• Lowered impedance of power distribution system
• Dampening of board resonances
• Reduced noise on power and ground planes
• Reduced radiated emissions (EMI)
• Elimination of large number of discrete decoupling capacitors
• Reduced assembly costs
• Reduction in board size and/or the number of layers
  

All of these items can be accomplished with an ultra-thin ceramic filled epoxy material that is compatible with standard FR-4 processing including laser drilling. Additionally, this material has UL recognition, is RoHS compliant, does not contain bromine and is compatible with lead free assembly.

This material is not only being used in numerous high speed digital applications but is also being used in very high volume RF applications, including cell phones. In 2007, over 100 million cell phones will be manufactured using this ultra-thin, ceramic filled epoxy material manufactured by 3M. The driver for this application is space reduction and improved RF filtering. In this application, over 50 discrete capacitors per square inch were removed and RF noise was reduced by over 30 dB.

Our Speaker:  Joel Peiffer received his B.S. in Materials Science from the University of Minnesota in 1982. He is currently employed by 3M in St. Paul , MN as an Advanced Engineering Specialist in 3M’s Electronic Solutions Division. His current position is working as an Applications Engineering Specialist for 3M’s Embedded Capacitor Laminates. Since 1996, he has been responsible for the development and commercialization of 3M embedded passive and related materials. His previous work includes over 25 years of experience in printed circuit board and electronic packaging manufacturing. Previous to employment at 3M, Joel was employed at BMC Industries, Hutchinson Technology, Century Circuits and Digital Equipment..