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Almost 10 years ago, Pete Starkey interviewed Joan Tourné, inventor and CEO of his new company, NextGin Technology. Joan’s resume included many years as a director at Mommers Print Service in the Netherlands, and then as advanced technology and business director with Viasystems Group. He had just secured his IP for a vertical conductive structure (VeCS), a novel means of creating high density vertical interconnections for semiconductors and complex, high layer count PCBs.
This month, we re-examine VeCS technology, a method for HDI PCB fabrication with large backplane-type boards developed in partnership with Wus, which uses the technology in its factories. VeCS has not gained much traction in other areas or among smaller shops, and as domestic U.S. and European fabricators struggle with whether and how they will meet next-gen density requirements, having all options on the table seems prudent.
Whether some fabricators find it controversial or problematic, Pete’s original 2017 interview with Joan holds up, and it is incumbent upon technology journalists to keep the spotlight on innovation with the hope for more discussion. Whether, ultimately, VeCS is more widely adopted, other innovative solutions to our high density challenges may be discovered as a result of this discourse.
What Does VeCS Offer PCB Fabrication?
A fundamental challenge when building very high density PCBs is the difficulty in reliably plating vias that are beyond a 1:1 aspect ratio. In his work, Joan partnered with Wus to experiment with various oblong slot dimensions that tested the throw of the plating chemistry, as a supplement to the traditional round hole/via shape, which inherently has shorter plating throw capacity.
Importantly, VeCS does not require different equipment or processes from those used in traditional PCB fabrication for drilling/routing or plating. The slot system in VeCS is created through standard CNC drilling, or micromachining to create the specific shape at different slot depths for VeCS-1 (blind vias) and VeCS-2 (buried vias) connections.
To continue reading this article, which appeared in the August 2026 I-Connect007 Magazine, click here.
