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Emerald Article: PCB drillability: a material science approach to resin development Nikhil Verghese

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To cite this document: Nikhil Verghese, (2004),"PCB drillability: a material science approach to resin development", Circuit World, Vol. 30 Iss: 4 pp. 44 - 51 Permanent link to this document: http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/03056120410539911 Downloaded on: 23-03-2012 References: This document contains references to 3 other documents To copy this document: permissions@emeraldinsight.com This document has been downloaded 1600 times.

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PCB drillability: a material science approach to resin development

Nikhil Verghese The Dow Chemical Company, Freeport, Texas, USA

Keywords
Epoxy resins, Printed-circuit boards, Laminates

Introduction
Over the years, the consumer electronic industry has continually designed products that require boards with greater density of holes. These holes are tiny in the range of 0.01 in. or smaller. The drill bits used to drill these tiny holes are typically made of tungsten carbide with cobalt acting as the binder. By adjusting the levels of cobalt, the wear resistance versus brittleness performance of the drill bit can be altered. Historically, one such change in composition had to be made when hole sizes dropped below 0.024 in. to avoid drill bit breakage and preserve stack height during drilling. Recently, however with the emergence of high performance resins such as high Tg, Td and low Dk, problems around PCB drilling have arisen. The same can also be true for resins that are cured using phenolic curing agents as compared to DICY. Typically, resins having a higher glass transition temperature or higher decomposition temperature, result in greater brittleness because of the higher crosslinking density of the network. The common problems around drilling are drill bit breakage and drill bit wear. Others include drill bit wander and hole wall quality. It is important to note that drill bit breakage is a serious problem because fracture of a single bit within a bank of bits results in shut down of the drilling equipment and therefore loss in productivity. The present paper covers work that was executed in order to understand and identify key material (namely resin) properties that correlate with PCB drillability or lack thereof. In doing so, it also seeks to establish certain test protocols that can be used to generate data that can act as good leading indicators for drillability. This can be very useful for both resin suppliers and laminators alike who may or may not necessarily own or have access to drilling equipment.

Abstract
In the manufacturing process for making printed circuit boards (PCB) it is necessary to drill holes in the base copper clad laminate. This is a crucial step in the case of multi-layer boards where the holes must be plated with copper to complete the electrical connection between the layers. Drilling is an expensive process as it requires the use of extremely sophisticated equipment. Most often this resides with a handful of companies; namely board shops and drill bit manufacturers. In recent years, with the evolution of high performance resins such as high glass transition (Tg) and decomposition temperature (Td) as well as low dielectric constant (Dk) and the continued embracement of the use of phenolic cured resins compared to dicyandiamide (DICY), issues around drillability have increased. As a part of our efforts we compared the mechanical and thermo-mechanical properties of three resins. Actual drilling studies were performed on threehigh, copper clad stacks made from these three resins at Megatool in California, in order to conrm our fundamental property correlations. Resin toughness was found to play a crucial role in the nal PCB drillability.

Experimental
Three resin systems were chosen for this study namely Standard FR4 epoxy resin cured with DICY, D.E.R.e 592 [1] cured with DICY and System 1 cured with a multifunctional phenolic curing agent (Table I). This sample set provided the breadth in performance that was needed with Standard FR4 being the control with good drillability. Copper clad laminates were prepared in a consolidation press using the standard procedure. E-glass woven fabric (type 7628) was used as the reinforcement and the bre volume fractions in all the laminates were used as held constants. Testing was performed for both laminate and neat resin.

ASTM D5528 (American Society of Testing and Materials, 1994). For this test, special 16-ply unclad laminates were prepared in order to enhance the bending stiffness. A thin sheet of Mylar was inserted from one edge (roughly 3 in. long) in the middle (plane of symmetry) of the lay-up during the stacking of the prepreg prior to consolidation. This acted as the crack initiator for the fracture test. Once the laminate was consolidated, test specimens 1 in. wide and 7 in. long were cut from the composite panel on a wet circular saw and were then ground to ensure that the edges were parallel. Metallic blocks like those shown in Figure 2 were then glued onto the specimen using 3Ms Scotch-Weld (DP-420) adhesive. The glue was applied on both the block and the composite. The samples were then placed in a vice and held overnight to ensure full cure (manufacturer called for a 3 h set time). The samples were then gripped on an MTS 810 servo-hydraulic test frame using hinges that accommodated the blocks and a dowel pin was used to hold the specimen in place during the experiment. The samples were loading at a xed loading rate of 0.2 in./min and during the test, both load and stroke signals were recorded using a computer controlled data acquisition system. A traveling microscope with a CCD camera was used to follow one edge of the specimen and in doing so, monitor the crack growth in the specimen. A video recorder with date and time stamp capabilities was used to record the crack advancement. Figure 3 shows a picture of the actual set-up. The edge under examination was also painted white using a regular typewriter correction ink to enhance the contrast of the advancing crack and a tape with graduations marked at every 0.2 in. was adhered onto this edge to help compute the crack length (Figure 3). Specimens were loaded until the total crack length reached about 45 mm. For the drilling studies at Megatool, three-high copper clad laminates were prepared. Each laminate comprised of eight plys of E-Glass prepreg. A #80 (0.0135 in. diameter) drill bit was used and the drilling was performed on a Hitachi Mark ND 1V212E drilling machine equipped with a bit break detector. Drilling was performed at 100,000 rpm with an in-feed rate of 100 in./min following a simple drilling pattern as shown in Figure 4 and 1,500 hits were made. Examination of the drill bit for ank wear and breakage was made after every 500 hits. In order to study bit breakage, a #80 bit with a different composition containing low cobalt was chosen as this composition results in a bit that is very hard and wear resistant but quite brittle. An aluminum entry sheet was used while the backer sheet was pressed wood.

