OEM: Various Supplier: Erich Rothe GmbH & Co. KG, Kitzingen, Deutschland Industry sector: Blister packs for electronic components

Part design:

In industry, microelectronic components are assembled in a fully automated process using robots. Small items such as micro-capacitors and memory chips are fed to the robots in anti-static carrier tapes. These are made from rolled up tapes of plastic film with cavities, each containing an individual component and covered with a protective film. The cavities are molded into the tapes by thermoforming. Rothe, one of the largest European manufacturers of carrier tapes, recently unveiled a tape just four millimeters wide with 1,000 cavities per meter. It is made from the specialty polycarbonate-based film Bayfol® AS-A.

Our material was chosen in preference to polystyrene films because it has a much higher tensile strength (72 MPa) and is therefore able to cope with the tensile loads that occur during assembly when the tape is being transported. It also withstands temperatures of up to 125 °C in continuous operation and is therefore much more heat stable than polystyrene. The film’s low internal stresses are a further advantage, enabling high-precision thermoforming of the tiny cavities without cracks developing and with minimal tension and distortion.