Camtek has announced the introduction of the Mustang line of automated optical inspection systems for high-density PCBs used in the production of mobile consumer products. The first Mustang Model 600 systems have already been installed at customer sites.

“The high density of printed circuit boards [used in mobile consumer products] increases their sensitivity to defects. Replacing manned microscopes by automated inspection makes sense to… manufacturers. We developed the Mustang... for fast, reliable and consistent defect detection.” said Yuval Agami, VP of Camtek.

http://www.camtek.co.il

Plasma Etch has introduced the PE-100 plasma etching system designed primarily for Universities, small R&D laboratories and pilot production facilities.

The company reports that the PE-100 provides a modestly sized vacuum chamber that accommodates up to 240” of capacity per run cycle and uses an RF power supply, vacuum pumping, a PLC based process vacuum controller and touch screen programming in the claimed “turn-key” package. The company also reports that any process developed on the PE-100 can be scaled up to larger Plasma Etch systems as required by substrate size and throughput demands.

The company reports that all Plasma Etch systems operate using an RF induced ionized plasma process that removes contaminants such as organics, coatings and metal oxides as well as providing a hydrophilic surface for adhesion of parts processed, and that application for the system include medical devices, solar cells, optics, printed circuit boards, connectors, MEMs, wafer level packaging and other related semiconductor processes.