Pure resin Laminate level testing

Glass transition (Tg) was measured by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) according to IPC-TM650-2.4.25C by the mid-point Tg, at a heating rate of 208C/min. In order to measure the fracture toughness of the laminate, Mode I (tensile mode, Figure 1) was evaluated in accordance with
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To understand the thermomechanical properties of the pure resin, lms were prepared using a standard draw down technique. Samples were drawn over a tin-coated steel substrate and then cured under the same conditions as the laminate. The lms were then subjected to dynamic mechanical analysis using a lm xture on the RSA II
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Nikhil Verghese PCB drillability: a material science approach to resin development Circuit World 30/4 [2004] 4451

Table I Materials used to prepare formulations used in this study Material Epoxy resin Name Standard FR4 D.E.R. 592 High Tg/Td System 1 Dicyandiamide (DICY) SD-1731 2-methylimidazole (2-MI) Description Brominated epoxy resin Modied brominated epoxy resin Modied brominated epoxy resin Phenol novolac Catalyst Supplier The Dow Chemical Company The Dow Chemical Company The Dow Chemical Company Aldrich Borden Chemicals Aldrich Chemicals

Hardener Catalyst

eTrademark of Resolution Performance Products

Figure 1 Different modes of fracture namely Mode I (tensile mode), Mode II (in-plane shear mode) and Mode III (out-of plane shear) (Sperling, 1932)

Figure 2 Double-cantilever beam (DCB) specimen using to measure the Mode I interlaminar fracture toughness

(from TA Instruments). All samples were run at 1 Hz from room temperature to 2508C. Some samples were subjected to a second scan in to check for complete cure. All samples were conrmed to be fully cured.

In order to obtain some of the other mechanical properties, B-staged powder was extracted from prepreg, passed through a series of sieves to separate glass fragments and then added to a metal chase that was in the shape of mini

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Nikhil Verghese PCB drillability: a material science approach to resin development Circuit World 30/4 [2004] 4451

Figure 3 Photograph showing the specimen and loading blocks

Figure 4 Drilling pattern adopted for testing at Megatool. Drill bit checked for wear and breakage after every 500 hits

dog-bone geometry suitable for ASTM D690, Type V tensile testing. The powder was initially allowed to degas and melt into the mould by placing it over a hotplate at 1708C. After initial mold lling, the chase was inserted between the press plates and cured under compaction for the required duration. High quality Type V dog bone samples were then tested on a screw-driven Instron test frame in order to obtain the tensile properties. Hardness measurements were also made using a TUKON microhardness tester using a Vickers indentor. Care was rst taken to select the appropriate load by examining the hardness versus load response of the materials. Hardness was then measured by examining the dimensions of the resultant indent via an optical microscope. Coefcient of thermal expansion (CTE) was measured on these thicker samples by thermomechanical analysis (TMA) according to IPC-TM650-2.4.24C. CTE was measured along the z-axis (across the laminate) before Tg (z-CTE,Tg) and after Tg(z-CTE.Tg).

described above. It can be concluded that the Tg increase was largely due to increases in crosslink density. It was also well understood that crosslinked polymers become increasingly brittle as their crosslink density increases. Another feature that was interesting was the high temperature tail on the tan d trace of the System 1 sample. Ideally, if the network structure was reasonably well dened then, in the rubbery state, the tan d should return to baseline as the network should behave in a perfectly elastic manner. A lack of return to baseline in the rubbery state was an indication of loss or dissipation of energy during the oscillatory test. This could result from imperfections in the network such as dangling chain ends or chain terminators. Either way, it was important as it hinted to the possibility of heat generation during high speed drilling. The data from the dynamic mechanical tests are summarized in Table II. Molecular weight between crosslinks was measured using rubber elasticity, d E r Mc 3RT 1

