Rogers 5880 of Different Thicknesses: Parameters, Applications, and Production Guidelines

RT/duroid 5880 spans 0.127 to 3.175 mm of core thickness, and the choice moves everything: 50 Ω line width, loss, rigidity, and via reliability. One correction before the tables — an earlier version of this page quoted CTE as 17/24 ppm/°C and claimed it “ensures multilayer reliability.” The official values are X 31 / Y 48 / Z 237 ppm/°C, and the Z value is exactly what makes multilayer builds the careful case. Corrected and detailed below.

Standard RT/duroid 5880 cores: 0.127 / 0.254 / 0.381 / 0.508 / 0.787 / 1.575 / 3.175 mm (5 to 125 mil). Thickness tolerance runs ±0.0005″ at 5 mil to ±0.005″ at 125 mil — always use the thickness-specific value in impedance calculations. What does not change with thickness: Dk 2.20 ± 0.02 and Df 0.0009 @ 10 GHz, moisture absorption 0.02%, thermal conductivity 0.20 W/m·K, UL 94 V-0, and the corrected CTE 31 / 48 / 237 ppm/°C (X/Y/Z, −55 to +288 °C). Copper options: 1/2, 1 and 2 oz ED foil.

The pattern: thinner cores shrink the board and the lines; wider lines on thicker cores cut conductor loss but etch tolerance and spurious radiation need attention at higher bands. Dielectric loss per unit length is unchanged by thickness — the length of line you can afford is what changes.

The wrong “17/24” figures made 5880 look ideal for multilayer stacks. The real numbers reframe it: X 31 (close to copper’s 17, good in-plane stability from the microfiber reinforcement), Y 48, but Z 237 — a ~14× copper-matching Z value that strains plated through-holes at reflow temperatures. Practical rules by thickness and construction:

• Single/double-sided at any thickness — no PTH reliability issue; all seven cores are fair game.
• Multilayer with through-holes — plated copper ≥1.2 mil, aspect ratio ≤6:1, high-ductility plating, or specify 5880LZ (Z-CTE 41.5 ppm/°C). Details in our multilayer 5880 processing guide.
• Hybrid with FR-4 — the CTE mismatch concentrates at the press and reflow; the bonding-system choice matters as much as the core thickness, per the 5880/FR-4 hybrid guide.

Family parameters and the 5880 vs 5880LZ split are tabulated in the 5880 parameter guide; material fundamentals in the laminate overview.

XCE PCB builds RT/duroid 5880 from 0.127 to 3.175 mm cores, 2 to 72 layers, impedance controlled to ±10%, panels up to 600 × 1200 mm, with sodium-naphthalene hole treatment as standard. Samples in as fast as 24 hours when laminate is in stock. Production-floor detail: the 5880 manufacturing process guide.