BANNOCKBURN, IL – Research on surface finishes for HDI boards has been selected for the best paper award for the upcoming IPC Apex Expo 2020 technical conference. Taking top honors in the domestic paper category is “Reliable Nickel-Free Surface Finish Solution for High-Frequency-HDI PCB Applications” by Kunal Shah, Ph.D., of LiloTree.  

Honorable mention went to “Comparative Corrosion: Engineered Aqueous Cleaner vs. pH Neutral — Round 1” by David Lober and Mike Bixenman of Kyzen.

Papers were evaluated by the IPC Apex Expo Technical Program Committee and judged on their technical content, originality, test procedures and data used to deduce conclusions, quality of illustrations and the clarity and professionalism of writing, as well as value to the industry.

The winning paper in the international paper category is “High-Density PCB Technology Assessment for Space Applications” by Maarten Cauwe, Ph.D., IMEC-Cmst. Cauwe’s coauthors were Erwin Bosman, ACB NV; Alexia Coulon, Thales Alenia Space; Stan Heltzel, European Space Agency; Chinmay Nawghane, IMEC; Marnix Van De Slyeke, ACB NV; Bart Vandevelde, IMEC; and Joachim Verhegge, ACB.

Honorable mention went to “Optimization of PCB SI Coupon Design that Minimizes Discontinuity through Via-In-Pad Plated Over (VIPPO) Technique” by Juhee Lee, Kyeongsoo Kim, Kyungsoo Lee and Namdong Lee of ISU Petasys.

To register for IPC Apex Expo, visit ipcapexexpo.org.