectro welcomes Greg Wong to the accounting team. Greg is an accomplished finance professional with extensive experience in accounts payable/receivable, general ledgers, financial analysis, journal entries, GAAP compliance, and finance systems.
Greg comes to us most recently from California Cartage Company in Long Beach where he was a Division Controller. Prior to that Greg held positions at Conagra Foods, Giltspur, and Autek Systems.
He is an expert in accurate financial records, improving business information systems to enhance accounting practices, and analyzing data to deliver key financial insights. He is a graduate of the University of California - Berkeley.
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Southern California
Payroll & HR Generalist
Ivette Cordova
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Ivette joins Insulectro after a lengthy stint at QED Inc (an aerospace OEM) holding positions that dealt with new hiring, company benefits, payroll, policies, and procedures. Ivette was also involved in safety training. She is proficient with regulations around FMLA, CFRA, OSHA, as well as Workers Comp.
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Southern California
Pricing Administrator
Takako Shirai
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Takako returns to Insulectro where she previously worked as a Senior Accountant. Since that time, she has worked as a Corporate Tax Manager for Kawasaki Motors Corporation and held various positions for Ernst & Young as a Senior Accountant in Los Angeles, Tokyo, and New York. She holds a Bachelors Degree in Mathematics from the University of California - Los Angeles (UCLA). Welcome back to the Puma Family.
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2022 SUR/FIN Trade Show
DuPont's Presents Innovations in
Plastic Metallization & Component Finishing
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Insulectro Chemistry Pumas Paul Welter, Ed Kneller, and Chris Robinson recently attended Sur/Fin 2022 in the Chicago area in early June. The group supported the DuPont Chemistry exhibit and particularly enjoyed the conference technical sessions including two presented by Feng Lui.
These sessions included:
HIGH THROW, HIGH LEVELING, LOW STRESS ACID COPPER ELECTROPLATING PROCESS
DuPont Electronics & Industrial has developed ECOPOSIT™ 95HT High Throw Electrolytic Copper, a new electrolytic copper plating process with a novel brightening system that provides significantly improved throwing power and produces deposits with highly improved stress and ductility.
LIQUID CRYSTAL POLYMER (LCP) METALLIZATION
This presentation will describe the development and optimization of the Teleposit™ 8000 LCP Metallization Process; an all chemical process which delivers a highly reliable metal finish for electronic applications and complex geometries.
SUR/FIN is the primary conference and trade show dedicated specifically to the surface technology industry. It is where leading surface technology companies connect, collaborate and contribute. And because it is the only conference and trade show sponsored by the National Association for Surface Finishing (NASF)—representing the $28 billion finishing industry—it attracts noted business leaders and prominent thinkers to a forum where relevant issues are addressed and technologies presented.
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Visit Isola Next Week in Denver - Booth #5090! |
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Getting to Know the Midwest
In September 2018 after tariffs had been put in place and domestic supply of aluminum became hard to get, The Redfern Companies had the opportunity to purchase Becks Light Gauge Aluminum which had been supporting the aluminum entry and thin aluminum multilayer separator business across the US for many years.
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This was a great way to gain additional domestic supply and further integrate into the PCB business with this acquisition.
Matt Swanson had worked at Becks for 19 years and became our teammate as we folded this company under the CAC umbrella. This business was eventually moved from its own building in Elk Grove Village Illinois into our Operations and Warehouse facility in Bloomingdale Illinois.
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Besides aluminum, they also level and convert copper, brass, steel, and many other types of metal rolls into sheet form. It has been great to have Matt and his team be part of our family going on its 4th year.
Take Care and see you next Month!
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Trey Adams
Regional Vice President, Sales
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Scrap your Registration Failures
Eliminate Your Drill Room Losses by Improving Registration
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I think PCB fabricators would agree that Scrap and Restarts are issues that keep them up at night.
There are many reasons PCB fabricator’s scrap parts, but most would agree registration is consistently in the TOP 5.
It’s no wonder when you consider all the contributing factors and variables that lead to registration failure i.e., design, materials, handling, registration systems, lack of scale data or bad scale data, image, lamination, drill, and human error.
