Archive for November, 2020

Do the vias can be filled for ceramic PCB?

Friday, November 13th, 2020

As everyone knows for FR4 PCB, people like the vias to be tented or filled for some special applications.
Ceramic PCB is more and more popular because of the thermal conductivity is very high and very good for heat dissipation. Most of customers are going to make the PCB with ceramic material, includes Al2O3, AlN, BeO or Si3N4, etc.
So do the vias can be filled for ceramic PCB becomes the frequently asked questions (FAQ).
The answer is YES.
So what’s the material can be filled in vias for DBC/DPC alumina PCB/ Aluminium Nitride PCB?

The material can be solder mask, Dow Corning 1-4173 and copper/Cu.
Normally, customers want the vias/holes to be filled with copper.
Because copper can fill the vias very well and it is easier to do and it looks very good. Please see below photo.
The left one with filling with copper, the right one without filling copper

Why you need to fill the vias with copper?
1.Becuase if let the vias open, they will allow solder to flow through to opposite side of PCB during reflow, this causes bridging under components.
Filling the open vias/holes with copper can prevent from the solder pates into the vias.
2.If you need to pull vacuum around them and a hole would compromise that, so need to fill the vias.
There are also other purposes for filling the vias, if you need such ceramic board with filling the vias, please contact Coco in Best Technology sales@bestpcbs.com

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What are the commonly used aluminum base materials? What’s the difference?

Wednesday, November 11th, 2020

Best Technology has more than 14 year experience for producing Metal core PCB, we have our own raw materials factory for MCPCB and we fabricate MCPCB in Shenzhen, so that customer various special requirements can be meet here.

Compared to copper and stainless steel, aluminum is the most economic option considering thermal conductivity, rigidness, and cost. And many of these aluminum alloys base have been divided into classes, the commonly used on MCPCB are AL1060, AL3003, AL5052 and AL6061.

Do you know the differences between these substrates? This blog will give a brief introduction for you.

1060 alloys
AL1060 are commercially pure, unalloyed aluminum, it’s soft, ductile, workability and exceptional corrosion resistance, making it suitable for hard-forming applications. It can be welded with any method, but it cannot be heat-treated. Its cost is the lowest of the four types.

3003 alloys
AL3003 use silicon, copper, and magnesium as the main alloying elements, oftentimes with supplemental nickel and beryllium. They are heat treatable, have high strength, good resistance to cracking and wear, and have good machinability.

Mechanical PropertiesMetricEnglish
Ultimate Tensile Strength200 MPa29000 psi
Tensile Yield Strength186MPac
Shear Strength 110 MPa16000 psi
Modulus of Elasticity68.9GPa10000 ksi
Shear Modulus25 GPa3630 ksi

5052 alloys
AL5052 use magnesium as their primary alloying element and are not heat-treatable, but it’s the highest strength alloy of the more non-heat-treatable grades. Its resistance to fatigue is better than most grades of aluminum and have a great surface aesthetic when anodized.
In our company, if not special request or notes, the default material we use is AL5052 after considering all the performance and cost.

Mechanical PropertiesMetricEnglish
Ultimate Tensile Strength228 MPa33000 psipsi
Tensile Yield Strength193 MPa28000psi
Shear Strength138 MPa20000 psi
Modulus of Elasticity70.3GPa10200 ksi
GPaShear Modulus 25.9 GPa25.9 760 ksi


6061 alloys

Mechanical PropertiesMetricEnglish
Ultimate Tensile Strength310 MPa45000 psi
Tensile Yield Strength276 MPa40000 psi
Fatigue Strength207MPa30000 psi
Shear Strength96.5MPa14000 ksi
Modulus of Elasticity68.9 GPa10000 ksi
Shear Modulus26 GPa770 ksi

AL6061 implement magnesium with silicon as their principal alloying elements. Their strength is improved with heat treatment. AL6061 is one of the most widely used aluminum alloys, it has high strength and superior corrosion resistance. Its weld-ability and formability make it suitable for many general-purpose applications.

Cost Comparison: AL1060 < AL3003 < AL5052 < AL6061

If you have other questions about MCPCB, welcome to contact Tammy (Email:sales@bestpcbs.com), she will prove you professional suggestions and solutions.

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ENIG surface finish of FR4 Printed wiring board

Wednesday, November 4th, 2020

Continued to my last blog, do you know why we want to talk more for Gold surface finish of rigid Boards? I would like to take this chance to share more information for the capability from Best Technology.

Electroless nickel immersion gold (ENIG) is a type of surface plating used for printed circuit boards. It consists of an electroless nickel plating covered with a thin layer of immersion gold, which it can protects the nickel from oxidation. It is also used for welding and applied to contacts (such as keys, gold fingers on memory strips, etc
See attached complexity design for ENIG FR4 printed circuit board.

ENIG has several advantages over more conventional (and cheaper) surface plating such as HASL (solder), including excellent surface planarity (particularly helpful for PCBs with large BGA packages), good oxidation resistance, and usability for untreated contact surfaces such as membrane switches and other contact points. See the complex circuit boards design photo.

