Virtual First: AT&S focuses on virtual development

AT&S is a pioneer in the electronics industry when it comes to the introduction and use of digital tools in the development of new products and processes. Over the past ten years, the company has acquired unique knowledge in the areas of material characterization and simulation, which enables customers to carry out expensive development processes virtually instead of testing physical prototypes at great expense. Virtual product development was further expanded as part of the major EU-funded projects iRel40 and IPCEI ME/CT. iRel40 was successfully completed in 2024, IPCEI ME/CT will run until 2026.

“The electronics industry has a somewhat divided relationship with material physics. In most other industrial fields, a lot of emphasis is placed on understanding materials and their behavior as precisely as possible. This knowledge is then used in simulations to create the best and most durable products. In contrast, the electronics industry today is still very much focused on “build and test”. We also wanted to use the possibilities of modern simulation tools and started to build up the corresponding expertise and capacities ten years ago. Today we are the most advanced company in the industry in this area,” explains Thomas Krivec, who is responsible for virtual development in the AT&S research and development department.

Through numerous measurements and analyses over the years, AT&S has built up a materials database that is unique in the industry, a precise record of the mechanical, electrical and thermal properties of industry-relevant materials. “Our database includes the metals, resins, solder masks, coatings and composite materials that we need to manufacture IC substrates and printed circuit boards. We use this information advantage to test products virtually with different material combinations in our simulations. This allows us to optimize much faster and more cost-effectively,” explains Thomas Krivec.

Virtual development, concrete savings

Today, the AT&S material database contains around 900 entries and new materials and additional measurements are constantly being added. The simulation team in Hinterberg now employs six engineers who use this wealth of knowledge and work day and night to improve the virtual product models further. “We can compare substrates and PCBs made from standard materials in the simulation with several alternative compositions and evaluate the expected service life, mechanical deformation and other parameters. This allows us to see which materials have advantages and where there might be risks. In the meantime, word has spread among customers that AT&S has a head start here and the market is beginning to copy our data-based approach,” explains Markus Frewein, head of the AISS simulation group.

In the future, the virtual part of the development and optimization of printed circuit boards and substrates will continue to increase. AT&S is supported in this by major European research funding projects. As part of iRel 40, AT&S has recently improved its simulation capabilities by developing a process that allows the virtual analysis of mechanical deformation of various materials in smartphone mainboards during repeated heating. This also allows the expected service life to be predicted. The results were recently published in a book by the 73 European partner organizations involved. “We are very proud of our contribution to the iREL40 book. We think we were also able to show how important it is to have good and valid material models,” says Julia Zündel, manager of the materials team at AT&S R&D.

Virtual development also plays an important role in the current IPCEI ME/CT (Important Project of Common European Interest on Microelectronics and Communication Technologies), which aims to promote the development of a European microchip ecosystem. The new AT&S plant in Leoben will research and produce the sophisticated IC substrates that are essential for high-performance microchips. “The complex IC substrates required for microchips in AI data centers, for example, are relatively expensive to produce. This makes virtual product development even more attractive because we can deliver better products to customers faster without the costs exploding,” explains Krivec. For AT&S, this is an opportunity to position itself in a number of new markets. The lead in material characterization and simulation, the growing demands of the chip industry and a European interest in the technology provide optimal conditions for AT&S’s “Virtual First” approach. The future of the electronics industry lies in the digital models in Hinterberg.