Plasma etching treatments on PCBs

Isytech has developed plasma treatment technologies dedicated to cleaning, degreasing and preparing the surfaces of printed circuit boards and drill holes prior to processes such as bonding, metallisation and soldering

There are multiple objectives:

• Erosion of the hole wall by etching/removal of drilling burrs/removal of carbides, for through holes or blind holes, using a drill bit or laser.
• Removal of residues such as fine copper particles by ablation, fine wires, glue, etc.
• Removes residual solder masks and improves solder diffusion in small spaces and adhesion.
• Excellent results for metals and composite materials: FR-4 PCB, RT&XT Duroid, Roger PCB, F, Polyimide, PTFE, etc.
• Increases surface energy before chemical copper plating, better adhesion also on PTFE.
• Ideal for multilayer printed circuit boards with different materials.
• Improves the adhesive strength between the different layers of the board.
• For electronic boards, improves the adhesion of resin for encapsulation or varnish.
• Dry, easy, reliable and reproducible process, suitable for mass production.
• No risk to the operator.
• Avoids the usual chemical baths based on acid or sodium-naphthalene mixtures, etc.
• Using vacuum plasma surface treatment, our technology is effective and environmentally friendly.

Potting and Gluing

To ensure perfect encapsulation, the adhesive must ‘wet’ the substrate. Without the adhesive’s surface tension being lower than that of the material to be bonded, chemical interaction is impossible.

Most polymers have naturally low surface energy. This characteristic hinders their use in critical bonding or printing applications. To overcome this technological barrier, surface treatment is essential.

Plasma treatment acts as a surface catalyst. By breaking the chemical bonds of the polymer at the molecular level, it creates functional groups. These anchor points allow ultra-strong chemical bonds to form with your adhesives or other polymers.

Isytech supports you in this optimisation with two solutions adapted to your production constraints:

Low Pressure Plasma: For uniform treatment of complex parts in large volumes.

Plasma Torch: For flexible, local integration into your production lines.