Dubbed Soluboard and designed in partnership with UK’s Jiva Materials, Infineon hopes the innovation will advance the chip manufacturing industry’s sustainability credentials. The fibers replace glass-based fibers that caused higher carbon emissions to produce. And, when placed in hot water, the new fibers dissolve, allowing other components of the PCB to be recovered and used again.
“For the first time, a recyclable, biodegradable PCB material is being used in the design of electronics for consumer and industrial applications – a milestone towards a greener future,” says Andreas Kopp, head of product management discretes at Infineon’s Green Industrial Power Division. “We are also actively researching the reusability of discrete power devices at the end of their service life, which would be an additional significant step towards promoting a circular economy in the electronics industry.”
The biobased fibers are currently being used in demonstration PCBs, but Infineon hopes to roll them out more broadly as it works toward climate neutral operations by 2050.