Benefits and Drawbacks of HDI

High density interconnect (HDI) is a technology that is rapidly becoming popular in PCB design and various electronic product integrations. It offers a more denser construction on the board by placing smaller components in a closer position, which also leads to shorter paths between components. However, every coin has two sides, so in this article, let’s discuss its benefits and drawbacks.

Benefits of HDI

HDI board has micro vias of incredibly diameter, buried or blind vias or a combination to facilitate the incorporation of more technology into less space with fewer layers. Multilayer HDI boards are commonly used, many of which are accommodated by various building methods that use blind, buried, stacked, and staggered vias.

With smaller components, blind via and via in pad technology, components can be placed closer together, and this can increase signal transmission rates, and reduce crossing delays and signal loss. These are all key considerations for improving HDI PCB performance.
HDI board is the top choice for applications where space, performance, reliability and weight are concerns. This makes them suitable for almost every applications related to electronics, consumer products, computers and aerospace.
Multilayer HDI boards provide a powerful interconnection with stacked vias, so they are of high-level reliability even in more extreme environments.

HDI Drawbacks
While the benefits of HDI are considerable, HDI has its drawbacks as well.
Machine used to manufacture HDI boards are expensive. Such equipment includes laser drilling machine, laser direct imaging processes, and other specialized manufacturing equipment and materials. 
Attention to detail is crucial in the design and manufacture of HDI printed circuit boards, and this requires professional knowledge and experience. Thus, the high cost of HDI board also includes operator training expense.