Heat dissipation performance of metal-core printed circuit board prepared by anodic oxidation and electroless deposition

• We fabricated the metal-core printed circuit board on aluminum alloy substrate.
• Anodic oxidation, electrochemical copper deposition and epoxy coating are used.
• Insulation layer is composed of aluminum anodic oxide and thin epoxy layer.
• Excellent breakdown voltage and dielectric strength were measured.
• Metal-core printed circuit board shows superior heat dissipation performance.

An aluminum anodic oxide layer was applied as the insulation layer of metal-core printed circuit board (MCPCB). Copper electroless- and electro-deposition were conducted on the insulation layer to form a copper circuit layer. In the present work, thin epoxy layer was coated on the aluminum anodic oxide to secure the electrical insulation between aluminum alloy substrate and copper layer. The MCPCB with the aluminum anodic oxide layer showed a good break down voltage and dielectric strength. The thermal resistance with respect to the thickness of oxide layer was measured using a thermal transient method. The thermal resistance of the MCPCB was increased by increasing the thickness of aluminum anodic oxide layer, and a lower thickness of aluminum anodic oxide was effective to reduce the LED junction temperature.