Bonding Microwave Circuit

Boards
- do it yourself

A low cost, simple and portable bonding fixture allows the user to make directly bonded
microwave circuit boards, without bonding film, quickly and in his own lab, thereby
enjoying the electrical, mechanical and thermal stability advantages that direct bonding
provides.

uring the early 1960s the microwave industry

G . Robert Traut
Lurie R&D Center
Rogers Corp.
Rogers, CT
D moved away from waveguide devices,
demonstrating a preference for the lighter,
more compact and less costly devices that could be
realized with printed circuit boards.
Passive device makers favored clamped stripline
assemblies built on low loss substrates, which are
poly-tetrafluoroethylene (F'TFE) based. W h e n the cir-
cuit included active devices, the less efficient but
easier to assemble microstrip configuration was used.

The move to stripline and microstrip.from

wavemide occurred in the 1960s.

After the microwave technology absorbed the

planographic circuit board methods there was a fur-
ther improvement. Bonding the dielectrics together in
a stripline sandwich produced further electrical,
mechanical, weight and thermal stability advantages.
The bonding replaced the initial clamped together
stripline circuit assembly method. Today, the great
majority of such assemblies accomplish this bond
using a thermally activated bonding film to join cir-

86 APPLIED MICROWAVE Summer 1990

cuit boards into a sandwich of one or more stripline
or microstrip layers. In this paper it is shown that there
is room yet for further advances in bonding such
assemblies.
The limitations of bonding films have not been
widely recognized in the industry.
A valuable next step is to use the unusual self-
bonding and embedment capability of PTFE sub-
strates to directly bond the boards without the aid of
the bonding film. This is the direct (fusion) process.
This fusion process provides the ultimate in process
simplicity, bond strength, resistance to heat and mois-
ture, and uniformity of dielectric medium. There are
several common inhibitions on the part of manufac-
turers to the use of fusion bonding. We will address
in this paper:
1) A need for recognition that bonding films do
have limitations,
2) The belief that direct bonding has too many
pitfalls to be practical in common applications and,
3) A perception that the (higher) temperature
equipment required for direct bonding is too complex
and costly.
Films Have Limitations
The use of bonding films with PTFE based circuit
boards somewhat resembles the familiar practice of
building digital multilayer boards with alternating
layers of two-sided circuit boards and prepreg (a
woven glass fabric preimpregnated with epoxy resin
and partially crosslinked or B-staged to reduce flow
during laminating). The limitations are not immedi-
ately obvious nor have they become widely recog-
nized within the stripline industry.
A review of the use of bonding films illustrates
their limitations. Bonding films for PTFE boards can
be thermoplastics with convenient melting points
such as DuPont’s FEP Teflon, a fluoropolymer with
280 C melt point: Roger’s 3001 film, a commercially
available chloro-fluoro-copolymer with 200 C melt
point: irradiated polyolefin from Microwave Printed
Circuits with about 120 C melt point; or low density
polyethylene with 110 C melt point. Such films are
laid up with the boards to be bonded, clamped and
heated with about 15 minute dwell at 10 to 20 degrees
Centigrade above the film melt point to effect a bond.
The melted film flows to fill thickness differences
between areas with and without copper foil pattern.
While melted, the film resembles a lubricant layer
allowing distortion of board layers. Such distortion is
especially likely in three board layups with a thin
center board. It is driven by variations over the area
of clamp pressure, density of copper pattern, or
temperature during the bonding cycle.
Bondingfilms can introduce appreciable
dielectric chanae.
Thermoset bonding films such as Fortin’s Poly-
Cast EP epoxy or DuPont’s Pyralux WA/A acrylic are
also used. The initial melt state for flow and bonding
is shorter because of the heat-induced crosslinking
reaction, but the polar chemical groups typically
present in such systems increase the dielectric loss of
the assembly at microwave frequencies.
Bonding films often do not match the board su6-
strate permittivity (K’). Such a mismatch and the fact
that thickness of film may vary after flow creates at
the least a troublesome circuit design problem. For
example, a finite element analysis of a 50 ohm char-
acteristic stripline built with 0.025 inch thick
ceramic-PTFE at K’= 6.0 such as RT/duroidm 6006
