Your Custom Experienced Rogers PCB Manufacturer in China Since 2008

Almost every Rogers PCB can withstand high-frequency and high-speed performance conditions. Typically Rogers PCBs are classified as PTFE-based or thermoset materials such as:

Laminates

• PTFE  or Polytetrafluoroethylene Random Glass Fiber
• Epoxy Laminates modified by Reinforced Woven Glass
• Filled PTFE or Polytetrafluoroethylene Composite
• Woven Glass-reinforced Polytetrafluoroethylene Antenna Grade Laminates
• PTFE or Polytetrafluoroethylene Ceramic
• Cross-Plied WoPolytetrafluoroethylene PTFE (Woven Glass-Reinforced)
• Ceramic/Hydrocarbon/Woven glass laminates.
• Epoxy IMS modified by Reinforced Woven glass.

PCB laminates

Bonding Materials

• Ceramic Polytetrafluoroethylene Bond ply
• Conductive Adhesive Film and Thermoset Thermally
• Woven glass/Hydrocarbon/Prepreg/Ceramic

Metal Claddings

There are various types of metal cladding models in Rogers PCB materials. Some of them are :

• Rolled foil
• Electrodeposited foil
• Electrodeposited Reverse Treated foil
• Resistive Foil

Here are some of the unique characteristics of Rogers PCBs:

Various materials are included in Roers PCBs, including laminated materials.

• Come with a thin conductive material film.
• All kinds of chemicals resistant

Rogers PCB has thing conductive layer

• High-density PCB
• Constant and standard electric properties.
• Electronic performance is similar to PTFE

When you design a printed circuit board, there are two main things you have to consider: performance and electrical properties. When it comes to Rogers PCBs, those two facts are always included in their products.

Rogers PCB  advantages

Some of the benefits of Rogers PCB are as follows:

• The rate of losing electrical signals is meager.
• Increased impedance control
• The PCB fabrication is very much cost-effective.
• Highly reliable, and you will find applications in nearly every primary sector.
• Excellent thermal management.
• The dielectric loss is pretty low.
• The DK or dielectric constant values have a broad range.

Rogers PCBs are RF printed circuit boards manufactured from Roger’s corporation’s raw materials. Rogers corporation manufactures laminate materials for PCB. FR4, on the other hand, is used on most common PCBs.

FR4 Material

Flame Retardant Level 4 or FR4 is a composite of epoxy glass or fiberglass. On the contrary, Rogers PCBs are ceramic-based and have no glass fiber.

In fact, FR4 is not a particular material, rather a group of materials. FR4 is made of epoxy resin binder and fiberglass, and the materials are flame retardant.

FR4 comes with excellent strength of weight and strength correlations, and it is a popular choice for standard PCB manufacturing.

FR4 comes with nearly 0 water absorption capability and is widely used in electrical insulators because of its excellent mechanical strength.

Here are the differences between Rogers PCB and FR4 PCB:

• Rogers materials are more expensive than FR4 materials
• Rogers Materials provide excellent performance with high frequency compared to FR4.
• FR4 materials come with less dissipation factor (Df) than Rogers resulting in more signal loss.
• They have more Dk values compared to FR4 in impedance stability.
• The dielectric constant of FR4 is 4.5. Rogers material’s DK is 6.5 to 11, a lot higher than the FR4.
• When it comes to managing the temperature, Rogers materials have fewer variations than FR4.

Dielectric materials are very poor conductors of electrical current. If you place a dielectric material in an electrical field, practically no current will flow into it.

In the Rogers PCB, dielectric materials are used as an insulating film. Plastic, glass, mica, porcelain, and some specific metal oxides are popular dielectric materials. Those are used in high-power RF PCBs.

Concept of dielectric material

Though the dielectricity of a material can change, and that affects the performance of a PCB. Therefore, you would see those dielectric materials that do not lose their dielectricity over time in Rogers PCBs.

When a dielectric material is laid in a strong electrical field, and if the electrostatic field or the voltage is too high, the dielectricity will fail to shield the current. Eventually, the current will start to flow between them, which is called “dielectric breakdown.”

This is a very vital consideration when you design your PCB board and the applications.

Rogers PCB and standard PCB materials are both different in many ways. Their features and components both are various in many ways.

But the main difference is with the applications. Rogers and FR4 PCB materials are both used in different kinds of applications because of their various properties.

You would see Rogers PCBs in high-frequency applications. You can not use traditional PCBs in high-frequency applications. In addition, the water absorption capacity of Rogers PCB materials is fewer than any other PCB materials, which are an excellent benefit to have.