Our team at Insulectro is well-versed in the detail of registration failure, from our Suppliers to our Design and Education team, our FAEs, TAMs, and Product Managers, we can all help our customers improve registration.
We have experience and technical product solutions that will improve registration.
An area where we see significant opportunities for registration improvement is multilayer lamination.
While customers spend large amounts of money on systems and capabilities often the lamination room is overlooked as a source of registration failure.
Warped, cupped caul plates, damaged separator plates, cracked and worn bushings, damaged or distorted pins, etc., all lead to registration failure.
The problem is exasperated when operators must overcompensate for these deficiencies by pulling, bending, and stretching materials over the pins and then having to resort to hammering, banging, and pounding the steel to complete the book make-up. In the end, there is a loss of pin to bushing engagement that can distort the book under pressure.
The combined forces Insulectro and TADCO have been improving registration in lamination through training and education.
From the tools and gauges to verify steel flatness as well as pin and bushing integrity combined with best-in-class replacement products we are gaining an advantage in the constant fight to improve registration.
Insulectro also offers next-generation registration tooling processes through our partners at InduBond® including pin-less systems, Inductive lamination presses with a team of supporting experts.
Another process area of registration failure is the drill room.
Although today, CNC drills, are far superior compared to just 5 years ago, it’s considered best practice to use best-in-class backup, and entry technology. This is not an area where we believe PCB fabricators should use alleged "me, too" products.
LCOA® offers not only best-in-class backup and entry technology, but it also has the team of resources and experience to technically support the drill room.
Starting with Bullseye® (for entry accuracy) to its renowned SlickBack® (lubricated backup), LCOA's products are proven game-changers in the drill room.
Adding to this product portfolio is the breadth of knowledge and experience that the LCOA® team has regarding such things as low breakage tools, specialized endmills, feeds, speeds, and chip load. When you optimize the drill room, you multiply your successes using our best-in-class products.
At Insulectro, we understand that registration is a success measured in mils and less and that PCB fabricators need these mils to be positive + and not negative –. Those positives help you gain an advantage that reduces scrap and restarts to help sleep better at night.
Give us a call.
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Ron Murdock
Director of Sales - Eastern Region/ Canada
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PRINTED ELECTRONICS INKS & PASTES,
SUBSTRATES & FILMS
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For Extreme Temperatures & Environments
DuPont Green Tape LTCC
Last month we spoke about the positive and exciting experience of attending the DuPont Microcircuit Material Thick Film Seminar at Wilmington, DE. As our colleague, Bob Lee (Eastern Regional Sales), mentioned in our previous newsletter, a lot of material was covered. In addition, the Q&A sessions with about 30 fabricators and OEMs opened up opportunities to discuss how new and current technologies continue to evolve into new possibilities.
This month I want to highlight one of the products and applications that stood out to me during the technical seminar, DuPont Green Tape LTCC (9K7 and 951) presented by Ahmed Salah (Senior Technical Service Associate) and Russell Anderson (Technical Specialist).
DuPont LTCC (Low-Temperature Co-fired Ceramic) material systems combine the benefits of multi-layer ceramic and thick film technologies to meet the increasing demand for electronics functioning in extreme temperatures and other harsh environments.
LTCC's low loss characteristics make it ideal for high-frequency applications and enable more efficient circuits. The DuPont line of LTCC materials provides superior performance in applications as diverse as military radar, imaging systems, advanced automotive sensing, telecommunications, and satellites.
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Green Tape 951 & 9K7 Features include:
- Component integration – buried resistors, capacitors, and inductors
- Integral shielding/ground
- Flip chip, chip & wire, solder attach
- Mixed analog, RF, digital
- Hermetic packaging with low temperature (<500°C) brazing performance
- High-density interconnections
- Co-fire processing and re-fire stability
Benefits of Green Tape™ 951 & 9K7:
- Superior high-frequency performance (9K7)
- Demonstrated reliability
- Smaller package size
- Stable in harsh environments
- Controlled impedance structures
- Thermal management
- Lower total system cost
- High volume manufacturing
- Compatible with plating
- Stable mechanical, electrical, and thermal properties
Both the GreenTape™ 951 & 9K7 family of products includes gold and silver systems. Tapes are available in several thicknesses, can be configured for cavities and cutouts, and feature controlled shrinkage.