microwave laminate was run. We found that when
etched lines were from 0.00134 inch thick copper
cladding and the boards were bonded with a 0.0015
inch thickness of 3001 film at K’= 2.8, the effective
K’ will be 5.7. Such media mismatches are particular-
ly undesirable where good directivity values are
needed in stripline edge coupled line devices.
Reliability of the bond formed with adhesive film
dissimilar to the PTFE substrate is subject to many
variables. The PTFE surface first formed by etching
away copper has been found to be wettable and
capable of accepting a strong bond when great care is
used in handling until bonding. However, such care is
often not feasible through circuit board processing
steps. That is, there is a shelf life problem.
To assure adhesion, fabricators usually rely on
PTFE surface treatment with one of the commercially
available sodium complex solutions provided for the
purpose. Even these surfaces have a limited shelf life.
After a good bond is formed, there exists the chance
of degradation from humidity or thermal cycling, or
from exposure to some process solvents and thermal
stress in processing or use. The degree and likelihood
of such degradation depends, of course, on the selec-
tion of bonding film.
Hole clearing steps are often needed with
bondinp films.
Fabricators producing plated thru-holes must take
precautions to avoid discontinuities in the electroless
deposit across the film bond lines. When a stripline
/ I
APPLIED MICROWAVE Sur&ner 1990 87
board has blind holes penetrating to the bond level for
access to traces or for mounted components, the usual
practice is to machine openings in the board before
assembly. An added step of machining or punching
holes in the film before use is required to keep the
access hole open after bonding. Even so, film will
tend to flow into the open area, requiring manual
inspection and trimming. Oversizing the holes in film
takes special skill to assure flow just to the hole edge
- without forming a trap for process liquids or
fluxes.
The Simplicity of Direct Bonding
The idea of effecting a direct bond by clamping the
board assembly and heating it well above the 327 C
melting point of the PTFE matrix polymer at first may
appear to introduce additional and serious processing
pitfalls. And so indeed it would be with almost any
other thermoplastic polymer composite besides
PTFE.This thermoplastic polymer has an unusually
high molecular weight with very high melt viscosity
values (in the 1E+9 to 1E+12 Poise range at 380 C)
Heating to 327 C may seem troublesome, but the
Drocess is simnle.
In the melt state, PTFE sticks to itself and wets high
energy metal surfaces, but resists flow. The time-pres-
sure-temperature process window for obtaining a
fused bond without flow damage is quite wide,
probably wider than is acceptable with bonding film
systems.
Precautions needed for handling boards to be direct
bonded are minimal. Since the bond formed is
cohesive rather than adhesive, there is no concern for
wettability of the surfaces to be joined and a sodium
treatment would be at best a waste of effort, and could
introduce a weak residual boundary layer. The high
bonding temperature will pyrolyze and volatilize
trace organic surface contaminants, such a s
fingerprints, so that they cannot impair the joint.
Since there is no bonding film used, fewerparts are
needed for assembling a board and the preparative
machining or punching of bonding film is orhitted.
The joint that is formed has the permanence, strength,
solvent insensitivity, and moisture and heat resistance
of the substrate material. Processing concerns with
film, such as bonding loss after exposure to fluids,
plated-through hole wall continuity, and the effect of
heating cycles are eliminated when direct bonding is
selected.
The permanence of the bond makes it ideal for
complicated multilayer board schemes using sequen-
90 APPLIED MICROWAVE Summer 1990
tial bond cycles to accomplish blind and buried layer
to layer vias or plated through holes.
Registration is simpler with direct bonding, parts
are less inclined to slide.
There should be no registration problems - charac-
teristic of film bonding - such as slippage between
boards or “swimming” of circuit elements on a thin
center board between thick cover boards in offset
stripline assemblies. The boards to be bonded are
pressed together so they cannot slip relative to each
other and at no time in the cycle does a fluid layer
exist to promote such slippage. The only need for
alignment pins is to keep two or more boards aligned
while the assembly is being positioned in the bonding
press or other clamp arrangement.
Direct bonds have noflow, join the whole area,
embed conductors, and pull dielectric before
