Isola Highlights Advanced Materials for Hybrid Circuits at PCB West 2022

Smaller circuits with greater functionality are possible with the advanced circuit materials developed by Isola Group (www.isola-group.com) and being shown at the PCB West 2022 Exhibition on Wednesday, October 5, 2022 at the Santa Clara Convention Center in Santa Clara, CA. Combining laminate and prepreg materials optimized for power, RF/microwave, and high-speed-digital (HSD) circuits results in miniaturized and efficient multilayer mixed-signal assemblies that can fit the tightest places and provide the high performance and diverse functionality needed for modern electronic products. Isola’s represents will offer guidance on the most effective use of their materials, whether for high-volume commercial applications or aerospace and defense (A&D) systems chasing reduce size, weight, and power (SWaP) requirements.

For more than 30 years, the PCB West Conference & Exhibition has linked suppliers and users of printed-circuit-board (PCB) materials. The 2022 edition (www.pcbwest2022.com) features the one-day exhibition as well as a highly educational conference scheduled from October 4-7, 2022 aimed at both designers and manufacturers of analog, digital, and hybrid mixed-signal PCBs. More than 2500 visitors are expected to attend the one-day exhibition to gather information from more than 100 exhibitors. Isola Group has reserved Booth #312 on the PCB West 2022 exhibition floor.

With manufacturing facilities in Europe, Asia, and multiple sites in the U. S., Isola is truly a global circuit material developer and manufacturer offering assurance of consistent and dependable supply chains. Backed by robust design and manufacturing service capabilities, the company is constantly evolving and enhancing its product lines for greater ease of manufacturing even for hybrid, mixed-signal designs, employing straightforward baseline FR-4 manufacturing processes for many of its circuit materials. Laminate and prepreg materials cover a wide range of applications spanning aerospace and defense, automotive and transportation, communications, computing, industrial, medical, RF/microwave, and test and measurement systems.

Isola materials at the PCB West 2022 Exhibition include circuit materials that are designed to be used together in hybrid mixed-signal circuits but also to be processed tother with well-established methods, such as material processes used for FR-4. Examples include lead-free-compatible (RoHS-compliant), standard-loss 370HR materials and I-Tera® MT40 low-loss materials for higher-frequency circuits. Based on a patented, multifunction epoxy-resin formulation, 370HR materials support compact circuit designs with high-density interconnections while delivering high thermal reliability from -55 to +125°C. It has a typical dielectric constant (Dk) of 4.17 through the thickness (z-axis) at 1 GHz, decreasing lightly with frequency to 3.92 at 10 GHz. 370HR materials exhibit standard loss, with dissipation factor of 0.0161 at 1 GHz and 0.0250 at 10 GHz

For multilayer circuits requiring lower loss at higher frequencies, I-Tera® MT40 circuit materials has lower Df of typically 0.0028 at 2 GHz and 0.0035 at 10 GHz, with typical Dk through the z-axis of 3.45 at both 2 and 10 GHz. Its thermal characteristics are like those of 370HR, and it can be transformed into PCBs with standard FR-4 manufacturing processes. For extremely low loss at higher frequencies and in HSD circuits, Astra® MT77 has Dk of typically 3.00 at 2 and 10 GHz which remains at that value even with large swings in temperature. It has low Df of 0.0017 at 2 and 10 GHz and is manufactured with the same FR-4-like processes applied to 370HR and I-Tera MT40 materials.

These are several examples of the manufacturing-process-compatible circuit materials on display at the Isola booth at the PCB West 2022 Exhibition. The materials are available as laminates with a wide selection of copper weights and as prepregs, as dielectric materials without metallization. Compatible with FR-4 manufacturing processes, the materials maintain consistent performance across operating temperatures from -55 to +125°C with the high interconnect density needed tor modern circuit miniaturization. For more information about any of these materials, please see Isola at the PCB West 2022 Exhibition on October 5, 2022 or visit the Isola website at www.isola-group.com.

About Isola

Isola Group (www.isola-group.com) is a leading global developer and supplier of advanced electronic circuit materials for high-voltage, high-power, high-speed, and high-frequency PCBs. By performing ongoing R & D on emerging circuit applications, such as military radar and EW systems, commercial 5G communications networks, and vehicle electronification, and operating a network of global factories, Isola provides cost-effective, high-performance solutions for the most challenging electronic single-layer and multilayer PCB applications.