Insulectro and Isola Share Materials Super Booth at IPC APEX EXPO

Estimated reading time: 6 minutes

Insulectro will be partnering with Isola to create the largest exhibit in the materials section at this year’s IPC APEX EXPO at the San Diego Convention Center, February 27 through March 1, 2018. The exhibit space (#317/#417) will showcase new, innovative products from Isola and Insulectro’s best-in-class suppliers

Ken Parent, Insulectro Vice President of Sales & Product Management commented, “We welcome the chance to partner again with Isola to create a totally unique exhibit experience at IPC in San Diego. There is a lot to talk about and see this year, and, our 1200 square booth provides a perfect arena for attendees to observe what’s changing the industry.

“As we all know, the PCB industry changes at an ever-increasing pace. On the technical side, circuit boards are continuing the relentless trend towards thinner, smaller, and faster. OEM designers are demanding a new breed of materials with lower loss and lower Dk to design and build boards that were never before possible. As a materials distributor, we are very pleased to present a host of exciting products to the electronics industry during IPC’s annual tradeshow. In addition to Isola’s amazing high speed digital and RF laminates, we will also highlight innovative new products from DuPont®, LCOA®, Pacothane, Oak Mitsui, CAC®, Focus Tech, Shikoku, and EMD Performance Materials,” Parent added.

Norm Berry, Director of Laminates and OEM Marketing concurred with Parent. “There is a lot of excitement around Isola resin systems particularly with Tachyon® 100G. 100G is the next generation resin, blending signal integrity performance and production friendly processing. It has recently passed the rigorous 1000-hour CAF test and we fully expect this product to maintain its aggressive growth and become the next ‘must have’ laminate for designers. Stop by our booth (#317/#417) and I’ll show you the impressive data.

“Other Isola high speed showstoppers include Isola’s I-Tera® MT40, I-Speed, and Astra laminates,” Berry concluded.

As a real-time demo, Insulectro will have a Bit Error Rate Testing device and be able to generate eye patterns on sample PCB materials in their booth. This will demonstrate frequency capabilities of different rigid and flex laminates and provide a visual representation of the impact to signals. Different materials can be observed side by side on this two channel system.

Insulectro Director of Product Management Michelle Walsh commented on some innovations from DuPont. “Interra™ is an exciting thin copper clad laminate designed for use in multilayer rigid PCBs. These laminates are highly reliable, no-glass solutions for rigid fine-line applications. They offer low dielectric loss, high dielectric isolation and strength, and tight thickness tolerance along with finer line capabilities and improved electrical performance.

“And this is just one of the incredible DuPont materials Insulectro distributes. Come see me and I’ll bring you up to date on the Pyralux® flexible laminates and all of the Riston® dry film photoresist materials. Plus, come see an out-of-this-world presentation about DuPont’s work in Aerospace and Defense markets throughout the three days of the exhibition,” Walsh concluded.

In addition to PCB materials, Insulectro distributes a full line of conductive inks and pastes from DuPont for the PE market. Kevin Miller, Vice President of Sales for Printed Electronics, commented, “As you’ve probably seen, there is a lot of energy around printed electronics – it’s everywhere. You’ll find our products in everything from membrane switches to medical devices, and, most exciting, in wearable goods, most recently featured in the USA Team Jackets at the 2018 Winter Olympics.

“In our booth, you will see many innovative developments that will be of interest to anyone thinking about printed electronics. To demonstrate flexible, conductive inks used in wearables, DuPont will be showcasing new Intexar™ fabric test equipment. Intexar™ is DuPont’s revolutionary electronic ink and film technology that seamlessly transforms fabric into smart clothing. This machine, one of two in the world, will show DuPont flexible inks being put through their paces as the wearable fabric is stretched and stressed. It’s amazing!

“Also, we have on display a ten-foot electronic heater printed on Kapton® that can literally be rolled up and weighs next to nothing. It will give you an idea about how flexible and scalable PE can be,” Miller added.

“But wait there’s more,” Kevin Miller enthused, “We will be demonstrating SPF Inc.’s Metallograph® continuous dry metal printing technology in our booth. The demonstration will use an off-the-shelf Zebra label printer, polyester films from Insulectro and Metallograph® ribbons from IIMAK, polyester films from Insulectro and papers from UPM Raflatac to print antennas and circuits. Come by and see how a simple printer can created a RAIN (passive UHF) RFID antenna almost faster than you can count them.”

Also featured in the printed electronics space is an Apollo Seiko soldering robot, a highly accurate and adaptable device that can solder to printed silver traces on PET without melting the substrate.

 “The printed electronics market is exploding, and a major player is DuPont with its innovative conductive, stretchable inks,” Miller added. “This is a great opportunity for PCB fabricators to learn more about PE materials. In our highly-attended Power Chats, you can get a 13.5-minute overview of the potential with ‘Printed Electronics 101’ presented by Insulectro VP of Technology Chris Hunrath and Technical Account Manager Bob Lee, plus learn more about Intexar™.”

“But the excitement isn’t just with printed electronics,” Ken Parent retorted, “longtime Insulectro supplier Pacothane is presenting Paco•Clutch - a two-side releasable film, engineered specifically for use by PCB multilayer manufacturers that laminate etch copper laminate cores, in place of copper foil in the outer layer lamination process. This state-of-the-art product performs a dual purpose in the production of Cap Layer constructions.

“Copper has never looked better thanks to our premier copper supplier Oak Mitsui. We’re providing customers the best copper foil, made in the USA, in any format they prefer, available at all of our eleven stocking locations in North America.

“In addition, Pacothane will present the ThermoLam™ system of extreme temperature release film (ThermoFilm™) and press pads (ThermoPads™),” Ken Parent added, “Plus, we will be exhibiting the remarkable Ormet® Sintering Paste from EMD Performance Materials and our superb drill room products from LCOA.

“Let’s not forget chemistry,” stated Insulectro Vice President for Chemistry Chris Hrusovsky. “We have two excellent suppliers with longtime partner Focus Tech and their amazing process chemistries and control systems, and, Shikoku Chemicals with their industry leading Glicoat Organic Solderability Preservative systems, their Glibrite micro-etching system, and their latest development, GliCap, a Non-Etch Adhesion Promotion System for multilayer bonding of high frequency materials.”

“We know we offer the best products available but another thing we are proud of is our Insulectro service model,” Parent continued, “Customers need tomorrow’s solutions today. They can’t wait. We are putting a lot of emphasis on product and service innovation this year. We take innovation very seriously. One of our core values is our commitment to the entire PCB supply chain. We enjoy forging trusted partnerships among suppliers, us as distributor, fabricators, and OEMs.  We know the challenges we all face in a rapidly evolving marketplace and one of our goals is to bring solutions that strengthen everyone’s business.”

About Insulectro

Insulectro is the largest supplier of PCB and printed electronics materials. With eleven stocking locations across North America, Insulectro supplies advanced engineered materials manufactured by DuPont, Isola, LCOA, CAC, Inc., Pacothane, Oak Mitsui, Shikoku, Focus Tech Process Chemistry, and Ormet Sintering Pastes. These products are used by its customers to fabricate complex, multilayer circuit boards in a variety of end markets including telecom, data communications, high speed computing, mobile devices, military, and medical. For more information, click here.