Results and discussion

The thermomechanical responses of the three resin systems used is shown in Figure 5(a) and (b). The thermal dependency of modulus is gradual in the beginning but becomes dramatic as the polymer goes through it Tg. Since these are crosslinked polymers, the rubbery plateau modulus (seen typically above Tg) was an indication of the crosslink density of the network. It was clear that the crosslink density increased as follows: Standard FR4 , D:E:R: 592 , System 1 Figure 5(b) shows that the Tg of the polymer dened from the peak in the tan d trace increased in the same manner as

where E is the elastic modulus (storage modulus at 508C above Tg (Pa)), Mc is the molecular weight between crosslinks (g/mol), r is the crosslink-density (mol/cm3), R is the gas constant, T is the temperature 508C above Tg, d is the density 508C above Tg. While the theory of cutting is not well established in the eld of polymers, the same cannot be said for metals. Since cutting of metals has been in existence for a long time, there is some evidence of fundamental treatments in this area albeit correlation based. Equation (2) alludes to the importance of examining both the friction and plastic work but also to the process of fracture associated with the substrate during cutting (Mai and Atkins, n.d). The work done by the cutting tool per unit volume of material removed and time is expressed as follows,  12b     h R d E e sy 2 work=volume 2 time P w sy h sy where, E is the stiffness, R is the fracture toughness and ry is the yield stress Equation (2) then points to the importance of material properties such as yield strength, modulus and fracture toughness. In order to probe the synergism between stiffness and yield, micro-hardness tests were performed. It is established in the theory that hardness for elastic materials is proportional to modulus whereas, for ductile materials that undergo plastic deformation, it is proportional to

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Nikhil Verghese PCB drillability: a material science approach to resin development Circuit World 30/4 [2004] 4451

Figure 5 (a) Temperature dependency on modulus and effect of resin chemistry. (b) Changes in Tg (peak in tan delta) as a function of resin chemistry

stiffness and yield strength. Figure 6 shows the results of the micro-hardness tests conducted on castings of the pure resin. Clearly, hardnesss is scaled in the following manner: System 1 . D:E:R: 592 . Standard FR4 This was not entirely surprising considering that the crosslink densities scaled in the same manner. From

equation (2) it would then indicate that it would take more work to cut laminates made with System 1. Tensile data obtained by testing Type V mini dog-bones cast from B staged powder are tabulated in Table III. The data showed that the strain at failure or break was lower for the System 1 sample as compared to D.E.R. 592 and Standard FR4. This was consistent with the fact that it had the highest crosslink density of the three resins. It therefore

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Nikhil Verghese PCB drillability: a material science approach to resin development Circuit World 30/4 [2004] 4451

Table II Dynamic mechanical data for the different resin systems Resin Standard FR 4 DER 592 System 1

Tg (8C)
143 173 183

CLTE (glass) (mm/m8C) 50 52 59

CLTE (rubber) (mm/m8C) 223 201 229

r (RT) (g/cc)
1.371 1.368 1.343

r (at 2258C) (g/cc)

1.337 1.343 1.317

Mc (g/mole)
1,278 927 468

Figure 6 Changes in hardness as a function of applied load as well as resin chemistry

Table III Tensile properties as a function of resin chemistry Strength (ksi) Standard FR4 DER 592 System 1 11.25 12.93 13.55 Modulus (ksi) 343.05 348.71 350.56 Strain to failure 0.061 0.062 0.048

indicated that resin brittleness could potentially be an issue for this resin system. In order to conrm this hypothesis, a sample of toughened System 1 (referred to as System 2) was prepared with a rubber modier additive. Phase separation of the rubber was clearly apparent as the laminate turned opaque. This also indicated that the particle size was larger than 1 mm, which is typically the length scale needed to scatter light. The Tg was checked and was found to be lower than that of the unmodied System 1. This was perhaps due to incomplete phase separation of the low Tg rubber component and had nothing to do with the crosslink density of the network. Mode 1 fracture toughness tests were performed on 16 ply laminates made from this resin and checked against System 1 as the control. Fracture testing, shown in Figure 7, indicated a signicant improvement in the strain energy release rate (connected to fracture toughness as represented by KIc by equation (3) for plane strain conditions (Sperling, 1932). GIc K2 Ic 1 2 n 2 E 3