To hear more about what DuPont’s Green Tape is doing for 5G technology, Brian Laughlin, Technical Lead of 5G Technology from DuPont will go into more detail in TechBlick’s Innovation Festival on June 24. www.TechBlick.com/PE-festival-2022
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Contact us if you have any questions or want more information about DuPont Green Tape LTCC, dimensions, availability, and lead times. We look forward to providing you with the best-in-class service and product selection for your application needs. |
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Angel R. Cartagena, MBA
Product Specialist
Insulectro Printed Electronics
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@Mike Creeden
Signal Integrity & Electro-Magnetic Interference/Capability
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What is signal integrity in a PCB and why it is important? Signal Integrity (SI) is a term used in our industry to convey the signal's ability to propagate energy from a charge that will be received without any distortion.
Signal Integrity is a process to determine that the signal was delivered properly through a transmission line.
Thus, a net could have good signal integrity or bad signal integrity. We must also consider that each net could induce a bad signal integrity phenomena to any adjacent net. This concept can have further reaching concerns when energy emissions radiate and affect another device. This is termed Electro Magnetic Interference (EMI). Also, this concern is factored by our ability to shield and contain emissions. This is termed as Electro Magnetic Compliance (EMC).
Proper device shielding (Shield cans, left image below) and stripline routing which are shielded by a GND layer both help control EMI/EMC.
- High Speed Digital (HSD) circuitry typically will be routed on an inner layer with a containment of a GND layer above and below, thus containing emissions.
- Radio Frequency (RF) circuitry typically will be routed on an external layer because they do not do well with vias that can transmit energy in an unwanted fashion (See right image below). They will use the GND layer adjacent on the layer below and a shield above to contain emissions.
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For the sake of this article, we will discuss these concerns as they relate to routing and the environment that signal energy exists, which is called a transmission line. Poor SI implementation will create EMI/EMC issues. Therefore, the best method to manage EMI/EMC is to not create unwanted signal emissions.
When teaching the subject of EM Theory to layout engineers, I will ask them, “Where is the energy from the signal they just routed?” The answer that I often get is, “The energy is in the trace.” I further ask them, “Is it in the center of the trace or on the surface?”
At this point, most people are just guessing. Neither of these answers are correct. Just like any house outlet requires a two prong plug, our signals require a twisted pair consisting of the signal and it’s return path i.e., GND. The energy is in the form of a forward propagating wave, traveling from the source to the load or loads.
All signals are driven at an amplitude of voltage, in reference to 0.0V (Commonly referred as GND). This EM energy field is Capacitive (Electro) in nature and Inductive (Magnetic) in nature. High Capacitance is the energy and Low Inductance is the movement of energy by means of a voltage drop. Therefore, the energy exists in-between the two opposite poles of the signal and GND plane.
They both serve as a wave guide. Within the laws of physics, opposites attract, and similar objects repel. The concept is like a magnet attracting or repelling, therefore, the energy fields exist within the dielectric material between the signal and GND (Shown in left image below). All the energy a signal receives is in the Rise Time (Tr) at the beginning of the signal pulse (Shown in right image below). Knowing a signals rise time is critical to understand the potential for issues in high speed circuits.
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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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Laura Is Developing A New Course
Focusing on the Essential
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I recently posted a sample of a Brand New PWB educational course on LinkedIn that I’m excited to soon share with the industry.
Printed boards are complex to design and manufacture and shouldn’t be treated as commercial off-the-shelf products; buyers and contract manufacturers know this but may not have the training to recognize all the cost drivers between different types of board designs.
This course leaves out all the insignificant technical details and focuses on tangible items that can quickly be checked from most engineering documentation.
Insulectro is proud to bridge the gap between design and manufacturing by offering educational courses that continue to train the workforce as we prepare the next generation of decision-makers in the Printed Circuit business.
Insulectro’s vision “To be Vital in the Design and Manufacture of Future Circuits” is why I am proud to be part of the Puma Team.
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Laura Martin
Director of Technology
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PCBAA LEADERSHIP SPEAKS OUT |
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Welcome to the June Edition of Insulectro PumaNews™ Magazine
This is the East Coast Edition!
