Material Area
Development of PCB substrate material for high frequency application
Background of Research
The fastest growth segment in the PCB industry and market is in high speed/high frequency applications. Much of the growth in this area is due to military technology being reengineered for commercial applications such as global positioning systems(GPS), collision avoidance systems and wireless data transmission system (e.g. bluetooth technology). When choosing a material for PCB used in these high speed and high frequency applications, a designer must consider the important of both dielectric constant, loss tangent, thickness, tolerances and consistency, thermal and mechanical stability, moisture adsorption, ease of circuit fabrication and cost.
In recent years, complex, high density and multi-layer PCBs have been manufactured with technology toward small via, thinner dielectrics, finer lines/spaces and higher layer counts. PCB substrate materials have kept pace with these developments by transitioning to higher temperature resin, better reliability and controlled impedance.
Objective
To investigate mechanisms of improving electrical, mechanical and thermal properties of PCB material to meet the high speed and high frequency applications.