Standard PCB

Furthermore, you can use Rogers PCB materials in challenging and harsh environments such as in aerospace and defense applications. But standard PCBs are not suitable for extreme environment applications.

Finally, these two PCB materials differ in price also. Rogers PCB materials are higher price than standard PCB materials.

They are robust PCBs that can handle various kinds of operations that regular or many other PCBs can not. But you need to choose your Rogers PCB carefully as most probably you will use it in delicate applications.

Here are some of the features of Rogers PCB you should consider before purchasing:

TD Or Decomposition Temperature

Every PCB has a specific temperature threshold, and if you exceed that threshold, the PCB materials will decompose and lose around 5% of their mass.

The temperature range of Rogers PCB is from 200 degrees Celcius to 350 degrees Celsius. The standard procedure is the decomposition temperature must be greater than the temperature you will use for soldering.

So, before purchasing your Rogers PCB, you should know what will be your highest operation temperature to perform the operation without any hassle.

Coefficient Of Thermal Expansion

It defines the rate of expansion of PCB materials when exposed to a temperature more than Tg or glass transition temperature. Thermal expansion is very crucial for the construction of Rogers PCB.

Rogers PCB features

The coefficient of thermal expansion must not mismatch between copper and the CTE of the substrate. Suppose the Rogers PCB’s CTE is higher than that of copper; in that case, the substrate expansion will also be higher than copper.

Consequently, the solder joint will fail, or de-lamination will happen. The recommended PCB CTE is 70 ppm or lower.

DK or Dielectric Constant

This is also known as the PCB material’s permittivity. The dielectric constant describes the amount of charge PCB materials can store.

The capacitance depends on the Dk value. A higher DK value provides more capacitance, and the high capacitance means more charge is stored. More charge leads to more voltage that appears across the PCB board.

This dielectric constant of a printed circuit board depends on the frequency, and typically it reduces when the frequency is higher. PCB materials with high dielectric constant allow smaller circuitry to work in a specific frequency and vice versa.

If the application demands high frequency, the Rogers PCB materials should come with a constant Dk over the working area where high frequencies are implied on the application.

Moisture Absorption

The best quality Rogers PCBs should not absorb any significant amount of moisture if immersed in liquids. Nearly every material has an absorption value ranging from .01%-.20%.

If the percentage rate is higher, that will have a better effect on the thermal and electrical characteristics of your PCB material.

Pre-impregnated composite fibers are shortly mentioned as Pre-preg. Pre-page has a significant influence on the PCB’s performance trait.

Furthermore, You would hear the term ‘pre-preg’ in the PCB manufacturing industry for defining the bonding ply components used to bond different types of multilayer Rogers PCBs together.

You can apply various techniques to identify the dielectric constant and the dissipation factors of Rogers Printed circuit boards.  Some of them are:

• LSL or Long Stripline Method.
• Stripline Resonator Method
• Cavity Resonator method
• FSR or Full Sheet Resonance Method
• Full Sheet Resonance (FSR) method

You would see the stripline Resonator method as the most common technique applied on PCB laminates for quality control. Most of the high-frequency Rogers printed circuit boards use this technique as a standard method for quality check.

Stripline Resonator Method can run a fast test to find out the measurements with a simple set-up, and that is why most manufacturers also prefer this method.

This method has many advantages, such as unsophisticated procedure, swift measurements, and operator independence.

Rogers PCB with RO3000 series laminates come with some unique features. These laminates provide the PCB materials with rigid mechanical features irrespective of the dielectric constant you choose.

RO3000 Series

This provides the PCB designers more freedom to design each layer of a multilayer PCB with Rogers PCB materials. With RO3000 series laminates, you can design various dielectric materials in different layers of your Rogers PCB design.

And this different type of approach in design does not affect the reliability or cause any ware-page issue.

Moreover, the RO3000 series laminates dielectric constant is pretty uniform over a wide range of temperatures. Here are some of the advantages of RO3000 series laminates:

• Comes in various dielectric constant (3 to 10.2)
• Plate through-hole dependability because of low Z-axis.
• Lots variety available
• Few woven glass reinforcement
• Minimal loss of commercial laminates

Constant temperature is mandatory to ensure a top-class performance of Rogers PCB. That’s why you need to consider temperature change in Rogers PCB operations.

Temperature affects the dielectric constant to a large extent. The frequent change of thermal state of Rogers PCB materials promotes the movability of polar molecules. This property results in the inconsistency of the dielectric constant.

