IT, the short form of Information Technology, is actually a general term indicating all technologies used in the process of managing and processing information. And PCBs (Printed Circuit Boards) are behind all the function implementations within the range of IT, including information generation, information processing, information transmission and information applications. A new generation of IT will move towards the following aspects: new public telecommunication network, three network integration, IoT (Internet of Things), new flat panel display, high-performance IC, and cloud computing. It’s natural for higher requirement and upgrading to occur to PCBs just in order to be compatible with the requirement of a new generation of IT.
Basically, four “Highs” are called for by the new generation of IT to be compatible with its higher requirement: High density, High speed/frequency, High thermal conductivity and High performance, all of which will contribute to high reliability and long shelf life of electronic products serving IT.
PCBs with High Density
The integration level (line width of IC) of high-performance ICs will be calculated by nanometers, so the performance and progress of PCBs have to be measured by microns. Right now, IC integration level is out in front of the density of PCBs. As is known, PCBs play a role of component (IC for example) support so high-performance ICs have to be supported by high-performance PCB boards. Thus, the urgent direction PCBs should make progress towards should be to narrow down line width. Up to now, the minimum tracing and spacing of HDI (High Density Interconnect) PCBs manufactured in PCBCart is 2.5mil, basically meeting the demands of general electronic products but still far away from the high density level.
To achieve micron level of PCBs, efforts have to be made on both material and fabrication technology. In terms of substrate material, super thin copper foil should be applied with high cost and complex fabrication procedure. Therefore, the leading development direction is to depend on substrate material copper foil thinning technology.
PCBs with High Speed/Frequency
A new generation of IT will develop based on 5G technology and data transmission rate of 5G can reach up to 52G, which requires signals to be transmitted with high integrity and low distortion in PCB. Additionally, PCB board should feature a relatively low dielectric constant and dielectric loss. However, epoxy resin-based substrate is hardly capable of meeting the demand. Thus, other types of resin-based substrate should be picked up. Besides, line width, via and pad should be low enough with low tolerance and optimized manufacturing.
PCBs with High Thermal Conductivity
Due to high speed of signal transmission or extremely high frequency, resistance and dielectric loss will definitely go up, leading some defects occurring to line manufacturing, all of which will bring forward more heat. As a result, the temperature rise within PCB will become so serious and it’ll be normal to see it exceed 100℃. So heat resistance and conductivity will become core issues as far as PCB fabrication is concerned.
To solve the issues of temperature rise, to select appropriate substrate material, high Tg, high thermal decomposition temperature (Td) and low CTE (Coefficient of Thermal Expansion) should be called for. What’s more, substrate material with high thermal conductivity should be used to deal with different situations.
PCBs with High Performance
High performance of PCB board refers to PCB’s higher reliability and longer life. PCB can never be excluded from the development of IT. Therefore, PCB is not only required to perform in terms of high density, signal transmission integrity and high thermal conductivity, but also required to feature low CTE and high Tg. Therefore, high-performance PCB is capable of guaranteeing the reliability and life of devices for the new generation of IT.
Future Trend: Printed Light Board
Recent two years witnesses rapid progress on optical quantum communication, optical quantum computer and optical quantum chips, which adds sufficient possibility to Printed Light Board (PLB). The advent of PLB will possibly be a new trend of PCBs.
As a professional fabricator of PCBs, PCBCart is ready to embrace new technologies to make PCB boards with higher reliability and longer life through technology innovation. Up to now, you can expect advanced PCBs from PCBCart, including Flexible PCB, Flex-Rigid PCB, high-frequency PCB, high-Tg PCB etc. An advanced PCB quote is your shortcut to advanced products.
