Questions & Answers on PCB Basics

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PCB Basics

Editorial Team - PCB Directory

May 11, 2019

A Printed Circuit Board or PCB is a board that is used to connect electrical components. The board is made out of Fiberglass, Epoxy and other laminated material with copper tracks in place of wires to make connections between components. Components like Microchips, Diodes, Resistors and Switches are soldered on to the board and the copper traces provide the electrical connections between them thro...read more

What is the Composition of a PCB Board?

PCB Basics

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What is a Rigid-Flex PCB?

PCB Basics

Editorial Team - PCB Directory

May 11, 2019

A Rigid-Flex PCB is a hybrid board that consists of a combination of rigid and flexible printed circuit boards. These boards are designed by combining flexible circuit boards with one or more rigid boards.The flexible part of the board is usually used for providing interconnections between rigid boards, which allows narrow conductor lines which take up less space making the boards smaller. Using f...read more

What are Flexible Printed Circuit Boards?

PCB Basics

Editorial Team - PCB Directory

May 11, 2019

AFlexible Printed Circuit Board (PCB) is a board that can be bent to conform to a desired shape during its application. The board can be bent or twisted without damaging the circuit. The substrate material used to build the PCB is responsible for its flexibility. Polyamide, PEEK (Polyether ether ketone) or a transparent conductive polyester film are common substrates used to make flexible PCBs.The...read more

What is a Single Sided PCB?

PCB Basics

Editorial Team - PCB Directory

May 16, 2019

A Single Sided PCB is the most basic type of printed circuit board. It consists of only one conductive copper layer above the substrate. The electrical components are soldered or mounted on to one side of the board and the entire etched circuit can be seen on the other side of the board.Single Sided Printed Circuit Boards are easy to design and manufacturer. They are also the most cost-effective P...read more

What is a Via?

Editorial Team - PCB Directory

Aug 22, 2021

A Via is used to make an electrical connection between the layers of a Multi-Layer PCB. Connecting multiple layers of a board makes it possible to reduce the size of the PCB, as layers can be stacked. A via is constructed by placing copper pads on each layer of the PCB and drilling a hole through them. The hole is made conductive through electroplating or by placing copper cylinders directly in th...read more

What is DRC in Printed Circuit Boards?

Editorial Team - PCB Directory

Aug 22, 2021

Design Rule Checking (DRC) is a process used to identify errors and mismatches such as spacing & trace widths in a PCB design/layout. The layout of a PCB board is designed using software, each PCB fabricator has a set of rules which they publish that specify various parameters such as what the spacing between each line should be, the minimum size of vias, the width of a line etc.Once a design ...read more

What is an Annular Ring?

Editorial Team - PCB Directory

Aug 22, 2021

A via is created by drilling a hole through a copper pad etched on each layer of a PCB. An Annular Ring is the area between the edge of the drilled via and the copper pad associated with that hole. The greater the width of an annular ring, the greater the copper connection around the drilled via will be.In a multilayer PCB, traces are routed from one layer to another layer with the help of vias. T...read more

What is the Silkscreen in a PCB?

Editorial Team - PCB Directory

May 25, 2023

Silkscreen is a layer of text or graphics printed on the PCB's surface that provides information about the components, their placement, and other relevant details. This layer is typically printed in white or black ink and is placed on top of the copper traces and other layers that make up the PCB.The silkscreen layer on a PCB is not electrically conductive, which means that it does not affect ...read more

What is the Solder Mask?

Editorial Team - PCB Directory

Jul 22, 2022

Solder mask or solder resist is a coating applied to a Printed Circuit Board (PCB) to protect the copper traces on the board and to stop electrical shorts. The solder mask is usually applied on both sides of the PCB i.e Top and Bottom to ensure reliability and performance. It protects the traces from oxidation and other environmental factors like contaminants, dust, and dirt which might affect its...read more

What are Halogen Free PCB Boards?

PCB Basics

Editorial Team - PCB Directory

Jun 22, 2019

A Printed Circuit Board devoid of the halogen elements is called Halogen free PCB. Halogen elements are Chlorine, Bromine, fluorine, iodine, and Astatine which are very fatal to life. For a PCB to be considered “Halogen-Free” it must have less than 900 ppm of chlorine or bromine and a total of less than 1500 ppm of Halogen materials.In context to PCB manufacturing, the concerned haloge...read more

What is Copper Weight in a PCB?

PCB Basics

Editorial Team - PCB Directory

Apr 17, 2023

Copper is a highly conductive material widely used in producing Printed Circuit Boards (PCBs). The extensive use of copper in PCB manufacture is due to its impressive thermal and electrical properties and high corrosion resistance.However, the effectiveness of a PCB largely depends on the amount of copper present in it, which is referred to as the “Copper Weight." To understand the sign...read more

What is a Aspect Ratio?

PCB Basics

Editorial Team - PCB Directory

Jul 12, 2019

The Aspect Ratio is the ratio between the board thickness and the diameter of the smallest un-plated drilled hole/via.

What is Loss Tangent?

PCB Basics

Editorial Team - PCB Directory

Aug 22, 2021

In PCBs, Loss tangent (tan (δ)) is the measure of signal loss due to the inherent dissipation of electromagnetic energy in the substrate of the printed circuit board. It is a dimensionless quantity and is also referred to as Loss Factor, Tan δ, Dissipation factor and Loss angle.All PCB materials have both conduction losses and dielectric losses. The conduction losses are resistive and ...read more

What is PCB V-Scoring?

PCB Basics

Editorial Team - PCB Directory

Jan 15, 2020

PCB V-Scoring is a process of cutting a ‘V’ shaped groove at the top and bottom of a printed circuit board leaving a thin layer between the Vees. Once this is done, the PCB Board can easily be separated at the V by applying minimal pressure.A single PCB board can be divided in to multiple sections by V-Scoring. This is must useful during the PCB assembly process, as all sections of the...read more

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