A heavy copper PCB contains at least one ounce of copper, and the amount can increase in one-ounce increments. These types of circuit boards, however, are not as common as standard PCBs; about 20% of all printed circuit board projects are heavy copper.
A standard printed circuit board, contains up to one ounce of copper.
The goal of any printed circuit board project is to design it correctly from the start since modifications can prove costly and push back your timeline. A heavy copper PCB is no exception.
Certain printed circuit boards are designed to produce more amperage (or the strength of the electrical current) through the trace. But the higher the power requirement, the thicker the copper you need in order to transmit the signal through the board. That is why heavy copper PCBs are used in higher amperage designs.
- This is amethod for manufacturing a heavy copper PCB with uniform thickness.Each inner core plate of the heavy copper PCB is provided with a copper-free open area at the same position, which includes the following steps:
- Cut the material to obtain the inner core board. Through the inner layer pattern and etching process, the inner layer lines are made on each inner core board, and some copper PADs are staggered on the edge of the open area of each inner core board. Made each inner layer board.
- The inner layer board and the outer layer copper foil are pressed together by the prepreg to make a multi-layer production board.
- Post-processing the multi-layer production board according to the existing technology to obtain a thick copper board.
- The method for manufacturing a heavy copper PCB with uniform thickness according to claim 1, wherein the copper PAD in step S1 has the same shape and size, all of which are round, oval, diamond, or square.
- This is a method for manufacturing thick copper plates with uniform thickness according to claim 2. The radius of each copper PAD is R, and at least two rows of circular shapes are provided on the edge of the open area of the inner core plate. The copper PADs in each row are arranged equidistantly along the long edge of the board. The center distance between two adjacent copper PADs is any two adjacent copper PADs in each row.
The bottom copper PAD is called the bottom copper PAD. The copper PAD between the bottom copper PAD is the corresponding vertex copper PAD. The center of each bottom copper PAD and the corresponding vertex copper PAD are connected to form an isosceles right triangle.
- A thick copper plate with uniform thickness is comprised of at least one inner layer core plate. Each inner layer core plate is provided with a copper-free open area and at the same position, characterized in the open area of the inner layer core plate. Several copper PADs are staggered on the edge of the board.
5.The heavy copper PCB with uniform thickness according to claim 4, wherein the shape of the copper PAD is a circle, an oval, a diamond, or a square.
6.The heavy copper PCB with uniform thickness according to 5, each copper PAD has a radius R, and at least two rows of circular copper PAD are provided on the edge of the inner core plate’s open area. The copper PADs in each row are arranged equidistantly along the long edge of the board. The center distance between two adjacent copper PADs is any two adjacent copper PADs in each row;
they are called bottom copper PADs. Adjacent rows are located on the bottom side. The copper PAD between the copper PADs is the corresponding vertex copper PAD. The center of the two base copper PADs and the corresponding vertex copper PAD centers form an isosceles right triangle.
Delamination
Throughout the years, we have tested and perfected stackups and calculators that are instrumental in helping us to achieve the best of both worlds – keeping within the maximum thickness allowance while still pressing with enough resin to fill all voids. Furthermore, our lamination presses use hot oil platens to ensure heat is applied uniformly across the entire production panel. This helps to guarantee and even cure across the panel, which is key to avoiding delamination.
Inner Layer Alignment
Generally, heavy copper PCBs are produced using thin core materials. Thin core materials are known to require varying degrees of scale factors to account for material shrinkage during lamination. Heavy copper PCBs are more prone to alignment issues that manifest themselves in the form of exposed copper in cutouts for windings and along the edges of the PCBs. This is due in part to the larger window of etch factor that is common for heavy copper PCBs.
We have avoided this issue in large part to studying varying core materials in combination with copper retention percentages. A key instrument in these studies is the use of the PerfecTest system and resulting knowledge database. We consult this database each time a new part number is produced. As a result of our extensive experience with Heavy Copper PCBs, we have achieved UL certification of up to 6 ounce copper for inner and outer layers. For non-UL requirements, we have produced up to 20 ounce copper PCBs.