Funding
Limata GmbH, which has developed a process based on ultra violet light-emitting diode (UV-LED) technology for exposing printed circuit boards, has attracted €790,000 from four investors to start up the company and support the launch of industrial precision machine for UV lithography of circuit printed boards.
The investors are High-Tech Gründerfonds, Bayern Kapital, Falk-Strascheg Holding and a business angel. The money will enable Limata to develop the technology and equipment and launch the product.
“Limata has a patented device [which will] substantially simplify the production of printed circuit boards for prototypes and small batches, and is thereby addressing a pressing demand from electronics manufacturers,” says Matthias Dill, investment manager at High-Tech Gründerfonds.
The main benefit will be a sharp reduction in costs. Along with a lower purchase price, production, maintenance and energy costs will be cut by up to 75 per cent using the UV-LED technology. Circuit designers will be able to cut development periods by up to 5 days and get printed circuit boards of high precision, regardless of the supplier. The device can be integrated in production immediately and provides flexibility with respect to the panel size and thickness. The machine can be operated directly from any workstation via the internal network.
Germany is the leading country in European for printed circuit boards, producing 50 per cent of the total output. “Ever since we started the development work we maintained close contact with PCB manufacturers in Germany. [...] This enabled us to gear our product perfectly to the customer’s requirements,” says Matthias Nagel, technical director at Limata.
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