Liquid Crystal Polymers for Printed Wiring Boards

Superex Polymer/ Foster-Miller, Inc.

Waltham, MA 

High performance low cost substrate for printed circuits with coefficient of thermal expansion (CTE) matched to the surface mounted devices

• Ten layer multilayer boards with active surface mounted components were fabricated and successfully tested by thermal cycling 500 times from 0 to 100^oC
• Tests of the electrical and CTE properties of the Liquid Crystal Polymer (LCP) multilayer boards showed outstanding properties, equal or exceeding current high performance laminates such as fluoropolymer, aramid/epoxy and quartz/polyimide
• Price estimates showed that LCP laminates should be from 1/3 to 1/10 price of these current high performance laminates

• Foster-Miller has spun off Superex Polymer, Inc. to commercial develop this technology
• Superex has established a development agreement with Brampton Engineering whereby Brampton makes machinery and Superex makes and sells LCP films
• Over the next three years, the LCP market is expected to develop into a $10 to $ 15 million per year market for Superex

• NASA satellite and land based electronic applications
• Defense applications for the CTE-matched circuit boards including compact high speed computers, and robust high density circuit boards for missile and weapon use
• Major applications of electronic packaging include: thin laminates for multilayer boards, microwave and high speed digital circuit boards, multichip modules, and flexible printed circuits

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