At DesignCon 2012 in Santa Clara, 3M (NYSE: MMM) announced the initial availability of its high-capacitance Embedded Capacitance Material (ECM), which the company says allows design engineers a new way to greatly improve power integrity and reduce electromagnetic interference (EMI) in miniaturized devices.
The company says this newest offering of its ECM material will provide one of the highest capacitance density and halogen-free solutions on the market. This helps design engineers provide hi-fidelity signals, high-signal-to-noise ratio in radio frequencies and higher speed digital signals in a variety of high-performance applications such as small form factor printed circuit board (PCB ) hardware, high-performance RF boards, microphones, integrated circuit (IC) packaging, and consumer electronics.
Specifically, unlike previous 3M ECM versions, which have a maximum capacitance density of approximately 10 nF per square inch, and some existing commercial competitor offerings, which have a maximum capacitance density of approximately 6 nF per square inch, the 3M ECM High- Capacitance Density solutions offer a capacitance density range from 20 up to 40 nF per square inch, making it the one of the highest capacitance density, halogen-free ECM solutions on the market. With the increase in capacitance density, design engineers can now use the offerings to drive high-frequency noise reduction to levels that could not be achieved with current generation solutions.
“As electronic devices continue to see drastic miniaturization, while requiring increased fidelity, 3M is constantly looking for innovative solutions to help drive this market trend,” comments Abhay Joshi, global business development manager, 3M Electronic Solutions Division, Interconnect Business. “Our newest line of Embedded Capacitance Material provides the industry with one of the highest amounts of capacitance per square inch, giving design engineers an additional tool in their arsenal to achieve their design goals.”
3M’s ECM material offerings can be embedded into printed circuit boards (PCBs) and integrated circuit chip packages where the applications include decoupling and low-pass filtering. With a high-capacitance density offering, the functionality of ECM material can now be ideally leveraged for microphone makers in the miniaturization of their products, along with a significant reduction of RFI on the devices. Fabricators and OEMs worldwide may use 3M’s ECM material without purchasing a license from 3M. The material is RoHS compliant.
Samples of 3M’s existing line of ECM materials will be available at the 3M booth (#706) at DesignCon 2012 in the Santa Clara Convention Center, Jan. 31 – Feb. 1, 2012. To learn more about ECM solutions from 3M and its line of interconnect offerings, visit www.3M.com/ecm.
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