Rogers Corp. will display a sampling of its wide array of electronic printed-circuit-board (PCB) material solutions at the IPC APEX EXPO™ in Las Vegas, NV (April 12-14, 2011) at the Mandalay Bay Resort & Convention Center. Rogers will feature materials ideally suited for RF as well as digital applications, including its Thetaâ, RT/duroid® 6035HTC, RO4000® LoPro™ laminates, and XT/duroid™ 8000 and 8100 laminates. IPC APEX EXPO is a premiere electronics industry event for PCB design, manufacturing and electronics testing.
Representatives from Rogers Advanced Circuit Materials Division will be at Booth #816 to explain the features and benefits of its high-performance circuit materials, including RoHS-compliant and halogen-free Theta circuit materials, which deliver outstanding performance in high-speed digital designs. Rogers Theta materials feature a coefficient of thermal expansion (CTE) in the z-axis that is 50 ppm/°C, or about 30 percent lower than standard FR-4, for reliable plated-through-holes (PTH) in multilayer circuits. Theta materials also meet UL-94-V-0 level flammability requirements and exhibit minimal loss, with low dissipation factor of 0.0118 at 1 GHz.
Rogers RT/duroid 6035HTC laminates feature a relative dielectric constant of 3.5 at 10 GHz, making them suitable for a wide range of circuits, including amplifiers, couplers, filters, and power combiners/dividers employed in avionic and other military and hi-rel systems. The laminates incorporate a unique filler material to achieve superior heat-transfer characteristics compared to other high frequency circuit materials with similar dielectric constant. These laminates exhibit outstanding thermal conductivity of 1.44 W/mK as well as low loss, with a loss tangent of 0.0013 at 10 GHz, for excellent high frequency performance. This combination of high thermal conductivity and low dielectric loss translates into improved amplifier performance.
The XT/duroid product line includes XT/duroid 8000 laminates for multilayer designs with as many as five layers and XT/duroid 8100 laminates for constructions with six or more circuit layers. Both laminates feature thin halogen-free dielectrics and are available with low-profile copper foil cladding for use in double-sided and multilayer printed circuit boards (PCB). Low profile copper bonded directly to the dielectric without the use of adhesives results in low insertion loss for these thin materials.
The highly reliable, flame-retardant laminates are thermally and chemically robust with extremely high melting points, making them well suited for rugged military and aerospace applications, including airborne lightning strike protection circuits, phased-array antennas, and unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV).
RO4000 LoPro laminates support high-speed, high-frequency circuits with low insertion loss, and improved signal integrity for ATE, wireless, and networking applications. These laminates achieve low PIM values, which are critical for antenna designs and feature a low z-axis coefficient of thermal expansion (CTE) over a wide temperature range for reliable plated-thru-hole performance in multilayer circuits. The LoPro family of laminates is compatible with standard printed-circuit-board (PCB) fabrication processing and lead-free assembly temperatures.
In addition to welcoming visitors on the exhibition floor, Rogers will participate in the IPC APEX EXPO technical conference. John Coonrod, Market Development Engineer for Rogers Advanced Circuit Materials Division, is scheduled to present “Understanding When to Use FR-4 Laminates or High Frequency Laminates” on Wednesday, April 13th, at 1:30 PM. His discussion will help PCB material specifiers match their material choices to the electrical and mechanical requirements for their applications.
