Most people are unaware of what a printed circuit board really is, never mind how they are created by a printed circuit board manufacturer. With most household appliances and many other common items containing them, it is interesting to look at what they are and how they are created.
Electrical appliances which rely on printed circuit boards (abbreviated as PCBs), include computers, mobile phones, televisions and microwave ovens, although nearly all electric devices utilize PCBs in some form. While there are alternatives to using PCBs, over the years they have become known as the most time and cost effective solution.
PCBs are used to create the electric circuits that make appliances work. While there are various types of PCB, their typical role is to physically support the components, and provide some form of electrical connection between them. Two of the main PCB raw materials are laminates, and copper-clad laminates.
The laminate is the rigid physical medium that the circuit and components are mounted on. To make it, layers of cloth or paper are combined with a special resin under heat and pressure to produce thin, flat boards. The laminate board itself is not electrically conductive, and so copper is either added to the entire surface, as in the copper-clad laminate mentioned, or else the copper is added specifically and only where needed. The copper provides the electrical connection between the components, which will be mounted later.
The process for removing unwanted copper is far simpler than where it must be added as required, so most PCBs are made using copper-clad laminates. Here, unwanted copper is dissolved by a special solution, in a technique known as etching.
The copper required for the circuit is protected from the etching chemicals in various ways, but the most popular method involves depositing special ink, which is resistant to the chemicals, on the areas to be kept. This is usually done using silk screen printing.
Etching at its most simple could consist of marking out the copper connections needed on the laminate board with the chemical resistant ink, and then steeping the board in an etching solution, which will eat away the unwanted copper. In practice, this method is slow, and various refinements have been devised to speed things along. Mainly this involves agitating the solution and the board to help remove the dissolved copper. The main method of this nowadays is spray etching. Sprays are used to apply the etching chemicals, while the temperature, spray configuration and direction can all be controlled to allow optimum efficiency.
After the laminate and the conductors have been prepared, it is time to make holes for the electrical components. Laminate boards will quickly wear out a steel drill bit, leading to damage of the intricate conductors, and so extremely hard tungsten carbide drill bits are important to this stage of the process.
The processes looked at here are some of the most common practices used by the printed circuit board manufacturer. PCBs have been made industrially since the 40s, and through the decades many manufacturing techniques have been explored. But after all that time, laminates, etching, silk screen printing and the use of tungsten carbide drill bits still remain at the forefront of PCB manufacture.
Electrical appliances which rely on printed circuit boards (abbreviated as PCBs), include computers, mobile phones, televisions and microwave ovens, although nearly all electric devices utilize PCBs in some form. While there are alternatives to using PCBs, over the years they have become known as the most time and cost effective solution.
PCBs are used to create the electric circuits that make appliances work. While there are various types of PCB, their typical role is to physically support the components, and provide some form of electrical connection between them. Two of the main PCB raw materials are laminates, and copper-clad laminates.
The laminate is the rigid physical medium that the circuit and components are mounted on. To make it, layers of cloth or paper are combined with a special resin under heat and pressure to produce thin, flat boards. The laminate board itself is not electrically conductive, and so copper is either added to the entire surface, as in the copper-clad laminate mentioned, or else the copper is added specifically and only where needed. The copper provides the electrical connection between the components, which will be mounted later.
The process for removing unwanted copper is far simpler than where it must be added as required, so most PCBs are made using copper-clad laminates. Here, unwanted copper is dissolved by a special solution, in a technique known as etching.
The copper required for the circuit is protected from the etching chemicals in various ways, but the most popular method involves depositing special ink, which is resistant to the chemicals, on the areas to be kept. This is usually done using silk screen printing.
Etching at its most simple could consist of marking out the copper connections needed on the laminate board with the chemical resistant ink, and then steeping the board in an etching solution, which will eat away the unwanted copper. In practice, this method is slow, and various refinements have been devised to speed things along. Mainly this involves agitating the solution and the board to help remove the dissolved copper. The main method of this nowadays is spray etching. Sprays are used to apply the etching chemicals, while the temperature, spray configuration and direction can all be controlled to allow optimum efficiency.
After the laminate and the conductors have been prepared, it is time to make holes for the electrical components. Laminate boards will quickly wear out a steel drill bit, leading to damage of the intricate conductors, and so extremely hard tungsten carbide drill bits are important to this stage of the process.
The processes looked at here are some of the most common practices used by the printed circuit board manufacturer. PCBs have been made industrially since the 40s, and through the decades many manufacturing techniques have been explored. But after all that time, laminates, etching, silk screen printing and the use of tungsten carbide drill bits still remain at the forefront of PCB manufacture.
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