Brief Talk about PCB Materials

When it comes to basic PCB designing and producing, there are various choices for PCB material like FR and CEM series. Do you know how to pick the one that suits you well?

Here, we will list the basic differences between the common materials.

FR series – The most popular material.
FR stands for “Flame Retardants”, which is a glass fiber epoxy laminate material that meets the UL94v-0 fire standard set by UL. The differences between material FR series (such as FR-1, FR-2 and FR-4) are their thermal properties, heat resistance and electrical strength. FR-4 is suitable and widely used from single-layer to multi-layered PCBs.

CEM series – Low grade but widely used for single / double-layer PCB.
Such as CEM-1 and CEM-3. CEM-1 is composite material composed of woven glass fabric and paper core combined with epoxy resin. Widely used for single-layer PCBs; and CEM-3 is made of glass cloth and glass mat composite substrate material, which developed on the basis of FR-4. For double-layer PCBs, it is a great alternative to FR-4.

Comparison of prices for the above materials: FR-1 < FR-2 < CEM-1 < CEM-3 < FR-4

So far, the material FR-4 is still the best choice for PCB production due to its cost-efficiency and good characteristics. And CEM-1 is the first choice of LED lighting manufacturers, because it has achieved the best balance between heat dissipation performance and cost.

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