Printed Circuit Boards or PCB for short, is a plastic board that is created for connecting electronic components and parts together. They are commonly used in all types of electronics, from computers to digital clocks. The board itself is not a conductive material and often plastic or fibre glass is used as the base material. […]
Various electronic devices have become more prominent in our daily lifestyle and these devices range from mobile phones to computers. Printed Circuit Boards are commonly used in most of these devices as most of these electronics cannot function without it. There are a few types of PCBs and they each offer their own advantages. Flexible […]
The first question must surely be why do we need to multilayer a circuit board? The answer is, as with a plated board, to allow more interconnection routes for the designer. As components have become smaller with more connections required, the routeing just gets more and more difficult. When I used to explain plated through […]
I am not sure who came up with the word manufacturability but I like the word, it may have even been me. It describes the ability to manufacture and if a circuit is able to be manufactured easily, it has a cost and quality implication. If you are putting pencil to paper or mouse to […]
There are lots of views on testing circuits from both the PCB manufacturer and the user. As a user, a well worn phrase is ‘’they don’t need testing if you can guarantee they are right.’’ As a manufacturer, you can’t guarantee they are right without a test so the ball is back in that side […]
It seems an obvious statement that once a board is finished, it needs to be shaped to suit enclosures but as usual in the manufacturing of any product, there are options which can impact heavily on the cost. The cheapest and most cost effective shape is a rectangle and this is because it fits on […]
So, why do we need a solder mask? Well, when we first used circuits to interconnect components the majority of the work was hand processed using soldering irons. The heat was applied to local areas and the chance of shorts was small. As volume use increased, the PCB industry moved on to wave soldering and […]
In the early days of circuit boards, life was simple. You made a silk screen image in negative of your tracks, screen printed them onto copper clad laminate using an etch resist ink, cured the ink, etched the exposed copper off, stripped the ink and hey presto, basically your circuit board. Then came the requirement […]