There are many exciting things going on at Insulectro today but one of my favorite things is that we continue to add new teammates.
I love the ideas that come with hiring new teammates who come to us from a myriad of backgrounds and experiences.
One of my favorite quotes from Steve Jobs “It doesn’t make sense to hire smart people and then tell them what to do, we hire smart people so they can tell us what to do.”
Currently it seems we are all challenged with finding and hiring new teammates, but they are out there…somewhere.
We can help you train them. We are committed to our Training and Education support to this industry!
Always Learning, Always Teaching!
Thank you,
Ron
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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 James Francey Explains
How Do Material Qualities Differ for HSD Versus mmWave Circuits?
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Growing use of millimeter-wave (mmWave) frequencies for applications such as automotive radars, Fifth Generation (5G) wireless networks, and satellite communications (satcom) mandates careful selection of printed-circuit-board (PCB) materials specially formulated to transmit signals at frequencies to 70 GHz and higher.
At the same time, digital signals are moving at higher rates, often within the same electronic systems as RF/microwave and mmWave signals. Are high-speed-digital (HSD) signals and high-frequency analog signals different enough to require their own PCB materials and, if so, what should the material requirements be for each type of circuit?
This blog will explore the differences in high-frequency analog and HSD transmission and circuit material characteristics best suited for each type, along with some examples of laminates and prepregs from Isola Group that cost-effectively satisfy the signal transmission requirements with the combination of excellent performance, straightforward processing, and can be combined as space and cost-saving hybrid assemblies.
Select the following link as James Francey 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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Over the past few months, a couple of themes seem to be prevalent in my day-to-day activities as I support the DuPont & Shikoku chemistry product lines: Communication and Collaboration.
It brings to mind the asset base that I’ve discovered over the past year, as being a part of this Insulectro Team. From connections with Insulectro teammates and the vast experience set that it brings to PCB manufacturing, to representing World Class Suppliers and the technology driven products that it continues to develop, enhance, and deliver to BUILD BETTER BOARDS, FASTER.
Plus, proactive engagements with OEMs and the next generation vision are shared with us as they engage. All of these define the essential function of Insulectro’s value proposition.
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The thing that stands out to me is the value of communication and collaboration. I’ve seen it in action increasingly over the past few months. We’re hearing more of our customers’ challenges. We’re responding to technical issues, supply chain, and logistical issues to improve yields, troubleshoot problems and address lead times and supply.
We’re supporting advanced analytical techniques to identify defect modes, support customers with defect investigations, and improve productivity.
Communication begins with Insulectro’s relationship to its customer base through our Technical Account Managers, Inside Sales Managers, Field Application Engineers and Product Managers. We really are a network of cross-functional teams that exist to GSD (get stuff done).
That effort naturally extends to our Suppliers and the OEMs, with whom we’re fully engaged and utilize on a daily basis. What defines this collective is this cross-functional communication aspect when issues and opportunities arise, and I’ve seen an increase in that activity over the past few months. It goes hand-in-hand with our customers reaching out to us when they are in need of assistance, whatever the need may be.
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Collaboration is another aspect that adds to Insulectro’s value proposition. I’ve been on several customer calls where we’ve been able to bring in technical expertise for materials, drilling, lamination, imaging and other processes, not only from Insulectro’s talent base, but also from our suppliers.
Many times with chemistry, there is an upstream and downstream influence. Whether it is dealing with the troublesome defect mode at hand, product and process education for new hires, advanced training based on new technologies or something specific defined by our customers, we have the team and network to deliver.
My message this month is let’s continue to communicate and collaborate. I’ve seen good things and positive results with two C’s. The more we hear from you, the better we can work together to achieve a positive outcome.
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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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Insulectro San Jose is the stocking hub for ISOLA HSD/RF laminates and prepregs as well as Pyralux® AP clads.
To support our customers’ quick turn needs, we have over 250 part numbers of cores for I-Speed®, I-Tera® MT40, Tachyon® 100G and Astra® MT77. This represents thousands of panels available for same-day, next-day production. Add to that master rolls of prepreg for each one of these resin systems and you have a complete package.