ENIG also does not wet as evenly or easily as HASL. In addition, ENIG is a costlier finish, but offers the best characteristics for printed circuit boards. The process requires the most steps compared to other common finishing types.
The thickness of Gold Best Technology conforms to IPC Standard IPC-6013.
Let us see the different for gold finish.

Gold-ENIG
The most important factor the gold serves as barrier and protectant to the nickel.
Advantages of ENIG

Immersion finish = excellent flatness
Good for fine pitch / BGA / smaller components from Samtec/Hirose/Molex
Wire bondable
Good heat dissipation
Long shelf Life (12 months in vacuum pack)

Disadvantages of ENIG
Expensive finish
Black Pad/Black Nickel concerns on BGA
Damage from ET (electronics test)
Signal Loss (RF)
Complicated Process

Gold-Hard Gold

Advantages of ENIG
Hard, Durable Surface
No Pb
Long shelf life

Disadvantages of ENIG
Very Expensive
Extra Processing/ Labor Intensive
Use of more solder Resist/Tape
Plating/ Bus Bars
Demarcation(delamination)
Difficulty with other surface finishes.

As an rich experience PCB manufacturer since 2006, Best Technology always improve its Rigid Circuit boards capability to meet customer requirements, If you have any question about the printed circuit boards (PCBs). Warmly welcome to send mail or call Best Tech.

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Main types surface finish of FR4 Printed wiring board

Wednesday, November 4th, 2020

Printed Circuit Board surface finish is a coating between bare FR4 board and components. The main function for surface finish is to protect the exposed copper circuitry and provide a solderable surface when assembling(soldering) the components to a copper clad PCB board.

Most of the Rigid Circuit board company can make several different types of surface finish. Best Technology as a leading custom FR4 printed circuit board manufacturer since year 2006, it could provide following different finish.
HASL
Lead-free HASL
Immersion Tin/Immersion Silver
OSP (organic Solderability Preservative)
Gold
ENIG (Electroless Nickel Immersion)
Hard Gold
Wire bonding Gold

As the surface mounts assembly service became more complex and needs to conform to new regulations like RoHS and WEEE. People maybe face the question how to choose a suitable surface finish for your FR4 Copper board?

Before decide to choose suitable surface of copper conductors circuit board, you may need to take the cost, RoHS, your components type, PCB assembly method, factory circuit fabrication capability, and rigid board circuit testability into consideration.
Basis on above information of copper foil PCB, we would like to make a explain PCB finish in detail, wish this may help when you make decision at circuit board design and manufacturing.

HASL/Lead Free HASL
It is a most popular surface finish, and the cost is low and easy to repairable, it is acceptable for simple SMT. But the surface is uneven, it is not suitable for fine pitch components and not good for plated through-hole(PTH). In other way, it is poor wetting.
Material different with same finish
HASL(standard):Typically Tin-Lead
HASL(Lead Free):Typically Tin-copper, Tin-Nickel, without lead
The thickness will conform to IPC 6012 class 2 standard

Advantages of HASL-LF
Excellent solderability
Inexpensive / Low cost
Widely Available and used
Easy reworkable
Allows large processing window
Long industry experience / well known finish

Disadvantages of HASL-LF
Uneven surfaces for printed circuit board
No good for fine pitch components from Samtec/Hirose/Molex
Thermal shock
Solder Bride for circuit board assembly
Plugged or reduced PTH’s
Not suited for < 20mil pitch SMD & BGA
Bridging on fine pitch
Not ideal for HDI products

Immersion Tin

Advantages
Flat surface
No Pb
Good for fine pitch / BGA / smaller components
Mid range cost for lead free finish
Press fit suitable finish
Good solderability after multiple thermal excursions
Easy reworkable

Disadvantages
Very sensitive to handling – gloves must be used
Tin whisker concerns
Aggressive to solder mask – solder mask dam shall be ≥ 5 mil
Not recommended to use peelable masks
Exposed tin on final assembly can corrode
Not good for multiple reflow/assembly process
Difficult to measure thickness

OSP (organic Solderability Preservative)
OSP(organic Solderability Preservative) same with HASL, lower cost but the OSP have flat surface, and it is not good for PTH components, sensitive and short shelf life, it is very easy come to oxidation.

Advantages
Flat surface
No Pb
Good for fine pitch / BGA / smaller components
Inexpensive / Low cost
Easy reworkable
Simple Process
Disadvantages
Not easy to measure thickness
Not good for circuit copper board plated through-hole(PTH)
Short Shelf Life
Maybe cause ICT issue
Exposed Cu on Final assembly
Handling sensitive– gloves must be used and scratches avoided

The above surface finish of Printed Wiring Board compared with Gold finish, the cost is corresponding cheaper, but in my coming blog, I would like mainly to explain Gold finish for printed circuit board fabricator with 13 years rich-experienced in FR4 PCB custom contract manufacturer.

If you have any question about the printed circuit boards (PCBs). Warmly welcome to send mail or call Best Tech.

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