Summer 1997
Semiconductor to PWB: Bridging the Imaging Gap
Pushing the limits of technology has always been a
criterion of the electronics industry. Making devices
smaller and more powerful has driven the industry
into a technology frenzy with the boundaries and limits being broken and redefined as quickly as they are
set up. The excitement of this fervor for size and
power has caused most of the paradigms to be sought
out and extinguished. Some of the dinosaurs still exist
in the realm of eleclronics, but most are on their
way to extinction. One of the splits in technology that
still remains is the gap that exists between semiconductor
and PWB imaging. The bridging of this gap is
happening on several fronts. It is happening in both
the PWB and lead frame manufacturing fields. As
PWB manufactured rush to evolve chip on board,
BGA, etc. technologies, lead frame manufacturers
push for the 300 plus pin count lead frame. Both technologies
are requiring imaging dimensions that were
unheard of only five years ago.
Ken Bridges, Morton Electronic Materials
