Biodegradable materials represent a promising path toward green and sustainable electronics on a global scale in the future. Plastics play a pivotal role in contemporary electronics, including printed circuit boards (PCB), where petroleum‐based polymers such as epoxies form the base insulating substrate. In this review paper, several promising bio‐based alternatives to conventional PCB materials that are recently developed and investigated are stated and discussed regarding their properties, practical utilization, and further perspective. The given list includes polylactic acid (PLA), cellulose acetate (CA), polyvinyl alcohol (PVA), and others, with the development of PLA‐based PCB substrates being the furthest along regarding the use in industry practice. Yet, all of the provided solutions are still only suitable for prototypes or low‐cost electronics without high‐reliability requirements. The reason for this is inferior mechanical and thermal properties of biopolymers compared to traditional petroleum‐based polymers. Further development is therefore essential, including new types of reinforcements and other additives. However, as Life Cycle Assessment analyses discussed in the paper show, biopolymers are capable of significantly reducing the environmental impact and are likely to play a major role in shaping a sustainable path for the electronics industry, which will be a key challenge in the current decade.

Biodegradables are a promising path for the future of electronics in a greener mindset. The review study focuses on their applications and past and current research results. The paper also investigates the application of nanomaterials as fillers to control or increase the physical (electrical, mechanical, thermal) properties of biodegradable biopolymers. These biodegradables and nanocomposites are already effectively used in prototypes and advanced application areas with demanding requirements, such as flexible and wearable electronics, implantable or biomedical applications, and traditional commercial electronics. The nano-enhanced biopolymer substrates (e.g., with improved gas and water barrier functionalities) sometimes also with integrated, nano-enabled functionalities (such as electromagnetic shielding or plasmonic activity) can be beneficial in many electronics packaging and nanopackaging applications as well.

The purpose of this study was to compare the strength of the bond between resin and glass cloth for various composites (laminates) and its dependence on utilized soldering pad surface finishes. Moreover, the impact of surface finish application on the thermomechanical properties of the composites was evaluated. Three different laminates with various thermal endurances were included in the study. Soldering pads were covered with OSP and HASL surface finishes. The strength of the cohesion of the resin upper layer was examined utilizing a newly established method designed for pulling tests. Experiments studying the bond strength were performed at a selection of laminate temperatures. Changes in thermomechanical behavior were observed by thermomechanical and dynamic mechanical analyses. The results confirmed the influence of the type of laminate and used surface finish on bond strength. In particular, permanent polymer degradation caused by thermal shock during HASL application was observed in the least thermally resistant laminate. A response to thermal shock was detected in thermomechanical properties of other laminates as well, but it does not seem to be permanent.