veelinp.
What happens to the extra thickness in the conduc-
tor pattern areas? Unlike film-bonded boards, direct
bonded boards exhibit embedment of the conductors
at the bond line into the substrate rather than flow of
adhesive away from the conductor areas. In the case
of typical microwave bonded circuit board as-
semblies, the thickness of conductor layers is a small
fraction of the total thickness - about 1% for a
stripline assembly built with 0.062 inch thick
laminates clad with 1 ounce copper foil. When such
a board stack is clamped, initially all the force is
localized on the copper pattern areas. During the
bonding cycle, the entire substrate will experience
localized and limited in- plane laminar flow. The flow
is just enough to embed the conductors and distribute
the force over the entire area.
However, there are two new concerns peculiar to
direct bonding. The first is to exclude air during the
bond cycle to prevent slow oxygen degradation of
PTFE at exposed edges or oxidation of the copper.
The second is to accommodate the large but reversible
Z direction thermal expansion of the board assembly
as it is heated from room temperature to the 390 C
direct bonding dwell temperature. The reversible
thickness thermal expansion of the assembly can be
as great as 30%. depending uon the composition.
Procedure for Direct Bonding
The following steps make a good starting point for
developing a direct bonding cycle:
 1. Prepare boards with etched copper foil patterns,
drilled alignment holes, machined access holes,
machined internal grooves, where needed, and any
desired machined edge features such as notches for
edge launch connectors. Possibilities include layers
of considerably different areas and shapes.
2. Stack the boards on an aluminum foil release
sheet and use a few steel dowel pins cut to a length
about 0.005 inch shorter than the total assembly thick-
ness for alignment if needed.
3. Envelope the stack in 0.003 to 0.005 inch thick
aluminum foil to protect it from air oxidation. A
nitrogen purge connection into the envelope can be
provided, but this extra measure is often unnecessary.
4. Clamp the assembly between flat metal platens
or blocks with care that the clamping force is centered
on the bonding area of the board. As will be discussed
later, thick aluminum blocks make very suitable
clamp plates. A clamp stress of about 100 pounds per
square inch (psi) over the bonded area should be
adequate for direct bonding but not large enough to
induce side-flow damage.
5. Heat the clamp plates to a set point of 390 C.
Good results have been obtained with aluminum
blocks heated over a 10 to 20 minute period. The
clamp system must permit thermal expansion of the
metal clamp plates and board stack while holding the
100 psi clamping force.
6. Allow the temperature to dwell with thermostatic
control for 10 to 20 minutes at the 390 C temperature.
7. Allow the clamped assembly to cool without
thermal shock or loss of clamp force to about 250 C
or lower. This is well below the 327 C crystalline melt
point of PTFE.Cooling times of as little as 10minutes
have been found to be acceptable.
8. Remove the clamp force and unwrap the com-
pleted bonded assembly.
A good bond cycle exhibits the following features
in the bonded assembly.
1. No evidence of side flow. If a starting board has
ground plane copper extending to an edge of the
substrate, the substrate and copper foil edges will still
match after bonding. If side flow has occurred, reduce
the clamp pressure or examine the clamp for unifor-
mity. Localized side flow is evidence that the clamp
force is off center, or that the clamp plates are not flat.
2. All the contact area is bonded. If two bonded
boards have mismatched edges, the bonded area
should extend to the edge of the smaller board. Blind
holes will be bonded to the hole edge.
3. A microsection of the board shows complete
fusion and complete embedment of inside copper
traces with dielectric, leaving no open voids along
trace edges. Increase time and/or clamp pressure if
voids are apparent. If such voids are localized, the
clamp plates may not be flat. In the case of low K’
substrates of non-woven glass microfiber reinforced
FTFE substrate, such as RT/duroid 5880 microwave
laminate, a thin surface layer of pure PTFE next to the
copper cladding will appear as a transparent or darker
layer. If there had been surface contamination, it
would have pyrolyzed in the bonding cycle -to leave
a harmless dark line as evidence.
4. Peeling well bonded boards apart will result in
tearing into the substrate. Increase time or pressure if
this is not the case. However, for substrates with
ceramic filler at very high volume loading, such as