High-Frequency Rogers PCB

The dielectric constant plays a significant role in assuring the optimum service of dielectric materials. If this value alters from time to time due to temperature change, the thermal properties of Rogers PCB laminate will be very.

This phenomenon decreases the integrity of the signal propagation of Rogers PCB. Besides, temperature change hampers the materials to maintain a sufficient thermal resistivity.

That indicates that you have to compromise the efficiency of applications compatible with Rogers PCB laminates. So you should deliberately focus on the factors that promote the fluctuation of temperature.

Dielectric strength refers to the maximum electric potential per unit thickness that is necessary for dielectric breakdown. Its higher value indicates the more preferable insulating properties.

The materials used in Rogers PCB laminates have certain insulating properties. You need to supply a specific range of voltage to maintain such properties. The electrons of the dielectric materials don’t move to the conduction band unless breakdown voltage is applied.

Dielectric strength depends on some factors like frequency, moisture absorption, the thickness of PCB, etc. It varies up to 1000 MV/m. This value refers to the required electric field intensity to obstruct the strength of the insulators.

This breakdown promotes the conductivity of dielectric materials. High conductivity occurs overheating in Rogers PCB materials. That will lead to an increase in loss tangent. So, the functionality of Rogers’s PCB can be compromised.

Here, the dielectric breakdown indicates a phase where the tolerance of insulators breaks down. The charge flow enhances to a certain peak that permits electrons to enter the conduction band.

That means Rogers PCB materials lose their insulating power. The dielectric materials of Rogers PCB laminates can’t maintain a constant current supply.

So, you need to consider the dielectric strength of Rogers PCB while designing a project. Your input voltage must be lower than the breakdown voltage of the insulators.

Rogers Corporation on PCB laminates

RO4000 PCB provides some tremendous benefits in electric circuits. Its enormous positive sides make it the most widely used PCB of today.

Here, the principal benefits of Rogers 4000 PCB materials are explained for you.

High Functionality

Rogers 4000 PCB materials are supremely effective for versatile applications. Hydrocarbon ceramics are helpful in microwave frequency projects. These materials are compatible with complex circuits of high-volume PCB manufacturing.

Rogers 4000 PCB materials are viable in FR-4 PCB fabrication also. They use lead-free soldering. That’s why RO4000 PCB materials provide great functionality compared to other Polytetra fluorocarbon(PTFE) materials.

RO4000 Laminates

Well-controlled Dielectric Constant

Dielectric constant affects the coefficient of thermal expansion, attenuation, volume resistivity, etc., of Rogers 4000 PCB. The materials used here render a vast range of dielectric constant. It varies from 2.55 to 6.15.

A low dielectric constant is a very crucial factor in ensuring feasibility with high-frequency PCB applications. It also affects the thermal expansion of Rogers PCB materials. So, Rogers 4000 PCB is superior to other conventional PCBs.

Cost-Effective

Rogers  4000 PCB offers a competitive cost to the users. But, it renders a high–quality performance. Thus, Rogers PCB optimizes the price.

Low Dissipation Factor

Rogers 4000 PCB materials ensure low loss tangent. That indicates the higher efficiency of RO4000 PCB. Besides, the signal noise of Rogers 4000 PCB is lessened by a low dissipation factor. The dissipation factor suggests the efficiency of PCB laminates.

Durable

Rogers 4000 PCB materials offer high dielectric strength at high frequency. Their thermal conduction is also above-standard. That means RO4000 PCB is sufficiently durable at versatile temperatures.

You can apply Rogers 4000 PCB on a massive scale of the microwave or radio-frequency projects. Its suitable materials are the reason behind its vast applications.

There is a vast difference in perspective between Rogers PCB and FR-4 PCB concerning the cost. Well-designed manufacturing of PCB notably depends on this issue.

Rogers PCB is exceptionally efficient, from prototype to complex electric circuits. You will experience a high performance of your devices consistently. But, its primary cost is higher than FR-4 PCB.

Since you can use a flaw-less Rogers PCB-driven device for a long time, this initial cost won’t be a big issue ultimately. Besides, your options of applying Rogers PCB are countless.

You never enjoy the excellence of PCB applications with FR-4 as Rogers PCB. On the contrary, FR-4 PCB compromises its performance for a low cost. That means you can get FR-4 PCB at an affordable rate, but you have to suffer eventually.

