A Review of Epoxy Materials And Reinforcements, Part 1

摘要

The most widely used base material for PCB production is woven-glass-cloth-reinforced epoxy, or FR-4. However, demand for high-performance and green applications is providing the impetus for developing new materials. The term "high-performance" means various things in various applications and therefore needs clarification. The following areas are considered high-performance: 1. Boards with special thermal requirements, either because they will operate continuously or intermittently in high-temperature environments or because they must handle high concentrations of power in small areas. 2. Large or high-layer-count boards that are extremely complex to manufacture; includes boards with complex etched patterns requiring precise registration. 3. Boards requiring controlled thermal expansion characteristics due to special assembly technologies (flip chip, chip-on-board) or enhanced reliability needs (via reliability). 4. Boards with special or tightened electrical requirements, especially those requiring a low dielectric constant for low propagation delay, lower crosstalk and higher clock rates, and a low dissipation factor for low attenuation, better signal integrity, higher clock rates, and lower power consumption in portable electronics.