Rogers Corporation announced the latest addition to its RO4000® Series thermoset circuit materials: RO4830™ high-frequency laminates. RO4830 laminates offer 76-to-81-GHz auto radar sensor designers a lower-cost-but-performance-competitive option. Rogers RO4830 laminates are processed by means of standard epoxy/glass (FR-4) circuit fabrication methods, for lower overall production costs versus PTFE-based circuits.
Available in dielectric thicknesses of 0.005 and 0.0094 inch, RO4830 laminates are suited for cap layers on FR-4 multi-layer PCB designs. The optimized resin, glass and filler content of RO4830 laminates translates to a relative dielectric constant (Dk) of 3.2 at 77 GHz, close to matching that of the PTFE-based circuit materials typically used for millimeter-wave circuits. At 76-to-81-GHz, thin laminate insertion loss is heavily influenced by copper foil roughness, and therefore RO4830 laminates are clad with Rogers LoPro® reverse-treated copper foil to achieve very low insertion loss of 2.2 dB/inch for 5 mil laminates, as measured by the microstrip differential phase length method.
Spread glass and a filler with a smaller and more uniform particle size distribution contribute to consistent within sheet dielectric constant as well as good laser drilling performance. The RO4830 laminates are based on the same anti-oxidant formula used in Rogers RO4835™ laminates and are more resistant to oxidation than other hydrocarbon-based laminates.
Rogers RO4830 high frequency thermoset laminates are available in standard panel sizes of 12 × 18 in. (305 × 457 mm), 24 × 18 in. (610 × 457 mm), and 48 × 36 in. (1220 × 914 mm) with 0.5 oz. (18 µm) or 1.0 oz (35 µm) reverse-treated EDC foil.
