Metal Core PCB Provider: 3 Factors to Select One!

A metal core PCB is a type of circuit board that has metal traces instead of copper. It is often used in high-voltage applications because it can withstand higher voltages than traditional PCBs. Some examples of products that use metal core PCBs include power supplies, lighting circuits, and heating systems.

MPCBs are made by printing conductive ink onto the base layer of glass fiber epoxy board. This ink contains metal particles that form a conductive path when they are exposed to heat. When the board is baked in an oven, these paths become permanently etched into the surface of the circuit board.

What are the benefits of using a Metal Core PCB?

The most obvious benefit is better signal integrity. Tin plating offers superior electrical properties compared to standard copper plating. It also reduces crosstalk by reducing impedance and impedance mismatches between layers. This leads to improved performance in high-frequency applications such as RFID tags or antennas where signal degradation is often caused by impedance mismatches between layers in the PCB structure. In addition, tin-plated layers make it possible for manufacturers to reduce their manufacturing costs by increasing circuit density without sacrificing performance or reliability.

Tin-plated layers also enable manufacturers to include multiple ground planes on one side of the board without causing interference with each other or having any adverse effects on adjacent components or traces because they all share the same ground plane which greatly reduces noise.

How to choose the right MCPCB provider?

When you are looking for a metal core PCB provider, there are some things to look for before you choose one. Here's how.

1. Find out if they have the equipment and experience

The number one thing you want to know is whether or not they have the equipment and experience necessary to make your design come to life. Not all companies have the same capabilities and not all companies have the same skill level. Some might be able to do it but they may not be able to do it as quickly as you need them too. Some might take longer because they don't have enough employees or maybe they just aren't that good at what they do yet. It's important that you find someone who has the right equipment and knows how to use it in order to get your job done right and on time.

2. Get references from previous customers

Asking for references from previous customers is always an important step in choosing an MCPCB company because it shows how many people like working with them and what kind of quality their work is like after all is said and done. If you are looking for someone who will do high-quality work but also charge a reasonable price then this can be an excellent way of finding those kinds of people.

3. Pricing

Last but not least, find out the average market price for your project and then find a provider who is willing to complete your project in that budget. However, do not compromise on quality for the sake of saving some bucks.

3 Advantages of Printed Circuit Board Design Services

Printed circuit boards or PCBs are the backbone of the modern electronics industry. PCBs are used in almost every electronic device you can think of, from cell phones to televisions, from radios to computers. A PCB is a flat board with copper traces on it that connect different components. Further, we will discuss the advantages of printed circuit board design services.

The components that make up a printed circuit board are:

The substrate: The substrate is the material used for making the board. It can be either plastic or fiberglass, but the most popular ones are FR-4 glass epoxy or Rogers 4350 Unimark 1 or 2.

The coating layer: This layer protects the copper traces from oxidation and corrosion damage by providing an insulating barrier between them and the atmosphere. The most common coating layers are ENIG (Electroless nickel immersion gold) and OSP (Organic surface protection).

The conductive tracks: These are made out of copper foil which is deposited onto the surface using screen printing methods. The tracks carry electricity between components and through the PCB itself.

Via holes: These holes connect one side of a track to another side of a track on the opposite side of the board through plated through holes (PTH).

What are printed circuit board design services?

Printed circuit boards (PCBs) are used for a wide range of electronic products and devices. They are one of the most common types of printed circuit assemblies (PCAs).

The design of a PCB includes several steps:

1. Designing the layout of components on the board. This is done using a computer-aided design (CAD) program, which allows you to arrange components and wires on your PC board.

2. Creating a list of components needed to build your circuit board. You can then purchase these components from an electronics supply company or online retailer.

3. Cut the boards out of sheet metal with a laser or water jet cutting tool so that they fit perfectly into their desired cases.

4. Testing the boards to ensure they work properly before sending them off to be mass-produced or sold as finished goods.

What are the advantages of PCB design services?

