SMG facility – 24k Square Feet
Drilling
• We have 7 fully
automated Excellon
Drilling/ Routing
machines.
• The drilling program
is generated from the
customer Gerber files.
Shadow Process
• The Shadow process
is the process of
coating a conductive
material inside the
drilled holes. The
coating leaves a thin
film of electrically
charged material in
the holes that aids in
electrico-plating.
Film Lamination
• The process of
applying the dry
photo-resist film over
the copper laminate
surface in order to
facilitate the the
printing of the circuit
on the boards.
Imaging
• Films are made from
your Gerber files.
Trace patterns and
pads are then
transferred to the
panels in the image
machines you see to
your left.
Developing
• At this stage we are
developing the film
we adhered to the
panels in the previous
process. During this
process the circuit
pattern is developed
and excess film is
also removed.
Copper Plating
• The next step is
copper plating, where
additional copper is
electroplated on to
the exposed circuits &
inside the holes. This
is done by migrating
the copper from the
copper anodes in the
tank onto the boards
using a very heavy
DC Current.
Tin Plating
• This process plates
tin over the copper we
just put on the board.
The purpose of this is
to protect the circuit
during the etching
process.
Etching Process
•
First we remove the
excess film from the
panel to reveal the circuit
pattern. Then we etch
the excess copper off of
the panel.
Tin Strip
• Here we remove the
protective tin coating
from the copper
circuits.
Visual Inspection #1
• We inspect the
boards for defects
before putting on the
LPI (Liquid
Photoimageable Ink).
LPI – Liquid Photo Imaging
• The LPI is imaged in
the same way the
circuit pattern was
imaged earlier.
LPI - Developing
• Now we develop the
soldier mask. The
Excess LPI is
removed from the
imaged areas. Soldier
will only adhere to the
exposed holes and
pads as needed.
• These same steps
are repeated for the
legend.
HASL – Hot Air Solder Leveling
• Here you see one of
our HASL machines.
• This step coats all the
exposed copper holes
and areas with either
leaded or lead free
soldier (ROHS).
Immersion Silver & Gold Plating
• As an alternate to
soldier we have ENIG
(Electroless Nickel
Immersion Gold) and
Immersion Silver
finishes. During this
process we plate the
holes and pads with a
very thin layer of
silver or gold.
Electrical Testing – Bed of nails
• After the boards are
visually inspected for
a second time we
offer several types of
electrical testing for
opens and shorts.
Here you see the
bed-of-nails tester.
Electrical Testing – Flying probe
• For testing dense
boards, we use the
flying probe tester
pictured on your left.
Automated Optical Inspection
• Here is our
automated Optical
Inspection machine.
• This is ideal for very
tight density boards
that the human eye
cannot inspect well
visually.
Waste Water Treatment
• The plant is equipped
with a complete waste
water treatment
facility. Strict
guidelines are
followed to protect the
environment, heath
and safety. SMG
complies with all EPA
standards and is
inspected regularly.
Multi-Layer Press
• Here is our Multilayer
Press, we can do up to
10 layer printed circuit
boards. After the inner
layer are done, we
laminate the panels and
then follow the same
process we just described
for the double sided
boards to produce the top
and bottom layers.
In house stock room
• We hold inventory
product for blanket
orders for our
customers, so that
their boards are ready
for JIT delivery on a
moment’s notice.