Thermal property Units Aluminum Iron Ratio

Specific heat J/s 0.900 0.444

Specific gravity g/cm3 2.702 7.86 34%
Thermal capacity by volume J/cm3 2.43 3.49 69%
Thermal conductivity at 227 C J/s/cm/K 2.37 0.613 387%
427 C 2.26 0.487 464%.
Leveling factor at 227 C cmz/s/K 0.975 0.176 554%
427 C 0.930 0.140 664%
Emmissivity,oxidized surface
100 c - 0.74
200 c 0.11 -
500 c - 0.84
600 C 0.19 -
Interpolated to 400 C 0.15 0.82 18%

Table 1. Comparison of Thermal Characteristics of Iron and Aluminum for Use in Bonding Fixtures

APPLIED MICROWAVE Summer 1990 91


"r
Figure 1. Schematic of hydraulic press setup for bonding at low pressure with expanslon relief
RT/duroid 6010 microwave laminate, the fusion may
be complete, but the boards will be separable by
peeling. With such a substrate, there is less PTFE at
the surface to fuse to the other surface and a propagat-
ing fracture from peeling will tend to follow the bond
line even with more time or pressure.
Simple, Inexpensive Equipment Is Adequate for
Direct Bonding
For the design of the procedure and apparatus to
perform direct bonding it is necessary to consider
temperature uniformity, thermal expansion without
force build-up, cycle time and, since this may be a
new process for your facility, a simple and low cost
means to get started. As will be shown, these steps are
all practical with a surprisingly elemental setup.
Assuring Temperature Un(formity and Heat
Transfer
Do not use steel pressure plates (as you may have
available) for direct bonding. Rather, use thicker
aluminum plates for direct bonding.
Commonly, when bonding stripline boards using a
bonding film, the bonding fixture is such that the
layers are stacked and aligned with pins before being
clamped in an electrically heated platen press and run
through a heat-cool cycle. Often, the fixture consists
of steel platen plates. But steel is a relatively poor
thermal conductor. To minimize uneven heat transfer
from spotty contact with the platens and the resultant
92 APPLIED MICROWAVE Summer 1990
HEATED PLATEN
BONDING FIXTURE
HEATED PLATEN
THERMAL BARRIER
COOL PLATEN
SPRING ARRAY
PLATEN
plate warpage from temperature differences, a heat
resistant felt between fixture and platens may be used
to slow heat transfer, allowing more uniform fixture
temperature.
Aluminum pressure plates are best for bonding
for a variety of reasons.
However, a more effective approach is to replace
the steel with much thicker aluminum tooling plates
and to omit the felt thermal barrier. As can be inferred
from Table 1, aluminum provides the following ther-
mal advantages over iron or steel for fixture plates:
1. Aluminum has four times the thermal conduc-
tivity of steel, insuring more uniform heat transfer.
2. Aluminum requires only two thirds as much heat
per unit volume to come to the bonding temperature
(although more volume may be required to provide
the same resistance to deformation under the requisite
pressing forces)
3. Aluminum has only one fifth the emmissivity,
resulting in lower losses from the exposed pressure
plate surfaces, and consequently more economical
heating requirements.
4. Aluminum is one third as dense as steel for a
given volume, resulting in more manageable weight.
Alternatively, aluminum platens can be three times
thicker for a given weight, an advantage to be dis-
cussed later.
 In addition, aluminum’s lower modulus causes a
more intimate thermal contact with the steel press
platens and better beat transfer with them.
Aluminum has the limitation of softening with
heating, especially at the direct bonding temperature
of 390 C used in this process, which fully anneals it.
However, because of the low bonding pressures
(usually well below 200 psi) this is not a critical
consideration.
Precautions for Reversible Z Expansion up to
30%
The reversible 2 direction expansion -running as
high as 30% during a direct bonding cycle -must be
accommodated to avoid damage from pressure build
up. We have found insertion of mechanical compres-
sion springs in the line of force to be effective.
Laboratory direct bonding trials made on one
square inch boards were run in a small press equipped
with a screw jack actuator and force gauge. If the
screw jack was not adjusted during heating to keep
the force reading from increasing with expansion -
especially as the temperature passed through the 327
C crystalline melt point of PTFE-the board assemb-
ly would have destructively resolved its expansion by
spreading and fracturing.
Larger trials on 12 square inch board assemblies
were run in a more conventional hydraulic press
0 elastic deformation of the spring to permanent defor-
0 mation and reduce the delivered force .
Q Efficiency of Time and Energy in the Bonding
Figure 2. Side view of spring loaded and heated bond-
ing fixture with parts identified by item numbers from
the component list.
equipped with four 12 x 12 inch electrically heated
steel platens and an 8 inch diameter hydraulic ram.
For the low forces to be used, oil pressure was
provided by regulated compressed air in a buffer
space over the oil reservoir.
Before running a cycle, an experiment was per-
formed to determine the air-oil pressure needed to
balance the weight of ram, bolster, and platen for a
zero force setting. We found that the pressure values
just to start upward or downward movement were
slightly different, evidence of some degree of friction
from the hydraulic seals to the ram. The average was
considered the zero force value.
