American firm says it will evolutionize<br>electronics manufacturing

This new methodology Verdant Electronics has come up with, according to the American company, greatly reduces the number of process steps used to create electronic assemblies, simplifying PCB fabrication and assembly, thereby reducing cost and improving reliability. The core idea is to build and interconnect electronic assemblies in reverse order from the traditional methods. Rather than having components mounted on PCBs and soldered, fully tested and burned IC packages and components of all types are placed on a carrier, encapsulated and subsequently plated with circuits making direct connection to component terminations without solder. The reverse order interconnection process, which takes inspiration from earlier bare die multichip module technologies of the 1990s, is significant and far-reaching in its implications. For example, the three currently defined sectors for electronics manufacturing include PCB, components and assembly. These three sectors are now reduced to two because printed circuit manufacture and assembly are essentially fused into one continuous manufacturing operation. Verdant Electronics' novel concept leads to the elimination of many inefficient processes associated with PCB fabrication and PCB assembly. A huge benefit is the elimination of solder from the assembly process which has become a highly contentious and frustrating issue as the industry moves to “lead-free" soldering technologies. The new approach is said to obviate the many problems associated with lead-free solder while creating electronic products that use less energy in manufacture, use fewer materials in construction, will not employ any restricted materials, and will ultimately be smaller, lighter, less costly and more reliable. This is a very “green" technology that uniquely supports the global movement toward more environmentally friendly electronic products.