Why Heavy Copper PCBs Are the Best Choice for High-Performance Electronic Applications
PCBs using heavy copper plating can combine high current and power circuits with control circuits in a single board. This is possible because the heavier copper layer allows fabricators to increase the thickness of plated holes and via sidewalls.
However, incorporating these changes into the PCB design requires careful consideration and knowledge of how to work with the material. Creating a detailed board stack report with your fabricator early in the process can help ensure that your board is manufactured properly.
Benefits of Heavy Copper PCBs
Unlike standard printed circuit boards, heavy copper PCBs are constructed with thicker copper layers that reduce the resistance in the conductive path and allow for more current flow. This increased current capacity makes them ideal for high-performance electronic applications. They can handle high temperatures, elevated current levels, and recurrent thermal cycling that would quickly destroy a regular circuit board. They also provide improved heat dissipation and are less likely to crack or delaminate.
The higher copper thickness helps to disperse heat better than standard copper boards, so you won’t have as many hot spots on your board. This is especially important when it comes to sensitive components, which require special care and protection. Additionally, heavy copper-plated vias are designed to handle the higher current levels and can transfer heat to an external heat sink.
To design a heavy copper PCB, you’ll need heavy copper pcb to make sure that the current flowing through your conductors is proportional to their width and the amount of heat they generate. To achieve this, you can use a trace width calculator that takes into account the three different parameters of a trace: current, temperature rise, and copper thickness.
It’s also a good idea to choose the right substrate material for your heavy copper circuit board. You’ll want to avoid materials with glass transition temperatures that are too low, since these can lead to cracking and layer separation. You should also place traces and components away from mechanical stress points, such as mounting holes and edges of the board.
High Temperature Resistance
When current passes through copper traces in PCBs, the local power transition generates heat that dissipates into the atmosphere through conduction and convection. The higher thermal resistance of thick copper PCBs makes them a good choice for applications where high-speed circuits need to withstand heat. The high thermal mass also increases the structural durability of the board.
PCBs with thick copper plating can accommodate higher critical current densities, which means they can support more amperes than standard PCBs. This allows them to withstand higher temperatures for longer periods of time, making them ideal for use in military/defense equipment, industrial machinery like welding equipment, solar power plants, and electrical supply equipment like rectifiers and transformers.
Thick copper PCBs have a wide range of uses in electronic devices, including power Heavy Copper PCB Supplier distribution and control circuits. They are also used to build prototypes and novel systems. They are also more affordable than traditional PCBs, and their conductive properties are superior to those of other types of pcbs.
The manufacturing process of thick copper pcbs requires the use of unique plating and etching techniques. This is because the copper thickness needed to create a heavy copper PCB is much higher than standard PCBs, and it can be difficult to etch correctly. However, the benefits of a heavy copper PCB far outweigh the challenges involved in creating one.
High Current Capacity
The ability to survive frequent exposure to excessive current and elevated temperatures that destroy regular PCBs makes heavy copper circuit boards the best choice for applications in rough situations such as military/defence equipment, high power supply equipment (rectifiers, transformers, solar power wielding, etc) and more. This is due to their higher current tolerance capacity.
To handle high current loads, you must protect sensitive components by thermally isolating them from the rest of the PCB using polygon pours. They conduct heat by basic conduction, allowing them to dissipate excess current from the main PCB. You must also keep the PCB traces short when they’re conducting high currents to minimize power loss.
Traditionally, designers create high current circuits by adding duplicate layers of 3 or 4 oz copper in parallel and crossing their fingers that the layers will share the load equally. This method tends to produce hot spots in the board that are often underestimated during design. By using heavy or extreme copper, you can eliminate the need for duplicate layers of copper and reduce the risk of heat rise.
PCBs that are designed with high current requirements can use up to 20 oz of copper in inner and outer layers. They can be made in single-sided, double-sided or multilayer configurations with a variety of surface finishes including ENIG, LF HASL, Immersion Gold and more. The heavy copper also allows for thicker plating in the plated through holes, reducing failures caused by mechanical stress.
Low Failure Rates
For circuit boards that carry high currents, copper’s superior heat conduction properties make it an ideal choice. This helps to pull heat away from the temperature-sensitive components on a PCB, keeping them in better condition and reducing the risk of failure due to excessive stress. For this reason, heavy copper PCBs are becoming increasingly popular in a wide range of products that require higher amperages.
The industry defines heavy copper as any printed circuit board that utilizes 3 ounces of finished copper or more in its inner and/or outer layers. A growing trend is to mix standard circuits with thick copper features, resulting in fewer layers, lower footprint and cost savings. This requires special etching and plating techniques to create powerful copper features with straight side walls and minimal undercutting.
Adding 1 oz of extra copper to a PCB’s via walls significantly reduces early thermal cycling failure rates, caused by excessive strain on the laminate and copper. These stresses are caused by variations in hole/via diameters and copper electroplating. The extra copper on the via wall reduces or eliminates these early via cracking failures, even when using a standard dielectric such as FR4, Polyimide, aluminum based or ceramic based. This is particularly important for applications that require a high level of reliability, such as medical and military equipment.