When a bonding cycle was run with air pressure
regulated above the zero force value to the calculated
value needed for the board assembly, we were disap-
pointed to discover that the bonded assembly was
destroyed by spreading and rupture. The seal friction
increased significantly with pressure. Subsequent
bonding runs were made with compression springs
inserted in tandem with the hydraulic ram as shown
in Figure 1. For this work, a set of matched height
compression springs were selected such that they
would be compressed about half of their specified
deflection limit when the required clamp force was
applied. With this arrangement, good bonds -
without spreading damage - were obtained consis-
tently.
The spring array not only provides frictionless
accommodation of thermal expansion with minimal
increase of force, but it also allows platens 2 and 3 to
self-level to center the force. It is important to isolate
thermally the compression springs from the tempera-
ture applied to the direct bond package. Such
temperatures have been found to convert the useful
Cycle
We have considered thick aluminum bonding fix-
tures to improve temperature uniformity and heat
transfer, and found frictionless compression springs
to be practical for handling expansion through the
crystalline melt at the low clamp forces required. But
as described the bonding cycle requires heating two
of the steel platens in our press. We were fortunate to
have a press equipped for the temperature needed.
However, as the temperature approaches the 390 C set
point, increasing thermal radiation losses slow the
rate of temperature rise. Also, we must allow time for
heat to transfer to the fixture and boards being
bonded.
APPLIED MICROWAVE Summer 1990 93
 The next step, toward a faster and more efficient
process with more widely available equipment is to
put heaters directly into the bonding fixture and not
to heat the steel press platens. Commercially avail-
able electrical resistance cartridge heaters and a ther-
mocouple are needed in each fixture plate with con-
nections to thermostatic controllers. The fixture is
thermally isolated from the press platens with insulat-
ing spacers.
This is a good way to get started with direct bond-
ing - if you already have a hydraulic platen press.
But the lack of a press need not prevent you from
getting started.
Getting Started Simply and at Low Cost
We have had very good direct bonding results with
a spring loaded fixture concept. The first unit with 2.5
x 3.5 inch working surfaces is fully portable and can
demonstrate, on a bench top in one hour, how easily
boards up to 2 x 3 inch size can be direct bonded.
When dismantled, it fits in a medium suitcase for
traveling and weighs only about 15 pounds.
The second unit, for 8 x 8 inch boards, is less
portable but useful for a wider range of prototype
sizes. The cost of the materials and components is low
enough that additional throughput capacity can be
obtained by building duplicate fixtures.
Here is a list of all the components we used for the
smaller unit assembled as shown in figures 2 and 3.
The eight pieces described in the first four items can
be fabricated readily in a machine shop. The only
machined surface requiring a flat ground finish is the
Height Spring Constant Load range
mm inch Ib./mm Ib./in. pounds
65 2.56 8.7 221 10 to 200
52 2.05 39.4 1001 200 to 700
64 2.52 122.0 3099 700 and up
working surface on part 1. The other items can be
purchased as stock items. Specific suppliers are indi-
cated for convenience but equivalent components
from other suppliers can be substituted.
1. Two aluminum blocks 2.5 x 3.5 x 1 inch, each
with two 0.395 - 0.405 inch diameter holes for
cartridge heaters, one 0.140 - 0.145 inch diameter
blind hole for a jacketed thermocouple and four blind
tapped holes in a 2 x 3 inch pattern for #8-32 screws
for attachment of thermal barrier and cooling block.
The working surface opposite the side with tapped
holes should be ground flat.
94 APPLlED MICROWAVE Suminer 1990
THERMOCOUPLE
BOARD LAYUP
'
BORED FOR
CARTRIDGE HEATER
BORED FOR
COOLING WATER
Figure 3. End view of spring loaded and heated bond-
ing fixture showing bored features
2. Two thermal insulating plates 2.5 x 3.5 x 0.25
inch with 0.26 inch diameter holes to align with the
taped holes in the heated blocks. A suitable material
is asbestos-free Marinite, niachinable with carbide
tools. One source is Amatherm, Inc., 13037 Unit C,
Lakeland Road, Santa Fe Springs, CA 90670. Heat
transfer can be reduced further by machining a pattern
of depressions on one side.
3. Two aluminum cooling blocks 3.5 x 3.5 x 0.75
inch. A bored hole between opposite edges is tapped
at both ends for 1/8 NPT fittings for cooling water
flow. Each has a 3 x 3 inch pattern of counterbored
holes for #8 cap screws for attachment to the steel
plate. A 3 x 2 inch pattern of oversize counterbored
holes from the other side accommodates #8 cap
screws with compression springs to attach the block
to items 1 and 2 above with freedom to accommodate
thermal expansion differences in both the Z and X,Y
directions.
The purpose of this plate was to remove transferred
heat through 2 from 1 by means of a small flow of tap
water so the steel frame plates (4) would not over heat.
We found that 12 x 2.5 x 0.062 inch aluminum fins
between 2 and 4 dissipate heat well enough to stay at
about 100 C.
4. Three steel frame plates 3.5 x 5.375 x 0.375 inch
all with two 0.39 - 0.40 holes at opposite comers to

