Isola’s RF-Substrate Conversion Program Gains Momentum in Partnership with InnoSenT and KSG

CHANDLER, Ariz., August 19, 2014 — Isola Group S.à r.l., a market leader in copper-clad laminates and dielectric prepreg materials used to fabricate advanced multilayer printed circuit boards (PCBs), today announced a major qualification win in partnership with KSG Leiterplatten GmbH and InnoSenT GmbH. The joint conversion project among the three companies successfully tailored the dielectric properties of Isola’s high-performance I-Tera® MT laminate material to match the properties of an incumbent product. Isola’s dielectric substrates will now be used on existing volume products produced by InnoSenT, and the printed circuit boards will be manufactured by KSG. The conversion to Isola’s materials provides InnoSenT with higher performance material without modifying the metallization of the PCB. Test results show that I-Tera MT delivers a lower insertion loss thereby increasing the safety margin of the system design.

Isola’s RF-engineering experts used an extensive suite of electronic design automation tools in the conversion initiative with InnoSenT and KSG, including simulation models of the critical test structures used to characterize the properties of PCBs. These simulations and analyses were able to target the required dielectric constant (Dk) of I-Tera MT. Isola’s R&D was then able to engineer the dielectric properties of I-Tera MT to match the desired Dk at the operating frequency. Working closely with the technical teams at KSG and InnoSenT, Isola’s RF-engineering experts and R&D staff completed the task in only a few days. Subsequently, Isola’s R&D staff analyzed the tailored I-Tera MT materials using multiple techniques to verify and validate the desired Dk. I-Tera MT materials are currently in scale-up for production.