Could someone please give me a general guideline concerning the additional
cost of using blind vias on a PCB?  Perhaps there is someone out there in
the PCB fabrication business or a fellow designer that has done some
extensive research into this?

I posted the above questions to the IPC Designer Council forum last week and
have not, to date, received a single, helpful response.  Perhaps someone
here can help answer these questions.

The following is from a follow-up posting to the DC forum - I think it
appropriate to post it here, as well, as food for thought -

In a recent posting, Your Opinoin Needed - Designers Learning Symposium, I
notice that blind and buried vias were included in the 'newer technologies'
category.  I also find that most designers are reluctant to use blind and/or
buried vias, for various reasons.  Blind and buried vias have been around
for over a decade, they are not new.  I have a great article from the March
1988 issue of PCD magazine talking about the use of blind and buried vias
down to 2 mils in size!  I am frustrated that PCB fabricators are failing to
keep up with the industry they support and continue to charge excessive
prices for such an old process.  Much of today's technology require the use
of blind and/or buried vias - I say it is time for designers to get over
their paranoia and for fabricators to stop taking advantage of it!

Isn't it time we stopped considering blind and buried vias as a 'new
technology'?

Ray Humphrey
Senior PCB Designer
Maxim Integrated Products

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Technet Mail List provided as a free service by IPC using LISTSERV 1.8d
To unsubscribe, send a message to [log in to unmask] with following text in
the BODY (NOT the subject field): SIGNOFF Technet
To temporarily halt delivery of Technet send the following message: SET Technet NOMAIL
Search previous postings at: www.ipc.org > On-Line Resources & Databases > E-mail Archives
Please visit IPC web site (http://www.ipc.org/html/forum.htm) for additional
information, or contact Keach Sasamori at [log in to unmask] or 847-509-9700 ext.5315
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------