NEWARK, DE -- A pair of University of Delaware researchers have developed a way to fabricate a low-Dk substrate made from soy.

Yes, soy.

Besides being "green," Mingjiang Zhan and Dr. Richard P. Wool, who are part of the chemical engineering department of the University of Delaware, say the electrical properties of the novel material are superior to those of FR-4 based laminates.

In their work, biobased resin acrylated epoxidized soybean oil (AESO) was either crosslinked with divinylbenzene (DVB) or chemically modified by phthalic anhydride. The DVB-crosslinked resins had a 14° to 24°C increase in their glass-transition temperatures (Tg), which was dependent on the crosslink densities. Tg increased linearly as the crosslink density increased. Phthalated acrylated epoxidized soybean oil (PAESO) had an 18 to 30% improvement in the modulus. The dielectric constants and loss tangents of both DVB-crosslinked AESO and PAESO were lower than conventional dielectrics used for printed circuit boards (PCBs).

The results, the researchers say, suggest that the new biobased resins with lower carbon dioxide footprint are potential replacements for commercial petroleum-based dielectric materials for PCBs.

Their work will be published next month in the Journal of Applied Polymer Chemistry. (It was published online in July.)

By the way, this isn't Wool's only attempt to trick nature. As part of another project, he is trying to carbonized chicken feathers so they can store hydrogen for fuel-cell vehicles.