Tokyo, Japan – After a three-year absence from the market, Mitsubishi Electric Corp. will resume sales of its ultraviolet (UV) micro-via hole cutting systems. The company expects to market the machines next fiscal year in Japan, South Korea, China and Taiwan.
Mitsubishi is said to hold about a 60% share of the global market for these hole cutting machines. Back in 2008, the company stopped marketing them because of the relatively high starting and maintenance costs, which had become an obstacle to sales. Improvements made to the UV machines and the growing use of flexible circuits, including their market's improvement, led to re-entry into the hole drilling business.
Mitsubishi now uses a high-performance laser oscillator that increases the machine cutting rate from 200-300 holes per second up to 800 holes per second.
The company expects to sell 10 units of the new UV laser cutting system in the first year.