Novel laminate increases PCB capacitance density

Offers 90x the capacitance density of ZBC2000, the industry market-leading capacitance material, in a thinner construction than a standard 4mil dielectric power ground layer.

New from EMS provider Sanmina-SCI Corp, SuperBC is a novel technology that delivers next-generation levels of performance for providing bypass capacitance inside silicon chip packages and high-performance PCBs.

SuperBC also includes a layer of Sanmina-SCI's patent pending eESD embedded electrostatic discharge (ESD) protection technology which, if designed properly, can protect 100% of the I/O pins on a chip or PCB from voltage transients as high as 30kV.

Sanmina-SCI's PCB Division plans to collaborate with its joint development partner Shocking Technologies and BC Licensee Oak-Mitsui to integrate Xstatic voltage switchable dielectric (VSD) material with ultrathin layers of nanopowder loaded Faradflex material.

"SuperBC laminate will provide next-generation levels of capacitance density along with other enabling performance characteristics", says George Dudnikov, Senior Vice President and Chief Technology Officer for Sanmina-SCI's PCB and Backplane Divisions.

"The technology uses a base 1 or 2mil BC core onto which additional 8um or thinner high Dk dielectric layers are added to form a composite capacitance core".

"Multiple dielectrics can be added to either boost bulk planar capacitance values or segregate the power distribution system (PDS) by different voltage levels or noise budgets".

"To date, we are producing SuperBC cores with 45nF/in2 of capacitance in an overall thickness of less than 6mil".

"The result is 90x the capacitance density of ZBC2000, the industry market-leading capacitance material, in a thinner construction than a standard 4mil dielectric power ground layer", adds Dudnikov.

SuperBC can also include a layer of eESD which uses a thin continuous layer of Shocking Technologies Xstatic VSD material under a ground plane inside the PCB.

The VSD material is programmed to switch from being a pure dielectric insulator to pure electrical conductor, dissipate the ESD transient to ground, and then reset itself - all in less than a nanosecond.

Testing has shown that protection levels up to 30kV are achievable.

"As processor frequencies and bandwidth requirements continue to increase, PDS designers are looking for more and more low inductance capacitance for bypass", says Dudnikov.

"SuperBC can be used in high-performance server and telecomms applications where it can significantly reduce, if not totally eliminate, the need for surface bypass or specialist capacitors".

"It will also be very enabling as a core for chip packaging substrates where higher levels of distributed capacitance can be placed very close to the silicon chip".

"With the addition of a layer of eESD, critical electrostatic discharge protection can be added to improve reliability of the electronic system".

SuperBC will be available from Sanmina-SCI, plus a select number of licensees.

Back to top