Introduction to Copper Core PCB — The Engineering Knowledge

6 min readJan 1, 2023

Hello, readers welcome to the new post. Today we will discuss Introduction to Copper Core PCB. The Metal core PCB board is also called a thermal board or metal-backed board. it is a type of PCB that uses metallic material at the base to spread the heat of the board. Thick metals like aluminum or copper is applied on one side of the board. The metallic core can be positioned either mid, backside, or any other side of the board. The motive of the core created through MCPCB is to dissipate heat by spreading away from the components connected to the PCB. The metallic base of metal core PCB is an alternative of Fr4 or CEM3 boards.

There are three main types of metal core PCB like aluminum PCB, copper core PCB, and iron-based PCB. Since high-power electronic components are now very commonly employed in the industry in different devices so they need a high level of PCB heat dissipation, so the demand for metal core PCB also increasing but mostly copper-based PCB. That is mostly used in applications where high-power and high-frequency PCB desing is needed. Since copper core PCB has a good feature of dissipating heat during circuit operation. In this post, we will have a detailed look at copper core PCB and also learn how you can get copper core PCB from JLCPCB. So let’s get started

What is copper based PCB

It is part of high-frequency designs, and applications here high and low temperature exists with that are also used in communication devices.
The high demand for current-carrying copper-based PCB layers so thick copper of 35um to 280um layer is created. the use of a thermal conductively insulating layer has a good effect on the copper-based board.
Thermal conductivity is normally created through the use of aluminum oxide and silicon powder also with polymer-filled epoxy resin.
The main benefits of the copper core board are low thermal resistance with 0.15, good viscoplastic property, and thermal aging control.
The copper substrate has great importance of copper core PCB board in that is heat dissipation, shielding, and grounding.
With all these features it must have high thermal conductivity, application of general mechanical techniques, like drilling, punching, and cutting

copper based PCB Types

The main types of copper core PCB are listed here
Immersion gold copper-based PCB
Silver-plating copper-based PCB
Hot air soldering leveling (HASL) copper-based PCB
Anti-oxidation copper-based PCB

Difference between Aluminum and Copper Core PCB

Cost of Metal

Thermal Conductivity

Electrical Conductivity

Electrical Resistance

Weight

JLCPCB Direct Heatsink Copper-Cored PCBs

JLCPCB Direct Heatsink Copper-Cored PCB has been officially launched! As you already know that JLCPCB launched Aluminum PCB in 2021 which got lots of praise and support. So after one year, the ward hard JLCPCB is confident to introduce Direct Heatsink Copper PCB that has good heat transfer and preferable high power components. The motive of JLCPCB to provide a cost-effective solution to their customers leads to copper PCB with a promise to give the best benefits to every customer
Some features of the regular copper base and direct heatsink copper base of JLCPCB are here

The direct heatsink feature of JLCPCB provides good cooling for high-power applications like COB LED and switching regulators. In figure, you can see that This is done by making the heatsink pads as raised platforms from the copper PCB base so that heat transfer is not affected by the presence of any insulation.
Conversely, heat transfer on conventional printed circuit boards with a metal core must pass through an insulating layer with a much lower thermal conductivity than copper.
These charges not have additional steps, as with flexible boards and multiple layers, so it is not get from each manufacturer. Regular aluminum and copper core boards are commonly available since they are created in same fashion as single layer FR-4 PCB

Direct heatsink pads can be rectangle shape or polygonal with at least 1mm wide in any side. They cannot be attached to regular pads and traces but their traces need it is used o make all of them with a direct heatsink-like raised platform on a copper base
Plating is not possible because the holes in the FR-4 layer are not plated. The minimum drill diameter is 1 mm; the minimum slot width is 1.6 mm. OSP surface treatment (organic solderability) is used. Panels are accepted, but only V-notch is available.
With choose of Direct Heatsink Copper for the base, a material drawing must be attached to show which part of copper has to create through the direct heatsink/ connected with the base. It is recommended to choose the accurate Production file option so that before production you can assure that your directions have been accurately understood
To make technology innovation easy that JLCPCB always makes sure. JLCPCB keeps improving to get more advanced boards to fulfill the user’s demands all over the world. To be the best platform for smart PCB manufacturing, JLCPCB is always on the way!

copper based PCB Advantages

As compared to aluminum board copper core PCB provides good thermal conductivity normally two times than aluminum. High conductivity results in high heat dissipation.
The base of copper PCB can be plated through the hole but the aluminum base not. The copper base on the board can be etched through high drawing, the boss shape gets through processing, which is a good option for components, components of projects can be directly connected on the surface which provides good effects for grounding and heat dissipation.
Copper has modules of elasticity of about 121000MPA and aluminum has 72000MPa and the shrinkage features of copper-based boards are less than aluminum.

copper based PCB Features

It has the ability to withstand thermal aging
It provides the good viscoplastic features
Its mechanical strength is high
Non-magnetic behavior shown
It has good stability

Rules of Copper Core PCB Desing

Thermoelectric separation copper-based PCB

That is all about the Introduction to Copper Core PCB all details has explained. If you have any queries ask here. Thanks for reading have nice day

Author: Henry

http://www.theengineeringknowledge.com

I am a professional engineer and graduate from a reputed engineering university also have experience of working as an engineer in different famous industries. I am also a technical content writer my hobby is to explore new things and share with the world. Through this platform, I am also sharing my professional and technical knowledge to engineering students.

Originally published at https://www.theengineeringknowledge.com on January 1, 2023.