WHY IS THE THICKNESS SO IMPORTANT?

FPCsupplier talk the word “thickness” is being used so you can guess what we are talking about,  well the thickness of a Printed Circuit Board (PCB) affects a lot including its functionality, conductivity and Heat resistivity.

Simply put, the thickness is an essential factor that determines where and how the PCB is applied.Most time, Customers have to define what/where the PCB is to be used, I know that’s elementary, but you can’t generalize with a PCB.

As each design has its preferred thickness and functionality level, so knowing some knowledge about PCB thickness and knowing how to select the thickness of your PCB design is essential.

Standard PCB Thickness

PCBmanufacturerChina talk when we say Standard, we are talking about the first PCBs that were simple in design with a single sided board that had various layers stacked.It refers to the arrangement of single or multiple cores connected with sheets of cured epoxy.

Generally, with PCB thickness, the application or usage area determines how thick the board will be.It is essential during manufacturing of your board;you communicate your specifications like what thickness you would like with your manufacturer.

The thickness ranges from 0.008 inches to 0.240 inches, there are thin Layer PCBs, but the standard or industrial standard PCB thickness is 0.063inches (1.57mm).There is the historical explanation for that specific size, in the beginning;with the development of Circuit Boards which were made of Bakelite sheets.

In the past, Bakelite was thin insulating material that is a good, sturdy insulator that used to be produced in mass numbers of 0.063 inches thickness then were bought and cut to any other specification based on the electronic device.

The thickness became an essential part of the circuit board when multiple layer Electronic boards started to emerge.With the multiple layers, the need for a mode of connection between layers was evident, and copper was used for that on the plate edges.

The thickness of the connectors between the boards had to match, and that became the standard PCB THICKNESS.

What is the thickness of the FPC soft board substrate?

FPC substrates are divided into types, mainly rolled copper and electrolytic copper.  Rolled copper has good flexibility and bending resistance, but the overcurrent is smaller than that of electrolytic copper;  electrolytic copper has a harder texture and is less flexible than rolled copper, but it can pass The current is relatively large, and it is generally used for power supply. 

is divided into single-sided substrate and double-sided substrate from the number of layers.  The single-sided substrate is composed of polyimide resin and PI, which are laminated with copper foil on one side.  If the laminated surface contains glue, it is called glue-free calendering or glue-free electrolysis.  If there is no glue, it is called glue-free calendering or glue-free electrolysis.  The main difference between glue and no glue is the different adsorption capacity of copper foil and insulating PI and the different breakdown coefficient.

As for the thickness, copper foil has 1oz (35um), 0.5oz (18um), 1. /3oz (12.5um), and the insulation PI thickness is generally 12.5um, 25um.  The thickness of the substrate mainly has three different thicknesses: 35/25, 18/12.5, and 12.5/12.5.