Chemical-free via plating solution

LPKF Laser & Electronics has released the ProConduct via plating system. This compact system plates PCB through-holes without the need for chemical plating baths.

It uses conductive polymer paste to quickly plate vias as small as 15 mils (0.4 mm) for double-sided and multilayer boards. The electrical resistance of ProConduct plating is extremely low with 19.2 mOhm depending on the material thickness.

The ProConduct comes with a complete set of tools and materials. A desktop vacuum table for applying the paste to the board and a hot-air oven for curing the paste are necessary to complete the process. It delivers completely safe, reliable and thermally stable plating results using a quick parallel processing technique.

For the in-house production of multilayer boards, the plating system operates in conjunction with LPKF PCB plotting and multilayer lamination equipment. The entire PCB production process can be completed in one day to answer current "time-to-market" demands that engineers face. This technology also ensures confidentiality because the design never leaves the lab, making it ideal for the military and aerospace market.