Thick Film Services

With the acquisition of Circuits Processing Technologies Inc. (CPT), Natel’s thick film substrate processing capabilities have been expanded even farther than ever before. Natel and CPT’s combined expertise puts us in the forefront of design solutions for high performance, integrated circuitry for the most demanding commercial and military circuit designs.

CPT (A Division of Natel) can offer you the following key features

• 0.001” (0.0254mm) Lines / Spaces
• Integrated resistors, capacitors, inductors, couplers, and filters
• Hermetic Solid Vias
• Lange Couplers
• Precision layer to layer multilayer alignment for high frequency performance and repeatability

Enhanced Circuits Processing (ECP) Technology - Etched Thick Film

CPT provides "Enhanced Circuits Processing", or "ECP", for high-resolution lines and spaces. The thick film conductor material is fired in a dense, non-porous film over a large area of the substrate. The high resolution lines are then defined using photoresist and etch techniques to achieve widths and spaces as low as 0.001" (0.0254mm).

The "ECP" process is based around standard thick file Au that is already qualified by many OEM's, thus avoiding long qualification cycles so new designs get to market quickly. "ECP" technology allows designers to combine RF and digital functions on substrates, and offers options for integrating capacitors, resistors, inductors, couplers, and filters. Capacitors and resistors are laser trimmed to obtain +/-3% and +/-1% tolerances, respectively.

"ECP" Features & Benefits

• High frequency applications through 100 GHz
• On-circuit integration of passive components including Lange couplers, resistors (0.5 Ohm - 100 m Ohm, trimmed to 1%) and capacitors (5 - 200pF, trimmed to 3%), inductors, couplers, and filters.
• Etched conductors [0.001" (0.0254 mm)] lines/spaces
• Precision layer to layer dielectric alignment (+/- 12.5 micron) in multilayer construction
• Dense, solid thru-holes [0.007" (0.178 mm diameter)] for interconnection/grounding
• Gold or Silver conductors
• Compatible with Al203, AlN, and BeO
• Substrate sizes up to 4.0" X 4.0"
• 30% to 50% lower insertion loss