everything RF recently interviewed Diana Toruno, the General Manager of Accumet. Accumet is an industry-leading advanced processing manufacturer for new and legacy materials fabrication, precision laser services, and critical component assembly. They offer some of the most innovative manufacturing techniques. They have pioneered a variety of proven techniques for lapping, polishing, diamond sawing, laser drilling, cutting, rotary marking, ablation, and welding that have become de facto industry standards.
Q. Can you share a brief history of Accumet—when the company was founded and how it has evolved over the years?
Diana Toruno: Accumet was founded in 1970 to provide production-scale lapping, polishing, and diamond sawing services. Over time, we expanded into laser machining—cutting, drilling, marking, ablation, and eventually welding—as the needs of high-frequency and high-reliability markets grew. A key milestone came in 2019, when Accumet Engineering and Laser Services merged, bringing together decades of expertise in ceramic machining and finishing with advanced laser processing. Today, from our facility in Devens, Massachusetts, we support aerospace, defense, RF/microwave, medical, and semiconductor programs that require precision, repeatability, and reliability.
Q. Accumet’s expertise spans precision lapping, polishing, laser machining, and welding. Could you walk us through your core service portfolio and the industries that depend on these solutions?
Diana Toruno: Our portfolio centers on three main capabilities:
- Laser processing: Cutting, drilling, ablation, marking, and welding across metals, ceramics, foils, and engineered polymers.
- Ceramic machining: Processing alumina, aluminum nitride, quartz, and sapphire to create vias, cutouts, and complex geometries.
- Lapping and polishing: Achieving the flatness, surface finish, and thickness control needed for repeatable high-frequency performance.
These services support a wide range of industries. Aerospace and defense companies rely on us for components that must meet the highest standards of reliability. Medical device manufacturers turn to us for precision welding, marking and material handling. Electronics and semiconductor firms depend on our ability to deliver substrates and parts with the dimensional accuracy and consistency required for advanced RF designs.
Q. Laser machining is one of your core strengths. What advantages does it offer over traditional methods for RF substrates, and how do you achieve the tolerances, edge quality, and dimensional stability needed for high-frequency applications?
Diana Toruno: Laser machining offers advantages that mechanical or chemical processes can’t match. There’s no tool wear, so the first via looks the same as the ten-thousandth. It enables finer features, cleaner edges, and less stress on brittle materials like ceramics.
To achieve the tolerances and edge quality RF applications require, we carefully tune laser wavelength, pulse width, and energy density for each substrate. Fixturing maintains dimensional stability, while in-process metrology ensures accuracy. That combination allows us to consistently deliver the smooth edges and precise geometries that support stable impedance and low loss at high frequencies.
Laser Machining
Q. Materials play a critical role in RF and microwave performance. Can you tell us more about your expertise with ceramics and specialty substrates, and why these materials are so important for RF/microwave and microelectronics applications?
Diana Toruno: High-frequency designs depend on ceramic materials because they provide stable dielectric properties, low loss, and strong thermal management. We work extensively with:
- Alumina, valued for its balance of performance and manufacturability.
- Aluminum nitride, chosen for its high thermal conductivity in high-power designs.
- Quartz and sapphire, used where dimensional stability and dielectric consistency are critical.
Over the decades, we’ve refined ways to cut, drill, lap, and polish these substrates. That expertise ensures we can deliver materials that meet both the electrical and mechanical requirements of complex RF and microwave assemblies.
Q. In RF and microwave systems, the surface finish and flatness of substrates can directly affect signal integrity. How do your lapping and polishing processes help optimize these parameters for low-loss, repeatable designs?
Diana Toruno: Surface finish and flatness have a direct impact on performance. A rough surface increases scattering losses, and variations in thickness or parallelism can disrupt impedance control. Our lapping and polishing processes are designed to minimize those risks. By tailoring each step—slurry, plate, pressure, and cycle time—to the material and specification, we achieve extremely smooth and flat surfaces. Advanced metrology confirms that substrates meet the required tolerances, giving engineers confidence that their designs will perform consistently across multiple production runs.
Lapping Process
Q. Accumet also works with microwave absorber materials. Can you explain the types of absorbers you provide, and whether these are stocked, customized, or both, depending on customer requirements?
Diana Toruno: We provide both stocked and custom absorber solutions. Many customers use ECCOSORB® foams and elastomers, which we keep in inventory for quick delivery. For projects requiring unique shapes or precise cutouts, we use our laser equipment to produce custom parts to print. Beyond foams, we also offer honeycomb structures, rigid and castable, and absorbers This range of options allows us to support everything from rapid prototyping to large-scale production, depending on the customer’s needs.
Q. Can you give us an overview of your facility and the key capabilities it offers to support diverse customer requirements?
Diana Toruno: Our Devens, Massachusetts facility was designed to bring all of our core services together. It includes:
- Laser labs for micromachining, welding, and marking.
- Lapping and polishing equipment for both thin wafers and thicker ceramic plates.
- Metrology systems to verify flatness, roughness, and feature accuracy at every stage.
Accumet Factory Floor
By consolidating what used to be multiple locations into one modern site, we’ve created a streamlined environment. Projects move seamlessly from ceramic machining to laser processing to final polishing, with quality checks throughout. That integration helps us shorten lead times and maintain the high level of consistency our customers expect.
Accumet's Devens, Massachusetts facility
Q. Serving aerospace, defense, and other high-reliability markets requires stringent certifications. Could you tell us about the certifications you maintain and how they support your ability to meet the needs of these demanding industries?
Diana Toruno: We maintain AS9100 and ISO 9001 certifications and are ITAR compliant. These certifications shape how we run our business every day. AS9100 ensures our processes align with the requirements of aerospace and defense programs. ISO 9001 reinforces our commitment to quality management and continuous improvement. ITAR compliance allows us to work securely on defense-related projects. Together, they provide customers with assurance that we meet not only their specifications but also the industry standards governing their sectors.
Testing process at Accumet Facility
Q. Looking ahead, what’s next for Accumet? Are there new service offerings, technologies, or capabilities on the horizon that you can share?
Diana Toruno: We’re continuing to invest in capacity, automation, and technology. On the laser side, we’re adding systems that can achieve finer features at higher throughput. In ceramics, we’re scaling our lapping and polishing operations to handle the growing demand from RF and semiconductor customers. We’re also expanding our absorber conversion services so that customers can get both stocked materials and custom parts from a single source. These investments are all aimed at the same outcome: giving our customers the ability to take on more complex, ambitious designs with the confidence that we can deliver at scale.
About Accumet
Accumet is an industry-leading advanced processing manufacturer for new and legacy materials fabrication, precision laser services, and critical component assembly. They offer some of the most innovative manufacturing techniques. They have pioneered a variety of proven techniques for lapping, polishing, diamond sawing, laser drilling, cutting, rotary marking, ablation, and welding that have become de facto industry standards.
