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Circuit board materials may like it hot (or not)
June 09, 2006Electrical circuits may act differently in Arizona than they do in Alaska—potentially affecting the performance of computers and other electronics. A new technique identifies and quantifies an important cause of this temperature sensitivity.
Researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and DuPont Electronic Technologies (Research Triangle Park, N.C.) have demonstrated a nondestructive method for measuring how temperature affects the electrical properties of three common circuit board materials (ceramic, polymer and glass). The work, described at a recent conference,* provides manufacturers with an accurate technique for measuring high-frequency electrical properties of substrates without cutting up the material—enabling faster, less expensive and easier testing—as well as a tool for designing circuits and substrates with improved performance.
NIST has been working with ceramic and printed-wiring board manufacturers for five years to develop the technique. They previously have used the method to measure changes in electrical properties as substrates are subjected to different electromagnetic frequencies. The work is important to the electronics industry because the performance of electrical circuits depends in part on the electrical properties of the substrate.
The apparatus used in the experiments, the split-cylinder resonator, was originally designed elsewhere, but NIST developed a mathematical model that improves its accuracy and extends its frequency range. The model has been approved as an industry standard. A thin piece of substrate is placed between two halves of a cylindrical cavity—smaller than a coffee mug—inside an environmental chamber. A computer analyzes the changes in the microwave-range resonant frequency as the chamber temperature changes from -50 to 100 degrees Celsius (-58 to 212 degrees Farenheit). As the temperature rose, an important electrical property called loss tangent (a measure of electrical losses in an insulating material) fell in glass, generally increased in the organic substrate, and remained stable in one type of ceramic while rising slightly in another.
National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST)
The apparatus used in the experiments, the split-cylinder resonator, was originally designed elsewhere, but NIST developed a mathematical model that improves its accuracy and extends its frequency range. The model has been approved as an industry standard. A thin piece of substrate is placed between two halves of a cylindrical cavity—smaller than a coffee mug—inside an environmental chamber. A computer analyzes the changes in the microwave-range resonant frequency as the chamber temperature changes from -50 to 100 degrees Celsius (-58 to 212 degrees Farenheit). As the temperature rose, an important electrical property called loss tangent (a measure of electrical losses in an insulating material) fell in glass, generally increased in the organic substrate, and remained stable in one type of ceramic while rising slightly in another.
National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST)
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Understanding precisely how fluid boils in tiny "microchannels" has led to formulas and models that will help engineers design systems to cool high-power electronics in electric and hybrid cars, aircraft, computers and other devices.
Rebirth of an icon: Hubble's first images since Servicing Mission 4
Astronomers today declared the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope a fully rejuvenated observatory ready for a new decade of exploration, with the release of observations from four of its six operating science instruments.
Ultrasound imaging now possible with a smartphone
Computer engineers at Washington University in St. Louis are bringing the minimalist approach to medical care and computing by coupling USB-based ultrasound probe technology with a smartphone, enabling a compact, mobile computational platform and a medical imaging device that fits in the palm of a hand.
NTU & SIMTech announce the first antenna-in-package solution for single-chip 60-GHz radio
Researchers at Nanyang Technology University (NTU) and Singapore Institute of Manufacturing Technology (SIMTech) have successfully developed the first Antenna-in-Package (AiP) solution in LTCC (low-temperature co-fired ceramic) technology for single-chip 60-GHz radio.
Portable imaging system will help maximize public health response to natural disasters
Researchers at the Georgia Tech Research Institute (GTRI) have developed a low-cost, high-resolution imaging system that can be attached to a helicopter to create a complete and detailed picture of an area devastated by a hurricane or other natural disaster.
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What emotional memories are made of
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Mid Sweden University researchers set world record
When it comes to the density of connections on a chip, researchers in industrial electronics at Mid Sweden University hold the unofficial world record. Their new technique makes it possible to connect chips to an underlying substrate, such as a circuit board, with a density of 80,000 connections per square centimetre. "No one has ever managed to make so many connections, and we exceed the projected demands of industry by a wide margin. In ten years' time the requirements will be 15,000 connections per square centimetre," says Hjalmar Hesselbom, professor of industrial electronics at Mid Sweden University in Ã-stersund. Chips are used as microprocessors, for example, and there is
Recycling of electronic circuit boards
GAIKER, research center from the Basque Country is a participant in a project at a multinational level which is financed by the European Union Competitive and Sustainable Growth Project. The project is to develop innovative technology which will have two aspects or stages: firstly the separation and recovery of components capable of being reused and, subsequently, the recycling of materials used in electronic printed circuit boards (from telephones, T.V.'s, and so on). The great quantity of small parts, different components, solder and other materials used in their manufacture, make their recycling and re-use extremely difficult. The main aim of this important initiative is the substitution
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