Copper thickness and thermal reliability of microvias produced by laser-assisted seeding (LAS) process in printed circuit board (PCB) manufacture

The laser-assisted seeding (LAS) process has potential to replace conventional electroless copper plating in Printed Circuit Board (PCB) manufacturing since it combines the steps of laser drilling and plating into one single process. In the LAS process, the single extra LAS step can metallize a microvia. Thus, the process steps can be greatly reduced and the productivity enhanced, but also the high aspect ratio microvias can be metallized. The objectives of this paper are to study the LAS copper thickness within PCB microvias and the thermal reliability of the microvias produced by this process. It was found that results were satisfactory in both the reliability test and also the LAS copper thickness which both comply with IPC standard, the copper thickness produced by the LAS process is sufficient for subsequent electro-plating process. The reliability of the microvias produced by LAS process is acceptable which are free from any voids, corner cracks, and distortion in the plated copper.