What is Copper Based PCB?
Copper based PCB is a type of metal based PCB, it is PCBs made by copper substrate. As the leader of the thermal conductivity in the metal substrate MCPCB(metal core PCB), the copper PCB has a thermal conductivity of up to 400 watts. It can meet the needs of higher power LED light sources after the aluminum substrate, and solve the various heat problems such as high power dead light, serious light decay, and high heat generation.
As the more active star products in the metal substrate, copper based PCBs and the aluminum substrate PCBs have their advantages and are widely used, which are common in cars, stage lights, control panels, photographic lights, and projection lights, Stage laser lamp and other products are excellent high-power accessories.
The types of copper based PCB
- Immersion gold copper based PCB
- Silver plating copper based PCB
- Hot air soldering leveling (HASL) copper based PCB
- Anti-oxidation copper based PCB
The Thermal Conductivity of Copper Base PCBs
The prominent feature of a copper-based PCB is its excellent thermal conductivity.
Regular copper-base PCBs’ thermal conductivity ranges from 1W/mK to 9W/mK, and is generally several to dozens of times the aluminum PCBs’. For a thermal management PCB, the prepreg’s thermal conductivity is more than 3W/mK, and overall, the copper-base PCB’s thermal conductivity is about 5W/mK to 9W/mK.
Thermoelectric separation copper-base PCBs’ thermal conductivity is almost 398W/mK. This is because the pad touches the copper base directly without prepreg layers between them.
Although the thermal conductivity of a copper base PCB is dozens of times higher than an aluminum PCB, it’s much cheaper than a ceramic PCB. For this reason, a copper PCB is the preferred thermal conductive circuit board for many high-power LED lights. And making the chip-on-board (COB) LED packaging on copper-base PCBs is the first choice of many clients.
The Advantages of of Copper Based PCBs
- High thermal conductivity, upto 400W or more.
- Excellent processability and dimensional stability.
- Cost effective, compared with ceramic circuit board, it has certain advantages in cost.
- Excellent machining, good appearance and flexibility
Applications of Copper-Base PCBs
Copper base PCBs are used for high-power applications, applications in areas with large temperature differences, and heat dissipation for precision communication equipment. And some applications of copper-base PCBs are:
- LED lights: copper-base PCBs can be used for LED lights, especially COB LED lights. COB LEDs can be bonded to the LED plates by gold wires or solder balls from PCBONLINE, and then the LED module is surface-mounted on the copper-base PCB to make the LED lights.
- Automotive lighting: double component-mounting-sided copper-base PCBs can be used for the headlight of vehicles. The double-sided copper-base PCB provides high efficiency, excellent heat dissipation, and a superior spotlight effect. Both regular copper-base PCBs and thermoelectric separation PCBs can serve automotive lights.
- Charging piles for electric vehicles: copper-base PCBs can be used for the charging piles for EVs and HEVs. For example, the adaptor board in the high-power charging pile is a copper/FR4 hybrid PCB. For reliability and safety, in the PCB design, large-current circuits and small-current circuits are separated. The copper plate areas conduct large currents and dissipate heat, and the FR4 areas conduct small currents and signals.
Hitech Circuits is a professional manufacturer of copper based printed circuit board (PCB). We produce metal-based MCPCB, aluminum substrate and copper substrate PCBs with short lead time, good quality and professional service.