Astra®MT77 – PTFE Performance without the Hassle!

Isola’s Astra MT77 product enables RF/MW designers to get similar electrical performance traditionally associated with ceramic-filled PTFE systems.

The laminate material is a tightly controlled and very low dielectric constant of 3.0, an ultra-low dissipation factor of 0.0017, as well as using the very smooth VLP2 copper, Astra MT77 provides excellent insertion loss characteristics on par with filled PTFE products.

This makes Astra MT77 an excellent choice for applications at frequencies through the V & W-band (40-75 & 75-110GHz). Those applications include such as 77GHz automotive radar systems and various airborne RF systems.

What makes Isola’s Astra MT77 product a preferred choice for so many PCB fabricators? Ease of manufacturing! Because the product is woven glass cloth reinforced, dimensional stability is very good and repeatable. As the weave style is square and spread, impact from the fiber weave is negligible, even at high frequencies.

The lack of ceramic filler in the resin matrix makes mechanical drilling a breeze and allows for extended hit counts without the need to re-sharpen drill bits which significantly reduces processing costs. Standard wet chemical and plasma desmear can be used with no plasma activation of the surface is required for successful copper deposition or soldermask application.

While quite recently, design options with RF materials were very limited because of a lack of good bondply options. Astra MT77 prepreg materials have been a game-changer. Isola offers various customer prepregs consisting of the same glass type and resin as the laminates. This makes building up multilayered circuits with homogeneous dielectrics is extremely easy and is done with standard multilayered process parameters. All kinds of sequential structures, including any layer designs can be realized, creating full freedom of stack-up to board designers.

Compatibility with a large choice of other Isola materials, from high-reliability epoxy systems like 370HR to low loss HSD products like I-Tera MT40 or Tachyon-100G is creating endless possibilities. Astra MT77 can be used in hybrid designs with many Isola products which significantly increases designers choice of properties and performance.

Do you want to try it yourself? Please contact Isola / Insulectro staff, and we will happily help you!

14 April 2021