Technology

How to correctly choose the surface finishing of printed circuit boards? Whilst previously it was just enough to protect the board against corrosion and the base for all adjustments was plain copper, customers nowadays are able to select from a wide selection of various options. There are ever increasing demands on a higher frequency, extended lifespan and generally better resistance of materials. New technologies also enable boards designers a higher thickness of joints and smaller distances between individual components. In Gatema, at this time only, six different options of surface finishing are being offered. Unleaded and leaded HAL, immersion silver, immersion gold, chemical tin or galvanic nickel and gold.

The production of printed circuit boards is a fairly stable business. After all, major part of the production process is directly dependent on chemical and physical processes which are largely quite hard to bypass. That is the reason why flaws are being sought after in all the processes around it – in the implementation system, in optimization of capacity usage, in replacing older machines with new ones, in improving particular technologies. This was the topic of our discussion with Mr. Michal Horni, R&D Manager for Gatema PCB company. A company that is even in European standards considered to be the leader in the sphere of speed production of prototype printed circuit boards.

There are situations when the printed circuit boards need to perform its best in extremely difficult conditions. Usually in those when there is zero room for the smallest flaw or failure - typically in industries such as aviation, astronautics, medicine or automobile industry. That is why customers from such industries already today require practically exclusively PCBs qualifying for the IPC class 3 certification – a standard of a board undergoing in its entire production process several inspections and testing procedures. His industry expertise is shared with us by Mr. Zdenek Capal, a chairman of Gatema PCB a.s. company that is one of the top European leaders in the area of printed circuit boards production and thanks to its January acquisition of a German company Kubatronik it also frequently delivers highly advanced circuit boards for top global players in the industry.

In recent months, the final finish, using one of the most popular precious metals, has gained traction. Why now?