sales@plasmaetch.com
Plasma Treatment System | MK-II
Industrial Plasma Etcher
The MK-II is the choice of discerning printed circuit boards (PCB) manufacturers; offering repeatability, reliability, long life and low maintenance costs. Over the years we have refined and perfected the use of plasma treatment in the processing of printed circuit boards (PCBS) and have pioneered many new processes.
The MK-II PCB plasma treatment system utilizes two key technological patents developed by Plasma Etch, Inc that when combined, simply put, produce superior results and the fastest etch rates and cycle times.
The MK-II offers technological advantages such as the unique combination of process temperature control and electrostatic shielding. Both work in harmony to produce the most consistent, most uniform, and most reliable etch rates obtainable across an entire board's surface.
Domestic Price: Please Contact For Pricing
Call us at 775-883-1336 or email us at sales@plasmaetch.com for more information.
Overview
The generous aluminum chamber accommodates a properly sized active processing surface with our standard configurations having as few as 6 or as many as 24 plasma processing levels, each 24” by 18.”
Our oxygen service vacuum pump and booster is equipped with a two point purge system to minimize any corrosive end products forming in the pump thereby extending the service life while lowering maintenance costs.
Features
Processing your boards, whether they be small or large, PTFE, Polyamide or Rigid-Flex you will find that all are uniformly etched by the MK-II, ready for your next production step.
As plasma is inherently a green process it also reduces production expense by eliminating unwelcome and often expensive chemical waste associated with chemical etching and cleaning. Our simple to use, intuitive touch screen interface has control over every aspect of the plasma process ensuring reliability and repeatability.
The MK-III is capable of drilling three millimeter microvias utilizing a resin coated copper foil technology in PCB multi-layers. It can etch a one millimeter polyimide windows on High Density Drive suspensions (HDD). The MK-III is designed for aggressive drilling of HDD suspensions & microvias with no undercut.
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Specifications
Standard System Features
6, 8, 12, 16 and 24 Horizontal “Shelf” Systems available
Each shelf is 24” x 18” on 1.5” Spacing
R.F. Generator & Automatic Matching Network 1250 to 5000 Watts @ 13.56MHz
Electrostatic Shielding of chamber to promote uniformity
Process Temperature Control 1250 F to 3000 F to eliminate a warm up cycle
Two Mass Flow Controllers, 0-2000 SCCM
Low gas supply pressure alarms on process and purge gas
MKS 0-10 Torr Capacitance Vacuum Gauge
Microprocessor Control System w/ Touch Screen interface
Multiple (up to 3 stage) Recipe Storage
Edwards Oxygen Service Vacuum Pump
Edwards Roots style Booster Blower
3 Micron Vacuum Pump Oil Filtration
Two point Automatic N2 Purging of the Vacuum Pump
Oil Mist Coalescing Filter on the Vacuum pump’s exhaust
Optional System Features
Windows Computer Control System w/ Touch Screen Interface
Data Recording, Reporting w/Event Viewing and printing
Signal Light Tower
Edwards GV80 Dry Vacuum Pump
MKS Automatic Throttle Vacuum Controller
Up to 4 Mass Flow Controllers
Process controlled Gas steering matrix; 5 gas inputs through 2 or 3 MFC’s
Controlled Rate N2 Chamber Purging
Custom Chamber sizes and configurations
Custom Electrode sizes and configurations
Facility Optional
Closed Loop Chiller for RF generator cooling
Packed Bed Fume Scrubber for vacuum pump exhaust
Heatless Compressed Air Dryer (Vacuum pump Purge Gas Generator)
System Specifications
Footprint, Plasma Console 66 “ X 79” X 26”
Footprint, Vacuum Pump 16 “ X 30” X 17”
Weigh varies with configuration
Facility Requirements
AC Service; 120/208 VAC, 50/60 Hz, 3 Phase 5 Wire 50-100 Amps
Compressed Air Service 80-100 PSI <0.5 CFM
Conditioned Environment less than 850 F non-condensing
Regulated Process Gases 15 to 30 PSI
Cooling Water Source for RF generator @ 2GPM
Case Study
Parts: Printed Circuit Boards
Contaminates: Bromine Based Epoxy Smeared On Inner Layer Copper Interconnects
Industry: Printed Circuit Board
Details of application:
This company is a defense contractor to the U.S. Government. They need to remove the drill smear from the through hole interconnects in the printed circuit board. The military requires a three point connection on the inner layer interconnects. This plasma process is etchback. This process produces a 5 to 6 tenth of a mil removal of epoxy in the through hole. The through hole interconnects must be free of epoxy smear to allow good electrical contact between the inner layer and surface copper.
This company uses a combination of Carbon Tetrafluoro-Methane and Oxygen plasma to etchback the throughholes in their printed circuit boards.
This company chose Plasma Etch based on several advantages our company offers. Process temperature control is the single most important parameter in the plasma process. Temperature has primary control over etch rate and a secondary effect on etch uniformity and repeatability, the process temperature must be regulated throughout the entire plasma sequence. Our process temperature is regulated by the patented electrode temperature control system. No other plasma offers non-plasma generated chamber heating.
The plasma process generates high energy plasma fields at the edge of the electrodes, which causes accelerated etching at these edges. The overall effect is higher etch rates at the electrode edges; with a gradual reduction in the etch rate as it approaches the center of the electrode. This can be viewed as the bull's eye effect that results in severe process non-uniformity. All vacuum chamber internal surfaces on Plasma Etch's systems are electro statically shielded to eliminate plasma reactions with the chamber walls. Plasma activity is then uniform across the electrode surface. This creates a uniform etch across the entire surface.
Plasma Etch utilizes high frequency RF power (13.57 MHz) to maximize processing rates and production throughput. The physics of a high frequency RF plasma is very different from a low frequency RF plasma. The high frequency generates a much more reactive plasma. The high frequency plasma is isotropic (etch uniformly in all directions). This feature is required for processing three dimensional objects or small drilled holes. Additionally, systems that operate at 13.57 MHz are three times as fast as systems that operate at 40 KHz.