Printed circuit board (PCB) design services are an important part of the engineering process. PCBs are used in everything from medical equipment to the automotive industry. If you are planning on creating a PCB for your project, you should know that it is not as easy as just printing a few lines and connecting them. Many steps must be taken before you can even begin designing your board and these steps may vary depending on what type of project you are working on.

Here are some of the advantages that come with hiring professional printed circuit board design services:

1. Expertise

Professional PCB design services have years of experience in this field and know how to make sure that your project's needs are met accordingly. They understand exactly how to create boards that will work properly with the devices they connect to them as well as how to meet all safety standards set by government agencies around the world. You won't have any problems with these experts being able to design a board that meets all industry standards.

2. Cost Savings

Printed circuit boards (PCBs) are the backbone of most electronic equipment. They can be found in almost every piece of technology that you use on a day-to-day basis, and they are an essential part of the design process.

3. Time savings

You don't have to be a skilled PCB designer yourself because you can get the job done by professionals with years of experience in this field. This means that you can focus on your core competencies and leave the rest to them.

Metal core PCB advantages and design

Metal Core PCB (MCPCB) is a technology that has gained much popularity in recent years in the electronics industry. It is a type of printed circuit board that incorporates a base metal material, usually aluminum or copper. It is an ideal solution for applications where the printed circuit board itself may become too hot for the components and must be cooled. The heat is drawn away from the components and into the base material, which acts as a heat sink.

➜ Learn here Benefits of Metal Core PCB Fabrication

MCPCBs were first developed in the 1960s for use in military and aerospace applications where size, weight and reliability were critical factors. Due to their advantages over other materials, they are now also widely used in commercial products like automotive electronics, telecommunications and medical devices.

Today, it is widely used in various industries and has many advantages. The metal-based CCLs are widely used in the fields of LED lighting, power supply, semiconductor cooling and automotive electronics due to their special features.

They are made up of a dielectric layer, a base metal, and a copper layer. Metal core PCBs can be single-sided, double-sided, or multi-layer. The typical thickness of the metal substrate ranges from 0.5mm to 2mm, with the normal value being 1.0mm. The metal core provides a thermal path between the components and a heat sink that is used to dissipate the heat generated by power semiconductor devices such as LEDs, IGBTs and MOSFETs.

It is widely used in the LED lighting industry with the benefits of reduced weight, high power dissipation and improved thermal management.

The base metallic material in them can come in various alloy material types, such as:

Aluminum: This is the most commonly used metal core in MCPCBs. It works well with high-powered LEDs and is lightweight, durable and thermally conductive. Aluminum has a thermal conductivity rating of 170 W/mK.

Copper: Copper is also commonly used in them due to its durable nature and its high thermal conductivity rating of 401 W/mK. Copper also has higher stiffness than aluminum.

Why Use a Metal Core PCB?

Metal core circuit boards are used in applications with high power requirements and/or where significant heat is present. In these applications, the heat sink would be attached directly to the metal core of the PCB. These applications include power supplies, ballasts, inverters and other electronics that generate high levels of heat.

Advantages of Metal Core PCB

The main application advantage of metal core printed circuit boards is to improve heat dissipation for high power components. For example, LED lights often use aluminum as the base material to dissipate heat well.

Compared with normal FR4 (FR4 stands for fire retardant material number 4), MCPCB can conduct heat more efficiently and dissipate heat faster. The standard FR4 glass epoxy substrates have low thermal conductivity – 0.2 W/mK (watts per meter Kelvin). Whereas the thermal conductivity of an aluminum plate is around 200W/mK, which is 1000 times higher than FR4! Therefore, it can be used in products where high speed operation or heat accumulates.

Metal Core PCB design guidelines

Power dissipation: The most important factor for designing any metal core PCB is to estimate the power dissipation at each component location. This will help you decide which areas require extra copper thickness and thermal vias to provide better heat sinking for those areas. It is advisable to use professional software for this purpose as it helps designers quickly calculate the thermal resistance of components and package footprints.

