Issue link: https://iconnect007.uberflip.com/i/1437606
DECEMBER 2021 I PCB007 MAGAZINE 43 developed to give us some unique properties specific to our applications. So, we are doing some of our own polymer synthesis work which is supported by equipment such as our nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) unit. Much of our product development work today is focused around 5G and automotive market needs, where electrical, thermal, and CAF resistance properties are critical. With 5G, of course, every component of the prod- uct is critical—the resin system, the glass cloth that's reinforcing it, as well as copper foils. We are very focused on combining these raw materials in ways that meet the OEMs' require- ments while also providing a prod- uct that is as easy to use as possible for our PCB manufacturing cus- tomers. Matties: What about halogen-free products? E. Kelley: Historically, Isola hasn't had many halogen-free prod- ucts; that's been a more recent focus. If you look at the wired tele- com space, for example, there are needs in different loss segments, and therefore different levels of electrical performance for our products. We have a complete portfolio of the non-halo- gen-free materials, and now we're looking at filling in the halogen-free offering. Very soon we will be introducing an extremely low loss product called TerraGreen 400G, which is also halogen-free. As these extremely low-loss materials are more costly, we are seeing an increase in hybrid PCB stackups where PCB designers use the extremely low loss materials in critical layers and use less expensive materials in other lay- ers. Since we want to keep the whole stackup halogen-free, we need to have halogen-free products that have different loss characteris- tics. Much of our recent work has been on fill- ing in those halogen-free segments. Matties: What customer interactions do you have here with the lab? Are they coming in, and what are their needs? E. Kelley: ere were a lot more coming in prior to COVID, but we still do a lot of testing. For example, we have a Technical Program Man- agement (TPM) group. Some of our appli- cations engineering support people who are customer-facing will help, not just with eval- uations of our materials, but also in looking at PCB designs and recommending stackups and process parameters. We take a very holis- tic view. It's easy to get focused on just getting the best electrical performance, for example, and lose sight of the other requirements of our product—thermal reliability, CAF resistance, etc. At each stage of our development process, we make sure we're checking all the boxes of requirements, not just, say, electrical perfor- mance. Matties: One of those areas tends to be more important to the industry at any given time, I would think. E. Kelley: Yes. 5G, for example, is all about low loss. Everybody wants the best possi- ble electrical performance, which has driven the use of very smooth copper foils that have quickly changed customer specifications on Expert evaluating a PCB design.