January 10, 2008

The application of MEGTRON6, a material for use in multi-laminate printed wiring boards
that provides low transmission loss suited to high-speed/ high-capacity information
transmission has been expanded into network equipment.

Matsushita Electric Works, Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as MEW) has seen the expanded adoption of MEGTRON6, a material for use in high-function, multi-laminate printed wiring boards and expects the achievement ahead of schedule of the sales plan determined upon initial release (100 million/ month in 2008), in the second half of 2007.
MEGTRON6, reduces dielectric constant*1 and dielectric dissipation factor,*2 two of the properties required for high-speed, high-capacity transmission. Because MEGTRON6 also has other properties such as high heat resistance and low thermal expansion, it is also suited to components mounting using environmentally-conscious lead-free solder, which has a higher melting point than general lead solder.
Sales of the product have grown since MEW initiated sales in January 2006 following the development of MEGTRON6 for high-speed/ high-capacity information transmission equipment including network equipment such as servers, routers, and mobile phone base stations, etc, semi-conductor test equipment, and measuring equipment. Including both Japanese and overseas manufacturers of assembled equipment, who need the most up-to-date technology, MEGTRON6 has also been evaluated well and adopted by many manufacturers of printed wiring boards. Because of this, MEW is aiming at further expansion with the product and sales of 2 billion per year in 2010.
MEW is planning to exhibit this product at the Printed Wiring Boards EXPO (January 16-18, 2008/ Tokyo Big Sight).

1. *1. Dielectric constant: An index that depicts signal speed
2. *2. Transmission loss: The loss of signal transmission

Main applications

Network equipment, large computers, semi-conductor testing equipment, high frequency measuring equipment, etc

Main characteristics

(1) Industry-leading low dielectric constant/dielectric dissipation factor
(2) Transmission loss one half that of general heat-resistant glass epoxy
(3) Thermal expansion coefficient approximately 75% that of general heat-resistant glass epoxy

Background since market launch

In association with the development of the information society, the MEGTRON series began with the development and launch of the first model in May 1996. MEGTRON6, born from the comprehensive power of the company’s strengths including the 3 core technologies of commodity technology, production technology, and quality assessment technology, has been appreciated highly by customers and today, has arrived at adoption in the top models of the world’s most advanced network equipment manufacturers.
MEW’s base in the USA (research and marketing functions), which was established in August 2005, has undertaken strategic activities such as information gathering and accreditation work related to the multi-laminate material technology trends that have been used in fields positioned at the cutting edge of American industry, including high speed transmission network equipment such as servers and routers, and next generation mobile phones. Doing so has led to the successful results described above.

Characteristics

(1) Industry-leading low dielectric constant (3.5) and low dielectric dissipation factor (0.002)
・Dielectric constant of 3.5 (at 2GHｚ) and dielectric dissipation factor of 0.002 (at 2GHｚ) are achieved without sacrificing the characteristics of multi-laminate materials by compounding the polyphenylene ether resin etc of a small dielectric constant (transmission loss).

Dielectric constant:	An index that indicates the signal speed. The lower the constant, the higher the signal speed rises.
Dielectric dissipation factor:	This depicts loss during signal transmission. The lower the factor, the lower signal transmission loss becomes, leading to more efficient signal transmission.

(2) Transmission loss roughly one half that of general heat-resistant glass epoxy
Low transmission loss is essential when transmitting high-speed signals in large quantities.

MEGTRON6 transmission loss at 5GHz	About 15dB/m
General heat-resistant glass epoxy	About 30dB/m (*Evaluated using a 0.28mmt strip circuit.)

(3) Thermal expansion coefficient (oriented in line with thickness) approximately 75% that of general heat-resistant glass epoxy
Securing through-hole reliability with higher layer counts requires moderation of the thermal expansion coefficient oriented in line with thickness.
MEW achieved a moderate thermal expansion coefficient by combining a low heat resistant inorganic filler with an organic resin in MEGTRON6.

Heat expansion coefficient (oriented in line with thickness α1)

MEGTRON6	45ppm
General heat-resistant glass epoxy	60ppm

(4) Excellent through-hole reliability (about 5 times that of general heat-resistant glass epoxy)
In a temperature cycle test conducted at −65℃ and 125℃, the low thermal expansion property of MEGTRON6 was verified to have reliability approximately 5 times higher than that of the general heat-resistant glass epoxy.

(5) Support for lead-free soldering
Generally, lead-free soldering requires a higher solder melting point and this tends to increase the heat stress on the board.
Even after conducting 6 solder floats at a solder melting point of 288℃, there were verified to be no abnormalities in the quality of MEGTRON6.

Product numbers

Copper-clad laminate	R-5775(K)
Prepreg	R-5670(K)