Amid the core trends of technological upgrading in the PCBA industry, high-thickness circuit boards have emerged as a rigid choice for high-power sectors such as new energy, industrial control, and automotive electronics, thanks to their outstanding advantages in current-carrying capacity, heat dissipation performance, and structural stability. They have also become a key focus for PCBA enterprises in their technological layout.
The core value of high-thickness circuit boards lies in breaking through the performance bottlenecks of traditional boards in high-power scenarios. Their advantages are concentrated in three core dimensions, which are also the rigid requirements for equipment reliability in downstream fields.
In terms of current-carrying capacity, high-thickness circuit boards can be equipped with 3 ounces or more of thick copper foil. The 4-20 ounce thick copper process, adapted for some high-power scenarios, can increase the current-carrying capacity of a single circuit from the conventional 30A to over 100A. This significantly reduces line resistance and I²R Joule heat loss, fundamentally avoiding circuit overload during high-power conversion. It perfectly meets the needs of equipment requiring continuous 200A+ high-current carrying, such as photovoltaic inverters and new energy vehicle BMS.
The upgrade in heat dissipation performance is another key factor enabling high-thickness circuit boards to adapt to high-power scenarios. Combining the high thermal conductivity of copper with a thick copper layer and thick substrate design, the board itself becomes an efficient heat conduction channel. The lateral thermal conductivity of 10-ounce thick copper foil is 300% higher than that of conventional 1-ounce copper foil, which can quickly transfer heat generated by core power devices such as IGBTs and MOSFETs to external heat dissipation structures, reducing the hot spot temperature of the equipment by more than 40℃. Meanwhile, high-thickness substrates of 2.0mm and above can accommodate independent heat dissipation layers and flexibly embed metal heat sinks, heat pipes, and other structures. This solves the heat dissipation challenge of high-power power modules and on-board chargers in limited spaces, enabling a 40% volume reduction for 11kW on-board chargers.
In terms of structural stability, the mechanical strength of high-thickness circuit boards provides protection for equipment operation under complex working conditions. A board thickness of over 2.0mm can effectively reduce the bending deformation of large-sized circuit boards caused by their own weight or external forces, avoiding pad cracking and line breakage. The combination of thick copper layers and deep-hole electroplating technology triples the tensile strength of the board's hole rings, allowing it to withstand vibration environments exceeding 5Grms and a wide temperature range of -40℃ to 125℃. This feature makes it a standard configuration for scenarios with frequent vibrations and harsh environments, such as automotive engine compartment ECU motherboards, industrial robot joint controllers, and high-speed rail traction systems. Its reliability in passing the ISO 16750-3 vibration test and 10,000 mechanical shock tests is far higher than that of conventional boards.
The explosive demand for high-thickness circuit boards directly stems from the rapid development of downstream high-power fields. The popularization of 800V high-voltage platforms in new energy vehicles has driven a surge in demand for 6-8mm high-thickness circuit boards in on-board chargers and motor drive systems. High-power power modules in AI servers and 5G base stations have put forward higher requirements for the impedance control and multi-layer wiring capabilities of high-thickness circuit boards. The enlargement and high-powerization of equipment such as industrial frequency converters and wind power converters have also made high-thickness circuit boards of 5.2mm and above the mainstream choice. The common demand in these fields has transformed high-thickness circuit boards from "customized products" into gradually standardized industry options, and also promoted the upgrading of PCBA manufacturing processes towards higher precision.
In the future, with the continuous expansion of the high-power electronic equipment market, the application scenarios of high-thickness circuit boards will be further expanded. Their technological iteration will also move towards higher precision, higher reliability, and better adaptability to multi-scenario needs, providing solid hardware support for the high-quality development of the electronic manufacturing industry.
