For several large companies, especially those in the mil-aero industries, there are distinct and critical advantages to buying from officially designated small businesses. The official definition of a small business is one with fewer than 750 employees. For unclear reasons, some companies have been less focused on these advantages than they used to be, so I thought it would be helpful to remind people of the advantages of working with these small businesses.

As electronics shrink and PCB density grows, traditional solder deposition methods such as stencil printing face significant challenges. One solution making substantial waves is solder paste jetting. Solder paste jetting is no secret. In fact, the development and commercialization of this technology has been around since the early 2000s. So, why now? We’ve arrived at a time in which the maturity of this technology has intersected with new demands of electronics manufacturing.

As members of the technical staff at Indium, Adam Murling, technical manager, and Ron Lasky, senior technologist and professor at Dartmouth University, know their way around metallurgy and solder formulation. I corralled them for a conversation on solder application techniques from the solder’s perspective and their insights did not disappoint.