LIQUID CRYSTAL POLYMER COMPOSITE, LIQUID CRYSTAL POLYMER COMPOSITE FILM, AND METAL-CLAD LAMINATE INCLUDING SAME

1 .- 20 . (canceled)

21 . A method of manufacturing a metal-clad laminate comprising:

wherein the metal-clad laminate comprises a liquid crystal polymer composite film and a metal layer laminated to a major surface of the liquid crystal polymer composite film;

wherein the composite film has a relative permittivity less than 3.1;

positioning the metal layer adjacent a calender which comprises a first and second roll which are positioned in a parallel configuration creating a nip region bounded by the surfaces of the first and second roll;

positioning an extruder in alignment with the calender so that an outlet orifice of the extruder is positioned over said nip region;

heating the metal layer, and moving the heated metal layer into the nip region; extruding a liquid crystal composite film wherein a melt curtain exits the outlet orifice and enters the nip region; and

laminating the liquid crystal composite film and the metal layer in the nip region to create the metal clad laminate.

22 . The method of claim 21 , wherein in said heating the metal layer step, the metal layer is heated to a temperature in the range of 180-220° C.

23 . The method of claim 22 , wherein in said heating the metal layer step, the second roll is heated to a temperature in the range of 180-220° C.

24 . The method of claim 21 , wherein in the positioning the metal layer step, the first and second roll are biased relative each other to create a nip force in the nip region when metal layer and melt curtain flow therethrough.

25 . The method of claim 24 , wherein the nip force is maintained in the range of 0-0.13 kN/mm.

26 . The method of claim 21 , wherein in the laminating the liquid crystal composite film step, a melt pool is formed from the melt curtain in the nip region, wherein the melt pool is calendered between the two rolls and the thickness of the metal clad laminate is determined by the distance between the two rolls.

27 . The method of claim 26 , wherein the thickness of the metal foil is in the range of 12-35 microns, and the thickness of the LCP film is in the range of 40-100 microns.

28 . The method of claim 27 , wherein the thickness of the LCP film is about 50 microns.

29 . The method of claim 21 , wherein the LCP film comprises one or more liquid crystal polymers present in an amount in the range of 40 wt % to 95 wt % based on a total weight of the liquid crystal polymer composite; and one or more fillers present in an amount in the range of 5 wt % to 60 wt % based on the total weight of the liquid crystal polymer film.

30 . A method of manufacturing a metal-clad laminate, the method comprising:

heating a metal foil on a heated roll of a calender having first and second rolls that define a nip region;

extruding a liquid crystal polymer (LCP) composite to form a melt curtain positioned above the nip region;

advancing the heated metal foil into the nip region;

passing the melt curtain and the heated metal foil through the nip region while applying a nip force effective to calender a melt pool formed from the melt curtain; and

solidifying the calendered melt pool to form a metal-clad laminate comprising an LCP composite film having a relative permittivity less than 3.1.

31 . The method of claim 30 , wherein the metal foil is heated to 180° C. to 220° C.

32 . The method of claim 30 , wherein the nip force applied in the nip region is 0.01-0.13 kN/mm.

33 . The method of claim 30 , wherein the LCP composite comprises 40-95 wt % of one or more liquid crystal polymers and 5-60 wt % of one or more fillers.

34 . The method of claim 33 , wherein the one or more fillers comprise zeolite, fused silica, talc, or any combination thereof.

35 . The method of claim 30 , wherein the melt viscosity of the LCP composite at 320° C. and 1800 s −1 is 30-80 Pa·s.

36 . The method of claim 30 , wherein the LCP composite film has a thickness of 25-100 μm and the metal foil has a thickness of 10-30 μm.

37 . The method of claim 30 , wherein the metal foil is rolled-annealed copper having a surface roughness of ≤3 μm (Rz) on the surface laminated to the LCP composite film.

38 . The method of claim 30 , further comprising trimming and winding the metal-clad laminate immediately downstream of the calender.

39 . A method of forming a dual-sided metal-clad laminate, the method comprising:

forming a first metal-clad intermediate by calendering a first metal foil with an LCP composite melt curtain in a first nip region of a calender;

heating the first metal-clad intermediate or a second metal foil to 225° C. to 300° C.;

pressing the first metal-clad intermediate and the second metal foil to laminate the second metal foil to an exposed surface of the LCP composite; and

cooling to form a dual-sided metal-clad laminate in which the LCP composite film has a loss tangent less than 0.003 and a dielectric permittivity ratio between the machine direction relative to the transverse direction of 1.0 to 1.1 at 1-10 GHz.

40 . The method of claim 39 , wherein the coefficient of thermal expansion (CTE) ratio of the LCP composite film in the machine direction relative to the transverse direction is 0.4-0.7.