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Target Condition: Flex and Rigid-flex Solutions in A&D Display Electronics
Global PCB Connections: Rigid-flex and Flexible PCBs—The Backbone of Modern Electronics
An Impressive Tour
Though all the presentations throughout the day were excellent and kept attendees engaged, the facility visit to TLT PCB, part of Teltonika’s new and larger manufacturing campus was a highlight and something we had been anticipating.
Before we toured the facility, TLT PCB CEO Tomas Auruškevičius outlined the company's long-term strategy and the rapid growth leading to one of Europe's newest advanced electronics manufacturing campuses. The 55-hectare High-Tech Hill Technology Park opened in 2025 and represents a €320 million investment, including approximately €93 million dedicated to the 33,000-square-meter PCB factory, with total PCB investment expected to reach €150 million.
The campus includes a PCB fabrication plant, two EMS factories, plastic injection molding, and a mechanical tooling facility, with additional buildings planned by 2029 to create a fully integrated electronics manufacturing hub capable of producing up to 100 million IoT devices annually. Auruškevičius emphasized Teltonika's long-standing commitment to vertical integration, automation, and engineering talent, supported through university partnerships, scholarships, and in-house IC design. He also described the PCB factory as a strategic investment aimed at rebuilding Europe's advanced electronics manufacturing capability, noting that highly automated production will be essential for producing the complex, high-reliability PCBs needed to keep advanced technology and intellectual property within Europe.
The factory was both visually stunning and impressive in its technology and automation. But what makes it even more astounding is that this is TLT’s first foray into PCB fabrication—not something for the faint of heart or pocketbook. In a bold move that defied all market trends and, arguably, industry intelligence, Auruškevičius decided to build a PCB factory to support Teltonika’s own PCB needs as well as those of the broader European ecosystem. The facility and its technicians were built and trained from the ground up, in partnership with Schluter, who acted as consultant and chief engineer for the project for four years. It’s big, pristinely clean, with state-of-the-art equipment and lots of automation. It was an impressive excursion that did not disappoint.
A Look at Final Finishes
The second and final day of the conference featured several more excellent presentations. Romina Adam of Umicore shared research evaluating advanced nickel-free PCB final finishes as alternatives to conventional ENIG and ENEPIG coatings for next-generation electronics. While traditional nickel-based finishes continue to perform well in terms of reliability, solderability, and shelf life, Romina explained that they are becoming a limiting factor for increasingly fine circuit geometries and high-frequency RF applications because the nickel layer restricts fine-feature plating and can introduce signal losses.
Her team compared several nickel-free direct immersion gold (DIG) and electroless palladium immersion gold (EPIG) processes against ENEPIG using a series of thermal aging, wire bondability, copper diffusion, solder joint, structural, and fine-pattern plating evaluations. The results showed that the EPIG system, with its palladium diffusion barrier, matched ENEPIG's reliability while providing superior compatibility with fine-line and RF applications. The study also demonstrated excellent solder joint integrity, no void formation, and successful plating of 50-micron line-and-space geometries, supporting nickel-free finishes as a promising solution for the next generation of high-density, high-performance PCB designs.
Preserving Integrity
Massimo Passerini of Wise, an Italian company, passionately talked about preserving copper surface integrity to improve signal performance in next-generation high-speed PCBs in AI servers, defense, aerospace, and other high-bandwidth applications. He argued that while manufacturers invest heavily in ultra low profile copper laminates to minimize signal loss, conventional micro-etch processes partially negate those benefits by increasing surface roughness, removing copper, and generating chemical waste.
To address this, Wise collaborated with Plasma Clean to develop an atmospheric plasma surface activation process that replaces the first chemical micro-etch step with a dry, chemical-free treatment which demonstrated significant reductions in opens and shorts while also reducing water, chemical, energy, and maintenance costs, while providing a platform for multiple PCB fabrication processes beyond inner-layer preparation.
Reliability Study Results
Stan Heltzel, a materials engineer for the European Space Agency (ESA) delivered interim results from a four-year IPC Europe benchmarking initiative evaluating stacked microvia reliability across European PCB manufacturers. Driven by the stringent reliability requirements of space electronics, where failures cannot be repaired, the study compares manufacturing capabilities using standardized test vehicles, multiple accelerated-reliability methods, and advanced metallurgical analysis. The collaborative study seeks to better understand how materials, manufacturing processes, design, and process consistency influence microvia performance under extreme thermal and mechanical conditions.
Early results from six European manufacturers reveal measurable differences in reliability and demonstrate that progressively smaller microvias are an effective means to evaluate process capability and manufacturing margins. The work also highlights that material selection can have an even greater impact on reliability than manufacturing differences alone. By combining coupon testing with detailed failure analysis and process benchmarking, the project aims to establish best practices and qualification methods for next-generation HDI technologies. The benchmarking effort continues to expand, with additional European and international manufacturers now participating and a second phase focused on high-speed materials already underway.
Fittingly, next up was Dr. Maarten Cauwe of IMEC, who continued Stan Heltzel’s presentation and their work together with the ESA. The project aimed to qualify high speed HDI technology for next-generation space electronics, enabling higher data rates and finer features without compromising reliability. The team developed and evaluated a complex 30-layer HDI test vehicle incorporating three-level stacked microvias, multiple core via sizes, advanced laminate materials, and controlled copper thicknesses. Before moving to qualification, the project de-risked the technology through material characterization, thermal cycling, ISD testing, microvia reliability studies, and assembly evaluations.
One of the study's most significant findings was that two laminate materials with nearly identical published specifications performed dramatically differently under thermal stress. One successfully passed all microvia reliability tests while the other failed during preconditioning, thereby highlighting the critical role of manufacturing process optimization beyond just material selection. The research also showed that larger core vias and the removal of non-functional pads improved thermal endurance, providing valuable guidance for future high-speed HDI designs intended for demanding space applications.
Materials and Circularity
To close things out, Volker Klafki, of Ventec, discussed the “Glass Free Revolution” in material trends, answering the drive to low Dk, low loss, high performance advanced laminates. Professor Abu Saifullah of the University of Portsmouth in the UK presented his research findings around Jiva’s Soluboard material designed for sustainability and product circularity.
In all, the EIPC Summer Conference was jam-packed, productive, educational, and even inspirational. Excellent technical enrichment, an impressive facility tour, and ample time built into the schedule for business networking and socializing made for a successful event. My congratulations go out to the EIPC’s Rico Schluter, Kirsten Smit-Westenberg, and Carol Pelzers, as well as the presenters and sponsors who made this possible. I’m already looking forward to the next one.
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