Laser Direct Imaging to enable the future demands for RUWEL customers

The current global economic slowdown in the electronics market, particularly in telecoms and networking, combined with the loss of high volume business to Asia has led to a dramatic change in focus in the western PCB fabricator. German based PCB producer RUWEL has successfully installed an Orbotech Paragon system at the Pfullingen plant.

PCBWestern designers are moving up the technology ladder towards increased printed circuit board functionality and reduced size of electronics components. Consequently, board designs are incorporating finer features with reduced pads, track widths and hole sizes, increased layer count and thinner cores. With board price under pressure, increased yields and increased process utilization are the key drivers in cost reduction. Basically, to sum it all up, the demand is for large, technically complex, high layer count multilayer panels with sub-100 micron design rules, required in small batches, with short lead-times and right first time-easier said than done! Here, we are going to consider one aspect of that puzzle: the facts of registration.

After installation of an Orbotech Paragon Direct Imaging, the first project was to benchmark the capability of direct imaging against a conventional printing process. Using the same measuring systems developed to identify the problems with artworks, the developed images from both contact printed and direct imaged panels were measured.