What is ceramic PCB?
Ceramic PCB is made from heat conducting ceramic powder and organic binding. The heat conduction organic ceramic ceramic PCB has a thermal conductivity between 9-20W/m. Ceramic PCB, also known as ceramic powder and organic binder, is a type of heat conducting ceramic powder that is prepared at a thermal conductivity of 9-20W/m. It is made with ceramic base material which is highly thermally conductive materials like aluminum nitride, beryllium dioxide, and alumina. This can quickly transfer heat away from hot spots, and dissipate it across the entire surface. Ceramic PCB can also be manufactured using LAM technology which is a laser rapid activate metallization technology. Ceramic PCB can be used in place of traditional printed circuit boards. It is also more versatile and has a simpler construction that provides better performance.
Based on their manufacturing process, there are three types of ceramic PCBs available in the electronic market.
Ceramic PCB for high temperature
Ceramic PCB for low temperatures
Thin film ceramic PCB
High temperatures
High temperature is a popular type of ceramic. The ceramic PCB that is designed to withstand high temperatures is commonly called high temperature cofired ceramic (HTCC). It is composed of raw ceramics mixed with solvent, adhesive, plasticizer and lubricant.
It first fabricates the raw ceramic material. Then, it coats the material and then performs the circuit tracing using tungsten or molybdenum. After tracing the circuit, the board can be baked at 1600 to 1700 Celsius for 48 hours. All HTCC baking takes place in a gaseous atmosphere, such as hydrogen gas.
Low temperatures
Low temperature co-fired ceramic board is not like HTCC. It is made of crystal glass and an adhesive substrate, sheet metal, and gold paste. The circuit board is then cut and laminated before being placed in a gaseous oven at approximately 900 degrees Celsius.
Low temperature co-fired ceramics PCB is more profitable because it has lower warpage and higher evolutionary shrink tolerance. Ceramic PCB is more efficient than HTCC or other ceramic PCB types in terms of mechanical intensity and thermal conductivity. LTCC has a thermal advantage because it can be used with heat dissipation products like LED lights.
Ceramic thick film
Thick film ceramic PCB may have a conductor layer thickness exceeding 10 microns. However, it should not exceed 13 microns. The conductor layer is generally used to print the gold or silver palladium on ceramic PCB. Thin film ceramic PCB is made with gold and dielectric pastes. The pastes are backed at temperatures below 1000 degrees Celsius after they have been worked on. Because of the high price of gold conductor paste, thick film ceramic PCBs are widely used by PCB manufacturers.
Ceramic PCBs have many advantages
Ceramic has a key advantage over other materials like FR-4 or metal clad PPCB in heat dissipation. The boards are far more efficient because the components are directly placed on them and there is no isolation layer. Ceramic material can withstand high operating temperatures up to 350°C. It also has a low coefficient of thermal expansion (CTE) which allows for more compatibility options with PCB design.
Ceramic PCBs are superior to traditional PCBs, whose substrate materials include epoxy glass fiber, polyimide and polystyrene.
High thermal conductivity
Refrain from chemical erosion
Compatible mechanical intensity
It’s easy to implement high density tracing
Compatibility of CTA components
High thermal expansion