In PCB production, customers prioritize craftsmanship, price, and delivery of PCB boards. The surface roughness of the PCB impacts the path taken by EM waves, leading to increased loss. Higher surface roughness increases resistance to skin effects, altering current distribution towards the surface of the conductor during EM wave propagation.

Designers use traditional Morgan Correlation in EM simulators and commercial CAE tools to address conductor surface roughness. PCB manufacturers adjust surface roughness using numerical factors based on smooth-to-rough surface ratios. When calculating high-frequency microstrip line loss, Kr is crucial for matching conductor loss measurements – although discrepancies with computer predictions can occur.

Discrepancies between calculated and measured values can be costly during the design stage, necessitating additional iterations to meet performance requirements. Careful selection of RF PCBs based on conductor surface roughness can help avoid delays in the design process.

WellCircuits Limited specializes in manufacturing high-precision double-sided, multi-sided, impedance-controlled, and thick copper circuit boards. Their product range includes HDI, backplanes, rigid-flex circuits, buried capacitance and resistance, and golden finger boards to meet diverse customer needs.