The copper foil used in the PCB industry is more complex than actually imagined. Copper is not only an excellent good conductor, but also an excellent thermal conductor, making it an ideal material for the vast majority of PCB application conductors. Copper foil has many other characteristics, and understanding these characteristics is crucial for engineers.
There are generally two types of copper foil used in the PCB industry: rolled annealed copper foil (RA) or electrolytic copper foil (ED). The process of manufacturing rolled copper foil starts with pure copper billets, continuously rolling and compressing to reduce thickness, and ultimately reducing to the desired desired thickness of copper foil. ED copper foil adopts an electroplating manufacturing process, in which copper is plated on a rotating titanium drum, and as the drum rotates, copper ions gradually deposit to form copper foil. The rotational speed of the titanium drum directly affects the thickness of the copper foil. After the production of copper foil, both RA copper foil and ED copper foil need to go through multiple processes.
