Metal Core PCB (MCPCB) or Insulated Metal Substrate (IMS PCB) is a technology developed to overcome the thermal limitations of the FR4 material. Metal Core is a better choice than FR4 if your boards need to perform in high temperature environment.

Insulated Metal Substrate provides electrical isolation between the copper and the metal core by using a special dielectric with the peculiarity of having high thermal conductivity.

The most common material used in the substrate is aluminum, for this reason, these type of boards are usually known as Aluminum PCBs.

METAL CORE PCB APPLICATIONS

PCBs that require a lot of power usually generate a lot of heat. If your PCBs need fast cooling it is better to use Metal Core PCB than FR4. The following list includes some of the most popular applications that work great with this technology:

  • LED Lighting
  • Power Conversion Systems
  • Power Supplies
  • Photovoltaics
  • Telecom & Industrial
  • Automotive Electronics

METAL CORE PCB TECHNOLOGY BENEFITS

Insulated Metal Substrate Technology offers a great list of benefits when an application requires great heat dissipation.
Most engineers and designers rely on Metal Core PCB to take advantage of the following benefits (compared to FR4 PCBs):

  • Superior heat dissipation
  • Eliminate heat sinks and other voluminous hardware
  • Great durability of Aluminum
  • Lightweight and strength

METAL CORE PCB STACK-UPS

SINGLE LAYER
Single layer metal core

It consists of a single copper conductive layer on top, a
metal base plate (e.g. Aluminum) to provide rigidness to
the circuit board and a thermal conductive dielectric
working as the insulator.

DOUBLE SIDED
Double sided metal core

It has two copper layers and the metal core is between the copper layers. Plated Through Holes (PTH) are used tointerconnect the acopper layers so SMT and THT components can be placed on both sides.


MULTI LAYER
Multi layer metal core

It has more than two conductive layers separated by thermal dielectric. In the bottom of the structure is the metal base. SMT components can only be placed on one side. Not THT components are allowed, but it provides the possibility to make blind and buried vias with internal signal layers and power/ground planes.


SPECIFICATIONS

ITEM DESCRIPTION SYMBOL STANDARD ADVANCED
No. of Layer Count Max Layer Count NA 1-4 layer 1-8 layer
T-clad Laminate Supplier Laminate Supplier NA Bergquist, polytronics, boyu Bergquist, polytronics, boyu
Metal Thickness M 0.4-3.2mm 0.4-3.2mm
Dielectric Thickness E 100-200um 100-300um
Thermal Conductivity NA 1W/m-k , 2W/m-k 3W/m-k 1W/m-k , 2W/m-k 3W/m-k , 4W/m-k
Circuit Width Outer Layer Min. Circuit Width W1 0.15mm 0.15mm
Circuit Spacing Outer Layer Min. Circuit Spacing S 0.15mm 0.15mm
Copper Foil Thickness Copper Foil Thickness T ½- 4 oz 1/3 –6 oz
Finished Hole Min. Finished Npth Hole Size X 1.0mm 0.80mm
Npth Hole Tol. A /-0.05mm +/-0.05mm
Max. Aspect Ratio Max. Aspect Ratio T:H 8:1 10:1
S/M Dam & Clearance Min. S/m Dam W1 0.10mm (Green S/M); 0.13mm (white S/M) 0.10mm (Green S/M); 0.13mm (white S/M)
Min. S/m Clearance W2 0.075mm (Green S/M); 0.075mm (white S/M) 0.05mm (Green S/M); 0.05mm (white S/M)
Metal thickness
METAL THICKNESS
Dielectric thickness
DIELECTRIC THICKNESS
Circular Width
CIRCUIT WIDTH
Circuit Spacing
CIRCUIT SPACING
Copper Foil Thickness
COPPER FOIL THICKNESS
Circular Width
CIRCUIT WIDTH
Max. Aspect Ratio
MAX. ASPECT RATIO
S/m Dam & Clearance
S/M DAM & CLEARANCE
Circular Width
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