MUNICH -- Day 3 at Productronica has come and gone, with fireworks both literal and figurative.

We spent most of the day reviewing bare board fabrication equipment and printed circuit materials. The PCB fabrication exhibits have shrunk over the years and are now down to about one hall (although exhibitors were spread over two, intermingled with large lounge areas and contract assemblers). Like the (much bigger) assembly sections, the exhibitors felt Tuesday's traffic was slow, but Wednesday and Thursday were strong.

Ten years ago, Productronica featured lots of large plating and develop/etch/strip lines and lamination equipment designed for large and heavy backplanes. Meanwhile, machines shown at the CPCA Show in Shanghai could fit in a shoebox. That equation has completely flipped: Productronica is now characterized by ample models of small-scale prototype and batch production equipment. Still, the number and quality of lines far outpaces that of all other Western shows (namely IPC Apex).

Ten years ago, seemingly overnight sensors made their way into almost all equipment. We witnessed perhaps the beginning of a similar surge in robotics: several systems had robotic arms or handlers, including Kuttler's Cleanline loader.

Notable for its absence was Hitachi, the world's largest PCB drill supplier. Nor did I see any laser drills onsite.

Most major laminate and material vendors were there, including Kingboard, Isola, Nelco, Rogers, ITEQ, OMG, Uyemura, Dow and others. There was a difference of opinion as to how important halogen-free materials are today, with some vendors asserting they are of low priority and others (Shengyi Tech, for one) indicating high demand, especially in Japan and Europe. Many echoed Arlon, which said it saw plenty of demand for high temperature materials. Iteq sees business flattening, while others willing to comment were slightly to somewhat more positive. Most felt the next two or three quarters would be bumpy, and there were complaints of Chinese knockoffs of both raw materials and finished laminate. The good news is that shortages of glass and other raw materials brought about by the March earthquake in Japan have receded.

It's remarkable how many Germany-based equipment manufacturers remain, even though the "Continent" has seen its bare board industry decimated. (It's more or less AT&S and then everyone else.) Bungard showed new lamination, UV exposure and drill and route machines. Walter Lemmen, another of the miniature line makers, had a UV LED maskless lithography machine and a compact final finish line (named, appropriately, Compacta).

Chemplate showed its Indubond 130N inductive bonding machine, said to facilitate pin registration for printed circuit board innerlayers. Miva had its new xDI direct imager. Print Process also had its Appollon-DIUV LED direct imager, which debuted earlier this year. Dynachem (no, that name will never go away) had a new cut-sheet laminator, the SmartLam 5000. Polymer Ag had a slick new cross-sectioning system for laser-drilled holes. The aptly named Micro Hole Cross Sectioning cross sections holes down to 0.003" starting from the center of the via, and can lop a two-hours-long manual process down to about 4 minutes.

Atotech showed several new products ranging from via fill to photoresist adhesion materials to the Touchless Transport System, which offers lateral guided transport of touch-sensitive surface such as embedded circuits for its Uniplate systems.

Kuttler showed a new Mylar peeler (P650) featuring an optical-based off-center adjustment. It also reported on, but did not have at the show, a new copper recovery system. Wet processing and handling OEM Pola e Massa was another that showcased robotic advancements.

Overhead at the show:

• Eastern Europe has been slow to adopt or attract fabrication, primarily because it lacks the process knowledge.
• FujiFilm is expected to announce Multiline as its distributor in Europe.
• Burkle will have a record year, buoyed by a strong first half in photovoltaic and other non-PCB equipment sales.
• Several companies suggest IPC Expo should be held on the opposite years of Productronica.

On the assembly side, a rumor began, then subsided, over inspection equipment OEM Koh Young's patents on dual lighting. The patents have been challenged in several nations as being overly broad. Koh Young reports courts in Korea and China have upheld the patents, however. The day ended with another fireworks display, courtesy of Juki. (We could get used to this.)

Tomorrow, we will have more on the assembly side of the show, plus comments from EMS companies.

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