Figure 4. Photo of sample boards to be bonded, the
aluminum foil envelope, and parts for a nitrogen purge
of the envelope
loosely fit the tie rods (5) completing the frame. Two
of the plates also have a 3 x 3 inch pattern of 4 holes
tapped for #8-32 screws for fastening 3 to 4. The third
has a slot in the middle through which a steel ruler can
be inserted.
5. Eight #8-32 x 1 inch cap screws with compres-
sion springs for attaching parts 1, 2 and 3 with al-
lowance for thermal expansion. Once the assembly is
made and part 1 has gone through a heat cycle avoid
disturbing the screws as they will tend to seize in the
tapped holes in aluminum.
6. Eight #8-32 x 0.75 cap screws for attaching parts
3 and 4. Loosening these screws allowed insertion of
the cooling fins when they were used.
7. Compression springs, tool and die quality. We
found the following sizes useful:
Figure 5. Photo of envelope with purge fitting and enclosed boards placed on lower block assembly wlth tie rods
8. Six hex nuts, two brass washers, and two 10 inch
long 0.375 inch diameter steel rods with hot rolled
threads to serve as tie and alignment rods among
frame plates (4), available at most hardware dealers.
We learned that rods with cut threads tend to wear and
seize after many uses.
For setting up the apparatus for a bonding run, two
nuts with each rod are used to attach it to one of the
assemblies of parts 1,2,3 and 4. The enveloped board
layup to be bonded is centered on the working surface
and the second assembly is lowered along the tie rods
to rest on it. The selected spring (7) is centered on the
second assembly. The third frame plate is lowered to
rest on the spring and topped with washer and nut on
each tie rod. A steel ruler through the slot, inside the
spring and resting on the second frame plate, is used
to measure spring compression and estimate force as
the top nuts are tightened.
9. Four cartridge heaters, two for each of item 1,
Chromalox type CIF, catalog
203 1, PCN 274407.3 X 0.368 - 0.373 dia., 120 V.,
200 W., 68 W/sq. inch. These are obtainable from
Chromalox Sales Office, 1711 Douglas Drive, Pit-
tsburgh, PA 15221. The leads for each heater are
provided with about 24 inches of electric cord and a
two pronged wall plug connector.
10. Two thermocouple probe assemblies, type T
copper-constantan with 1/8 dia. X 12 inch long 304SS
grounded sheath and 36 inch leads, Ohmega catalog
TJ36CPSS- 18-12. These are from OhmegaEngineer-
APPLIED MICROWAVE Summer 1990 97
 17. A panel mount connector for use with cord set
(18). Sagar catalog EAC310. This brings the power
supply into 12 for controllers and for heater outputs.
18. An Almor cord set, NEMA 5-15P to CEE-22,
catalog 34164, from Sagar Electric Supply Co., 108
N. Plains Industrial Road, Wallingford, CT 06492.
Sequences in a bonding run are shown in figures 4
through 8. Figure 5 includes a view of top assembly
to the left, the spring and top frame plate to the right
and the controller enclosure in the rear. In Figure 6
the four cartridge heaters and thermocouples are
laying on the table.
More recently a larger version of the above ap-
paratus was constructed based on two 8 x 8 x 3 inch
heated aluminum blocks - each equipped with four
1000 Watt 240 VAC cartridge heaters. To accom-
modate the higher wattage and voltage, a wall-
mounted power supply panel with solid state relays
was arranged to be driven by the output from the
temperature controllers previously described. Oh-
mega Engineering was our source for the solid state
relays and heat sinks on the wall panel. This larger
Figure 6 . Photo of the fixture being assembled. unit has four tie rods with compression springs
retained by nuts on each one. Application of force is
ing Co., Box 4047, Stamford, CT 06907, 203/359-
1660.
11. Two thermocouple connectors, type T copper-
constantan, Ohmega catalog OST-T- MF are attached
to the thermocouple probe assembly leads.
12. A 11.5 x 7.5 x 3 inch folded sheet metal
enclosure fabricated with openings for mounting the
digital temperature controllers (13), the heater con-
nections (14), switches (15), the thermocouple con-
nections (16) and a power connection (17).
13. Two solid state digital temperature controllers,
Ohmega Catalog Model CN3 10 TC, time proportion-
ing on/off, with 8 amp. at 120 VAC capacity relays.
These fit 45 x 92 m m panel cutout dimension with 105
m m space required behind panel.
14. Two duplex wall-type 110 VAC plug recep-
tacles. These are wired inside the enclosure to be
switched on/off by 13, and accept connections to the
heaters (9).
15. Two toggle switches. These are used to allow
one to shut off one of 14, regards of state of 13, if
needed to balance temperatures between heated
blocks (I).
16. Two panel adapters for type OST thermocouple
connector, Ohmega catalog SACL. These need a
33/32 X 17/32 inch panel opening, connect inside to
13 and accept 11 outside.
Figure 7. Photo of method for adjusting clamp force
by predetermined compression of the spring

