Advanced Glass Reinforcement Technology for Improved Signal Integrity

An innovative approach to glass fiber reinforcement in laminates promises to resolve existing challenges with mechanical, electrical, and performance characteristics typically encountered in today’s high tech printed circuit designs. This uniquely woven glass fabric is flatter and thinner, which results in a more uniform laminate for mechanical and laser drilling. Furthermore, special properties of the glass fibers and the glass-to-resin interface predict improved CAF resistance. Performance characteristics are greatly enhanced due to homogeneous insulating layers between copper traces. A diminished “fiber weave effect” (FWE) is proposed as a function of homogeneity. Corollary signal skew is completely eliminated as a performance consideration. In its leading edge form, a proprietary glass reinforcement is combined with a high performance resin system to produce a laminate which provides superior signal integrity. Initial test results indicate a high performance system (FR-4 processable) with electrical characteristics of Dk = 3.00 and Df = 0.0040 at 10GHz. Introduction Among the many challenges facing the electronics industry today are those related to the “need for speed”. These include improved signal integrity requirements and increased product reliability, while at multi-GHz clock rates smaller threshold voltages and faster rise/fall times in picoseconds continue to challenge the industry to provide novel solutions. Numerous technical papers in recent years have proposed methods to deal with these challenges coining the phrase “fiber weave effect” or FWE to express one of the central issues. 1-7 While many solutions have been presented to deal with FWE, none have addressed the actual fiber in question, the woven glass fabric in the laminate material. The questions posed are this: Can an innovative glass fabric technology improve end product performance? Can a raw material so far back in the supply chain have an impact on leading edge industry challenges? The answer is Yes. Dielectric Solutions has developed a proprietary high performance glass fabric technology that demonstrates uniformity of glass weave resulting in a homogeneous reinforcement layer. In concert with readily available resin technologies, it can provide improved physical properties (laser and mechanical drilling, dimensional stability and surface