Questions on laminate materials for RF circuits/antennas

Dear all,

I have questions about the laminate materials for RF circuits/antennas. I know that the cheapest material is FR4. However, its loss tangent Df is very high (@0.018). Are there any other materials with low cost and low loss tangent? Roger series are more expensive than I expected.

Thanks,

hi,
the two main electrical features of a laminate are Er and tand (losses). But this features vary with frequency!. For example, FR4 works up to 1 GHz but further than that it has huge losses. Rogers is more suitable for high fequency.
hope this helps.
regards

pd. I have worked at S band (2GHz) with RTduoroid6002 (Er=2.94, tand=0.0012) and Arlon1000 (Er=10, tand0.002)but both are very expensive. The cheapest I have worked with is RO4003.

Hello dch316,

Thanks for your reply. I worked at 1 GHz. I need to restrict the Dk (Er) to be around 3 -5. However, the loss tangent is the most important parameter for me. Even the Roger 4003 is about 10 times more expensive than FR4. Are there any cheaper materials?

Thanks,