98 APPLIED MICROWAVE Summer 1990

accomplished by a low cost, hand operated, 5 ton
capacity truck jack obtained from an auto parts store.
See Figure 9.
For moderate scale production, several such pres-
ses could h e monitored and controlled with
TIE RODS
preprogrammed ramped heating and cooling by an
IBM-PC, or compatible, equipped with an interface SPRINGS WITH
RETAINERS
hoard such as those available from MetraByte Corp.,
FRAME PLATE
440 Myles Standish Blvd., Taunton, MA 02780,
WORKING OPENING
617/880-3000.
Our experience with this press design has been HEATED ILOCK.
818x3 inch Aluminum
entirely satisfactory. We have found that heating time
COOLED Abminum Plate
to 388 C set point from 25 C starting temperature is
about 20 to 25 minutes. SPACE FOR
HYDRAULIC JACK
Direct bonding boards at 380 to 400 C tempera-
tures seems to call for large hydraulic press equip-
ment with temperature capability not available in
most circuit hoard facilities. Such capability must
,1111
deal with large losses of heat by air convection, con-
duction and especially by radiation. All of this dis-
Figure 9 Side view drawing of a spring loaded bonding
courages evaluation of direct bonding.
fixture based on 8 x 8 x 3 inch heated aluminum
On the positive side, the low clamp pressures and blocks
large process window for direct bonding mitigate the
complexity of the bonding equipment. Simple low
cost equipment can yield satisfactory direct bonded
circuit hoard assemblies on a trial basis. Later, only
small refinements to the equipment permit transition
to moderate scale production. 0
~~

G. Robert Traur received the Bachelor of Arts and Sciences

degree in 1957 and the Ph. D. degree in Marerials Science in 1985
from the University of Connecticut.
He has been with Rogers Corpora-
tion since 1950. He was manager of
the Fiberloys Development Group
from 1959 to 1976. Technical a-
perience with Rogers has included a
variety of processes such as com-
pounding of reinforced thermoset
molding materials, formulation and
process of paper machine products
based on a variety ofpolyme@her
combinations, gaskering sheet
materials and measuring of
microwave materials.
He has been responrihlefor tooling,fi~rmr~lnrio~~ andpro~.essin,q
necessary toproduceprotofypesforthe Pershing II radomepmgram
for MIRALICOM, and the ablative radome skinfor T.l.'kbroadband
hypervelocity missile application, as well as several otherprototype
designs. He has written numerous papers and been granted over I3
patents.
Dr. Traur is a member of the IEEE including the ,4477 Society,
ACS, and the ASTM. Currently he is the CorporateResearch Fellow
at Rogers Corp.
Figure 8 Photo of the fixture assembled with ther-
mocouples and two cartridge heaters In place and the
third being placed before the heating-cooling cycle is
started.

APPLIED MICROWAVE Summer 1990 99