Revision C of IPC-4101

IPC - Association ConnectingElectronics Industries® has just released revision C of IPC-4101,Specification for Base Materials for Rigid and Multilayer PrintedBoards. Covering the requirements for base materials used primarilyin rigid and multilayer printed boards for electrical andelectronic circuits, the new C revision adds 11 new specificationsheets to reflect the expanded offerings for current commerciallyavailable laminates and prepregs.

The newspecification sheets add laminate and prepreg materials withimproved or additional properties for use in one or more of thefollowing applications: low halogen, lead free, high thermalperformance, and high speed/high frequencyperformance.

"We've gone wellbeyond the vanilla option of materials to give our industryguidance with respect to the heightened demands in performance andapplications," said Tony Senese, OEM business development manager,Panasonic Electric Works, and chair of the 3-11 Laminate/PrepregMaterials Subcommittee, responsible for the standard. "Thespecification sheets now cover a much broader range - from lowhalogen materials which are, for the most part, duplicates of thehigh performance FR-4 materials with higher Tg, to specificationsheets for materials on the less demanding end of thespectrum."

In total, 66individual specification sheets are contained in IPC-4101C whichcan be searched using keywords. The keywords allow the document'suser to easily find  groups of materials with commoncharacteristics but with enough specific properties that allow themto fine-tune their laminate and/or prepreg search.

The document hasalso gained significant interest and support from the industryworldwide. "Thanks to significant efforts from the 3-10 PrintedBoard Base Materials Committee Chair Doug Sober, IPC-4101C has nowtruly become a global document, within Europe and Asia as well asNorth America," commented Senese.

Senese also thanksall volunteer members of the 3-11 subcommittee for theircontributions, "This was an important update to get out to ourindustry as soon as possible and our group worked diligently tomake it happen. Their efforts enabled a rapid consensus andrevision process."

More informationon IPC-4101C, Specification for Base Materials for Rigid andMultilayer Printed Boards, is available in the IPC online bookstoreat www.IPC.org/onlinestore . Questions should bedirected to the 3-11 Subcommittee staff liaison, Tom Newton, IPCdirector of PCB programs, standards and technology, atTomNewton@ipc.org  or +1847-597-2849.