How to check thick copper pcb thickness? (copper pcb design guide)

3 major advantages of thick copper pcb plating

Thick copper pcb industry introduction

thick copper pcb plays a distinctive role in various electronic sectors. With the rapid development of automotive electronics ultra-thick copper foil circuit boards have gradually become a class of special PCB boards. Moreover, it has attracted more and more attention from circuit board manufacturers.

Generally, tenting and Pattern processes are both indispensable processes in PCB printed circuits. And each has advantages and disadvantages. When choosing, it should not have limitation to a certain process. But should be determined according to the requirements of the final product’s:

• electroplated copper thickness
• line width / line gap
• hole ring and etching performance, and
• choose the most suitable solution.

Similarly, there are two methods for detecting the thickness of thick copper pcb

• One is the physical destruction method. Itcuts the corners of the circuit board into small pieces. Fills, grinds. And then measures under the microscope by making slices.
• second method measures the result is accurate. Finally, the result is to conduct destructive experiments

What is thick copper pcb?

The copper foil thickness refers to the thickness formed by the copper foil covering the board.

1. The thickness of the copper skin of the national standard of the PCB board is mainly 35um; 50um; 70um

For PCB boards with a copper thickness of 150um. Furthermore, thick copper pcb manufacturers basically adopt plating treatment. In addition, this process is difficult. Generally, manufacturers are reluctant to make and the cost is super expensive.

Suggestion: For the module wiring of extra-large power supply. If it is not necessary for the entire board to require 150um; consider adding tin manually. Or adding parallel high-current copper core wires.

Furthermore, this process is convenient to operate and can be produced in large quantities.

 

What is thick copper pcb thickness?

 

The thickness of the printed circuit board (PCB) refers to the thickness after the board is completed. Similarly, it should be determined according to the function of the printed circuit board. And the weight, external dimensions and mechanical load of the mounted device. And the specifications of the printed socket.

The nominal thickness of thick copper pcb clad laminate is 0.5, 0.7, 0.8, 1.0, 1.2, 1.5, 1.6, 2.0, 2.4, 3.2, 6.4 mm. Paper-based copper-clad laminates with nominal thickness of 0.7. 1.5 mm. Glass cloth-based copper-clad laminates with 0.5 and 1.5 mm are suitable for printed plugs.

The thickness tolerance of the printed plug area is very important. Furthermore, it will affect the reliable contact with the socket. So, it must match the selected socket.

The 1.5 mm thick printed board is common in various electronic instruments and equipment. Because the thick copper pcb is sufficient to support the weight of integrated circuits. In addition, small and medium power transistors and general resistance-capacitance components.

Even if the area of ​​the printed board is as large as 500 × 500 mm. There is no problem. A large number of sockets are used with printed boards of this thickness.

The thickness of the printed board for power supply is thicker. Because it needs to support:

• heavier transformers
• high-power devices, etc.,

 How to check the thickness of multilayer thick copper pcb?

Generally, 2.0 to 3.0 mm thick. As for some small electronic products, such as electronic watches, calculators, etc. Moreover, there is no need to choose such a thick plate, 0.5 mm or thinner is enough. Similarly, the thickness of the multilayer thick copper pcb printed board is related to the number of layers.

The thickness of the multilayer board with 8 layers or less can be limited to about 1.5 mm. The thickness of more than 8 layers should exceed 1.5 mm. Thickness of each circuit layer of a multilayer board is often determined by electrical design.

Printed circuit thick copper plates are common in power supply circuits. And their electrical performance has high requirements on high voltage resistance and inductance performance, except for certain materials. Simultaneously, the particularity also has many unique points in the production.

Most of the thick copper pcb plates by most manufacturers have a copper thickness of less than 137um. For the production of thick copper plates with a thickness of more than 172um. The production experience is relatively lacking.

The characteristics of thick copper pcb

 

The thick copper plate has the characteristics of:

• carrying large current
• reducing thermal strain, and
• good heat dissipation.

Thick copper circuit board can carry large current

In the case of a certain line width, increasing the copper thickness is equivalent to increasing the cross-sectional area of ​​the circuit. So as to be able to carry more current, all of which have the characteristics of carrying large current.

 

Generally, high-current substrates differ from conventional PCBs in terms of efficacy. The main function of a conventional thick copper pcb is to form a wire for transmitting information. The high-current substrate is a substrate through which a large current pass and carries power devices.

The main function is to protect the current-carrying capacity and stabilize the power supply. The development trend of this high-current substrate is to carry a larger current. And the heat emitted by a larger device needs to be dissipated.

Therefore, the passing large current is getting larger and larger. And all the copper foil thickness of the substrate is getting thicker. The 6oz copper thickness of the high-current substrates now manufactured has become routine.

Through-hole electroplating in thick copper pcb

Through-hole electroplating is a very important part of the PCB manufacturing process. To provide electrical connections for different levels of conductive metals, it is necessary to plate a well-conductive metal copper on the wall of the through-hole.

With the increasingly fierce competition of terminal products, it is bound to put forward higher requirements on the reliability of PCB products. And the thickness of the through-hole plating layer has become one of the items that measure the reliability of thick copper pcb reliability.

Generally, an important reason for the copper thickness of PCB holes is the deep plating ability of PCB plating.

An important indicator for evaluating the effect of PCB through-hole plating is the uniformity of the copper plating thickness in the hole. In the PCB industry, the deep plating capability has a clear definition. As the ratio of the thickness of the hole copper center plating.

The thick copper pcb plating capability has the following advantages:

1. Improve reliability and ensure
the uniformity of the thickness of the electroplated copper layer on the hole wall. It provides a better guarantee for the thermal shock of the PCB during subsequent surface mounting and terminal product.

In order to avoid the problem of early failure, extend the service life of the product and improve the high reliability of the product.

2. Improving production efficiency The
Thick copper pcb electroplating p is generally the “bottleneck” process in the manufacturing.

The enhancement of the deep plating capacity can shorten the electroplating time and improve productivity and efficiency.

3. Reducing manufacturing costs
PCB factories generally believe that if the deep plating capacity is increased by 10% on the original basis, at least 10% of the material cost can be reduced.

The direct income of this item is only one million yuan per year.  Not to mention the series of indirect benefits brought by the improvement of product quality.

The application fields of thick copper circuit boards are

• high-tech fields such as
• mobile phones
• Microwaves
• satellite communications
• network base stations
• hybrid integrated circuits, and
• power supply high-power circuits.

  thick copper pcb Conclusion

With the development of new energy vehicles and intelligent driving technology, the demand for thick copper pcb will increase substantially. Moreover, pure electric and hybrid, and fuel cell vehicles require high-current thick copper PCBs. While intelligent driving radars require high-frequency (HF) PCBs.