Reactance components embedded in printed circuit boards

Purpose – This paper aims to report the investigations of capacitors and inductors embedded into printed circuit boards (PCBs) designed in various layouts. Design/methodology/approach – The research were focused on the components embedded into four-layer PCBs with different structures of the inner layers. Three special capacitive laminates for manufacturing of thin-film embedded capacitors and several types of coils in the form of a spiral, meander and solenoid are described. In addition, a part of the spiral-type coils was formed with an aperture in the center in which the magnetic core, made of soft magnetic composites’ material was placed to increase the coil inductance. Findings – Various constructions of embedded capacitors and coils were designed and manufactured. Capacitance and loss tangent of capacitors to determine the repeatability of the production process were determined. Capacitor’s long-term stability analysis was performed by exposing test samples to elevated temperatures (70, 100 or 130°C), realized with the aid of heating plate, for at least 160 h. The temperature characteristics for the capacitance and loss tangent from 15 to 100°C were determined. Also the induction of different designs and layouts coils was determined. Originality/value – The wide parameters’ characterization of capacitors and coils embedded into PCBs allow the analysis of their properties with regard to their practical application. The promising results of the realized measurements show that the capacitors and induction coils with studied structures can be widely used in the construction of embedded circuits into PCBs (e.g. filters, radio frequency identification systems and generators).