Rogers RT/duroid® 5880 High-Frequency Laminate: Main Parameters and Characteristics

Dk 2.20±0.02 · Df 0.0009 @ 10 GHz · stable 2.18–2.22 from 1 MHz to 40 GHz · 0.02% moisture absorption — the parameters behind RT/duroid® 5880.

Bottom line up front: Rogers RT/duroid® 5880 is a PTFE glass-microfiber laminate with Dk 2.20±0.02 and Df 0.0009 at 10 GHz, moisture absorption of just 0.02%, and a dielectric constant that barely moves — 2.18 to 2.22 — across the entire 1 MHz to 40 GHz range. It is one of the lowest-loss laminates available for microwave and millimeter-wave circuits.

This page breaks down the parameters behind those numbers and what each one means in production.

RT/duroid® 5880 is built on polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) reinforced with glass microfibers that are randomly distributed within the material. The random orientation is deliberate: it gives the laminate maximum mechanical strength during circuit application and production, without creating the direction-dependent dielectric behavior you get from woven-glass reinforcements.

The result is a soft, easily machinable laminate that still holds its shape through lamination, drilling, and plating — a combination that exotic pure-PTFE constructions struggle to match.

Dk 2.20±0.02 @ 10 GHz. Measured under the IPC-TM 2.5.5.5 standard, this is among the lowest dielectric constants of any comparable laminate. Low Dk reduces signal propagation delay and allows wider, more forgiving trace geometries for a target impedance.

Dk stability from 1 MHz to 40 GHz. Across that full span the constant only drifts between 2.22 and 2.18. For designers this means an impedance model calibrated at one frequency still holds at another — critical for broadband amplifiers, phased arrays, and systems mixing RF and mmWave sections on one board.

Df 0.0009 @ 10 GHz. Extremely low dielectric loss keeps signal attenuation down and preserves signal quality, supporting high-frequency, broadband applications that need minimized dispersion — with usable performance up to the Ku band and beyond.

Moisture absorption 0.02%. Nearly hermetic behavior: electrical properties stay stable in high-humidity environments, which is why 5880 is a default choice for outdoor communication equipment, marine systems, and aerospace hardware.

Easy to cut and shape. The laminate cuts cleanly into custom outlines and cavity structures — a common requirement in high-frequency PCB designs where cavities house chip-scale components or control resonance.

Plated copper from 8 to 70 µm. A wide electroplated copper range supports everything from fine-line mmWave traces to higher-current bias lines on the same stackup.

Chemical resistance. The material withstands every solution and reagent used in etching and plated-through-hole processing, staying dimensionally and electrically intact through the full production cycle.

The parameter set maps directly onto real programs: microwave and millimeter-wave circuits, satellite communication payloads, radar and guidance systems, point-to-point radio links, and precision RF sensors. Anywhere low loss and a rock-steady Dk matter more than raw material cost, 5880 is on the shortlist.

5880 rewards a fabricator who runs PTFE-tuned processes — drilling parameters, desmear chemistry, and lamination cycles all differ from FR-4 practice. XCE PCB manufactures RT/duroid® 5880 boards from 2 to 72 layers, panels up to 600×1200 mm, with impedance held to ±10% and prototypes in as fast as 24 hours.

Send us your stackup and frequency band; our engineers will review manufacturability and return a quote with the process plan attached.

RT/duroid® 5880 earns its reputation with a rare combination: the lowest Dk in its class, near-zero loss, frequency stability from 1 MHz to 40 GHz, and near-zero moisture uptake — all in a laminate that is still easy to cut, plate, and process. If your design lives above a few GHz, it remains one of the safest material decisions you can make.