PCB layout: The design of the PCB layout can affect the thermal performance of your circuit board significantly. Components that generate more heat should be positioned close to the edge.

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Everything You Must Know About PCBA or Printed Circuit Board Assembly

Everything You Must Know About PCBA or Printed Circuit Board Assembly

Printed circuit boards or colloquially known as PCBs is one of the most crucial elements used in the electronics industry. It is safe to say that it is the lifeline of the electronics industry. It is used to electrically connect the electronic parts of the machine or device. The procedure of filling the printed circuit board with electronic parts such as capacitors, transistors, resistors, batteries, etc is called printed circuit board assembly or PCBA.

At the present time, all commercially produced electronic machines and devices have printed circuit boards present in them, be it TV sets, fridges, dishwashers, washing machines, and more. Further, even a space mission isn’t viable without printed circuit boards.

It is said that the development of PCBA started in the early 1900s. At the beginning of the 20th century, a scientist from Germany by the name of Albert Hanson began the development of the PCB assembly. Later a year ago, Thomas Alva Edison carried experiments that help in the present-day PCB assembly.

After the manufacturing of the circuit board, the electronic parts which are mentioned above are attached so that a working PCB assembly is created. At the present time, there are 2 PCBA methods at the disposal which are through-hole technology and surface mount technology. In the former method, leads are embedded in the holes and in the latter one, electronic parts are situated on pads located on the PCB’s external surface. In both methods, the element leads are fixed electrically and mechanically via molten metal solder.

When it comes to soldering which is used to attach the PCB elements so as to make PCB assembly viable, there are several methods available in the market. More often than not, the selection of the soldering method counts on the volume of the production. If it is high then machine placement and bulk wave kind of soldering is used. And if the volume is low, then manual soldering is used which is carried out by hands using a microscope. Nevertheless, there are parts that are not viable to solder manually for instance ball grid array.

In the process of PCB assembly, conformal coating is done on the board after the soldering of the electronic elements. This conformal coating prevents deterioration of the board. It also prevents leakage of current. PCB boards are after assembly put in an antistatic bag so that no static charge transmits in the board especially while transporting.

No doubt, getting PCBA services from a specialized firm is better than getting it done in-house. There are a number of advantages you can expect to obtain if you hire a professional printed circuit board assembly firm. Let’s take a look at them.

Save money

If you want to set up your own assembly facility, then you have to get ready to spend a fortune. On the other hand, you can save millions of dollars by hiring a specialized firm. Further, by doing this, you can skip the hassles of hiring the right employees, managing inventory, and a lot of things.

Quality services

Taking the services of a professional PCBA firm assures that you can get quality services at cost-effective prices. A reputed assembly company has state of an art facility, dedicated and qualified staff, and years of experience to get your work on time without compromising on quality.

Focus on core competencies

If you have an expert assembly firm at your disposal, you have peace of mind and you can now focus better on your core competencies. You can have time to strengthen your brand and develop your business and do a lot more important things.

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Learning about PCB prototype and hiring a professional company

Learning about PCB prototype and hiring a professional company

This article talks about PCB prototypes and taking the services of a professional company. Let’s begin.

A printed circuit board or in abbreviation known as PCB is a card or circuit board which are made up of an extremely thin flat metal or rigid plastic-kind board known as an insulator. The circuit board is used onto which electronic elements like capacitors and resistors are mounted and the process is called printed circuit board assembly. The printed circuit boards are then utilized in electronic appliances such as refrigerators, TVs, PCs, dishwashers, washing machines, and so on. Further, PCBs are used in military and space applications. 

A prototype could be taken as the foremost working model of innovation. Hence in this scenario, a printed circuit board prototype is the foremost circuit board, which is created for a new electronic product. By making use of this prototype in the electronic product, the inventor could find out whether the prototype caters for its objective in the invention. As soon as the electronic product is all set to work with the PCB prototype, any errors that happen could be resolved in the prototype. In this manner, the PCB prototype banks the manufacturer of the electronic product loads of dollars, since any errors that might be present in the printed circuit board would be highlighted prior to the real commercial fabrication of the printed circuit board.

