Flexible and Advanced Circuit Substrate Materials

AIT COUPLER organic copper-clad laminate flexible circuit substrate and flexible circuit pre-preg material panels can be used to build one of the thinnest components and circuit boards with 40-50 micron dielectric over a 1/4 oz (9 micron) copper conductor.

Coupler Roll Opened

COUPLER with AIT proprietary flexible substrate has proven applicable for:

  • Through-hole plating for two sided interconnections
  • Hydrophobic with ultra low moisture absorption
  • Low dielectric constant
  • No volume limitation

Flexible Tags

Solderable Flexible Circuit Materials For Fine-Pitch And Super-Fine Pitch Flexible Circuit Applications

AI Technology has developed a solderable, organic copper-clad laminate flexible circuit substrate materials that can be used at temperatures as high as 300°C. The standard flexible circuit material uses 1 oz copper on this non-polyimide proprietary molecularly flexible material for a total 3-mil thickness as flexible circuit substrate. These flexible circuit materials are available with 1/4 or 3/8-oz copper for super fine-pitch flexible circuit applications of less than 1-mil line/spacing and via.

Flexible Circuit Board

COUPLER™ Flexible Circuit Material Characteristics:

  • Proprietary organic copper-clad laminate material with low dielectric constant, 3.0 @ 1 KHz with less than 0.01 dielectric loss and high insulation strength (>1000VDC/3-mil thickness).
  • Non-silicone and non-contaminating molecularly flexible dielectric layer.
  • Withstands chemical etching and wet chemical treatments for all PWB/PCB processes.
  • Maintains outstanding flexibility even at temperatures of as low as 40°C.
  • Eliminates traditional polyimide flexible circuit material “measling” and other moisture induced degradation and reliability problems as usually associated with polyimide based circuit boards.
  • Outstanding moisture resistance, less than 0.3%, while maintaining high electrical and mechanical performance.
  • UL-94-V0 fire-retardant rating.
  • Same circuit density and design rules as traditional FR-4 and BT board.
  • Lower temperature multi-layer flexible circuit processing from as low as 125°C.
  • Solderable flexible circuit applications at 50% of the traditional polyimide flexible circuit material substrate cost.

Applications:

  • Organic copper-clad laminate substrate flexible circuit materials to replace polyimide and PTFE.
  • Flex tape for area-array flexible circuit and interposer substrate.
  • Flip-chip on flex with superfine pitches.
  • Directly solderable flat and flexible jumpers.
  • Flat and flexible cabling that can be used in class
  • Solderable membrane switches and circuits.
  • Roll-to-roll or panel processing.
  • Available in rolls of various lengths and width.

AIT COUPLER™ organic copper-clad laminate flexible circuit substrate and flexible circuit pre-preg material panels can be handled in exactly the same method and infrastructure as commonly used in standard PWB and flex circuit.

1. Panel & Roll Material Handling

  • COOL-CLAD™ and COUPLER™ organic copper-clad laminate flexible circuit substrates can be stored in ambient conditions for at least 12 months.
  • COUPLER™ flexible circuit pre-preg material can be stored in ambient conditions for at least 6 months.

2. Panel Prep

  • Tooling/Registration
  • Scrubbing
  • Chemical Cleaning
  • Base Metal Protection

3. Imaging

  • Dry Film Application
  • Wet Film Application
  • Screened Image Application

4. Wet Chemistry Processing

  • Etching
  • Stripping
  • Post Etch/Strip Clean

5. Solder Mask Application

  • Screen, Spray or Curtin Coat
  • Thermal Solder Mask
  • UV Cured Solder Mask

6. Second Step Drill or Punch

  • Punch
  • Drill
  • 7. Finishing Operation
  • HASL
  • OSP
  • Tin
  • Ni/Au

8. Finishing Fabrication

  • Route
  • Score
  • Punch
CharacteristicsUnitConditioningTypical ValuesSpecification
Volume ResistivityM&-cmC-96/35/905X108~5X109106
Surface ResistivityM&C-96/35/905X106~5X10710t
Permittivity 1 MHzC-24/23/503.8-4.25.4
Loss Tangent 1 MHzC-24/23/500/013-0.0200.035
Arc ResistanceSecD-48/50 + D-0.5/2310060
Dielectric BreakdownKVD-48/504540
Moisture Absorption%D-24/230.01-0.200.35
FlammabilityC-24/23/50+E-24/12594V094V0
Peel Strength 1ozLb/in288°C Solder Floating88
Thermal StressSec288°C Solder Dipping600300
Pressure Cooker (2 atm/120°C)hrhrSec288°C Solder Dipping300
1 hrSec288°C Solder Dipping300N/A
2 hrSec288°C Solder Dipping300N/A
Flexural StrengthLWpsiA600060000 (N/A, For Flex Circuit)
CWpsiA500060000 (N/A, For Flex Circuit)
Dimensional Stability X-Y Axis%E-0.5/1700.01-0.0200.050
Coefficient of Thermal ExpansionZ-axis below TgIn/in/°CTMA60 PPMN/A
Z-axis above TgZ-axis above TgIn/in/°CTMA180N/A
Glass Transition Temperature°CDSC-40 +/- 5N/A

For more information and recommendation assistance, please contact AIT sales and engineering:

AIT technical sales and service department can also be reached at: 1-609-799-9388 and Fax: 609-799-9308