Issue link: https://iconnect007.uberflip.com/i/1361971
64 PCB007 MAGAZINE I APRIL 2021 Interview by Nolan Johnson I-CONNECT007 Nolan Johnson speaks with Michael Gay of Isola and Chris Hunrath of Insulectro about the release of their new halogen-free, high- thermal reliability material, which they hope fills the gap in the market between epoxies and polyimides. Nolan Johnson: I understand there's something new on the market for us to talk about. Why don't you tell us what it is and what the appli- cation is? Michael Gay: Quite a few years ago, the auto- motive industry OEMs were looking for an al- ternative to ceramic-based materials for high temperature applications. ey wanted some- thing that was less costly. ey wanted some- thing that would fill in the gap between typical FR-4 applications and ceramics. A consortium called e Help Project was developed with several large OEMs and other industry par- ticipants in the automotive sector who want- ed to work together and develop this materi- al. We started with about a half-dozen different candidates and then whittled it down, making comparison to products like 370HR, which is a typical FR-4 lead-free compatible material. We started doing evaluations and we came up with the product we now call IS550H. Johnson: And this is a new product? Gay: Yes, it's brand new. We launched this prod- uct about four or five weeks ago. e product is manufactured in Asia. It's really directed to- ward the automotive industry, but because of the properties of the material, it can actually be applied to other industries where high temper- atures and high voltage CAF performance are required. Johnson: From the automotive application per- spective, how is this a response to the demands of OEMs? Chris Hunrath: High-speed charging is an ob- vious area of concern, and one of the ways you accomplish that is using higher voltage. You need something with very good dielec- Isola Releases IS550H Material