Atotech from Berlin has sold its 1,000th horizontal system for the electrolytic copper plating of blind holes. The production line of the Atotech Uniplate product family will be installed at one of the leading Taiwanese manufacturers of package substrates and printed circuit boards. The Uniplate Cu18 plating line (consisting of three copper platers) is designed for through-hole plating of high aspect ratio core layers for advanced packaging of CPUs and MPUs for high-performance processors and computers.
"The 1000th horizontal electrolytic copper plating system is designed to help our customers in Taiwan meet the increasing demand for more advanced IC substrate products," said Harald Ahnert, President of Atotech's Electronics Division. In 1988, Atotech sold its first uniplate plating system (DC system with soluble anodes) and introduced horizontal electrolytic copper plating. This was followed in 1998 by a system with an inert anode and reverse pulse plating capability, using a redox system for copper replenishment. In 2002, Atotech further developed the horizontal production system and launched "Uniplate InPulse 2", the next generation of the copper plating system. It is characterized by a closer proximity between anodes and PCB, which enables a better surface distribution and does not require a shielding system. The equipment series has been further optimized and the product family has been expanded to include an extra-wide plater and an advanced plater for through-hole filling. Atotech's latest generation of the Uniplate plating system is used for through-hole plating of high aspect ratio core layers for modern package substrates. It is also used for mSAP technology, which is used in the production of substrate-like PCBs, especially for flash copper plating and any-layer technology with BMV SuperFilling. Atotech is currently developing a new generation of its electroplating systems, which are expected to be launched on the market in 2023. They will be capable of transporting much thinner materials and plating finer features, as well as offering an even more advanced surface distribution concept for horizontal electrolytic copper plating.