Also in San Jose, we have over 14,000 sheets of copperclad Pyralux® flex materials along with many thousands of square feet of sheet adhesive, Bondply and coverlay. We are also now stocking some constructions of HK04 buried capacitance material.
This not only benefits Bay Area fabs but those out East as well. Our time zone is beneficial for those hot orders for next-day arrival. In other words, if you have a requirement come up at 4:00 pm in the East, we still have time to get it cut and shipped for arrival the next morning.
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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Advanced Substrates
Switch Over to SWITCHmark®
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Insulectro’s partnership with FLEXcon as the exclusive distributor of the Switchmark® line of membrane switch PSA adhesives is off to a great start! After only a few months, Insulectro has been able to consistently deliver products to transition accounts as well as supply new accounts. Amid global supply problems, FLEXcon continues to work with us to support our new collaborative partnership with these supply chain issues helping us keep important inventory vital to our new customer’s needs.
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What makes SWITCHmark® a great choice is their top-quality standard products coupled with the ability to customize products to suit your unique needs.
For many jobs, you may find what you need from FLEXcon’s Value-Better-Supreme (VBS) product offering, designed to suit a wide range of applications.
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Value: Solid-performing products where price concerns are paramount and performance can be less robust.
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Better: Popular, high-quality products designed to fulfill the requirements of most applications.
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Supreme: Higher-performing solutions for your most demanding applications.
Designing custom pressure-sensitive film and adhesive products is a value add that you would be hard-pressed to find at many other suppliers. From single to dual-sided coatings, from rolls to sheeted products, we have the products you need.
Contact us today for the best products and pricing.
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Jeff Crawford
Advanced Substrate Specialist
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Over the last month, we’ve seen slightly lower demand than we’ve been used to seeing in the market.
However, overall demand is still strong and positive compared to last year. Some of the product line highlights have been LCOA®, Focus Tech chemistry and Ormet® paste.
Thin coppers and mSAP dry films are also continuing to get a lot of interest. Getting back into a stocking position on Pyralux® AP is huge milestone as well and benefits Southern Cal greatly due to the large amount of rigid flex customers we have here.
Turning our inventory portal back on for AP for the first time in over two years will give our customers back the ability to check stock real time and plan accordingly – not to mention get flex faster! We’re heading into a typically slower time of year over the summer months.
That being said, these months could be great timing for training and audits. Never hesitate to schedule training and audits as they both reinforce best practices and lead to overall higher quality and yields and lower overall costs.
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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 Chris Robinson
Technical Account Manager
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BIO
I was Born in 1990 in Leominster MA, and grew up in Groton, Massachusetts. I went to UMass Lowell and graduated with a degree in graphic design in 2012.
Since then I had been working for ECEMS and now Insulectro. I recently moved to South Carolina to manage the Metal Finishing accounts in the southeast. I am an avid reader and a lover of games and movies.
Chris has chemistry. . .
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When you were child, what was the first job you wanted to have when you grew up?
I wanted to be an explorer.
Name a couple of childhood nicknames?
I was only ever called Chris.
What are your three greatest strengths?
I am a quick learner, a loyal friend, I am a great long distance driver.
What was it like coming into Insulectro after the acquisition of ECEMS?
Going from a small group of 11-12 coworkers to such a larger operation was an adjustment but everyone is always willing to help and work together so it does not feel any bigger.
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What’s the most rewarding DIY project you have done?
Building a PC from individual parts, it was like a complicated Lego set.
What is the most embarrassing moment you can recall?
Anytime I have to dance at a wedding, I am not an elegant dancer.
When was the last time you said, “Wow!”
Listening to stories from the times before a lot of the work moved overseas, it always sounds crazy.
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Favorite music? TV program? Book?
I don’t have a favorite type of music, I usually like specific songs.
Band of Brothers might be the best series of all time.
Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman.
Cocktail? Wine, or beer?
Soda!
Are you more at home in jeans, a suit, or yoga pants, and why?
Basketball shorts are the most comfortable, I find they keep me cool and if I am cold I just grab a blanket.
Name a moment when you couldn’t answer a question and how you handled it?
Admit I don’t know the answer but will find someone who does.
Great weekend for you is?
When I have nothing to do.
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Best car you had you miss?
Ford F-150 I totaled.
What’s your dream vehicle?
