The subject matter of this application is directed toward resins used in the manufacture of reinforced plastics. More particularly, the resins (binders) are used in the preparation of composites formed from fibers embedded in a polymer resin matrix. Even more specifically this application is directed toward the use of such resins in the preparation of circuit board laminates where the reinforcing material is glass or quartz fiber.
To overcome some mechanical and structural limitations of plastics it has become relatively commonplace to reinforce them with other components. Composites formed of various fibers embedded in a polymer resin matrix are especially useful and susceptible to enormous variation depending upon the nature of the fiber used, how the fiber is utilized, and the matrix or binder for the fibers. Materials which have been used as fibers include glass, quartz, oriented polymers such as the aramids (Kevlar.TM.), graphite and boron. Whatever their composition such fibers can be used as chopped or continuous filaments, and when used as continuous filaments they can all be unidirectional or woven into a fabric. The matrix can be, for example, a polyester, epoxy, polyimide, polyetherketone or polyetherimide resin as either a thermoset or thermoplastic material. The uses for such composites range from airframes to tennis rackets and from boat hulls to rocket motor casings.
A particular area of composite application is that of printed circuit boards, especially multilayer circuit boards, for mounting electronic components. The use of glass fabric as the reinforcing material has become more-or-less standard and epoxy resins are most often used as the matrix. For the fiber to exert a reinforcing action it is necessary that the fibers be completely coated with resin, and to achieve this the glass fiber often is surface treated to provide sites for chemical bonding to the resin or to its precursor or for otherwise improved adhesion to the matrix material.
Multilayer circuit boards are laminates with alternating layers of composite and etched copper sheet. A brief discussion of their manufacture will aid in appreciating the properties requisite for such boards. A woven glass fabric is first impregnated with resin by dipping the cloth in a resin solution, often referred to as the varnish solution, in what is called the A-stage. Solvent is then removed to afford a glass cloth reinforced resin, or prepreg, in what is called the B-stage. In some cases the resin in the prepreg may be partially cured, in other cases uncured, but in all cases the prepreg is a non-tacky, readily handled rigid sheet of glass cloth embedded in and coated with a resin. The finished circuit board is prepared by laminting alternating layers of prepreg and etched copper foil under conditions of temperature and pressure where resin is cured, i.e., further polymerized and cross-linked to a final infusible, insoluble stage (C-stage).
From the above brief description some necessary and desirable characteristics of the resin may be readily discerned. The circuit board will be subjected to soldering temperatures and may be operated at an elevated temperature, or experience cyclic locally elevated temperatures because of local power generation, and thus the thermal coefficient of expansion of the resin should approximate that of glass to ensure continued dimensional stability and resistance to heat distortion. The resin should have a high solubility in the varnish solution to ensure high resin loading. The varnish solution should have a sufficiently low viscosity for even coating but not too low a viscosity as to run off the fibers. It is necessary that the prepreg not be tacky so that it can be readily handled and stored. The resin is desirably noncrystalline for enhanced solubility in the varnish solution and for good film forming properties in the prepreg. The resin should have adequate flow at the C-stage so as to make void-free laminated bonds, with the curing temperature somewhat higher than the glass transition temperature (T.sub.g) of the resin to afford a wider processing "window." The resin also should be chemically resistant to a corrosive environment and to water vapor. To ensure that the discrete electrical components on a circuit board interact only via the etched path on the copper foil, it is desirable that the matrix have a low dielectric constant and high resistance.
The invention to be described is an amorphous, thermosetting resin which affords a varnish solution of high solids content with a viscosity leading to even coating without runoff, which affords a non-tacky prepreg, has a glass transition temperature sufficiently below the curing temperature to afford an adequate window of processing, and which shows excellent flow properties at the C-stage. The final cured resin exhibits a low dielectric constant and dissipation factor, a low coefficient of thermal expansion, and a high glass transition temperature. In short, we believe our cured resin has properties superior to those currently recognized as industry standards in the lamination of circuit boards, and thus presents outstanding benefits.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,116,936 describes thermosetting resins which are vinylbenzyl ethers of monomeric phenols, of simple phenol-formaldehyde condensation products commonly known as novolac resins, and of oligomers resulting from the reaction of a dihydric phenol, such as bisphenol A, and a glycidyl ether. However much these resins may represent an advance over prior art resins, presumably because the fully cured product shows, among other desirable properties, greater hydrolytic stability and corrosion resistance, we have discovered resins whose properties are decidedly superior in several operational aspects. In particular, whereas the resins of our invention show desirable flow at prepreg temperatures, they exhibit higher flow viscosity in solution at ambient temperature, thereby minimizing runoff and leading to improved coating uniformity. Additionally, the fully cured products of our resins show an improved coefficient of thermal expansion, a particularly important property in laminate production. Thermal expansion is a poorly understood function of the nature of the polymer backbone as well as the nature of the end capping group. The coefficient of thermal expansion can not be predicted, and obtaining thermosetting resins whose thermoset product has a coefficient of thermal expansion similar to that of, e.g., woven glass fabric remains a hit-or-miss affair. For our purposes an ideal fully cured product will have a coefficient of thermal expansion of about 30 ppm. The materials of our invention approach the goal closely.
The thermosetting resins of this invention do not appear to have a close analogue in the prior art, with the most relevant art of Wang et al., U.S. Pat. No. 4,707,558, only distantly related. The formulae of the patentees encompass a very large universe of permutations, and in the case where in their formula II m'=0 and m=1 one has a structure which is arguably, and only weakly arguably, pertinent to the materials of this invention. But even within such restrictions one requires a judicious choice of other of the patentees' variables, especially A and X, to arrive at materials even then only remotely related to our invention.
It needs to be emphasized that although this application will stress the utilization of the resins of our invention in the production of multilayer circuit boards, the resins may be useful in fabricating composites generally. Consequently, it needs to be explicitly recognized that the resins of our invention are intended for composite manufacture without any limitations other than those imposed by the product specifications themselves.