Case Studies

Microhole drilling services

Situation: Customer requested proposal related to Microhole Drilling parts with diameters as small as 10-microns. (Potomac can drill microholes as small as 1 micron). Problem: Electronics company required a 1-week turnaround on 21 different designs related to parts that required multiple microhole diameters and patterns in two different types of material. Challenge: Provide a rapid…

Prototyping At The Speed Of Light

Situation: Potomac was contacted by a start-up medical device company regarding the possibility of shortening prototyping lead times for a polymer device that they were developing. Problem At the time, our customer was using mask technology to generate their prototypes, which resulted in long lead times (6+weeks) because new masks had to be fabricated each time…

Strain gauge circuit to be embedded in fiberglass

Situation: Miniature electronic circuits to be embedded in fiberglass were needed by an airframe research group. Problem Techniques were required for building miniature electronic circuits that could be embedded in a fiberglass structure. Miniaturization was needed to avoid mechanical perturbation of the structure, and a single layer design was desirable. Solution Single-layer high-density electronic interconnect structures…

Laser micromachining: ramp-up of complex semiconductor part

Situation: A Fortune 500 contract manufacturer approached Potomac to develop a process to manufacture very high aspect ratio channels in a copper substrate to be used for chip cooling in high-end computers Phase I – Project Requirements Potomac worked closely with client to understand all of the project requirements including technical specifications, materials timing, and…

Wireless Sensor Project (WiSP) at Potomac Photonics

WiSP is a collaboration between Potomac Photonics, Potomac Mesosystems, and Gray Technologies. Potomac Mesosystems and Gray Technologies, under direction and co-funding from Potomac Photonics, are collaborating on a project they are calling the Wireless Sensor Project (WiSP). The goal of this work is to create a network of wireless sensor nodes that communicate with mobile…