As part of an exhibition floor filled with hardware, software, and test equipment suppliers, materials specialist Rogers Corp. will display circuit materials that support both high-speed digital and millimeter-wave analog circuits for emerging 5G equipment applications.
Visitors to Booth #306 at EDI CON can examine the company’s latest material developments, including CLTE-MW laminates (a product review will appear in the October 2017 issue of Microwaves & RF.) These ceramic-filled, PTFE-based, woven-glass-reinforced composite materials exhibit low loss at millimeter-wave frequencies (30 through 300 GHz) and can be used in commercial through military designs, including active and passive circuits. Various thicknesses (3 to 10 mils) are available to accommodate the signal-to-ground transmission-line spacings required for the small wavelengths of millimeter-wave signals.
CLTE-MW circuit laminates are engineered for low circuit loss at millimeter-wave frequencies. (Courtesy of Rogers Corp.)
Millimeter-wave circuits, components, and systems have long been associated with high price tags, and affordability is a major concern in implementing millimeter-wave frequency spectrum for 5G networks. Circuit materials such as CLTE-MW laminates and a variation, CLTE-AT, have been engineered to provide stable, low-loss circuits at the frequencies being considered for 5G, including 28 and 60 GHz.
However, for applications that require the best possible performance, Rogers will also show examples of its 5-mil-thick RO3003 laminates for millimeter-wave applications, including in automotive radar sensors. With a dielectric constant (Dk) of 3.0, which remains stable even with rugged automotive operating conditions, these laminates have been well established for use in many vehicle manufacturers’ 77-GHz automotive radar sensors. The RO3003 materials feature 0.5- and 1-oz. rolled copper foil for exceptionally low insertion loss.
Rogers will also be involved in the conference portion of EDI CON 2017, as part of the EDI CON 2017 High-Speed Digital Symposium. Rogers’ Associate Research Fellow Allen Horn III is scheduled to present “Extraction of Frequency-Dependent Dielectric Constant: Loss and conductor effects of high-speed digital laminate materials for high-speed channel simulation” during an afternoon session on Tues., Sept. 12. The presentation will examine how to create models of circuit materials using software simulation programs. The models will be applicable to high-frequency analog as well as high-speed digital circuits.
