High-density multilayer PCBs

	King Brother's buried capacity gold-plated PCB consists of four layers and uses 3M C-PLY materials

Greater multilayer PCB output in Guangdong seen as demand from specialized, high-tech products soars.

Over a period of 20 years, Guangdong has become the most important production center for multilayer PCBs, not just in China, but throughout the world. Favorable government policies, a mature industry chain encompassing material sourcing to R&D and electronic products assembly, and an efficient transport system have all bolstered the province's leadership position.

Multilayer PCB output from Guangdong was pegged at 66 million square meters in 2007 and is estimated to reach 80 million square meters in 2008. Steadily growing demand from the electronic and information industries—computer products, including software, equipment for communication and household entertainment, and electronic parts—and advancing technologies are pushing development toward high-end applications.

Guangdong is home to about 1,000 makers, most of which are located in Shenzhen, Zhuhai, Guangzhou and Dongguan. Together they account for 80 to 90 percent of the country's industry. Leading makers in this province include Shennan Circuits Co. Ltd, Shenzhen King Brother PCB Technology, Shenzhen Fastprint Circuit Tech Co. Ltd and Zhuhai Founder Technology Multilayer PCB Co. Ltd.

High-density interconnect (HDI), flexible and rigid-flex PCBs, as well as IC-integrated PCBs are also becoming more popular. Mainland China makers are focusing their efforts on HDI PCBs, BGA and chip-size IC packages. While high precision and density top their R&D agenda, companies claim that in general, PCBs are sought for their increasing multifunctionality, reduced size and weight, as well as other desirable features including high integration, encapsulation and high number of layers.

Shenzhen King Brother PCB Technology is developing high multilayer, small line space/width, high-precision PCBs and HDI PCBs. Zhu Hong, sales manager at King Brother said, "In 2008, we have the capability to supply 32-layer PCBs. We will focus on process optimization for rigid-flex and buried capacitor PCBs." Its buried capacitor PCBs offer flexible space circuit design, such as shorter trace for component layout, and super high frequency tolerance. Its four-layer buried capacitor PCB thicknesses can reach 0.5mm while the core (capacitor layer) is only 14µm.

King Brother has QC equipment including X-ray testers from Taiwan, MPP4504 testers, the CAMTEK 806 AOI automatic optics tester, RoHS and gold thickness testers, and various production machinery such as the Paragon-8800i LDI, Schmoll drilling machine from Germany, and U.S.-made OEM vacuum press machines. King Brother has research alliances with over 40 institutes and colleges.

Established in 1992, Shenzhen Sunshine Circuits Technology Co. Ltd focuses on multiple layers, high density and precision. Jackson Chen, marketing manager, said that Sunshine Circuits can produce 28-layer PCBs where the drilling hole size is as small as 0.2 mm, with hole location precision of 1mm, and minimum line width/space of 3mm. The company has experience in handling high TG, halogen-free, Teflon, Rogers, Getek and other kinds of special materials. It also owns advanced testing equipment including flying probe testers, a Hitachi high-precision digital control drilling machine, laser and X-ray target drilling machines, XY dimension microtest machines, automated optical inspection and impedance measurement machines.

Shenzhen Fastprint Circuit Tech Co. Ltd maintains a strong relationship with Huawei, its major quick-turn PCB supplier. The company can produce 30-layer PCBs using Germany Burkle laminators, while its R&D department has developed 36-layer PCBs with minimum line width/space of 3mm, maximum aspect ratio of 1:20, and thickness range of 0.13mm to 7mm. Maximum panel sizes is 584mmx899mm, while impedance control tolerance has a margin of 5 percent.

While Fastprint ownsits buried capacitor/resistor technology, it also has advanced production and testing equipment from the United States, Japan, Germany, Italy and Taiwan. It has a laser plotter from Orbotech of Israel, etching machine from Germany and probe tester from Japan. Fastprint has a strategic cooperation agreement with the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

Output increases are prompted by soaring demand for PCs, mobile phones, HDDs, automotive electronics, and consumer products such as TVs, and MP3, DVD and game players.

	Fastprint's 8V2A200D HDI PCB has line space of 3.63mil and board size of 163x80.9mm

Set up in1987, King Brother makes PCBs ranging from four to 30 layers, as well as rigid-flex, HDI, embedded PCBs, and PCBs in special material. It has a flexible production system for small-volume and installment deliveries, and produces 130 PCB models on the line every day.

The company has a monthly capacity of about 5,000sqm, with actual yield pegged at about 3,500sqm. It is building a new plant in Xi'an city in hopes of increasing its capacity by 50 percent this year.

Sunshine Circuits manufactures multilayer PCBs of two to 20 layers. It can also make HDI, rigid-flex and other high-end products. With a monthly capacity of 35,000sqm, the company plans to raise its capacity to 40,000sqm in 2008. "We have plans of investing about $3.3 million in automated plating lines, press lines and other equipment," said Jackson Chen.

Sunshine Circuits established a prototype PCB plant in 2004, which today can produce 2,000 kinds of multilayer PCB per month. Its products are used in industrial control, automobiles, PCs, medical equipment and telecom products.

Fastprint, said to be the largest quick-turn PCB manufacturer in mainland China, specializes in prototype and high-mix, low volume PCBs. Its 2007 sales were estimated at $53.3 million, while sales target for 2008 is $67.7 million. The company is building a production base in Guangzhou. Total capacity is 10,000sqm, which includes high-frequency, high-Tg, halogen-free and controlled impedance PCBs with blind and buried via.

Corporate taxes have risen from 15 percent to 25 percent in the last year. Even with tax incentives for high-tech, environment-oriented business activities, PCB makers in China are facing great pressure in terms of labor, material and operational costs. With prices going down, manufacturers hope that export will grow at least 10 percent in the coming year.

King Brother reported sales revenues of $18 million from multilayer PCBs in 2007, exporting 40 percent of its products to Europe and the United States. According to Zhu, the company hopes to grow the value of its exports by 10 percent in 2008. This company has no minimum orders and can provide samples in one to three days. King Brother's raw materials come from suppliers such as Rogers, Alone and Shengyi SCI.TECH. With all its products UL-certified, it is now working toward ISO 9001 certification.

Sunshine Circuits exports 90 percent of its products to Europe and the United States and reports annual export revenue of over $30 million. Its customers include Flextronics, Elcoteq and Enics. "We will continue to expand our business in these areas in 2008. We expect our exports to increase by 30 percent," Jackson said. Chen revealed that the company will pay greater attention to the military and aerospace sectors this year.

The company can deliver orders in about two to three weeks, but can also provide 24-hour delivery service. Sunshine Circuit carries ISO 9001, ISO 14001, UL and TS16949 quality certifications. Due to rising operation costs, however, Jackson admitted that they will have to increase their prices this year.

Fastprint's customers include GE, Omron, Sony, NEC, Bell, Siemens, Sony, NEC and Agilent. "We will cut down low- and middle-end production by 10 percent this year. Production for our high-end lines will remain stable," said marketing manager Wu Xiaohui. Fastprint can provide prototypes for PCBs below 10 layers in three to five days, and prototypes for PCBs with 10 layers or more in one week. It can design up to 6,000 PCBs per month.