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PCB Assembly

Editorial Team

Rush PCB Inc.

Manufacturing costs are always a major concern for OEMs. Printed circuit board or PCB assembly costs include the materials that go into fabricating them, the components mounted on them, and the expertise necessary to make them reliable and safe. In this article, Rush PCB analyzes the cost breakup of a PCB assembly, so that our customers can take more informed decisions.Factors Affecting PCB Assemb...read more

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Preventing Plating and Solder Voids

PCB Fabrication

Editorial Team

Rush PCB Inc.

While manufacturing printed circuit boards or PCBs, we focus our attention on the handling of tools and processes. This helps us avoid many quality issues like cold joints, brittle joints, and voids. As their name suggests, voids are empty spaces. Ideally, voids have no place in PCBs. The presence of voids in a PCB confirms that somewhere along the manufacturing activity, the process did not add e...read more

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What are Black Pads?

Editorial Team - PCB Directory

Aug 9, 2022

Black pads are primarily a layer of dark nickel that is formed due to corrosion on the surface of a PCB that has an ENIG (Electroless Nickel and Immersion Gold) finish. Black Pads are the result of excessive phosphorous content reacting with gold during the gold deposition process which is an essential step in applying an ENIG finish.ENIG is a surface finish that is applied on the printed circuit ...read more

What is the Reflow Profile of Solder?

Solder

Editorial Team - PCB Directory

Aug 9, 2022

Reflow profiling is the process of evaluating the effect of heat on the solder being used on a printed circuit board. In the reflow soldering process, the board with solder should be heated in a way to ensure that the solder melts and solidifies at particular temperatures over specific periods of time to ensure proper solder joints are formed.Reflow profiling is used to optimize the soldering proc...read more

What are PCB Pads?

PCB Fabrication

Editorial Team - PCB Directory

Aug 9, 2022

A pad on a PCB is an exposed region of metal that allows the soldering of the component leads onto printed circuit boards. These pads are then connected to traces on the board to form a circuit. When no components are soldered on to a PCB, a visible PCB pad footprint can be seen on the board (see figure above).There are two types of PCB pads:Through Hole Pads:Pads used to mount through-hole compon...read more

What are PCB Test points?

Editorial Team - PCB Directory

Aug 20, 2022

A test point in a PCB is an exposed copper pad that can be used to check whether a circuit is functioning to specification. During production, users can inject test signals via probes through the test points to detect potential issues. The test signals output determines if a given signal is low/high when compared with the desired result and optimal changes can be made to achieve the same.The PCB T...read more

What are PCB Mouse bites?

PCB Fabrication

Editorial Team - PCB Directory

Aug 9, 2022

Mouse bites also known as perforated breakaway tabs in a PCB are small perforations / pricks on the board which allow for panelizing and depanelizing smaller groups of PCBs together. This way multiple PCB boards can be assembled together, thereby saving time and making the process cost-effective. The assembled PCBs can be separated by applying pressure on the sections of the board that have perfor...read more

What is a PCB Trace?

PCB Basics

Editorial Team - PCB Directory

Jul 29, 2022

A PCB trace is a highly conductive track that is used to connect components on a Printed Circuit Board to each other. Since a PCB Trace is used to conduct electricity it has to be made of a material that is highly conductive and stable. Additionally, the physical properties like its width and thickness help determine the amount of current that can pass through managing thermal stability. The most ...read more

What is a PCB Substrate?

PCB Basics

Editorial Team - PCB Directory

Jul 20, 2022

A PCB Substrate acts as a foundation upon which a printed circuit board is built. The substrate of a PCB defines its physical, electrical, and thermal properties. Substrates are typically dielectric composite structures that comprise of epoxy resin and are used in combination with a copper foil bonded onto one or both sides. A solder mask is then applied over the copper layer to insulate it and pr...read more

ED Copper vs RA Copper

PCB Fabrication

Editorial Team - PCB Directory

Jul 17, 2022

Copper is an essential material that is used as the conducting layer in Printed Circuit Boards. Layers of copper are added to a PCB and traces are etched on them to form parts through which electrical signals can flow.The two most common types of copper used in PCBs are Electro Deposited (ED) copper and Rolled Annealed (RA) copper.What is Electro Deposited (ED) Copper?Electro Deposited (ED) copper...read more

Flexible PCB Materials and Construction

Editorial Team - PCB Directory

Jul 9, 2022

Flexible PCBs are boards that can be bent or twisted without damaging the circuit. Like regular Rigid PCBs, Flexible printed circuit boards consist of a conduction layer, substrate and laminate. They most often use copper for the conductive layer and Polymide for the substrate. There are other substrate options that include clear polyester and liquid crystal polymers. The substrate is responsible ...read more

What are Sink-Pad Copper Substrates?

PCB Substrates

Editorial Team - PCB Directory

Mar 13, 2022

The presence of metal helps in managing the heat dissipated by high power LEDs when operating, thereby keeping them cool and working longer.The next generation LED solution is the sink-pad copper substrate PCBs for a wide array of products in LED modules. The sink-pad technology offers a printed circuit board with a high efficiency thermal management capability. This technology allows conducting h...read more

What is the melting point of solder?

Solder

Editorial Team - PCB Directory

Mar 13, 2022

The Melting point of solder is the temperature at which the solder changes its state from solid to liquid. The typical melting point of the general solder is in the range of 90 to 450 °C (190 to 840 °F | 360 to 720 K).Solder is an easily fusible adhesive metallic material melts when heated and solidifies on cooling. It is used in the electronics field to connect component leads to the pads...read more

Causes of PCB Corrosion and How to Prevent it?

PCB Basics

Editorial Team

RUSH PCB Inc.

Failure of electronic devices is a major concern anywhere in the world. One of the major causes of failures is corrosion. Corrosion increases the resistance of the copper tracks on the surface of a circuit board. Progressive corrosion can make the board work ineffectively, or even make it stop working altogether. We recommend understanding the basic causes of PCB corrosion. This paves the way for ...read more

What is Peelable Solder Mask?

Editorial Team - PCB Directory

Feb 15, 2022

A Peelable solder mask is a type of solder mask that can be peeled off the surface of a printed circuit board. This type of solder mask is used to protect specific areas of a PCB during reflow soldering, wave soldering, or surface finish process. It is applied over the pads or plated through holes prior to the PCB assembly process and prevents the accumulation of excess solder on empty pads during...read more

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