Ford Galaxie 500.
Any embarrassing wardrobe choices in your past?
Those super baggy jeans from the 90’s.
What’s biggest regret you ever had?
How concerned I was with about what others thought of me in high school.
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If you could go anywhere in the universe where would you go first, and why?
The first alien planet I could survive on like earth, I want first pick of land to own.
What’s your favorite meal?
Some sort of pie, probably apple. If it’s warm out, key lime.
Tell us something about yourself you’re sure we don’t know.
I love dogs and cats equally.
If a distant uncle left you $15 million what are the first three things you would do?
Pay off my debts, put half into retirement. Invest a ¼ of it, have fun with 1/8th of it. Hold onto 1/8th for an emergency.
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If they were making a movie about you, what actor would be play you?
Alan Ritchson from the new Jack Reacher series.
How would your teammates describe you?
Enthusiastic!
How would you like to be remembered?
I would only hope I am missed.
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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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Extremely Conformable
Pacothane® THERMOPADS™
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THERMOPADS™ can be used in any high-temperature lamination that requires the use of exotic high Tg substrates. Whether you are using DuPont's Tk or your requirement is an LCP build, THERMOPADS™with THERMOFILM™ offers the best conformable package with its robust attributes eliminating the uncertainty and negative impact of generic alternatives.
- Operating Temperatures up to 600°F (316°C) for extended press cycles
- Thickness is .044" (1.117mm)
- Predictable Control of Heat Rise excellent Thermal Conductivity due to Select uniform fiber distribution and controlled thickness and weight specifications of the Press Pad Design
- Uniform pressure throughout the pressure load
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Maintains flexibility and minimal brittleness when used with THERMOFILM™ to increase 3-Dimensional Conformance minimizing X-Y-Z axis stress on circuits
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The smooth surface of both THERMOFILM™ and THERMOPADS™ allows superior conformable properties against the differential surface of the circuit under high-temperature conditions
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 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 PumaNews™ magazine, let us discuss the benefits of using wrought copper foil otherwise known as Rolled Annealed or RA for flexible applications. We all understand it has to do with the copper foil structure specifically, grain size, grain orientation and their individual boundaries.
As these illustrations highlights RA foils type HA and HA-V2 from JX Nippon Mining and Metals have been able to enlarge the grains, reduce the number of boundaries to decrease the risk of failure points associated with a dynamic application such as in-vehicle products using millimeter wave radar.
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Due to the method of manufacturing wrought foils is inherently smoother than Electro-deposited foils even shiny side treated RTF foils as they profiles are below Rz 3µm. Making them a perfect building block for DuPont™ Pyralux® products.
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Wrought copper foil is available down to 6µm and this foil can be used with PI, MPI resin systems as nonexclusive examples. We would like to acknowledge the support and information provided by JX Nippon Mining and Metals.
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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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When it comes to screen tension…..too little is not good and too much is not good either!
- Too little mesh tension will allow the mesh to move under the squeegee causing soldermask to flow into the holes. It will also cause the mesh to retract very slowly off the surface of the panel.
- Too much tension could cause the squeegee to flex during printing and leave a heavier deposit on the outside edges of the panel. Not to mention the extra mechanical stress needed from the machine's mechanical system.
- Shur-loc and experienced screening department supervisors have pinpointed the optimal tension so you get the best performance across the board, or should I say “panel”!
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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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I had previously mentioned how you could overuse your pumice brushes and the depletion in performance when doing so.
The same can also be said when overusing your debur brushes as well!
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There are various sizes and grit options available to fit any machine on the market. The ends of a silicon carbide grit brush bristle are cut at a specific angle and need to be installed for the correct rotation. The bristles are also cut at a specific length as well.
These bristles have a certain amount of flex to them. The shorter they get, the more aggressive they can become on the surface of the copper. If it is a manual machine, the pressures must be monitored consistently to get the best results and must also be monitored when a brush change is needed.
If it is a fully automatic machine, then the combination of thickness reader, rpm compensation from brush wear and width reader will assist in the brush performance and then automatically tell you when you’ve met the life of the brush, not the maximum adjustment!
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Please reach out to us if your experiencing any of these and we’ll work with you in getting this resolved. |
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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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