Insulectro Technology Village to Feature 35 Powerchats at IPC APEX EXPO 2025

Estimated reading time: 6 minutes

Insulectro, the largest distributor of materials for use in the manufacture of PCBs and printed electronics, will present its popular and successful 13.5-minute PowerChats™ during this year’s IPC APEX EXPO at the Anaheim Convention Center, March 18-20, 2025.

Its 2400 sqft megabooth will be configured as a Technology Village with “store fronts” occupied by suppliers and a “Town Square,” that is home to PowerChats™.

The Insulectro PowerChats™, presented every 30-minutes, provide details on new products, processes and services offered by Insulectro and key suppliers EMC, Arlon, DuPont, Pacothane®, InduBond®, AIT (Ormet®), and Kyocera.

A special, one-time only PowerChat™ will be presented by PCBAA execs David Schild, Executive Director, and John Vaughan, VP of Summit Interconnect. Their timely topic, The Future of the PCB Industry Depends on Government Action, will be presented Tuesday, March 18, at 2:00 pm.

“We are pleased to continue our PowerChats™,” commented Ken Parent, Chief Operating Officer, “Our outstanding expert presenters have crafted short, 13.5-minute, info-packed learning sessions where attendees will learn the WHAT/WHY/HOW on critical topics. Bottom line? All you need to know in 13.5-minutes.

“New products and technologies can change the way a board is designed and fabricated. In our field testing, we often hear ‘We could have never made this board before’,” continued Parent. “We’re anxious to share what we’ve learned in very concise presentations inside our booth (Space 4138).”

Insulectro Vice President of Technology Chris Hunrath agrees, “Our PowerChats™ have been enormously popular throughout the years. Often, it’s standing room only.

“That’s due to the intriguing topics we spotlight in our chats. This year is no exception. We have an incredible lineup of topics and presenters.

“You could spend the day with us every day of the show. So come and join us!”

2025 PowerChat™ Topics & Presenters (Space #4138): 

ADVOCACY

Future of the PCB Industry Depends on Government Action

PRIORITY CHAT - 2:00 PM TUESDAY, MARCH 18

Getting your voice heard in Washington is a challenge but when many voices unite, things happen.

David Schild, Executive Director PCBAA & John Vaughan, Vice President Strategic Markets, Summit Interconnect

MATERIAL SELECTION

85HP – New Technology for Today’s Designs

Historically, polyimide laminate systems have been used in high temperature environments, including Mil-Aero, ATE and Down Hole. This unique system brings all the advantages of polyimide, but without the drawbacks. It’s both an HDI and BTU solution. 

Norm Berry, Director of Laminates & Chris Hunrath, VP of Technology – Insulectro

Ormet® Sintering Paste - New Possibilities & Performance

The use of newer generation, high performance prepregs/laminates that laminate at higher temperature provide an opportunity to introduce a new paste product, compatible with these laminates, that offers a 40% performance improvement. Ormet is a part of AI Technology, Inc.

Catherine Gallagher, Head of Conductive Paste R&D – Ormet® Circuits

DuPont Riston® HDI and MSAP Dry Film Offerings 

DuPont's latest Riston® Dry Films for HDI and mSAP. We have a spectrum of films with increased versatility and the best-in-class image resolution.

Rich Wessel, Technical Manager, Advanced Flex Technologies  - DuPont

Advanced Thermal FR4 Reliability: EM-371(z)   

New breakthough EM-371(z) offers the lowest CTE and is now compliant with IPC slashsheet 4101/126. This product will enable fabricators to compete in more next gen opportunities.

Norm Berry, Director Laminates & OEM Marketing - Insulectro

Elevate Your Multi-Layer Rigid Boards with Interra® HK04J

DuPont’s innovative embedded capacitance solution for AI data centers, using high-performance thin dielectrics to enhance system integrity and performance.

Jin-Hyun Hwang, Principal Engineer - DuPont

Understanding Low Flow Resins Systems

Arlon has a suite of No-Flows for rigid-flex, cavity boards, heat sinks and more. Learn about the options and applications.

Norm Berry, Director Laminates & OEM Marketing - Insulectro

Reliability and Best in Class SI Performance: EM-890K      

Designed for high thermal reliability with excellent CAF resistance. Applications include: high-speed Ethernet, network, HPC, AI, 5G, and antenna.

Norm Berry, Director Laminates & OEM Marketing - Insulectro

DuPont™ Pyralux® -  Driving Material Innovation for Next-Gen Technologies

Our customer focused innovation continues to provide materials for evolving needs. Come see what’s new and how to advance you flex designs for tougher environments, faster speeds and greater densities.

Greg Roettger, Senior Key Account Manager - DuPont

Experience DuPont™ Kapton® — the Gold Standard in Polyimide Films

For extreme versatility and thermal performance. These films enable spacecraft, EV’s, mass transit and more.

Shannon Dugan, Lead Application Engineer - DuPont Silicon Valley

Learn about Pacothane® Conformal Products

How to select the right material for different products selection based on rigid, rigid/flex or flex multilayer designs to maximizing quality and efficiency. Explore the new PACO•MT mid-temp release, Paco. Clutch and new higher temperature press pad known as Thermopad. Showcasing Pacothane’s commitment to being the world’s leading authority in PCB lamination consumables.

Lahcen Khiyaty, Product Development & Technical Manager  - Pacothane

CHEMISTRY

PPR-III: the Future's Fine-Line Cu-Pulse using Today's Equipment

DuPont's Next Gen Pulse Plating for increased throughput, mSAP applications (circuits and vias) and HDI.

Zuhra Niazimbetova, Technical Sales Leader - DuPont

TECHNOLOGY

Microvia Reliability, CTE by the Numbers

As device pitch density increases, there is an ever increasing need for low CTE dielectrics. We will present options across the thermal and signal performance range. Which is best for your application?

Norm Berry, Director Laminates & Chris Hunrath, VP of Technology

InduBond® - the Performance of Lamination

How the induction press can change the way you look at your press cycle, save you real-estate while helping to reduce operating costs. Also, a look into InduBond’s growth in automation through robotics, book building and delivery to and from the InduBond® press(s).

Kevin Barrett, Product Manager – Equipment, Insulectro

KYOCERA Hybrid Drills

High productivity drilling in deep hole applications.

Uwe Heinrich, Global Sales Manager – Micro Industrial & Printed Circuit

Tools - Kyocera

Tighter Pitch BGA and mSAP for Routing

A reasonable approach for Fabricators. As component manufactures develop packages with 0.5 mm pitch and below, the PCB fabricator needs processes and materials to reliably produce fine features that are also good transmission lines. We will discuss some of the methods and materials for this technology.

Chris Hunrath, VP of Technology - Insulectro

PCB Lamination Principles

Have engineers/ process leads new to PCB? Or, would you just like to know more about what’s happening during lamination, best practices and techniques. Come join us for this short but informative chat.

Chris Hunrath, VP of Technology - Insulectro

Science and Art of Panel Plate Via Filling

DuPont's Cu Panel Plating processes for higher aspect ratio’s, better distribution and process control. Put the copper where it’s needed.  

Brandon Sherzer, Technical Service Consultant - DuPont

KYOCERA Flex Drills

Challenges in Flex and Rigid Flex drilling and milling applications, as well as Kyocera’s solutions  for Advanced PCB machining of flexible materials.

Charlton (CC) Carson, Kyocera PCB & Micro Industrial Tools - Kyocera

All Power Chats are in Space #4138 at IPC APEX EXPO. No sign-up required.