Power dissipation, or power loss, can be calculated according to the following formula: Voltage drop can be calculated as follows: Α is the resistivity temperature coefficient, whose value for copper is 3.9E-3 , Ρ is the resistivity parameter, whose value for copper is 1.7E-6 [Ω The overall trace temperature can be calculated as followsįirst, convert the cross-section area from to : 6.2 (“Conductive Material Requirements”), their values for inner layers are as follows:Įquation (II) is based on a curve fit to the charts provided in (par. T RISE is the maximum desired temperature rise , The other way around, internal dielectric does not conduct heat very well and that explains why internal traces are wider than external traces.įirst, calculate the area according to the following formula: It should be noted that external PCB layers achieve better heat transfer than internal layers, due to the heat dissipation through air convection.
This tool, based on the formulas and graphs contained in the standard document, calculates the thickness of a copper printed circuit board trace required to conduct a given current, keeping the temperature increase of the trace itself below the specified input value.īy providing additional input parameters (ambient temperature and trace length), it is possible to calculate the trace total temperature, resistance, voltage drop and power dissipation (power loss).
This tool also calculates the following additional valuable information related to the trace: This tool calculates the trace width based upon the following design specifications: Trace width is a requirement that designers specify to ensure that the trace can handle the required current capacity.