Without getting a printed circuit board prototype, the model of a new electronic innovation would be of no usage in case its printed circuit board is not in mint condition and up-to-the required standards. Electronic gadgets and machines are becoming more and more technologically sophisticated day after day. The enhancement is carried out with the help of changes on a printed circuit board prototype, which is then applied to the electronic product to find out if the enhancement is in the correct order. Making use of several materials of the printed circuit board also comprise changes in the printed circuit board prototype. You could make use of fiberglass or Teflon for the printed circuit board, and it is via the printed circuit board prototype that you discover which printed circuit board material finest suits your PCB. In the present time, new printed circuit boards are in utilization in electronic products, gratitude to the PCB prototype.

Choosing a professional company that can provide you with a PCB prototype

Check for experience

When you are looking for a company for your PCB prototype requirements, the key thing you should look for is the experience of the company. Not to mention, experience defines the work quality, handling tight deadlines, and much more about the company. Make sure that the company you are hiring should an impressive portfolio of working with several different clients.

Check for certifications

As a matter of fact, sometimes it becomes really tough to find out everything about your potential company. Nevertheless, a simple way to make sure that everything will be in right place is by checking the certifications of the company. The certifications for example an ISO, guarantees that the company has up-to-the-industry-standard machinery, facility, and skilled employees.

Check for reputation A company that delivers a lot of successful projects more often than not has a great reputation in the industry. You can call the present and past customers of the company and discuss in detail the pros and cons of the company. Without a doubt, a few calls can get you good company in the end. So, do not hesitate to pick up your phone and begin dialing. You can know more about a company is by going a through third party review app. There are a few review websites available on the web.

Read Also: Learning all about PCBA

Everything you want to know about LED assembly services & LEDs

Not to mention, LEDs are far better than traditional sources of light, but do you know how they are manufactured? Let’s find out.

The advantages of LED lighting in comparison with traditional lighting are various. LEDs offer maintenance as well as power savings, over and above performance advancements for instance durability, dependability, longevity, and steady color as well as levels of brightness. Nonetheless, if the LEDs and other elements utilized in the circuit are of inferior quality, or the design isn’t sturdy, conventional LED advantages are nullified. It is not necessary that an LED based design provides the advantages which LED fabricators promote and, as with the majority of the products, you obtain what you give for.

 

It is important to note that not each application calls for an enhanced quality LED for instance a simple status indicator doesn’t require a high quality LED. Nevertheless, applications which call for accuracy in color as well as brightness levels, or work in callous atmosphere which need solid state lighting and solid state lighting assembly which is sturdy and long-lasting, a good quality LED lighting is the mere way out.

To get fine LED assembly services, make sure you hire a good service provider. You should know that critical things which determine the quality of the LEDs and its assembly with other elements in the design are performance, color, as well as the brightness of the LED. However, environmental conditions, for instance, heat, voltage spikes, and functioning currents should be paid attention to when the assembly and designing of the LED carried out. It is important that a designer meets up the design parameters, nevertheless not at the cost of guarding the system from tough environmental conditions for instance heat; since heat is a big reason of LED failure & unpredictable performance. In case the assembly and design is poor, the value of the bin rank as well as encapsulation of the LED is comparatively pointless.

 

The final phase of the design and fabrication is the testing. Without a doubt, not each fabricator tests its products, so it is one of the key elements which help you to find a good LED fabricator. Tests comprise testing the LED system in adverse functioning conditions which include mechanical stress, voltage and current fluctuating, and vibration for a long time. Test finds out whether or not the product would meet up design parameters, & the sturdiness of the design.

Furthermore, the experience of the manufacture is a big factor which can determine the dependability and performance of the LED at large.

