Panasonic Corporation announced that its Industrial Solutions Company has commercialized R-5410, Halogen-free Ultra-low Transmission Loss Multi-layer Circuit Board Material suitable for mmWave antennas. Mass production begins March 2021.
Radar systems transmit signals and receive signals reflected by objects in their path. By processing the reflected signal, a radar system can determine the range, velocity and angle of the objects. mmWave radar is a key technology for automotive, telecommunications and other industries. These systems form the basis for the driving environment recognition platforms which enable advanced driver-assistance systems technology.
With the aim of achieving enhanced Mobile BroadBand (eMBB), massive machine type communications (mMTC), and ultra-reliable and low latency communications in 5G, wireless communication base stations also use mmWave bandwidths with beamforming technologies based on massive-element antennas. The rapid adoption of mmWave radar has increased the performance requirements for high-frequency circuit boards used for wireless communications. Demand has increased for multi-layer circuit board materials that exhibit low transmission loss in the mmWave band.
Historically, fluoropolymer circuit board materials have been primarily used for manufacturing antenna circuit boards. However, these fluoropolymer materials are thermoplastic and can be difficult to process into multi-layer constructions. The newly developed R-5410 Halogen-free Ultra-low Transmission Loss Multi-Layer Circuit Board Material is a prepreg material made from a unique non-fluoropolymer thermosetting resin system. This new prepreg enables multi-layer antenna constructions using industry-standard circuit board lamination manufacturing processes and equipment. This feature increases the flexibility of high-frequency circuit board designs, enabling compact and high-density modules integrated with antennas at reduced material and processing costs and improving the efficiency of antenna performance.
Panasonic's new halogen-free ultra-low transmission loss multi-layer circuit board material has the following features:
1. R-5410 has lower transmission loss which improves the efficiency of mmWave band antenna signals
• Transmission loss: 0.079 dB/mm (at 79 GHz)
• (Panasonic's conventional product: 0.081 dB/mm)
2. R-5410 enables multi-layer antenna constructions and improves the design flexibility of high frequency circuit boards
3. R-5410 reduces processing costs during circuit board manufacturing
• Panasonic's conventional product (ultra-low transmission loss multi-layer circuit board materials, MEGTRON7 R-5785)
Suitable applications include mmWave antenna circuit boards (e.g. automotive mmWave radars, wireless communication base stations) and high speed transmission circuit boards.