Eurocircuits”role in the project sets a new competitive standard

Making efficient pooling panels belongs to the core business of Eurocircuits. It is a necessity to ensure cost-effective production of prototypes or small batches.
Eurocircuits started as a trader of printed circuit boards in 1991. Soon after, in 1993 we got involved in production. It has been our aim from the start to use pooling techniques for a number of reasons :

  • Save cost by increasing production efficiency
  • Save the environment by reducing waste

The idea of making pooling panels was not new in 1993. On the Benelux market a dutch company was already successfully offering single sided boards in pooling since the eighties of the last century. For double sided boards however it was not that common yet.

When we introduced combination panels for double sided boards in our own production in Hungary there was a lot of resistance from the operators and from the production management. They saw the complexity of their job increase, and technological challenges had to be taken care of.

Now, almost 20 years later, most technology issues have been taken care of, except for one major area, the galvanic copper plating.

For this galvanic process, the design of the PCB plays a vital role in the outcome of the process. In pooling panels there is even an influence of the design of one board on the copper deposition on surrounding designs. That means that we have to be very careful how to build our panel layouts.

The restrictions in panel configuration create limitations that affect the efficiency in our production. As a producer you can look at this problem in two ways:

  • Focus on efficiency and accept uneven copper distribution. Also accept that the quality of the PCB”s produced for one customer can be influenced by the design of another pcb on the same pooling panel.
  • Focus on quality – stick to an even distribution and minimum copper plating thickness all over the panel. Accept that part of the panel surface gets lost because of extra copper areas and spacing introduced to balance out the galvanic layer. Also accept that not all jobs can be pooled with acceptable plating results.

Eurocircuits decided not to take any plating quality risks. We accepted the restrictions dictated by the plating process for a long time.The Elsyca Intellitool matrix copper plating is going to remove these restrictions.


Project partners :

Elsyca NV, Wijgmaal – Belgium
MacDermid Germany

Elsyca Intellitool plating – the concept

Elsyca Intellitool is a software controlled electroplating tooling concept developed by Elsyca. It reduces the pattern dependence of the deposited layer of copper on the boards. The main change from a standard plating cell is the introduction of a controllable grid ( matrix) of anode segments, at a small distance of the board to be plated.

The concept consists of 3 parts :

  • 1.A simulation and optimisation tool which is a further development of Elsyca Smartplate, a software we use at Eurocircuits to simulate the plating process and to decide if a pooling panel is fit for production or not. The simulation tool optimizes the current on each anode segment in time to yield the desired plating thickness and uniformity on the board. The simulations counts with parameters like properties of the plating tank, design of the pcb, resisitivity of the substrate. The result of the optimization is sent to the control unit to feed the matrix.
  • 2.The matrix feeder contains a microprocessor that reads the calculated pattern of the current, and controls a matrix of digital to anode converters (DACs). This imposes the correct current on each anode segment ( pin). An amplification of the current can be implemented.
  • 3.The anode matrix, mounted on a printed circuit board. Each anode pin is connected to the matrix feeder.

Intellitool concept picture

Elsyca Intellitool is organising the anodes as a matrix with the same size as the panel to be plated, and every point in the matrix can plate with a different current. All individual currents can be controlled in time and intensity.This way the current density is not spread evenly over the panel, but is adjusted to the differences in copper distribution in the pcb design. This can be useful to balance differences in copper distribution within a single board, but gets even more interesting when there are different designs combined on one panel ( pooling-panel).

Elsyca Intellitool – in practice.

Eurocircuits is using the software from Elsyca to simulate plating (Smartplate) and judge the plating feasabilty of its pooling panels. Intellitool is going to take us a step further. We are not going to use the software just for making a judgment. The results of the simulations will be used to control the plating process by instructing each of the anodes in the matrix on the current to be used and the time to be plated.

The Elsyca Smartplate CAM output is sent directly from our UCAM Cam system to the plating line to control the process. Operator influence on the process will be eliminated.

Our plating process will be integrated in our production processes in a similar way as is now the case for CNC machines, test equipment, etc.

Elsyca Intellitool – labo test

To test the concept Elsyca made a labo plating setup.

Elsyca Intellitool – testing in a production environment

Eurocircuits and Elsyca are testing the Elsyca Intellitool concept in a purpose built galvanic cell in our production site Eurocircuits Aachen Gmbh in Baesweiler, Germany.

The galvanic cell is built to treat one standard size Eurocircuits pooling panel ( 530 x 460 mm ) The PCB pattern on the pooling panel will vary from one production run to another.

Intellitool test cell

The cell contains two anode arrays ( one for the front side, one for the backside of the pcb panel)

Intellitool matrix

The tank is filled with MacDermid specialised chemicals for electroplating printed circuit boards, and the Eurocircuits pooling panel is precisely positioned between the two anode arrays.

Intellitool with panel positioned

Testing the Elsyca Intellitool production cell – November 17-2011

On November 17 tests with production panels taken out of regular production batches in Eurocircuits Aachen were plated in both our conventional plating line and in the Intellitool testcell.

Trials were conducted to evaluate the Intellitool concept as follows :

1. Test to improve the copper distribution on the panel against the conventional line :

  • Intellitool panel : Plating thickness (in holes ) between 33 and 53 micron
  • Conventional panel : Plating thickness (in holes) between 29 and 62 micron
  • The use of Elsyca Intellitool reduces the plating spread with 50%
  • Intellitool test 1

2. Test to speed up the plating process with similar copper distribution as in the conventional line

  • Intellitool panel : plating time 40 minutes
  • Conventional panel : plating time 70 minutes
  • The use of Elsyca Intellitool reduces the plating time with more than 40% while maintaining the same plating spread.
  • Intellitool test 2
More tests are planned to further optimize the Elsyca Intellitool product. As a lead customer this will be performed in close collaboration between Elsyca and Eurocircuits. By the end of February 2012 we will build a new galvanic line in our production unit in Eger, Hungary to test the Elsyca Intellitool in an automated production line.