Printed circuit boards are used in many items that you may not think of. Many industries use them such as automotive, aerospace, medical, and military among others. They exist in many common products like computers, printers, televisions, lights, audio systems, and automotive parts like indicators and brake lights to name a few. PCBs are critical parts for connecting many electronic components in these devices. They serve as a base for many items we now rely on in our day-to-day lives. In creating printed circuit boards, rhodium plating is a vital aspect to ensure these items work as intended.
Rhodium is used in these applications for reasons such as electrical conductivity, heat resistance, and mechanical wear protection. It allows for proper heat resistance and signal transferring. With the rhodium plating, the specific amount needs to be at a certain threshold so the circuit can perform correctly and avoid mechanical and electrical hindrances. Rhodium printed circuit boards have unique designs that need to be used so targeted functions and uses can be achieved. These are located throughout the circuit called “stack-up” layers. In the automated manufacturing of PCBs, there are many steps and processes to end up with the finished device, so even plating along the way is vital to proper functionality in the end product.
Rhodium plating in PCBs is utilized for effective heat resistance and signal transfer, which lessens damage to the board from imbalanced heating. It also offers great friction reduction and is resistant to oxidation, tarnishing, and scratches, so it is a great choice for PCBs to ensure a quality product. Proper rhodium plating ensures even thickness to avoid improper connection and installation in the end product. This smooth plating is needed before the lamination process finishes so the inner layers of electrical components will work in the PCB. Plating needs to be consistent so it can behave correctly when put through different processes such as etching, lamination, and the overall fabrication of the board. Imbalanced plating thicknesses on sections of the circuit board will hurt downstream in various processes and procedures. We have processes in house to avoid these issues.
ProPlate offers specific custom racking and masking solutions to plate precise and exact sections of your printed circuit board. We can offer engineering expertise to find exactly how to meet your unique design requirements. Our processes allow for hitting tight tolerances and we have chemistry services in house to ensure our baths will allow for clean plating free of contaminants. ProPlate has offered rhodium plating services since 1983 and has a wide base of knowledge for assistance in these types of projects.
