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The printed circuit board (PCB) is the heart of almost any electronic product,
carrying the components and copper wires supporting its functionality. The
manufacture often involves electroplating, a process that can vary between
designs. This leaves you, the engineer behind its simulation and optimization,
constantly creating new models. What if you could push much of this work onto
the designers, engineers, and technicians behind its design and manufacture,
having them run their own electroplating simulations for PCBs? See how here.
The first step is to cover the PCB with a thin conducting copper seed layer. Next,
the PCB’s surface needs to be coated with a photoresist (a photosensitive
polymer film), a process referred to as photolithography. This process exposes
the resist to ultraviolet light through a patterned photomask and then dissolves
the areas that were exposed. The result is a PCB with a patterned insulating film
that exposes the seed layer on the bottom of the pattern.
A seed layer is applied to the PCB (left). The PCB patterned with a photoresist
using photolithography (right).
Finally, the remaining photoresist is stripped away and the thin seed layer is
etched to isolate the plated copper wires from each other.
A known issue with this process is that the plating rate is not always uniform
across the entire PCB. The electric field in the electrolyte is concentrated to the
conducting pattern that is surrounded by large insulating areas, as well as in the
pattern close to the PCB’s edges. These nonuniformities in the electric field lead
to locally higher current densities at the surface of the cathode in those areas —
an effect commonly referred to as current crowding. The plated thickness is
proportional to the current density over time, which results in an unwanted
thickness variation of the copper wires across the PCB. This means that there
will be a resistance variation between copper wires in different positions in the
PCB. That variation can be the root cause of performance issues or, in the worst
case scenario, device failure when the PCB is used in an electronic device.
During the copper pattern plating step, the PCB is submerged into an
electroplating bath (an electrolyte) together with copper anodes (left). When a
voltage is applied between the anode and the PCB, copper is deposited to form
the wire pattern. The electrical field from the anode to the conducting parts on
the PCB is crowded in the pattern that is close to the large insulating areas and
the edge of the PCB (illustrated by the colored electric field streamlines in the
image to the left). This leads to locally higher copper thickness in these areas
(seen in the red-colored parts of the wire pattern in the image to the right).
Minimizing Cost
To minimize the manufacturing cost, the process is run at the highest possible
rate while still achieving the thickness specifications. By using simulations to
study the impact of the plating rate, it is possible to estimate which plating rate
can be run for a given thickness uniformity specification. This enables the
estimation of the manufacturing cost in the design phase.
Many of the benefits of electroplating simulations have been discussed, but how
do you make the simulation models available for PCB designers?
Building an Application
An electroplating app allows the PCB designer to import different designs (with
or without dummy patterns), click Compute, and visualize the simulated
thickness uniformity. It is also possible to change the dimensions of the plating
bath and anodes as well as include an aperture. With a simple click, the app can
also be run to optimize the dimensions and placement of the aperture. Finally,
the app can be used to find out the maximum plating rate for a given thickness
uniformity specification. With this information, the manufacturing cost can be
estimated.
The user interface from an electroplating app. It allows PCB designers to upload
different designs, modify the dimensions of the electroplating bath, and
(optionally) include an aperture with certain dimensions.
With an electroplating app, a user can run a simulation with a simple click. Users
can study the copper wire thickness uniformity and how it is affected by
different designs, plating rates, and plating bath set-ups. Moreover, the app can
also be run to simulate the optimal aperture dimensions for reducing thickness
variation. Finally, the app can be used to calculate the maximum plating rate for
a given thickness uniformity target.
Concluding Remarks
We have discussed the importance of simulations for advanced PCBs that use
copper pattern electroplating technology. By running electroplating simulations
in the design stage, reduced performance or even device failure caused by
unwanted thickness variation in the electroplating process can be mitigated.
Traditionally, these kinds of simulation models would not be carried out by PCB
designers and are more likely to be ran by electroplating and simulation experts.
However, by building an electroplating app with a tailored easy-to-use interface,
we can bring electroplating simulations to PCB designers. The designers will be
able to run and utilize all of the benefits of simulation in their daily work.
In the end, money can be saved by reducing the number of prototypes and
optimizing the design and process to minimize manufacturing costs. Further,
similar apps can be incorporated into the manufacturing process and run by the
engineers and technicians responsible for this process. This allows them to make
small tweaks and calibrations to the operation of the electroplating as well as
assist in quality assurance.