where, E is the modulus and n is Poissons ratio for the material. An additional benet that was observed during the slicing of prepregs made with the two resins was the dramatic reduction in akes or dust. Figure 8 clearly shows the inuence of toughening on the amount of dust collected during cutting and provides the opportunity to make dust-free prepreg. Studies done at Megatool involved three-high, copper clad laminates that were made for the three base resin chemistries being investigated. Additionally a three-high stack of laminates made with modied System 1 was also drilled. In each test, the drill press was programmed to stop after 500 hits for drill bit examination. Drill bit breakage detection was an automatic feature of the drill press. Drill bits were examined using a low-powered optical microscope to check for ank wear. Figure 9 shows pictures of drill bit looking down at the cutting tip at 500, 1,000 and 1,500 hits. The measurement of ank wear was also indicated as being the width of the section that appears white due to reection. Clearly, this width increased as a function of number of hits. It was generally considered highly undesirable to exceed a ank wear width of 0.001 in. Figure 10 summarizes the data as a function of number of hits as well as resin chemistry. Clearly, the System 1 resin exceeds the maximum tolerable ank wear after 1,200 hits. Standard FR4 performed very well in the ank wear study and remained well below the threshold across the 1,500 hits. It is critical to note that the modied System 1 that proved to be tougher did very well and lowered the amount of ank wear compared to the unmodied System 1 resin,

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Nikhil Verghese PCB drillability: a material science approach to resin development Circuit World 30/4 [2004] 4451

Figure 7 Laminate fracture toughness comparison of System 1 against System 2 (toughened version of System 1). Clear effect of toughening

Figure 8 Comparison of dust loss during prepreg slicing between Systems 1 and 2, cured with a multifunctional phenolic curing agent. Clear effect of toughening

thereby clearly showing the inuence to resin toughening. In fact, the performance exceeded even that of Standard FR4. Figure 11 shows a comparison between System 2 and System 1 in terms of drill bit breakage. In this test the composition of the bit was changed to one that had a higher modulus and hardness but much more brittle and prone to fracture (owing to the change in carbide

phase domain size). The data shows a tremendous change in performance. While System 1 caused the drill bit to fracture after 75 hits, System 2 resulted in no drill bit fracture even after the programmed 1,500 hits. This test was repeated due to the nature of the result and the signicance was found to be unchanged.

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Nikhil Verghese PCB drillability: a material science approach to resin development Circuit World 30/4 [2004] 4451

Figure 9 Pictures of drill bit ends examined after 500, 1,000 and 1,500 hits show the steady increase in bit ank wear for the laminate made with DER 592 cured with DICY

Figure 10 Drill bit ank-wear as a function of number of hits and resin chemistry

Conclusion
A fundamental investigation into the material properties that correlate with PCB drillability has been undertaken. It was shown for the samples investigated that an increase in Tg was concomitant with an increase in crosslink density which in return reduced the resins ductility causing issues later on during drilling. An empirical correlation found in the

literature for cutting of metals clearly shows the importance of material properties such as ductility (namely toughness) and yielding on the cutting process. In our study of the three resin chemistries, similar trends were found to be true. Networks that were the most crosslinked had the highest hardness and lowest fracture toughness and elongation at failure and performed poorly in drilling operations in terms of both bit ank wear and bit breakage. A proof of concept

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Nikhil Verghese PCB drillability: a material science approach to resin development Circuit World 30/4 [2004] 4451

Figure 11 Number of hits to drill bit breakage as a function of resin modication. Clear effect of toughening

The author would like to thank Ray Ellet of Megatool for his help and assistance during the crucial drilling tests. He also thanks several colleagues at The Dow Chemical Company namely, Katie Lehnert, Robert Hearn, William Mercer, Gary Gantt, Judy Tan, Gabrielle Badini and Ha Pham for their help and suggestions.

experiment executed on System 2 (a toughened version of System 1) clearly showed large improvements in the drilling behavior owing to its increased fracture toughness/ductility. Another interesting observation was the improved dust generation that accompanied the toughened resin. This indicates that even in the B-stage slicing operations that are needed to cut the prepreg to correct dimensions are dependent on resin ductility. In closing, clear correlations were found between PCB drillability and resin ductility. It indicated the clear opportunity for toughening resins as Tg of these resins continues to increase. It also alludes to a minimum fracture toughness value that needs to be established in order to do well during the drilling stage.

Note
1 D.E.R.e(Trademark of The Dow Chemical Company)

References
American Society of Testing and Materials (1994), Standard test method for Mode I interlaminar fracture toughness of unidirectional ber-reinforced polymer-matrix composites, ASTM D 5528 American Society of Testing and Materials, West Conshohocken. Mai, Y.W. and Atkins, A.G. (n.d), Elastic and Plastic FractureMetals, Polymers, Ceramics, Composites and Biological Materials. Sperling, L.H. (1932), Polymeric Multicomponent Materials; An Introduction, reprint 1997, Wiley.

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