This specification covers metal foils supported by carrier films and unsupported foils suitable for subsequent use in printed boards. Unless otherwise agreed upon between user and supplier (AABUS), metal foils shall be considered acceptable, so long as the requirements in this specification are met.

Purpose

This specification addresses the requirements for procurement of metal foils used only in printed wiring applications.

Specification Sheet Description

At the end of this document is a series of specification sheets. Each sheet outlines engineering and performance data for a metal foil. The sheets are provided with a number for ordering purposes. For example, if a user wishes to order from specification sheet 1, the number "1" would be substituted for the "X" in the above designation example (e.g., IPC-4562/1).

The metal foils contained in this standard represent known materials. As new foils become available, they will be added to future revisions. Users and material developers are encouraged to supply information on new materials for review by the Metallic Foils Task Group (3-12a). Users who wish to invoke this specification for metal foils not listed shall list a 0 (zero) for the specification sheet number (e.g., IPC-4562/0).

This specification provides quality classes (see 1.2.3 through 1.2.7) for requirements to reflect functional performance (see Appendix A) and testing properties. The reference of a single class does not preclude invoking specific requirements defined in other classes.

Foil Metal

The metal foil shall be designated by a suitable two- or three-letter code:

CU - Copper

NI - Nickel

XX - Other

Foil Type

Metal foil types shall be distinguished by their process of manufacture and shall be designated as:

E - Electrodeposited

W - Wrought (rolled)

O - Other

Foil Grade

Foil Grades

Foil grades shall be distinguished according to the following foil grade designations:

1. Standard electrodeposited (STD-Type E)

2. High ductility electrodeposited (HD-Type E)

3. High temperature elongation electrodeposited (HTE-Type E)

5. As rolled-wrought (AR-Type W)

7. Annealed-wrought (ANN-Type W)

8. As rolled-wrought low temperature annealable (LTA-Type W)

9. Nickel, standard electrodeposited

10. Electrodeposited low temperature annealable (LTA-Type E)

11. Electrodeposited annealable (A-Type E)

Other Metal Foil Grades

Other metal foil grades will be designated as the need arises.

Foil Weight and Thickness

Copper Foil Area Weight

The area weight and nominal thickness for copper shall be as identified in Table 1-1.

Thickness of Foils Other than Copper

Thickness of all other metals shall be indicated by dimensions to the nearest 0.025 mm [0.0009843 in].

Bond Enhancement Treatment

The bond enhancement treatment used on the metal foil shall be designated as one of the following:

N - No treatment; no stain proofing

P - No treatment; stain proofing both sides

S - Single-sided bond enhancement treatment (matte side); stain proofing on both sides

Foil Profile

All foils shall have a two-letter descriptor to designate the profile of both the cathode and anode/matte sides. Order shall be the cathode side followed by matte side. Profile ranges not accommodated below will be AABUS.

Quality/Performance Classification

Three general classes have been established to reflect progressive increases in inspection and testing frequency. It should also be recognized that there is typically an overlap between classes. In many cases the difference between classes is one of attribute assurance level not attribute difference. The user has the responsibility to determine the class into which his product belongs. Testing and inspection requirements in this specification have been separated so the metallic foil may be tested to any one of the three quality/performance classes.

The three classes are:

Class 1 Material in this class is suitable for applications where mechanical properties and cosmetic defects are not important, and the only requirement is functionality of the complete circuit. This material has no prescribed inspection and testing requirements.

Class 2 Material in this class is suitable for use where circuit design, process yield, and specification conformance requirements allow localized areas of nonconformance. This material has moderate levels of assurance, demonstrated via the use of testing and/or statistical process control (SPC)/statistical quality control (SQC) techniques.

Class 3 Material in this class is suitable for applications where high levels of assurance are required. These levels of assurance shall be demonstrated via the use of testing and/or SPC/SQC techniques.

Presentation

All dimensions and tolerances are expressed in millimeters and are not direct conversions in order to provide usable numbers. Users are cautioned to employ a single system and not mix metric and English equivalents. Reference information is shown in brackets [ ].