Hello readers welcome to the new post. In this post, we will discuss ceramic vs fr4.
What is a Ceramic PCB?
Ceramic PCB is a heating-conducting ceramic powder material and organic binder with heat-conduction ceramic PCB is made with a thermal conductivity value of of 9 to 20W/m.
The ceramic board has a ceramic material base and differnt materials such as alumina and aluminum nitride used that offer high thermal conductivity materials like alumina, and aluminum nitride. That helps to transfer heat fast. LAM technology is used for the creation of a ceramic board which is the laser activation metallization method.
These boards are reliable and can used as complete conventional PCB boards with less complex design for providing high performance.
Ceramic PCB Features
High thermal expansion
- The main feature that helps to use of ceramic PCBs for industries is their high thermal coefficient expansion. The ceramic base conductivity is like silicon and used for connection materials.
Stability
- It has stable dielectric features since due to using ceramic, the balance can converted into restricted radio frequency loss and increases features of electronic devices.
- Ceramic materials come with natural resistance to chemicals.
Durability
- The ceramic PCB provides durability for manufacturing. The main features of ceramic especially toughness ensure to avoid the board from wear and tear. The ceramic board comes with slow-back features due to the use of based consistency. It comes with high resistance for thermal since it can reduce the decomposition process and increase working life
Manufacturing of ceramic PCB
It uses silver or gold conductive pastes for putting trace connections on every layer of the ceramic board manufacturing process.
Metalic components are put on layers with layer by layers screen printing process. With that it also puch vias through the use of mechanical processes or drilling the micro vias with a laser.
After printing and stacking ceramic layers, bake the stack in the oven. With that, there is a need to provide 1000 degrees below temperate that is according to the sintering temperature of gold or silver paste material.
The low-temperature baking process is used for gold or silver for ceramic pcb.
The hot pressing or baking and sintering process of multilayer baord helps to easily connect passive components on the inner layers of the ceramic board.
Applications of Ceramic PCB
- Power Electronics
- Aerospace and defense
- Automotive electronics
- LED lighting
- Medical devices
- Telecommunications
What is FR4 PCB?
FR4 is a very commonly used material for PCB boards and comes with good electrical and mechanical features. It is known as general PCB board materials. The FR stands for flame retardant or flame-resistant materials.
It is a self-extinguishable material. The 4 in FR4 is code used for showing flame-retardant material.
FR4 is part of exposed FR4 laminated fiberglass and FR4 comes with fiberglass cloth bonded through epoxy for adhesive. FR4 board material comes in different colors such as white, green black, etc.
The thickness used for this material is 1.6 mm and 1.2 mm.
FR4 comes with 5 grades that are FR-1, FR-2, FR-3, FR-4, and FR-5.
FR4 Material Properties
- It has good mechanical strength and features to handle stress, that exists during production, assembly, and other operations. it comes with good dimensional features for high temperatures.
- FR4 comes with good electrical insulation features and does not allow current to flow through the conductive materials of PCB. it also causes electrical damage and fire as a short circuit.
- This material comes with good thermal management features.
- It also has a low absorption rate of moisture. If put in water for 24 hours moisture absorption is 0.01%
- It is self self-extinguished flame-retardant material.
- It is lower cost than other materials
Applications of FR4 PCB
- Consumer electronics
- Industrial equipment
- Home appliances
- IoT devices
- Automotive electronics
- Telecommunications
PCBONLINE – High-Quality Ceramic PCB Manufacturer
PCBONLINE. is the best PCB supplier that provdie quality PCB boards. They are experienced for manufacturing and assembling ceramic PCBs.Different materials such as High-quality alumina PCBs, DOB LEDs aluminum nitride PCBs, LED COBs, ceramic substrate boards for IGBTs, 3D alumina goods, etc. are all things they provide.
The main features of FR4 by this supplier are
- FR4 PCB manufacturing featues that meet your requirements for boards
- Extremely high-quality FR4 PCB and PCBA that are UL, RoHS, REACH, IPC, and ISO 9001:2015 certified
- For large orders, you can get free FR4 PCB, PCBA sample, and PCBA functional testing.
- Personalized customer service and engineering support for the project
- Cheap FR4 PCBs and assemblies due to source factory production
- Fast manufacture and assembly of FR4 PCBs with on-time delivery
Ceramic PCB vs. FR4: A Comparison
- The basic difference is their thermal conductivity.
- The ceramic board comes with a higher thermal conduit than FR4 boards. So ceramic boards dissipate hat effectively than FR4.
- So ceramic boards are used for high heat production applications such as LED lighting, and high-frequency.
- FR4 boards are stronger than ceramic boards, and FR4 comes with featues to handle high-physical stress and has chances to less break. So FR4 boards are the best that need high mechanical strength and are used for aviation and defense applications.
- Both materials are good insulators and the ceramic board comes with a high dielectric constant as compared to FR4. So ceramic board provides to store more energy over to FR4.
- FR4 boards are less cost than ceramic boards. Fr4 is made with less costly materials than ceramic board.
What are the disadvantages of FR4?
- The dimensional stability of FR4 materials is reduced with high power and high temperature. For high-temperature dielectric constant arises that causes a change in impedance.
Difference between the ceramic substrate and FR4?
- The main difference between FR4 and ceramic materials is their thermal conductivity. FR4 comes with lower thermal conductivity than ceramic materials for circuit
Does FR4 absorb water?
- They come with about zero water absorption features, Fr4 is used as an electrical insulator and comes with mechanical strength. The materials are called due to high mechanical features and electrical insulating features for both dry and humid conditions.
What are the benefits of FR4?
- FR4 comes with a good resistance-to-weight ratio. It does not absorb water provides high mechanical strength and comes with good insulation features for dry or humid environments.
Is FR4 electrically conductive?
- FR4 is the best insulator and comes with limitations for high power voltage and heat. If certain limited cross for these parameters, materials insulation features will affect and start to operating current that makes board failure.
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