[harryn]

Hi, I am working on an LED related project. (Lumileds Rebel in case you are interested). The basic design is just single sided, but there is a lot of heat to move.

The application note calls for using
- about 30 thermal vias to move the heat from the top copper layer to the bottom.
- each thermal via is a plated through hole
- Finished hole size approx 0.5mm (but this is somewhat adjustable)

I actually want to put multiple LEDs on the board, so inserting a piece of copper wire into each thermal via is not really practical.

With a machined board, plated through holes are more challenging, so I am toying with the idea of trying to fill the drilled holes with solder paste instead to make a connection from the top copper to the bottom. I wonder if anyone has experience with something like this?

Thanks

Harry