Name: Aluminum Nitride PCB (AlN PCB) - C-Proto
SKU: OCTO-ALNPCB-CP
Availability: InStock

Use C-Proto to order your:

Aluminum Nitride (AlN) is the best performing ceramic substrate for electronic circuits because of its high thermal conductivity (170 W/mK), low coefficient of thermal expansion (CTE), rigidity and dielectric strength. These properties make it the perfect material for high power circuits for LED/laser application, power management, ultra-low temperature electronics, and many more applications.

Click to learn more about the benefits of AlN PCB

Thanks to our C-Proto solution, you now have the opportunity to develop, research, test & validate with AlN PCBs without having to invest in big tooling or without having to wait months for a few pieces or panels of your design. We currently offer a selected range of specifications that allows us to manufacture and deliver a quality product from our Belgian location on a relatively short turnaround time. In case it cannot meet your requirements you can check out our C-Production solution, which has more options, or contact us.

We are also investing in expanding our C-proto capabilities further so be sure to check us out regularly or to enroll for our newsletter to stay informed.

Lead times: On the quote, we show an estimated lead time in working days. In case there are no issues with your design, the lead time starts the day following the day of your order.
Note that when you require surface finish it will have a significant lead time effect as we need to send off your designs to a partner company for plating & finishing.

Delivery:

single units
panel with laser scribing (click for more info)
panel without laser scribing
Note: panel X-out: ≤10%

Ordering a Ceramic PCB

1. Quote & Order

Get your quote and order immediately online. No waiting, no hassle.
Anything unclear or still unsure about something? Contact us anytime!

2. Design check

We will check if your design meets our production specifications and make a panel drawing, if applicable. If something needs to be changed, we will let you know.

3. Production

After the design is ready and frozen, it is off to the factory. This is where the magic happens...

4. Final check & shipment

As soon as your order is made, it gets send back to our Belgian location for a final quality check. If everything looks good, we'll ship it out to you.

Design rules for our C-Proto AlN PCB solution:

C-PROTO DESIGN RULES AlN PCB		Copper (Cu)		Silver-Palladium (AgPd) please contact us for alternative metallizations
Metalization process		Direct plated copper (DPC)		Thick film printing
		Metric	Imperial	Metric	Imperial
	Max. panel Dimensions (a)*(b)	100mmx80mm	3.9" x 3.1"	100mmx80mm	3.9" x 3.1"
	Max. circuit Dimensions (c)*(d)	100mmx80mm	3.9" x 3.1"	100mmx80mm	3.9" x 3.1"
	Thickness (e)	0.38 \| 1.0 \| 3.0mm	15 \| 39 \| 118 mil	0.25\| 0.38 \| 0.5 \| 0.635 \| 1.0 \| 2.0 \| 2.5 mm	10 \| 15 \| 20 \| 25 \| 39 \| 79 \| 98 mil

	Conductor thickness	35um \| 70um Please contact us for other thicknesses.	1oz \| 2oz	10um - 15um
	Layers	Single or double sided (with or without vias)		Single or double-sided (with or without vias). Please contact us for more layers.
	Surface finish	none, immersion tin, ENIG, ENEPIG, or EPIG. Please enquire for other finishes like Ag or hard gold.		None (AgPd), DGG (direct galvanic gold), or GNG (galvanic nickel-gold)
	Solder resist	green, white, black, reflective white		Glass encapsulant: blue
	Solder resist minimum opening	0.15mm	6 mil	0.2mm	8 mil
	Solder resist minimum pad overlap	0.05mm	2 mil	0.1mm	4 mil
	Legend	laser engraving only		laser engraving only

	Min. line width (a)	0.15 mm	6 mil	0.15 mm	6 mil
	Min. line spacing (b)	0.15 mm	6 mil	0.1 mm	4 mil
	Line/pad to edge spacing (f)	0.2 mm	9 mil	0.15 mm	6 mil
	Via diameter (c)	0.3mm - 3.0mm	12 - 98 mil	0.2mm - 0.6mm	10 mil - 25 mil
	Min. via spacing (b)	0.5mm	20 mil	0.5mm	20 mil
	Via/hole to edge spacing	3x via diameter		3x via diameter
	Through hole metallisation	Plated through holes Please contact us for filled and capped vias		Filled vias
	Min. annular ring diameter (d)	Via diameter +0.4 mm	Via diameter +16mil	Via diameter +0.4 mm	Via diameter +16mil
	Min. annular ring spacing (e)	0.2 mm	8 mil	0.2 mm	8 mil
	Annular ring to edge spacing (g)	0.2 mm	8 mil	0.2 mm	8 mil
	Line to hole/via spacing (h)	0.15 mm	6 mil	0.15 mm	6 mil

	Dimensional tolerance	+/- 0.1mm	+/- 4 mil	+/- 0.1mm	+/- 4 mil
	Thickness tolerance	+/- 10%		+/- 10%
	Hole tolerance	+/- 0.1mm	+/- 4 mil	+/- 0.1mm	+/- 4 mil
	Pad to hole/via tolerance	+/- 0.1mm	+/- 4 mil	+/- 0.1mm	+/- 4 mil
	Conductor thickness tolerance	+/-6um		+/- 5um
	Line/Space width tolerance	+/- 50µm @ 35um	+/-20% or 1 mil @ 1oz	+/- 50µm	+/- 2 mil
	Misalignment (only for double sided)	≤200µm	≤ 8 mil	≤200µm	≤ 8 mil
(*) suitable for gold wire bonding (ENEG - Electroless Ni, Electroless Au)

Material properties Aluminum Nitride:

