PCMCIA: Material Considerations

The market for PCMCIA or PC cards is the fastest growing market in today's printed wiring board market. It represents a very important opportunity for the North American marketplace because the increased use of these materials denotes significant growth opportunities for an industry which has stagnated with the general economic downturn. This opportunity is not without significant challenges. The printed wiring boards required for these miniaturised circuits are 4,6 and 8 layers, but with overall finished board thicknesses of 15 to 24 mils. This means that individual layers within the multilayer construction will be in the 1.5 to 5 mil range, with significant demand for materials in the 2 mil range. Laminators will face the challenge of producing ultra‐thin materials economically with the appropriate performance characteristics. This paper focuses on the efforts required of laminators to meet this challenge, discussing capabilities to produce materials in large sheet formats necessary for the required economics. It addresses equipment, handling and overall processing issues from the laminator's point of view. Significant discussion focuses on the capability of laminate raw materials to supply acceptable laminates. In areas where these materials fall short, co‐operative development efforts are discussed for designing and evaluating materials specifically for this area of application.