So, this is the cost comparison between these two PCBs. You should choose Rogers PCB over FR-4. At the end of the day, you don’t have the luxury of replacing a lower standard PCB now and then.

In the PCB market, there’re serval kinds of Rogers materials such as RO3000 Series, RO4000 Series, RT/duroid Laminates.

RO3000 Series:

RO3000 Series laminates are circuit materials with consistent mechanical properties, regardless of the dielectric constant (Dk) selected. This allows the designer to develop multi-layer board designs that use different dielectric constant materials for individual layers, without encountering war-page or reliability problems. Additionally, the RO3000 series’ dielectric constant is stable over a wide temperature range.

Benefits

• Lowest loss commercial laminates
• Available in a wide range of Dk (3.0 to 10.2)
• Available both with and without woven glass reinforcements
• Low Z-axis CTE provides plated through-hole reliability

The products are including RO3003,RO3003G2,RO3006,RO3010,RO3035,RO3210,etc.

RO4000 Series

Rogers RO4000 hydrocarbon ceramic laminates and prepregs are the industry leader. Used in microwave and millimeter-wave frequencies, this low loss material offers easier use in circuit fabrication and streamlined properties over traditional PTFE materials.

• Compatible with FR-4 fabrication processes
• Well-controlled dielectric constants (Dk)
• Above-average thermal conductivity (.6-.8)
• Thermally robust – lead-free soldering compatibility
• Low Z-axis CTE for reliable plated through-hole quality
• Optimized cost and RF/ microwave performance
• Wide range of DK available (2.55-6.15)
• UL 94 V-0 flame retardant versions available

The products are including RO4000,RO4003C,RO4350B,RO4360G2,RO4500,RO4700,RO4830,etc.

RT/duroid Laminates

Rogers RT/duroid high-frequency circuit materials are filled with PTFE (random glass or ceramic) composite laminates for use in high-reliability, aerospace, and defense applications.

The RT/duroid series has a long industry presence of providing high-reliability materials with superior performance.

Benefits

• Low electrical loss
• Low moisture absorption
• Stable dielectric constant (Dk) over the wide frequency range
• Low outgassing for space applications

The products include RT/duroid 5870, RT/duroid 5880, RT/duroid 6002, RT/duroid 6006, RT/duroid 6202, etc.

Unlike PTFE-based materials, RO4000 series materials do not require special chemical or plasma surface treatment in preparation for the production of plated vias.

This makes the cost of manufacturing PCBs and mounting on RO4000 series microwave materials comparable to conventional epoxy laminates.

The most commonly used materials of this series: RO4003C and RO4350B – (Dk 3.38; Df 0.0027) and (Dk 3.48; Df 0.0037), respectively.
Special prepregs have been developed for these grades: RO4403C and RO4450B, which make it possible to create multilayer structures based on RO4003C and RO4350B materials, respectively.

RO4403 prepreg has Dk 3.17 and Df 0.005, and refractory RO4450B prepreg has Dk 3.54 and Df 0.004. Like RO4000 materials, these prepregs are fully compatible with traditional FR4-based board technology.

Another “advanced” material in this RO4360G2 series is heat-resistant, has an excellent thermal conductivity of 0.81 W / m / K, low CTE along the Z-axis, which increases the reliability of plated holes and simplifies drilling processes.

It has Dk 6.15, is used in the manufacture of microwave electronics, and allows operation at frequencies of 4 GHz. RO4360G2 is FR-4 compatible and offers the same reliability and consistency as RO4350B.

Laminates RO4835 (Dk 3.48, Df 0.0037@10GHf) and high-frequency version RO4835T (Dk 3.33, Df 0.0030@10GHf) have been developed as an improved version of RO4350B.

They have better stability at elevated temperatures and improved oxidation stability (10 times better than RO4350B).

Manufactured in the same configurations and thicknesses as the RO4350B and are IPC-4103 compliant. Applications: automotive radars and sensors, power amplifiers, phased array radars, RF components.

One of the company’s recent advances is the RO4000 LoPro laminate, which offers 10% lower insertion loss than the standard RO4000 series.

Basically, these laminates are used in antenna systems, radars, digital data transmission roger PCB systems, as well as for the production of microwave components (especially power amplifiers).

RT / duroid6000 – PTFE Ceramic Laminates

There are several varieties of this type of material. Laminates RT / duroid6002 (Dk 2.94; Df 0.0012) and RT / duroid6202 (Dk 2.9; Df 0.0015) were developed in the late 1980s to address some of the shortcomings of PTFE-based materials.

