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In the electronics industry, exposed copper PCBs are a crucial foundational material.
Exposed copper PCBs consist of copper foil, an insulating substrate, and an adhesive. Copper foil provides excellent electrical conductivity, ensuring fast, low-loss transmission of electronic signals.
With the advancement of electronic technology, the requirements for copper foil purity and thickness uniformity are becoming increasingly stringent.
The latest manufacturing processes can produce copper foil with nanometer-level uniform thickness, ensuring more precise electronic circuits.
Exposed copper PCBs, with their simplified process, manageable costs, and flexible adaptability, have become a "secret weapon" for accelerating prototype turnarounds.
Many engineers habitually choose tin-plated or gold-plated pads for lab prototypes, unaware that using exposed copper pads can shorten prototype cycles by 40% and
reduce trial-and-error costs.
1. Process Simplification: Eliminating "Excessive Steps" Reduces Prototyping Cycles by 2-3 Days
One of the pain points of lab prototyping is the long process and long wait times. Bare copper PCBs, by reducing the number of manufacturing steps, directly shorten prototyping time,
a key advantage of their rapid turnaround.
Eliminating One or Two Plating Steps, Significantly Shortens Manufacturing Cycle Time
Conventional PCB prototyping with plated pads (such as tin or gold) requires adding an electroplating/coating step after etching:
Tin-plated pads undergo three steps: pre-tinning, tinning, and cooling, each taking 4-6 hours.
Gold-plated pads are more complex, requiring nickel primer, gold plating, and cleaning, taking a total of 8-10 hours. Plating tanks also require waiting times
(small-volume PCB fabricators with which labs collaborate typically only have one or two plating tanks).
Bare copper pads, on the other hand, can be fabricated after etching and cleaning, completely eliminating the plating step. A laboratory test showed that for a PCB
with the same design (2-layer board, 50 pads), the prototype cycle for bare copper pads was only 3 days, 5 days for tin-plated pads, and 6 days for gold-plated pads.
Bare copper pads are 2-3 days faster than conventionally plated pads, perfectly meeting the "rapid verification" needs of R&D.
No need to wait for plating materials; urgent prototypes can be made "on the fly"
Laboratory prototypes often require last-minute design adjustments, such as discovering that pad spacing is unreasonable, requiring file revisions and order placement.
In these cases, prototypes for plated pads may be delayed due to a shortage of specific plating materials (e.g., solder paste or gold salts at the lab's partner PCB manufacturer).
However, bare copper pads require only copper foil and base material, which are commonly in stock at the PCB manufacturer, eliminating the need for additional material procurement.
2. Controllable Costs: Reduced "Trial and Error Costs," Effortless Multiple Iterations
Laboratory prototyping often involves multiple rounds of trial and error—it may take two or three prototypes to resolve design issues. Exposed copper PCBs offer lower costs and
allow for bolder, faster iterations.
Prototyping unit price is 30%-50% lower, making multiple iterations more cost-effective.
Laboratory prototyping typically requires a small number of PCBs (5-20 pieces), and unit price significantly impacts total cost. For example, consider a commonly used
two-layer board (100mm x 80mm, 50 pads) in a laboratory:
The unit price for a bare copper PCB prototype is approximately 30 yuan per piece, resulting in a total cost of 600 yuan for 20 pieces.
The unit price for a tin-plated PCB is approximately 50 yuan per piece, resulting in a total cost of 1,000 yuan for 20 pieces.
The unit price for a gold-plated PCB is as high as 80 yuan per piece, resulting in a total cost of 1,600 yuan for 20 pieces.
If R&D requires three rounds of prototyping, bare copper PCBs save 1,200 yuan compared to tin-plated PCBs and 3,000 yuan compared to gold-plated PCBs. For labs with limited budgets
(such as university labs and startup R&D departments), the cost advantage of bare copper PCBs can support more rounds of design optimization,
accelerating the search for the optimal solution.
Low scrap costs, allowing for rapid and painless trial and error
During lab prototyping, approximately 30% of samples are discarded due to design flaws (such as short circuits or misaligned pads).
The low unit price of bare copper PCBs reduces scrap costs.
For example, when a university lab was developing a sensor circuit, the first two bare copper PCB samples were discarded due to substandard sensitivity.
3. Flexible Adaptability: Meeting Diverse Laboratory Prototyping Needs
Laboratory prototyping requires a wide range of PCB types, including low-frequency signal boards, high-current power boards, and temporary test fixtures.
Exposed copper PCBs can flexibly adapt to these needs, eliminating the extra waiting time caused by mismatched plating.
Rapid verification of high-current scenarios without the need for custom plating
Laboratory development of power circuits (such as DC-DC converters and motor driver boards) often requires verifying high-current (2-5A) conduction capabilities.
The high conductivity of bare copper PCBs (58MS/m) perfectly meets this requirement, eliminating the concern associated with tin-plated PCBs, which may melt at high temperatures and
affect current conduction.
Quickly create temporary test fixtures, ensuring they are disposable after use.
Laboratories often need to create temporary test fixtures (such as PCB continuity test fixtures and sensor calibration fixtures). These fixtures have a short lifespan (1-2 months) and
are used only for internal testing. Long-term corrosion resistance is not a concern, so bare copper PCBs are the best choice.
For R&D personnel, choosing bare copper PCBs is not a "second best option" but a "precise match to needs" - the core goal of product prototype development is to
"quickly verify the design" rather than pursuing mass production-level coating protection, and Exposed copper PCBs just perfectly fit this goal.