Rogers Corp., a leading supplier of high frequency laminate materials for circuit boards in amplifiers, antennas, switches, and microwave radios, will highlight several of its high-quality printed circuit board (PCB) materials at the upcoming IPC APEX EXPO® Conference & Exhibition.
With more than 400 exhibiting companies expected at the San Diego Convention Center February 19-21, 2013, the IPC APEX EXPO (www.ipcapexexpo.org) which includes a highly technical conference on new research and developments is one of the industry’s leading events for PCB designers. Representatives from Rogers Corporation’s (www.rogerscorp.com) Advanced Circuit Materials Division will be at Booth #2132 to provide advice and guidance on the optimal use of RO4835™ circuit materials, 2929 bondply, and MCL-HE-679G/THETA® circuit materials for both high-frequency analog and high-speed digital circuits.
Rogers’ next generation RO4000® materials, RO4835™ high frequency laminates, specially formulated with improved oxidation resistance were developed for applications needing a special level of electrical stability over time and temperature, while maintaining the cost advantages of a thermoset, FR-4 processable material. Just as with RO4350B material RO4835 laminates offer a dielectric constant of 3.48 at 10 GHz a low loss tangent of 0.0037 at 10 GHz, and a low z-axis coefficient of thermal expansion (CTE) for excellent plated-through-hole (PTH) reliability under a variety of processing and operating conditions. These improved oxidation resistance circuit materials exhibit x- and y-axis expansion coefficients similar to that of copper. RO4835 laminates are RoHS-compliant, do not require special preparation, and can be processed using standard fabrication methods.
2929 bondply material is a thin adhesive film well suited to the design and fabrication of reliable multi-layer circuits in combination with high performance core materials, including Rogers RT/duroid®, RO3000® and RO4000 laminates. The unreinforced thermoset adhesive film is available in several thicknesses (1.5, 2, and 3 mil), and sheets can be stacked to achieve thicker adhesive layers as needed. It has a low dielectric constant of 2.94 and low dissipation factor of less than 0.003 in the z axis at 10 GHz, and a proprietary cross-linking resin system that supports sequential bond processing. The 2929 bondply material also features controlled flow characteristics for excellent blind via fill results.
Digital circuit designers can achieve high levels of performance with Rogers’ halogen-free MCL-HE-679G/THETA laminates and prepreg products. RoHS-compliant MCL-HE-679G/THETA circuit materials boast minimal conductor and dielectric losses in support of superior signal-integrity (SI) performance. MCL-HE-679G/THETA laminates exhibit a relative dielectric constant of 3.90 in the z-direction at 1 GHz, with low dissipation factor of 0.009 at 1 GHz. These laminates are engineered for high reliability over temperature, with a coefficient of thermal expansion (CTE) of only 50 ppm/°C in the z direction, which is about 30% lower than standard FR-4 circuit materials. Such CTE performance is directly related to improved reliability of PCB plated through holes (PTHs), buried, blind and stacked via structures in complex sequential lamination multilayer structures. MCL-HE-679G/THETA circuit materials feature a high glass transition temperature (Tg) for high-yield, lead-free processing.
Attend John Coonrod’s presentation at the IPC APEX EXPO High Frequency Technical Course Track (S18) and learn about the loss characteristics of different circuit materials and circuit configurations. John has published articles across a wide range of technical journals and magazines and is a major contributor to the Rogers’ ROG blog. His presentation, “Insertion Loss Comparisons of Common High Frequency PCB Constructions,” is scheduled for 1:30 – 3:30 PM on February 20, 2013.