Isola Introduces Ultra-Low Loss Materials for Applications Over 100 Gbps
Tachyon(TM) Laminates and Prepregs Are Engineered to Improve Performance of
High-Speed Digital Designs by Producing a Very Low Dielectric Constant and
Insertion Loss
CHANDLER, Ariz., Jan. 29, 2014 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Isola Group S.Ã r.l., a
market leader in copper-clad laminates and dielectric prepreg materials used to
fabricate advanced multilayer printed circuit boards (PCBs), announced that it
has begun alpha testing of Tachyon, its new ultra-low loss product that is
engineered to reduce insertion loss on high-speed digital designs. It is
specifically being targeted for high-layer count backplanes for the growing 100
gigabit per second (Gbps) market that has channel data rates in excess of 25
Gbps.
The demand for more feature-rich applications and faster access to computing,
high-definition television, video conferencing, video on demand and digital
photography has propelled the need for 100 Gbps Ethernet into enterprise, data
center and carrier networks around the world. Tachyon laminates and prepregs
exhibit exceptional electrical properties that are very stable over a broad
frequency and temperature range, making them suitable for next-generation
designs that are engineered to use backplanes and daughter cards with faster
data rates. Tachyon materials use spread glass and reduced-profile copper to
mitigate skew and improve rise times, reduce jitter, increase eye width and
height. Tachyon has a nominal dielectric constant (Dk) of 3.02 that is stable
between -55°C and +125°C up to 40 GHz. In addition, Tachyon also offers a very
low dissipation factor (Df) of 0.0021.
Tachyon laminate materials are available in optimized laminate and prepreg forms
in typical thicknesses and standard panel sizes to provide a complete material
solution for high-speed digital designs. It has been used successfully to build
a 24" x 36", 36-layer backplane and a 16" x 18" 28-layer board, both 0.300" (7.6
mm) thick. Each board was assembled and tested to validate that it met the
signal integrity performance for the 25 Gb/s and greater channel requirement as
a fully loaded board. Using industry standard test vehicles, Isola expects final
electrical and thermal field validation and adoption in active designs in the
second quarter of 2014.
This new product is in the same UL family as Isola's I-Tera® MT very-low loss
material and uses the same PCB manufacturing parameters. Its 70-minute curing
cycle at 200 degrees Celsius provides improved press productivity and lower
overall cost. Alternatives such as PTFE-based laminates have not proved to be
viable either from a cost or from an ease of processing standpoint. Tachyon
materials come standard with VLP-2 (very low profile copper with 2 micrometer
surface roughness) copper foil.
Tarun Amla, Executive Vice President and Chief Technology Officer at Isola,
stated, "This product is an example of Isola's capability to rapidly address the
needs of the OEMs. This product was developed in response to a specific end-user
request. Within weeks, we produced Tachyon -- a product that was not only lower
in cost, but also very easy to process. As the demand for higher speeds
increase, our next-generation laminates and prepregs will enable even faster
data rates."
Fred Hickman, Senior Director of High-Speed Digital Products at Isola, added,
"Tachyon is a product for large backplanes and very-high speed daughter cards.
Isola would like to work with OEMs and PCB fabricators that have a real need for
very-high channel data rates. Samples are available for qualified parties
interested in testing this new technology."
If you are interested in participating in alpha testing of Tachyon, please email
tachyon@isola-group.com. For more details about the product, please visit
http://www.isola-group.com/products/tachyon/.
A high-resolution photo is available at http://www.isola-group.com/wp-
content/uploads/2014/01/Tachyon.jpg.
About Isola
Isola Group S.Ã r.l., headquartered in Chandler, Arizona, is a global material
sciences company focused on designing, developing, manufacturing, and marketing
copper-clad laminates and dielectric prepregs used to fabricate advanced
multilayer printed circuit boards. The company's high-performance materials are
used in sophisticated electronic applications in the communications
infrastructure, computing/networking, military, medical, aerospace and
automotive industries. For more information, visit our website at
http://www.isola-group.com/.
CONTACT: Editorial Contact:
        Tiffany C. Zinn
        Global Marketing Communications Manager
        Isola Group
        480-282-6368
        Tiffany.Zinn@isola-group.com
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Source: Isola Group via GlobeNewswire
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