ISOLA and Panasonic high-performance PCB laminate material comparison
ISOLA and Panasonic both manufacture PCB laminate materials designed for high-performance, high-speed/RF/microwave applications.

When choosing a high-performance PCB laminate you need to consider:

  • thermal performance
  • low dissipation factor (Df)
  • stable Df characteristics
  • low Z-axis Coefficient of Thermal Expansion (CTE)
  • skew mitigation properties
  • characteristics to improve rise times
  • jitter reduction
  • conductor loss reduction

One of the key characteristics of high-frequency laminate material is the stability of the dissipation factor (Df) since this will tell you how signal losses occur and their distribution across the frequency band of operation.

Also, a stable dielectric constant (Dk) and consequently a stable impedance across the length and width of a substrate is important.

High-frequency laminates display little change in the Dk with variations in temperature over a wide range.

In an RF or microwave circuit, the value of the dielectric constant will impact the PCB’s trace sizes and therefore the size of the PCB. Higher Dk PCB materials can result in smaller PCBs.

The table below displays the key electrical and mechanical attributes of the ISOLA I-Tera® MT40, ISOLA Tachyon® 100G, Panasonic Megtron6, and Panason Megtron7 for ease of comparison.

Attribute Isola Isola Panasonic Panasonic
Product I-Tera MT40 / RF Tachyon-100G Megtron7 (R-5785/R-5680) Megtron6 (R-5775/R-5670)
IPC-4101E /102 & IPC-4103 /17 /102 & IPC-4103 /17 /91/102 /91/102
Tg – Glass Transition Temperature by
DSC – ºC
190-200 200 200 185
Tg – Glass Transition Temperature by TMA – ºC 175-185 180
Td – Decomposition Temp ºC (TGA) 360 360 400 410
Lead-free Process Compatible Yes Yes Yes Yes
Halogen Free No No No No
UL Approved Yes Yes Yes Yes
Flammability UL94 V-0 V-0 V-0 V-0
Dielectric Constant (DK) / Dissipation Factor (DF) – 1 GHz 3.37 / 0.001 3.40 / 0.002
Dielectric Constant (DK) / Dissipation Factor (DF) – 2-3 GHz 3.38 / 0.0028 3.04 / 0.0021
Dielectric Constant (DK) / Dissipation Factor (DF) – Df 10-12 GHz 3.45 / 0.0030 3.02 / 0.0021 3.35 / 0.0020 3.35 / 0.0040
Dielectric Constant (DK) / Dissipation Factor (DF) – Df 20 GHz 3.45 / 0.0030
Moisture Absorption (%) 0.10% 0.10% 0.06% 0.14%
CTE Z Axis (ppm/ºC) Pre Tg 55 45 42 45
Z-axis Expansion (50-260ºC) (CTE Z Axis) 2.80 2.50
CTE, X-, Y-axes, Pre-Tg – ppm/ºC 12 15 14-16 14-16
Peel Strength – 1oz (35μm) – N/mm 1.00 0.96 0.8 0.8
T260 >60 >60
T288 – minutes >60 >60 >120 >120
Flexural Strength – ksi Lengthwise direction – 71.0
Crosswise direction – 58.0
Lengthwise direction – 44.0
Crosswise direction – 41.0
Flexural/Taylor’s Modulus – ksi Lengthwise direction – 2,857
Crosswise direction – 2,743
Lengthwise direction – 2,857
Crosswise direction – 2,743
Tensil/Young’s modulus – ksi Lengthwise direction – 3,060
Crosswise direction – 2,784
Lengthwise direction – 3,060
Crosswise direction – 2,784
Tensile strength – ksi Lengthwise direction – 39
Crosswise direction – 35
Lengthwise direction – 30
Crosswise direction – 25
Volume Resistivity – MΩ-cm 1.33×107 1.33×107 1×109
Electrical Strength – kV/mm 45 60
Surface Resistivity – MΩ 1.33×105 1.33×105 1×108
Thermal Conductivity (-100-250ºC) – W/mK 0.61 0.42
Maximum Operating Temperature – ºC 130 145