No doubt, solid state lighting assembly that got the illumination source of LED (Light Emitting Diode) has taken the globe by storm because of the cost-effectiveness and energy-efficiency it provides. The usage of LED technology has been growing across the world and it has already become more than 25 billion Dollar industry. In the beginning utilized as flashlights and indicator lights in smart phones, LED technology is rapidly surpassing other sources of light as they are durable, Eco-friendly and easy on the pocket.

 

A few things about LED and conventional bulbs

Conventional light bulbs typically use fluorescent or incandescent light source. Whether you use fluorescent light bulbs or incandescent light bulb they aren’t energy efficient seeing that approx. more than 12% of the energy is utilized to create visible light. Besides this, these kinds of bulbs are fabricated from blown glass that could be formed into definite shapes.

On the other hand, LED which is also called as solid state lighting assembly possess an easy and robust structure & flexibility of design that facilitates these LED’s to be amassed in a range of shapes. LED lights possess a light-emitting semiconductor that decides the color of the lights for the reason that the material and procedures utilized to fabricate them.

What is the reason behind the success of LED lights?

 

Without a doubt, they have a huge caliber to save energy and the power to finely illuminate the environment, this thing has become critically important when movements around the world have been running to save energy. At the beginning LED lighting were not noticed due to low intensity and probably because of the lack of color, nonetheless with novel invention and development in LED technology, the need and eminence of this source of light has augmented.

LED lights give a lot of benefits. Some of them are mentioned below:

• Unlike traditional light bulbs, they are temperature insensitive
• They are robust in nature and less prone to breakage.
• Effortless to keep up
• No UV emissions
• No CFC emissions
• Humidity insensitive
• Long life
• Brighter and quality of light is far better than conventional bulbs and tube lights

Keeping in view of the current’s day and age when conservation of energy has become a global topic and has become critically essential, LED lighting has opened doorways to a plethora of opportunities to the globe to discover more energy efficient and economical source of light.

To get the services of dependable LED Manufacturers for assembly, Google your keywords precisely!

Learning all about PCBA

A PCB or commonly known as the printed circuit board is inclined to associate & support different types of electronic elements with the assistance of conductive fundamentals. The majority of the electronic parts are etched over the PCB or could be integrated in what is called the substrate. Printed circuit boards could have 1 or 2 copper layers, based over which they could be known as single or dual-sided. More often than not, the chief insulating substrate employed in printed circuit boards is FR4 glass epoxy. PCBs are majorly utilized in the electronic market, not including the plain products which could work otherwise. Below are a few of the other things which you are required to know.

A deeper comprehension of printed circuit boards

PCBs, as stated, is an imperative in the electronic market. Whilst there are other options for instance point to point construction, PCBs are efficient and very useful for varied types of production requirements. More often than not, PCBs are available in a comprehensive array of dimensions, and are tailor-made to fit your particular requirements. PCBs need a design endeavor on part of the fabricator to obtain the correct type of circuit. In the long procedure of developing electronic items, PCBs are greatly efficient & reasonably priced in comparison with some of the other wiring elements. In case the printed circuit board does not have any elements integrated in it, it’s called soldered wiring board. Nevertheless, the PCBA industry is a multimillion industry with a big number of fabricators & businesses comprised at different levels. 

Discovering a trustworthy PCB fabricator

When you are talking about PCBs, you need to locate a fabricator you could depend on. You should know and check certain things prior to you could pick a provider that matches your needs.

What is their proficiency? All printed circuit board fabrication services are not the same, & hence, specialization is a trait you can’t do the negotiation on. You also need to appreciate their customer base, since that could state loads about the type of work they have carried out so far. For instance, in case a firm has worked with customers in the arena of telecommunications, aeronautical & medicine, they would certainly have more experience as compared to somebody that has worked with just 1 or a couple of firms in the same industry. 

Costing & testing. PCB fabricators are looked forward to be transparent & greatly honest with their customers as far as quality tests are taken into view. In case needed, they should be eager to talk about their testing procedure in detail. Further, the costing must be as flexible as feasible.