Property	Items	Unit	AlN
Physical	Color	-	Grey
	Water absorption	%	0
	Reflectivity	%	30*
Electrical	Dielectric Constant (1MHz)	-	8～10
	Dielectric Loss	*10^-4	3
	Dielectric strength	MV/m or KV/mm	>17
	Insulation/Volume resistance	Ω·cm	>10^14
Mechanical	Density after sintering (Bulk density)	g/cm3	3.26
	Flexural Strength (3 point)	Mpa	～380
	Hardness		9.3
	Elasticity (Young's Modulus)	GPa	302
	Surface Roughness	μm	0.3～0.6
	Camber	Lenght%	≦2
Thermal	Coefficient of Thermal Expansion (CTE)	ppm/°C	2～3
	Coefficient of Thermal Expansion (CTE) RT~500 °C	ppm/°C	2.5～3.5
	Thermal Conductivity (25°C)	W/m‧K	170
* Reflectivity test reference thickness of 0.5mm

The data shown is typical of commercially available material and is only offered for comparative purposes. The information shall not be interpreted as absolute material properties nor does it constitute a representation or warranty for which we assume legal liability. User shall determine the suitability of the material for the intended use and assumes all risk and liability whatsoever in connection therewith.

If your are not sure what conductor and surface finish you should use, you can always use this handy tool: What stackup to use for your signal layers for ceramic pcb.

FAQ - Ceramic PCB (C-Proto)

When should I consider ordering via C-proto and when via C-Production?

Answer: C-proto is perfect for people that only need a few pieces (5 panels or less => Please note; depending on the size, several PCB may fit on one panel). And the design needs to be relatively simple with only limited options regarding thickness, finish, and masking. The advantage of C-proto is that you can have your PCB relatively fast and at a much lower cost as you do not need to pay for tooling. C-proto orders are made on a specifically designed production line for prototypes and low volume.

C-production orders, on the other hand, will be made on a fully-fledged ceramic PCB production line at one of our partners which are designed for higher volume orders. It gives you many more options and tighter specifications but the downsides are price and longer lead time.

Where do you make C-Proto order?

Answer: All C-proto orders are made by us (CERcuits) in Belgium.

What is your lead time / production time?

Answer: When you generate your quote, the estimated lead time will be shown next to the cost. Usually it takes about 5 working days to make a design but this can go up to 15-20 working days for certain surface finished and higher volumes.

Note that the lead time is given in working days and not calendar days. If you want to check our working day calendar, check it here.

What are main cost/price drivers?

Answer: For our C-proto line the price will mostly increase with

Thickness: very thin (0.38mm or 0.5mm) substrates require a more careful and slower production process and has higher scrap rates. This results in higher costs and thus pricing.
Surface finish: certain specialized finishes (ENIG, ENEPIG, EPIG) are done at a partner which requires shipping/set up and other cost and will increase price and lead time significantly
Number of panels: Our C-proto line requires no tooling but in exchange the process is longer and slower. Hence every panel that we need to process will increase the cost more significant then in a production environment. This is why we recommend to keep C-Proto orders below 5 production panels (100mmx80mm each) .

Do you have a design guide?

Answer: The design specs are listed on every product page when you scroll down.

We realize that more design help as well as background might be helpful and we are creating a full design guide that will cover most topics related to designing a ceramic circuit. Hopefully we can launch this towards the end of 2022 but for now if you are unsure about something or you want us to help you with your design before you have it made, just contact us and it will be your pleasure to assist you.

What happens if you cannot make my design?

Answer: We will contact you to let you know what parts of your design are outside of our capabilities and we will propose the necessary changes to be able to manufacture it. In case these design changes are not acceptable, we can check if it is possible to make at one our partners or we can cancel your order and refund you.

Even if we encounter a manufacturing issue during fabrication which lead to design changes or cancellation, we will not charge you for the work that has already been done.

In very specific cases it might happen that, even though your design is outside of our capabilities but changing it is impossible, we agree to try to manufacture it anyhow. When this happens, we discuss this upfront with you and we will make an agreement on the costs that are involved.

Can you ship faster?

Answer: We might. It depends on the production schedule. Contact us to discuss this.

How are Ceramic PCBs made?

Answer: coming soon! we are creating made a page about this that explains the different manufacturing technologies. Find it here.

What type of design files can you accept ?

Answer: We prefer Gerber or ODB++ format but can also accept most other vector/CAD formats (DXF, DWG, SVG, AI, ...).
Also 3D designs are possible to be made (.step, .stl, .stp).
And if your design is simple, we can also work of a pdf file or even a simple word document or a drawing as long as you clarify all relevant dimensions.

We cannot work with native files from PCB design files (for example Altium's .pcbdoc, Eagles '.brd or KiCad .kicad files)

Are ceramic pcb heavier or lighter then other PCB?

The substrate materials in itself, both Alumina 96% as well as Aluminum nitride are heavier then traditional pcb material like FR4 or even aluminum 5052 (metal core pcb). However, usually ceramic pcb are thinner (=< 1mm compared to 1.6mm typical) and require less copper (much heavier). In most cases the weight is therefor comparable or even lower. Below is an overview of the density of the different materials.

Al2O3 96%: >3.7 g/cm3 (typical thickness 0.25 - 1mm)
AlN: >3.33 g/cm3 (typical thickness 0.25 - 1mm)
FR4: 1.850 g/cm3 (typical thickness 0.8 - 1.6mm)
Aluminium (5052): 2.68 g/cm3 (typical thickness 1.5mm)
Copper: 8.96 g/cm3

Full FAQ can be found here

Ceramic-pcb.com by CERcuits is the online order portal from CERcuits, ceramic PCB & substrates. Learn more or contact us in case you have a high volume program or need different/more stringent specifications.