Metal core printed circuit boards

Metal core PCBs have been in use for some 20 years in designs where maximum thermal management in the form of heat dissipation is desirable. As past methods of fabrication involved techniques not necessarily available at facilities using metal core PCBs designs, a Manufacturing Technology programme was conducted to develop and implement a scheme that used only standard multilayer production materials and processes. A drilled aluminium core panel was laminated to copper foil employing B‐stage resin and two lamination cycles. Redrilling on NC machines followed, prior to desmearing, conventional electroless and electrolytic copper plating, and normal processing steps such as dry film photoimaging, etching and solder coating. Boards thus produced functioned efficiently in standard tests, exhibiting superior values for capacitance when compared with pure epoxy boards.