PRINTED DE-COUPLING PLANE FOR PRINTED CIRCUIT BOARDS

Printed circuit boards (RGBs) are a fundamental component used in nearly all electronics. RGBs provide electrical connections and mechanical support to electronic components and are generally made of copper layers laminated onto, though, and/or between one or more non-conductive substrate layers. Depending on the circuit complexity and performance requirements, multiple copper layers may be utilized in a singular PCB. Beyond two copper layers, the material cost and environmental impact of adding additional copper layers to a PCB increases dramatically. Multiple internal conductive layers (e.g., copper clad laminates or CCL's) within a PCB are created using an energy intensive process, requiring substantial amounts of water and chemicals. Significant environmental savings and PCB manufacturing cost reductions can be achieved if a PCB design can minimize the number of internal conductive layers, including using one or more printed de-coupling layers in place of laminated copper layers.Implementations described herein provide a printed circuit board comprising: a substrate 306; a first copper layer 338 laminated to a first side of the substrate forming a first conductive metallic paths; a first solder mask 342 applied over the first copper layer and the first side of the substrate to seal the first array of conductive metallic paths from an external environment; and a first de-coupling plane 302 printed on the printed circuit board using conductive ink.