Thermal reliability requirements can be separated into two categories. The first involves survival of a PCB through assembly without defects such as blisters or delamination. The second category involves thermal reliability in the operating environment over a product’s lifetime. Both types of thermal reliability are critical.

While excellent thermal reliability through assembly has always been important, the advent of lead-free assembly has required further enhancements to printed circuit materials in recent years due to the higher assembly temperatures required. In addition, many products that have had exemptions for lead-free assembly will need to convert to lead-free assembly in the near future. Often, these are the more complex PCB designs where thermal requirements are already demanding.

Beyond lead-free assembly, applications where PCBs are exposed to harsh operating environments also require thermally robust materials. Isola offers several products with different levels of electrical performance that all possess excellent thermal reliability.