Copper Pour vs Polygon Pour
If you have been in the PCB industry for a while, you have probably heard the terms "copper pour" and "polygon pour". They are two techniques that are used by engineers to create copper areas on Printed Circuit Boards (PCBs).
While these two techniques are similar in many ways, they differ in some important aspects. In this blog post, we provide a factual and unbiased comparison of both techniques so that you can make an informed decision about which technique to use in your next project.
What is Copper Pour?
Copper pour is a technique used to create a copper area on a PCB. It involves pouring copper in a specific pattern directly onto the board. Copper pour can be used to create a ground plane, power planes, or copper fill areas.
What is Polygon Pour?
Polygon pour is also a technique used to create a copper area on a PCB. However, it involves defining the copper area as a polygon-shaped layer in the PCB software. The software then pours the copper into the defined polygon shape.
Copper Pour vs Polygon Pour: Comparison
Efficiency
When it comes to efficiency, both techniques have their pros and cons.
Copper pour is faster and easier to implement because it involves just pouring the copper directly onto the PCB. It's a technique that is commonly used when a bigger space is available and can be more efficient.
In contrast, polygon pour can be slower because it requires the creation of a defined polygon shape. However, polygon pour is more useful when it comes to creating complex shapes and designing trace routing.
EMI Shielding
Copper pour technique is known to provide better EMI shielding because it provides a solid connection to ground. It also has a better heat dissipation property due to the direct connection with the PCB surface.
On the other hand, polygon pour can provide comparable shielding depending on the specific design. Since polygons can use more complex shapes than simple rectangular shapes that copper pours typically use.
Trace Routing
If you require complex trace routing, polygon pour is the better option because it allows for more precise control over copper zones. Mos of the software packages supports AI-based algorithms or intuitive manual control to quickly fill-up the polygon shapes behind the traces.