The exceptional properties of these materials are the high stability of the dielectric constant in a wide temperature range and the coefficient of thermal expansion, which almost coincides with the CTE of roger PCB copper.

All this makes these materials ideal for the manufacture of sandwich structures used in aerospace equipment subject to sudden changes in temperature, where there are strict requirements for the reliability of plated vias, and also requires low dielectric losses.

This class also includes materials RT / duroid6006 and RT / duroid6010LM – ceramic PTFE laminates.

The materials RT / duroid6006 (Dk 6.15; Df 0.0027) and 6010LM (Dk 10.2; Df 0.0023) were developed in the late 1970s with the aim of reducing the overall dimensions of printed circuit boards since the high dielectric constant allows for smaller devices.

The thermal conductivity of RT / duroid 6035HTC laminate (Dk 3.5; Df 0.0013) is 2.4 times higher than that of standard RT / Duroid 6000 series models.

Electrolytic foil, treated on the smooth side, which is resistant to high temperatures, allows the use of such laminate for high power amplifiers, combiners, power dividers, couplers, and filters.

Thermal Testing of Microwave Boards

Results of thermal testing of a roger printed circuit board 

• Printed circuit board with copper base;
• PCB material – Rogers;
• The board is connected to the base using pressure glue;
• Base thickness – 3 mm.

Test conditions and procedure:

• Verification was carried out in accordance with standard tests for in-house manufactured instruments.
• The thermal chamber is programmed for 3 cycles (1 cycle: -60 ° С… + 85 ° С with exposure for 30 minutes at each temperature). After 3 cycles, visual control was carried out using an MBS-10 microscope at a magnification of 16 × and 32 ×.
• 30 thermal cycles were carried out.

During the tests, no cracks, no delamination, no violations of the glue seam were revealed.

A slight change in the color of the glue was observed (this is possible because the test sample was in a leaky volume).

Conclusions based on the test results: the sample of the product corresponds to the declared properties in terms of the quality of the glue line.

Multilayer roger PCB has been designed to simplify and optimize the wiring of double-sided dielectric plates.

The increase in the integration of microcircuits, the provision of a significant number of interlayer connections, as well as the introduction of packages with a large number of pins – all this became the primary reason for the creation and intensive development of MPP technologies.

As the roger PCB models and technological requirements become more complex, not only the quality has increased, but also the total number of layers.

As a result, sophisticated multilayer printed circuit boards can have 30-32 layers.

Features of Use

MPP are used in high-frequency devices with a regulated impedance of signal circuits and an acceptable level of electromagnetic interference.

WFP Materials

Among the main materials of multilayer roger PCB boards are:

• Rogers Ro4003 and Ro4350 series.
• Glass fiber laminates FR4 K

The combination is possible among base materials. For example: use in flexible-rigid printed circuit boards polyimide (PI) with FR-4 fiberglass.

Design

The design is based on alternating thin dielectric layers combined with topology elements. When creating, the layers are connected into a single, integral multi-layer plate.

Electrical connections, depending on the pressing technique, can have both through-type vias and interlayer vias:

• Outer layers to inner layers – blind vias;
• Inner layers are buried vias.

Any multilayer PCB construction consists of 2 elements:

• Cores– core – a dielectric layer of considerable thickness foiled on both sides.
• Prepreg– prepreg – dielectric foil-clad on one side or not a foil-clad layer of small thickness. It acts as a connecting internuclear layer.

• Out layer

Another name is editing. The essence of the layer: the installation of components and the organization of connections between located in the immediate vicinity of the board elements

• Power layers

Presented in the form of solid polygons. They have minimal current resistance and low induction. Contributes to the shielding of signal layers.

• Signal

You can create connections between electronic components. Feature: significant indicators of the density of communication lines

• Heat-conducting

Excess heat of circuit components with increased technological values ​​of heat release is removed and distributed

Production methods

• Layer-by-layer building.
• Pairwise pressing.
• Combination of methods.

The main method is considered to be the method of pairwise pressing of nuclear blanks – thin double-sided boards of a certain topology.

The method is implemented using cushioning glass fabric. Layer-by-layer build-up/metallization of core holes (through type) occurs by a subtractive chemical method. Photoresists are used as a protective coating.

Rogers PCB is the best efficient you can get for high-frequency applications. We hope this article has helped you to learn more about Rogers PCB. PCBMay produces the best quality Rogers PCB in China.

If you want to know more about this Rogers PCB, feel free to send us a message. Our Rogers PCB experts will contact you with all of your queries.