Trouble in Your Tank: Causes of Plating Voids, Pre-electroless Copper
Dan’s Biz Bookshelf: ‘Growth Hacker Marketing’
Happy’s Tech Talk #38: Novel Metallization for UHDI
Characterization of PCB Material & Manufacturing Technology for High-Frequency
September 2, 2015 | E. Schlaffer, AT&S; and O. Huber, T. Faseth, and H. Arthaber, University of Technology, ViennaEstimated reading time: 15 minutes
Figure 10: Loss difference MS.
The second transmission mode is CBCPW. CBCPW typically exhibits larger losses over frequency for the same length L when it is compared to MS, as higher conductor loss occurs due to the additional ground planes on top of the structure[3]. In this case, as the dimensions of the measured samples imply a dominant wave propagation in the substrate, the total losses are just slightly higher as for the discussed MS lines. Figure 11 displays the measurement results for material type A. The difference of the losses of the structuring processes to be compared appears to be already present for very low frequencies and that for all three line lengths. For higher frequencies the impact of fabrication process does not seem to increase much. At 110 GHz for L = 20 mm the additional loss for pattern plating is approximately 0.42 dB, which is very close to the measured value for the similar MS line. For material type B (Figure 12) resembling results as for material type A are achieved. By fitting the insertion loss for four different lengths of the CBCPW lines, in the same manner as it was done for MS, the results for material type B can be seen in Figure 13. The frequency dependence is quite different compared to MS as it seems that additional losses occur already at low frequencies, albeit, losses do not increase as steeply as for MS.
Figure 11: Material type A CBCPW.
Figure 12: Material type B CBCPW.
Figure 13: Loss difference CBCPW.
Page 4 of 5
Share on:
Suggested Items
RF PCB Design Tips and Tricks
05/08/2025 | Cherie Litson, EPTAC MIT CID/CID+There are many great books, videos, and information online about designing PCBs for RF circuits. A few of my favorite RF sources are Hans Rosenberg, Stephen Chavez, and Rick Hartley, but there are many more. These PCB design engineers have a very good perspective on what it takes to take an RF design from schematic concept to PCB layout.
Trouble in Your Tank: Causes of Plating Voids, Pre-electroless Copper
05/09/2025 | Michael Carano -- Column: Trouble in Your TankIn the business of printed circuit fabrication, yield-reducing and costly defects can easily catch even the most seasoned engineers and production personnel off guard. In this month’s column, I’ll investigate copper plating voids with their genesis in the pre-plating process steps.
Elephantech: For a Greener Tomorrow
04/16/2025 | Marcy LaRont, PCB007 MagazineNobuhiko Okamoto is the global sales and marketing manager for Elephantech Inc., a Japanese startup with a vision to make electronics more sustainable. The company is developing a metal inkjet technology that can print directly on the substrate and then give it a copper thickness by plating. In this interview, he discusses this novel technology's environmental advantages, as well as its potential benefits for the PCB manufacturing and semiconductor packaging segments.
Trouble in Your Tank: Organic Addition Agents in Electrolytic Copper Plating
04/15/2025 | Michael Carano -- Column: Trouble in Your TankThere are numerous factors at play in the science of electroplating or, as most often called, electrolytic plating. One critical element is the use of organic addition agents and their role in copper plating. The function and use of these chemical compounds will be explored in more detail.
IDTechEx Highlights Recyclable Materials for PCBs
04/10/2025 | IDTechExConventional printed circuit board (PCB) manufacturing is wasteful, harmful to the environment and energy intensive. This can be mitigated by the implementation of new recyclable materials and technologies, which have the potential to revolutionize electronics manufacturing.