Solutions for PCB Processing

Schmoll Maschinen GmbH is a leading global manufacturer of Printed Circuit Board processing systems. Thousands of Schmoll machines all over the world participate daily in the production of printed circuit boards for the global demand.

As feature sizes and thus the hole diameter decrease steadily, holes with a diameter of 50 microns are now a standard mechanical manufacturing process. On the other hand, the packing density in electronics is ever increasing, setting new challenges and in particular the need for an ever higher productivity may not be met with conventional mechanical drilling machines.

Developed by Schmoll, the Picolaser-Drill technology together with a high speed scanner system can drill more than a 1000 holes per second in the PCB. Unlike current nano lasers used by competitors, the Pico-laser ablation is cold, the ultra-short pulse laser in the range of 10E-12 seconds leave no time for thermal coupling in the surrounding material. Carbonation of micro vias can be effectively prevented.

This technology can of course be applied to other materials outside of circuit board processing. The Pico-laser can process most materials regardless of their optical properties.

When overall performance increases are needed optional automation concepts enable this further. Drilling and microstructures in the submicron range with the highest quality will be possible in the near future. The ultra-short pulse technology can be successfully introduced into mass production with Schmoll as partner.

Today, Schmoll laser systems already provide technologies for the processing of printed circuit boards that will become tomorrows’ standard.