The construction of 5G related equipment is inseparable from the traction of PCB, and the core elements of PCB manufacturing can not do without the basic support provided by CCL. The copper clad laminate (CCL) is responsible for the three functions of PCB: conducting, insulating and supporting. The performance, quality, machinability, manufacturing level, manufacturing cost and reliability of PCB largely depend on the characteristics of the CCL used.

 

1. Distribution of global CCL output value

 

At present, the overall copper clad laminate market is in the stage of rapid development. According to the copper clad laminate output value data released by prism, the global output value of copper clad laminate from 2015 to 2017 was 93.76 billion US dollars, 10.73 billion US dollars and 12.139 billion US dollars respectively, with year-on-year growth of - 4.7%, 7.4% and 20.5% respectively.

 

From the output value of various products, the output value of ordinary FR-4 and special resin substrate accounts for more than 60% of the total. Among them, the output value of ordinary FR-4 in 2017 was $4.904 billion, accounting for 40.40%, with a year-on-year growth of 22.45%; in 2017, the output value of special resin substrate was $2.249 billion, accounting for 18.53%. (high frequency and high speed copper clad laminate is subordinate to special resin substrate)

 

Judging from the output value of copper clad laminate in various regions, the output value of CCL is mainly concentrated in Asia, and Chinese mainland accounts for only a large proportion of the output value of CCL. Global copper clad production data in 2015-2017 years showed that Chinese mainland accounted for 64.99%, 65.01% and 66.21% respectively, showing a steady increase trend.

 

Output value of various types of copper clad laminates in various regions over the years

2. High frequency and high speed copper clad laminate substrate iteration in 5G period

 

5g has opened a new space for CCL growth. Under the higher requirements of 5g signal for the high frequency and loss of copper clad laminate substrate, the traditional copper clad laminate substrate is difficult to meet the requirements of high frequency and high speed in the new era. Both rigid and flexible copper clad laminates need to find the substrate with the lowest loss to cope with the high frequency and high-speed trend of the circuit. The characteristics of the high-frequency and high-speed copper clad laminate substrate closely meet the basic requirements of 5g.

 

High frequency and high-speed copper clad laminate is a special kind of copper clad laminate, which has high-frequency and high-speed microwave substrate, and can be further processed into high-frequency high-speed PCB board. In 4G base station, high-frequency high-speed copper clad laminate is mainly used in the power amplifier part of RRU, and FR-4 copper clad laminate is used for the rest. In 5g base station, the antenna reflector, backplane and PA circuit in Du and AAU adopt high-frequency high-speed substrate, and the performance of high-frequency and high-speed substrate is required to maintain the dielectric constant under the state of minimum dielectric loss In addition, the largest demand for 5g also comes from the demand for high-frequency and high-speed copper clad laminates brought by the expansion of base station antenna MIMO antenna. Therefore, 5g era accelerates the demand and value-added of high-frequency copper clad laminates.

 

High frequency and high speed substrate application

High frequency and high speed copper clad laminate has the characteristics of high technical threshold and strong bargaining power in downstream. Although the domestic production of copper clad laminate is large enough, it is still in an obvious weak position in the field of high-end products, such as insufficient supply of high-end products and serious homogenization competition of medium and low-end products.

 

The world's leading high-frequency copper clad laminate is dominated by American and Japanese companies, and there is a large space for domestic substitution. At present, 90% of the global high-frequency and high-speed copper clad laminate market share is concentrated in American and Japanese suppliers, among which Rogers (50% - 60%) is the first in the market share. In addition, Yalong materials, teconic, metclad and Panasonic of Japan are in addition. However, due to the development of technology, Shengyi technology company has entered the field of high-frequency and high-speed copper clad laminate in recent years.

 

4、 Domestic high speed copper clad laminate Enterprises

 

From the perspective of market share, at present, China's overall output value of copper clad laminate accounts for more than 65% of the world. The top three companies with the largest output value are all Chinese enterprises, namely Jiantao group, Shengyi technology and Taiwan's South Asia plastics. The total output value of the three companies accounts for more than 37% of the global total. However, in the field of high-frequency and high-speed copper clad laminate, there are few domestic companies, such as Shengyi technology and Huazheng new material.