Aluminium PCB design

[Chris Mr]

When you specify an aluminium PCB is it only possible to do it as if it were a "solder side only"?

It's just that for the board I want to do the tracks would be on the top surface (layer 2 / component side ?) and so text would be viewed the right way up.

Never done one before and want to try it out but it's not obvious which way up it should be....

[Chris Mr]

I just found out after ages on a chat...

It's the top layer that you use (at least at the one I tried).  So .GTL .GTS .GTO and GKO

[chris_leyson]

I had a look at Aluminium IMS (Insulated Metal Substrate) at Beta Layout PCB Pool recently. One thing that they cannot do is electrically connect top copper to the aluminium substrate, for example you might want to use the substrate as a ground layer. Apparently they also offer double sided IMS PCBs but I don't think you can electrically connect to the substrate.

[Ian.M]

See: https://www.eevblog.com/forum/projects/grounding-aluminium-pcb-substrate/

Its *possible* to ground the aluminum substrate, either as a rework operation, or by going up-market to a process that offers copper plating on the substrate, but its certainly not as simple as dropping vias to a ground plane anywhere you like on a multi-layer FR4 PCB.

[tepalia02]

Since you're working with aluminium PCB design, I think this video will be a good reference:

https://www.pcbway.com/blog/PCB_Design_Tutorial/Aluminium_PCB_design_and_PCBA_service.html

It's regarding designing a circuit to control the temperature of an aluminium PCB. The language is not English. But the video is quite detailed and understandable.