Improvements In Microwave Laminates For Amplifier Reliability And Efficiency

By Russell R. Hornung, Michael T. Smith, and John C. Frankosky, Arlon Materials for Electronics

Abstract — Trends in the electronic industry continue toward higher power and increasing thermal stability requirements. Most Systems Engineers highlight the "Arrhenius Equation," in which a 10°C increase in operating temperature doubles the failure rate for a typically component. In other words, the ability to get heat away from components, reduce or eliminate hot-spots, reduce overall device operating temperature will increase product life. Innovations focused on increasing thermal conductivity while maintaining low loss are being introduced in the industry. A benefit to these advances can result in greater phase stability. Designers minimize dead bandwidth which is lost to dielectric constant drift as operating temperature changes. For antenna designs, a significant shift in Resonance Frequency and bandwidth roll off at specific frequencies, results in lower gain performance Thermal stability feature is critical to phase sensitive devices such as impedance network transformers utilized for matching networks of power amplifiers.