500-MHz circuit boards and beyond

Nov. 22, 2002
Non-PTFE thermoset laminates from the Advanced Circuit Materials Div., Rogers Corp., Chandler, Ariz. (www.rogerscorporation.com), have a low dielectric tolerance and loss.
RO4003 high-frequency circuit materials currently come in both 1080 and 1674 glass fabric laminations.

This lets designers of high-frequency automotive electronics and automated test equipment build circuit boards, which operate at frequencies above 500 MHz. The temperature coefficient of the dielectric constant on the RO4000 Series is reportedly among the lowest of any circuit-board material. This makes it an ideal candidate for temperature-sensitive applications.

The RO4000 laminates are built from glass-reinforced hydrocarbon/ceramic. They have stable electrical properties versus frequency and low Z-axis thermal expansion, which reportedly provides unmatched plated through-hole quality, despite severe thermal shock. The laminates also have a thermal coefficient of expansion similar to that of copper, which gives them good dimensional stability when used in dielectric multilayer boards.

Typical applications for the circuit-board materials include LNBs for direct broadcast satellites, cellular base station antennas and power amplifiers, spread-spectrum communication systems, and RF identification tags.

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