Over 25 billion gallons of waste water are produced each year as byproducts of circuit board production. Wastes including copper, lead, nickel, chromium, dissolved organics, acids and caustics as well as chlorinated solvents must be treated and disposed of or recycled. Compliance with anti-pollution regulations has become extremely costly and increasingly complex.A technique for eliminating the waste problem at its source will be the subject of this research. This new method of printed circuit manufacture eliminates wet-processing and consequently the generation of hazardous waste.Though the process is totally different from any currently used, it does not require the invention of any new technology. It incorporates a series of processes, all of which are currently used in other applications. They simply have never been put together in this fashion or for this purpose.Circuit boards manufactured by this process will be of the same materials and will function the same as those manufactured by the current processes. Therefore, they will not require any changes in assembly or use.The process, once proven and put into commercial use, is so efficient and clean that it can eliminate 50% of the waste generation by the printed circuit industry within five years.Phase II: Optimize process, design, asemble and demonstrate a prototype printed circuit board processor to produce single-sided printed circuit boards in a single pass through the machine.Phase III, develop plans for a printed circuit board printer to produce double sided and multilayer printed circuit boards that incorporates a replacement for plated-through hole technology.Commercial ApplicationsProvide equipment to original equipment manufacturers and printed circuit producers for prototype circuits and small and large production.
