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What Is Multilayer Fr4 PCB Substrate Material?

FR4 serves as a name and a reference rating, & it is also written as FR-4.

For high-quality PCB manufacturing operations, FR4 is the perfect default

substrate material because of these characteristics. These characteristics

can also serve as the basis for PCBs that are both high-quality and

affordable when employed properly.

FR4 serves as the main insulating backbone of a PCB. This serves as the

foundation upon which the circuit is built by the manufacturer. The FR4

board is prepared and then heated and coated with one or many folds

of copper foil applying adhesive. Depending on the board’s design, this

copper may wrap one or either side and create the connectors in the final

version.

To create more complex circuitry, complex PCBs may layer the electronic

circuit or use more than one side. From here, the board is prepared for

the last touchscreen layer and the following soldering process by having

the circuits designed and filed off before being coated with a modified

surface layer.

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Ceramic vs. FR4 PCB : When to Use?

multilayer pcb manufacturing

When most people hear the phrase “ceramics,” they immediately think of

their primary or secondary school art class when they proudly made their

parents a misshapen coffee cup. When you were an engineer, ceramic

materials were essential to the creation of electronic components.

Knowing how to design a different substrate PCB with transistors can be

helpful.

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Ceramic PCBs are advantageous for industries that need faster-speed

amplitude boards that can survive challenging environments. By

transitioning from FR4 to ceramic Boards, heavy industrial and aerospace

equipment can experience significant improvements in reliability. The

main disadvantage is the price, which can add up in large manufacturing

runs.

· Ceramic vs. Multilayer FR4 PCB

Compared to FR4 boards, ceramic boards have several unique features

that can be used in specific applications. There is no one “ceramic”

substance; rather, the term applies to a class of substances that share a

similar chemical makeup and set of physical

characteristics. Aluminum oxide, aluminum nitride, and beryllium oxide

are ceramic materials utilized as substrates for circuit boards. Other

ceramics with comparable properties include those made from substrates

like silicon carbide and boron nitride.

The heat conductivity of FR4 and porcelain materials is a significant

distinction. Comparatively to the ceramic materials employed for a circuit,

FR4 has an appallingly low thermal conductivity. FR4 is roughly 20 times

more thermally conductive than aluminum oxide. Beryllium oxide always

has greater thermal conductivity than aluminum nitride, which is around

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100 times more thermally conductive than silicon carbide. The material

with the greatest thermal conductivity is boron nitride.

High thermal demands on FR4 Boards frequently need the use of metal

structures to convey heat in order to make up for their poor thermal

conductivity. Heat is transferred away from the surface layers through

thermal connectors, metal surfaces on the inner surface, active cooling

components like blowers, and thermal landings. Except for extreme

circumstances, porcelain boards do not need these components, and heat

can be simply transferred to a mechanical landing, an effective cooling

feature, or device packaging.

Chemistry and physics majors may be aware that materials that carry heat

well also make excellent electrical conductors. Ceramics defy this

tendency a little. Thus these boards can still be utilized as PCB substrates

because their conductivity is so low. Doping, which is also how ceramic

resistors’ resistance is set, can be used to change the electrical properties

of ceramic boards.

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· Multilayer FR4 PCB Ceramic Boards

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Further advantages of ceramic boards make them particularly beneficial

for multilayer boards. Due to more consistent heat transport across the

board, the high degree of thermal conductivity helps minimize the

development of critical areas on the base and inner circuit layers. Heat

waves are more prone to emerge on an FR4 PCB because it depends on

metallic structures or aggressive cooling to move heat away from specific

areas of the circuit or between layers.

Vias on FR4 boards are prone to fracture during temperature cycling and

are used by multilayer boards to access the interior layers of a circuit.

Deficiencies in the thermal expansion ratio between copper and FR4 cause

the possibility of fracture to exist. These boards experience stress from

thermal cycling along the chamber and butt connections within vias.

Designers must take additional precautions to prevent failure since these

spots are prone to fracture.

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Because the thermal expansion coefficients of ceramic circuit boards are

closer to those of their conductor structures, less stress builds up during

thermal cycling in these structures. The ceramic board’s better overall

thermal conductivity guarantees that heat capacity is also more consistent,

preventing significant stress from being placed on any vias in a specific

area of the board.

Ceramics possess a desirable level of mechanical strength and are capable

of withstanding high mechanical loads, such as powerful vibrations and

shock. A porcelain board will often distort less than an FR4 for just that

applied stress since they have smaller Young’s moduli.

· Manufacturing Multilayer FR4 PCB Ceramic Boards

Silver or gold conductive pastes can be used throughout the ceramic

board manufacturing process to lay trace connections in each layer. A coat

screen printing procedure is commonly used to insert these metal

components or substrates in each layer. Furthermore, micro vias can be

laser-drilled or physically hammered in an unfired layer.

The complete stack of printed and stacked ceramic layers is then baked in

an oven. The ceramic board must be baked at a temperature below

1000 °C, which is the same as the temperature at which gold and silver

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paste sinter. Gold and silver can be used on ceramic Boards thanks to this

cooling bake method.

It is simple to incorporate analog elements directly into the inner layers of

a ceramic PCB thanks to the compression molding and sintering process

for multilayer PCBs. In a PCB constructed of FR4 material, this is not

feasible. Designers are now able to enhance the density of connections

and components on inner layers.

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How To Select Multilayer Fr4 PCB Thickness?

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The designer or electrical engineer should specify the FR4 thickness when

placing an order for a laminate board for a PCB project. Based on which is

most suitable for the environment, this is determined in inch-based

quantities, like a 1,000th of an inch, thou, or millimeters. FR4 sheets can

be any thickness. However, they often span from ten through to three

inches depending on the project’s requirements.

Although board thickness might not appear to be a crucial element in a

PCB’s design, it actually is. In order to determine the width of a plank for

design, numerous criteria are taken into account because board thickness

impacts a number of the board’s functional characteristics. The following

are some of them.

1. Space

If the designer is concerned about space, a smaller FR4 board is typically

preferred. This is a key component in the creation of numerous Bluetooth

accessories and USB connectors, which are tiny devices. Smaller FR4 PCBs

are typically preferred to reduce space inside the device, even for bigger

applications.

2. Connections:

An edge connector is necessary to link the two sides of a two-sided PCB

design. Since PCB edge connectors can only fit a specific range of PCB

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thicknesses, this might be a significant limiting factor for the PCB’s final

size. To avoid slippage or PCB damage, a connector’s mating component

must fit tightly against the edge of the Board. That’s one of the main

explanations for why choosing the material for the circuit comes before

designing the circuit.

3. Impedance Matching

Each multi-layered board serves as a capacitor for the layers below it.

Because the width of the PCB FR4 substance impacts the width of the

insulator, which significantly influences the capacitance value, the width of

this panel is crucial.

This is a particularly important consideration for some elevated PCB

designs, such as Rf/microwave ones. Getting the proper inductance for

every layer is vital in high-frequency designs because impedance matching

is a crucial element for maintaining good board performance.

Related Posts:

1. How to Choose the Best PCB Substrate for Board

2. The Impacts of Panasonic R-G525T IC Substrate Material in the

Electronics Industry

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3. Arlon 47N PCB Material – The Best Solution for Bonding Multilayer

Epoxy Rigid-flex

4. Panasonic HEPER R-1755E – High Heat Resistant PCB Material for

Multilayer Boards

https://www.raypcb.com/multilayer-fr4-pcb/

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