PCB or Printed Circuit Board is a mechanical assembly that include layers of fibreglass sheets that are laminated with etched copper patterns. Standard PCBs, whether multilayered or double-sided, are manufactured by combining copper etching and metal plating processes. Circuit layers structured with the first layer of thin copper foil that are etched in order to remove extra copper, and plated to add thickness to traces, planes and pads. All these circuit layers are laminated into a package using a substrate like polyimide.
Circuit boards including heavy copper PCB are produced with specialized etching and plating techniques. This includes high speed plating and differential etching. Originally, heavy copper features were structured by etching thick copper layer laminated board material, thereby causing uneven traces and improper undercutting. Major advances in plating technology have enabled heavy copper features to be formed using a combination of plating and etching. This has resulted in even sidewalls and easy undercut.
Plating the circuit board with heavy copper circuit enables the board fabricator to enhance the amount of copper thickness via sidewalls. Generally, high-power circuits and control circuits were produced differently on separate boards. Use of heavy copper plating makes it possible to incorporate high-current circuits to comprehend to simple board structure.
The heavy copper feature is excellent in its way as it can be seamlessly connected to standard circuit board. These standard and heavy featured PCBs can be placed with little restriction provided the designer and the fabricator consider manufacturing tolerances prior to final design.