APEI, Inc.’s wet processing lab is a Class 1,000 facility devoted to the fabrication of both high and low power prototype substrates. As a completely self-contained process, APEI engineers can rapidly design and fabricate a layout in the fraction of the time it would take elsewhere. A dry film photolithographic process is employed, during which a photosensitive film is deposited on a substrate such as direct bond copper (DBC), direct bond aluminum (DBA), or similar metalized dielectric assembly. The film is then masked, exposed, developed, etched, and stripped, resulting in a fully patterned electronic substrate. Post processing capabilities (such as nickel and gold plating) are also performed in this facility.

Single and multi-layer ceramic substrates are fabricated at the nearby low temperature co-fired ceramic (LTCC) Class 10,000 facility operated by HiDEC. Ceramic substrates offer numerous material properties and characteristics which are well suited for high-temperature and high-frequency environments. Elements such as integrated passives (inductors, transformers, capacitors, resistors, etc.) can be implemented from a wide variety of screen-printable pastes.