Thermal Management – Printed Circuit Boards: A Mobile Market

Glass fiber/epoxy laminates have been the foundational structural substrate in printed circuit boards (PCBs) for decades. Glass/epoxy’s dominance, however, is under challenge as a variety of trends — notably, toward miniaturization, better thermal management, increased speed and performance, and the 3-D printing process — force PCB manufacturers to re-examine their material options.

As computers and mobile devices get smaller, faster and more sophisticated, more heat-producing internal electronics are packed into smaller spaces, increasing temperatures in PCB laminates and, thus, threatening performance. As devices get more compact, there is less room to accommodate a material’s expansion or contraction as internal temperature fluctuates. There also can be a mismatch between a PCB substrate’s CTE and the temperatures and dynamic loads it sees in service. Another issue threatening glass fiber/epoxy’s reign is conductive anodic filamentation (CAF), the result when copper corrosion residue grows along the glass fiber/resin interface in a PCB laminate as current passes from anode to cathode.

It is now possible to combine one of the variety of proven 3-D printing techniques with an established commercial printed electronics process and successfully build complete electronic products that exhibit the small feature sizes, high density and high performance now in demand.

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