Dow Electronic Materials, a business of The Dow Chemical Company (NYSE:DOW) is bringing a new suite of solutions to PCB (printed circuit board) manufacturers.
These next-generation technologies enable customers to continually deliver high quality, cost-effective materials to meet future market needs. The new solutions include two, newly launched products in Final Finish, and four new products under mass production testing in Electrolytic Plating and Making Holes Conductive.
For PCB Final Finish: Dow has launched two solutions used during the final finish stage where the coating layer is created on the conductive pad surface to provide solderability, wire bonding and protection.
- AUROLECTROLESS™ SMT 520 Immersion Gold provides a cost-effective solution that permits operation at low gold salt concentrations to reduce gold consumption in ENIG (Electroless Nickel Immersion Gold) processes. The product provides excellent deposit coverage to increase corrosion resistance during subsequent process steps.
- SILVERON™ MF 100 Autocatalytic Silver with Immersion Gold has been developed as a high-performance replacement for immersion silver and ENEPIG (Electroless Nickel Electroless Palladium Immersion Gold). The dense silver coating prevents diffusion of copper to the silver surface and reduces formation of copper oxide. The deposit provides a combination of excellent solderability and gold wire bondability, which brings robust quality for PCB and electronics.
For PCB Electrolytic Plating: Two products in mass production testing have been designed to meet specific market segment requirements for electrolytic plating. During this plating stage, the plating additive materials are used to create copper conductive layer with better uniformity and distribution. Dow’s Next Generation Thick Panel Copper Plating has been developed to enhance throwing power for very thick panel plating (over 3.2 mm thickness.). The High Speed Direct Current Copper Plating product provides better throwing power at increased plating densities on high aspect ratio and microvia boards. Both of these products help to increase plating efficiency and obtain higher productivity without the need for customers to invest in extra equipment.
For PCB Making Holes Conductive: Dow has two new products in mass production testing to support the part of the process where materials are used to create an initial deposit onto which an electrolytic layer is later deposited.
- The first, Advanced SAP Metallization is a total solution for SAP (Semi-Additive Process). Its novel chemistry includes neutralizer, conditioner, and electroless copper. It provides high dielectric adhesion with low roughness, outstanding plating coverage on both via bottom and surface, excellent bath stability and reliability performance, making it the best choice for current and next generation ultra fine line SAP.
- Dow’s new Advanced Sweller product provides cost-effective processing with a wide operational window. The new Advanced Sweller is capable of handling both normal and high performance laminates, using sustainable solvent and low operating concentrations.
"Dow Electronic Materials has a long history of working with its customers to bring advanced technologies and reliable customer service to this important market,” said Helen Zhang, global general manager, Interconnect Technologies for Dow Electronic Materials. “These strategic collaborations support our customers’ development and help bring the critical advances needed for today’s electronics.”