Electronics designers are always looking for ways to increase the package density of their products without sacrificing performance or reliability. As a result, thermal management often becomes a serious consideration. Design analysis programs routinely take into consideration the thermal characteristics of a system and it is not uncommon to see a design trade-off made to accommodate problems. Over the years, new materials have been introduced that offer higher continuous use temperatures, superior thermal stability, increased thermal conductivity and reduced thermal resistance. Designers and manufacturers can now choose from a wide variety of substrates for their printed wiring requirements. Single-sided surface mount circuits manufactured on a metal base (such as aluminum), have gained increased popularity when thermal management is a problem. These single-sided boards are capable of dissipating significantly more energy than their FR4 or Polyimid counterparts. For example, 1 square inch of metal substrate material will dissipate the same amount of energy as 4 square inches of FR4. Electro Circuits is a UL approved source for metal substrate printed circuits and has manufactured many thousands of parts using this technology. In addition to aluminum, other base materials are available such as copper, copper/invar/copper and copper/moly/copper. In an effort to provide our customers with a broad selection of products, we are manufacturing double-sided and multi-layered thermally conductive circuit boards. This technology offers the design engineer and those responsible for thermal management problems a totally new vista from which to approach their work. Our thermally conductive circuit boards can be manufactured with a wide variety of soldermasks and surface coatings. Soldermask Materials:
Dry Film, Liquid Photoimageable and Thermally Cured Expoxy. Surface Coatings:
Reflowed Tin/Lead, Hot Air Leveled Tin/Lead, Electroless Nickel/Gold, Electrolytic Nickel/Gold, Immersion Tin and Imidazole Organic Solderability Preservative.
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