Material-Parameters For Ceramic Base Materials In LTCC And HTCC
"HOT" - Electrical Parameters for 3D-ceramics material in RF operation
Next to requirement needs from mechanical side
the technical reasons for electronic performance, especially RF performance, enforce the need for special material as ceramic.
Ceramics represents a highlighting material when both sides of performance have to fit to user requirements.
Wheares mechanical parameters are typically known better - the electrical parameters are not .
This article will explain this RF-needs by planar LTCC and HTCC technique, which is good established in high performance RF systems (e.g. for Space, Airborne or Communication).
The 3D-Faktor of additively manufactured electronics in 3D-ceramics now brings an additional performance driver to the top material parameters.
By 3D-ceramics and the way to electrify 3D-formfactors it is possible to improve performance by design and know how of the electrical parameters in high end RF-electronics use cases.
3D Ceramic and Best Practices Material Selection From RF-PCB's Perspective
See recommended Altium articles for RF-Designers reasons
Material Parameters Essential for Digital 3D-EM-Simulation
To reach out best performance in RF circuit design
it is essential to know as much as possible about the material RF-parameters in the relevant operational frequencies of the service application.
Having that detailed knowledge it is possible to
Using high performance 3D-EM-Simulation to reach best performance out of materials and design.
To accieve 3D in additive manufacturing electrification perspectives electronic circuits are able to get closer to the 3D-EM reality.
With the benefit that 3D optimization potential is clearly higher than on purely flat circuits.
More about 3D-EM-Simulation and the reasons behind you can find here with CST Studio Suite
Example RF Circuit Boards
Enabling designs for highest RF frequencies
Example Power Electronic Circuit Boards
Enabling designs for harsh environment, and high current requirements.
Parameters for Dielectric Base Materials
most relevant parameter for RF-designs here are
dielectric constant \( \varepsilon_{r} \)
and
dielectric loss \( tan\delta \)
for the operational frequency of thespecific application of the design
Low Temperature Cofired Ceramics
LTCC
-
- sintered at 850°C to 900°C
- estimated DK from 7 (@1MHz) to 8 (@10GHz)
- estimated dielectric loss from 0.001 (@1MHz) to 0.005 (@10GHz)
High Temperature Cofired Ceramics
HTCC
-
- sintered at 1600°C to 1800°C
- estimated DK from 9.4 (@1MHz) to 9 (@10GHz)
- estimated dielectric loss from 0.0005 (@1MHz) to 0.001 (@10GHz)