PCB Edge Plating
MCL’s strategic manufacturing partners are state-of-the-art printed circuit board fabrication facilities, By partnering with this facilities, this has allowed our customers to overcome many problems common in the industry. This includes proper execution of PCB edge castellation, where we can keep quality to tight tolerances for edge plating, even after profiling.
You might have heard this concept called “edge plating” or “castellation,” which is the copper plating that runs from the top to the bottom surfaces of a PCB, and runs along at least one of the perimeter edges. PCB edge castellation ensures a strong connection through the board and limits the chance of equipment failures, especially in controlling protections for small form factor boards and sub-motherboards.
Edge Plating PCB Process
Printed circuit board fabrication for edge soldering requires precision handling and faces many challenges around how plated edges are prepared and the lifetime adhesion of the plated material.
MCL has established industry practices and manufactures to these standards to ensure that our PCB edge castellation thoroughly prepares edge surfaces, applies the plated copper for immediate adhesion and processes the board to ensure long-term adhesion of every layer.
By using a controlled process in our circuit board fabrication for edge soldering, we can limit any potential hazard for through-holes and half-holes on the edge. The most significant concern is the creation of burrs, which will lead to the failure of mission-critical parts and can damage your equipment.
Applications
Edge plating circuit boards are common in many industries, and edge plating is a common practice. You’ll find PCB edge castellation (or edge plating PCBs) applied in many cases, including:
- Improving current-carrying capabilities
- Edge connections and protection
- Edge soldering to improve fabrication
- Better support for connections such as boards that slide into metal casings
Please note that edge plating on printed circuit boards is a simple addition in many cases, but it requires specialized equipment and training. It’s an option for many different boards, but we always recommend taking this type of request to a manufacturer, like MCL, who has an established reputation of circuit board castellation.
We’ll be able to perform the right engineering checks to keep everything safe. For example, circuit board castellation should never cause the internal power planes to come to the edge of the board, because it can short the edge plating. When you travel, always mind the gap. When we perform circuit board fabrication for edge soldering, we always make sure there’s a gap before the edge plating.
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MCL offers leading engineering support to ensure on-time delivers of our high-quality PCBs— no matter how large or small your order might be. Our PCBs are 99.6% defect-free.
Got a specific need and a specific budget? We’ll work with you to find the right production that delivers competitive pricing on your required lead times.
We want to be the only partner you need for edge plating printed circuit boards.
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