Re: [SI-LIST] : FPC impedance control

Fred Balistreri ([email protected])
Tue, 04 May 1999 08:19:08 -0700

Fox, Michael J wrote:
>
> I have a question: What is the conductivity of a thin silver epoxy layer?
> Higher than copper?
>
> Michael
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Andy Burkhardt [mailto:[email protected]]
> Sent: Wednesday, April 21, 1999 10:22 AM
> To: [email protected]
> Cc: [email protected]; Casey; Richard S Smith
> Subject: Re: [SI-LIST] : FPC impedance control
>
> At 04:34 PM 16/03/99 +0000, you wrote:
> >From: [email protected]
> >Received: from earth.sun.com (earth.EBay.Sun.COM [129.150.69.3])
> > by engmail1.Eng.Sun.COM (8.8.8+Sun/8.8.8) with ESMTP id RAA12626
> > for <[email protected]>; Mon, 15 Mar 1999 17:24:07 -0800
> (PST)
> >Received: from ms17.hinet.net (ms17.hinet.net [168.95.4.17])
> > by earth.sun.com (8.9.1/8.9.1) with ESMTP id RAA19022
> > for <[email protected]>; Mon, 15 Mar 1999 17:24:08 -0800
> (PST)
> >Received: from ccmail.arima.com.tw (ccmail.arima.com.tw [203.74.188.253])
> > by ms17.hinet.net (8.8.8/8.8.8) with SMTP id JAA21973
> > for <[email protected]>; Tue, 16 Mar 1999 09:24:07 +0800
> (CST)
> >Received: from ccMail by ccmail.arima.com.tw (ccMail Link to SMTP
> R8.20.00.25)
> > id AA921605105; Tue, 16 Mar 1999 09:25:08 +0800
> >Message-Id: <[email protected]>
> >Date: Tue, 16 Mar 1999 09:23:14 +0800
> >To: <[email protected]>
> >Subject: [SI-LIST] : FPC impedance control
> >MIME-Version: 1.0
> >Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII
> >Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
> >Content-Description: "cc:Mail Note Part"
> >Sender: [email protected]
> >Precedence: bulk
> >Status:
> >
> >Dear all SI gurus,
> >
> >One question.
> >
> >Recently, I design a stackup structure for a FPC, flexible printed circuit
> >board, to get right controlled impedance.
> >The FPC is an embedded microstrip structure with a thin silver epoxy layer
> as
> >the ground layer and 20cm trace length.
> >
> >Then I measure the trace impedance of the prototype of the cable from one
> >end of the trace with TDR.
> >
> >I find that its impedance smoothly rises up from 50 to 70 ohms.
> >However, measuring from the other end of the same trace, I find that the
> >impedance curve looks flat ,around 60 ohms.
> >(The FPC cable has a U turn at its tail).
> >
> >Why I got two different results by measuring the two ends of the same
> trace?
> >What causes the impedance ramp up?
> >
> >Any comments on this phenomenon?
> >
> >Thank you for your helps in advance.
> >
> >John Lin
> >CAE Engineer @ Arima
> >
> >**** To unsubscribe from si-list: send e-mail to
> >[email protected]. In the BODY of message put: UNSUBSCRIBE
> >si-list, for more help, put HELP. si-list archives are accessible at
> >http://www.qsl.net/wb6tpu/si-list ****
>
> Dear John,
>
> Sorry for the late response. (I had a great vacation!)
>
> The rise in impedance can come from two sources:
> (1) Skin effect losses due to very thin traces (or in your case
> perhaps a lossey GND return path).
> (2) A true change in impedance of the structure along it's length.
> eg a tapered trace (thick to thin) in your case.
> (other progressive changes in structure geometry will cause similar
> effects.)
>
> Resistive losses are linear, so you should see the same rise when
> testing from either end of the test trace.
>
> A tapered trace will might cause an impedance change of 10 ohms
> over its length, but add to that another 10 ohms of resistive skin effect
> loss and this gives you your 50 to 70 ohm rise.
>
> When testing from the other end you might expect to see the 10 ohm
> drop due to taper, but you must add 10 ohms of resistive skin effect
> loss in a linear manner over length, so this gives a flat 60 ohm.
>
> I have seen similar effects on PCBs, so a close inspection by
> microsection at various points may be in order. Non-tapered
> traces will still exhibit skin effect loss, so other sources of
> geometry variation can also cause such results.
> The GND plane provides the return path for current flow, so any
> form of cross-hatching will increase the inductance of the GND
> plane and reduce capacitance leading to an increase in Zo.
>
> Hope this helps.
>
> Best regards
>
> Andy Burkhardt
> Product Manager
> Email: [email protected]
> Tel: + 44 1481 253081
> Fax: + 44 1481 252476
> http://www.polar.co.uk
> =====================================================
> World leaders in PCB faultfinding and controlled impedance measurement
> =====================================================
>
> **** To unsubscribe from si-list: send e-mail to
> [email protected]. In the BODY of message put: UNSUBSCRIBE
> si-list, for more help, put HELP. si-list archives are accessible at
> http://www.qsl.net/wb6tpu/si-list ****
>
> **** To unsubscribe from si-list: send e-mail to [email protected]. In the BODY of message put: UNSUBSCRIBE si-list, for more help, put HELP. si-list archives are accessible at

Silver is the best conductor, better than copper and gold. However among
the negative things about silver is the fact that it oxidizes very
rapidily. The conductivity of silver is 6.1e7 S/m, that's in siemens/
meter. The conductivity property of a material does not change with
physical size at DC. However the resistance from point a to b does
vary with thickness, length, width (physical size).

Best Regards,

-- 
Fred Balistreri
[email protected]

http://www.apsimtech.com

**** To unsubscribe from si-list: send e-mail to [email protected]. In the BODY of message put: UNSUBSCRIBE si-list, for more help, put HELP. si-list archives are accessible at http://www.qsl.net/wb6tpu/si-list ****