Sidewall plating of circuit boards for layer transition connections
AssigneeInternational Business Machines Corporation
InventorsYuan Yao, Todd Edward Takken
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A circuit board including: a first board material layer having a first planar surface and a first sidewall surface perpendicular to the first planar surface; a first conductive layer on the first planar surface; a second board material layer stacked on the first board material layer and having a second planar surface and a second sidewall surface perpendicular to the second planar surface; a second conductive layer on the second planar surface; and a plating on the first sidewall surface and the second sidewall surface and electrically connecting the first conductive layer and the second conductive layer.
Claims20
A circuit board comprising:
- an outer sidewall on a periphery of the circuit board, the outer sidewall having an outer sidewall surface having a first conductive plating;
- a slot extending through the circuit board, the slot including an inner sidewall surface having a second conductive plating;
- a plurality of stacked board material layers, wherein each of the board material layers of the plurality of stacked board material layers includes:
- a planar surface perpendicular to both the outer sidewall surface and the inner sidewall surface;
- and
- a conductive layer on the planar surface;
- and
- an electrical connection between the conductive layers of the plurality of stacked board material layers, the electrical connection between the conductive layers alternating between a connection to the first conductive plating of the outer sidewall surface and a connection to the second conductive plating of the inner sidewall surface.
An inductive structure comprising:
- a magnetic core;
- a stack of a plurality of board material layers, each of the plurality of board material layers including a first planar surface and a second planar surface;
- a winding layer formed on at least one of the first planar surface and the second planar surface of the plurality of board material layers, wherein each of the winding layers is formed around the magnetic core;
- a first sidewall on a periphery of the stack, the first sidewall being perpendicular to the first planar surface and the second planar surface;
- and
- a first patterned sidewall plating on the first sidewall of the stack and a second patterned sidewall plating on a second sidewall of the stack, wherein an electrical connection of the winding layers of the plurality of board material layers, alternates between the first patterned sidewall plating and the second patterned sidewall plating.
A method comprising:
- providing a circuit board comprising a plurality of board material layers, each of the plurality of board material layers including a first planar surface and a second planar surface connected by a sidewall surface, wherein a conductive layer is formed on at least one of the first planar surface and the second planar surface of each of at least two of the plurality of board material layers;
- plating, with a conductive material, a first sidewall of the circuit board formed of the sidewall surfaces of the plurality of board material layers and electrically connecting at least two of the conductive layers, the first sidewall being on a surface of a periphery of the circuit board;
- and
- plating, with the conductive material, a second sidewall of the circuit board formed of the sidewall surfaces of the plurality of board material layers and electrically connecting at least two of the conductive layers,
- wherein an electrical connection between the conductive layers of the plurality of board material layers alternates between the first sidewall of the circuit board and the second sidewall of the circuit board.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.