Istvan Novak, Signal-Integrity Senior Staff Engineer, Sun Microsystems

At DesignCon 2002, a TecForum titled "Thin PCB Laminates for Power Distribution: How Thin Is Thin Enough?" brought together five representative OEMs, three PCB fabricators, and three material suppliers to answer these questions: How thin is thin enough? When will these thin laminates be needed? Will the industry be ready? Since then there has been progress in the available laminates, in their agency approval status, and in the experience collected with them. This TecForum begins with an introduction reviewing the definition and classification of thin laminates, followed by the overall comparison of thin laminate availability in 2002 versus 2004.