Division of City Schools of Paranaque

Technology Livelihood Education 9

Electronics Product Assembly and Servicing
Third Quarter
Week 5-6

PRINTED CIRCUIT BOARD

​Let’s Recall (Review)

______1. Outsourcing PCB assembly usually costs more than keeping it in-house.
______2. Despite the high, but legitimate cost of overheads, contract assemblers still make big, fat profits.
______3. Outsourced PCB assembly operations produce better quality than captive ones.
______4. It’s okay to contract out production boards, but prototypes should always be built in house.
______5. All CEMs are the same. Same equipment, same experience, same old story. In the end, choosing a
contractor all boils down to price.

Let’s Understand (Study the Concept)

PRINTED CIRCUIT BOARD​ (​PCB​)

mechanically supports and electrically connects ​electrical​ or ​electronic

components​ using ​conductive​ tracks, pads and other features ​etched​ from one or more sheet
layers of copper ​laminated​ onto and/or between sheet layers of a ​non-conductive​ substrate.
Components are generally ​soldered​ onto the PCB to both electrically connect and mechanically
fasten them to it.

Printed circuit boards are used in all but the simplest electronic products. They are also
used in some electrical products, such as passive switch boxes.

Alternatives to PCBs include ​wire wrap​ and ​point-to-point construction​, both once
popular but now rarely used. PCBs require additional design effort to lay out the circuit but
manufacturing and assembly can be automated. ​Electronic computer-aided design​ software is
available to do much of the work of layout. Mass-producing circuits with PCBs are cheaper and
faster than with other wiring methods, as components are mounted and wired in one operation.
Large numbers of PCBs can be fabricated at the same time, and the layout only must be done once. PCBs can also be made
manually in small quantities, with reduced benefits.

PCBs can be single-sided (one copper layer), double-sided (two copper layers on both sides of one substrate layer), or
multi-layer (outer and inner layers of copper, alternating with layers of substrate). Multi-layer PCBs allow for much higher
component density, because circuit traces on the inner layers would otherwise take up surface space between components. The
rise in popularity of multilayer PCBs with more than two, and especially with more than four, copper planes was concurrent with the
adoption of ​surface mount technology​. However, multilayer PCBs make repair, analysis, and field modification of circuits much
more difficult and usually impractical.

The Structure of a PCB

A very basic printed circuit board is a flat, rigid, insulating material that has
thin conductive structures adhering to one side. These conductive structures create geometric
patterns consisting of, for example, rectangles, circles, and squares. Long, thin rectangles
function as interconnections (i.e., the equivalent of​ ​wires), and various shapes function as
connection points for components.

A printed circuit board such as the example in the image has only one conductive layer.
A single-layer PCB is very restrictive; the circuit realization will not make efficient use of
available area, and the designer may have difficulty creating the necessary interconnections.

Incorporating additional conductive layers makes the PCB more compact and easier
to design. A two-layer board is a major improvement over a single-layer board, and most
applications benefit from having at least four layers. A four-layer board consists of the top layer, the bottom layer, and
two internal layers. (“Top” and “bottom” may not seem like typical scientific terminology, but they are nonetheless the official
designations in the world of PCB design and fabrication.)
 Composition
A PCB is sort of like a layer cake or lasagna- there are alternating layers of different
materials which are laminated together with heat and adhesive such that the result is a single
object.

TYPES OF PCB

There are mainly three types of PCBs

1. Single-sided PCB----- Component placement/Routing only on one side (TOP/BOTTOM)
2. Double-sided PCB--- Component placement/Routing only on both side (TOP & BOTTOM)
3. Multilayer PCB----Component placement on both sides and Routing also internal layers.

PRINTED CIRCUIT BOARD TERMINOLOGY

1. ​Bare board​ -This term refers to a circuit board with no components mounted on it. 2.
Trace-​This term refers to the copper width of the PCB wires.
3. ​Via-​ Interconnection of signal between different layers of a PCB.
4. ​Pad-​This is one of the most basic units of PCB. A pad is a contact point used to connect components with a via and is the point
to which the components are soldered.

18 Easy Steps to Design a Circuit Board

1. The Design​- ​Before you begin manufacturing the PCB, you need to have a design of the board. These blueprints will be
what you base the process off.
2. Printing the Design​- ​A special printer called a plotted printer is used to print the design of the PCB. It produces a film that
shows the details and layers of the board. When printed, there will be two ink colors used on the inside layer of the board:
✔ Clear Ink to show the non-conductive areas; and
✔ Black Ink to show the conductive copper traces and circuits.
The same colors are used for the outer layers, but the meaning of them is reversed.
3. Creating the Substrate-​ Now is when the PCB will start to form. The substrate, which is the insulating material (epoxy
resin and glass fiber) that holds the components on the structure, begins forming by passing the materials through an
oven to be semi cured. Copper is pre-bonded to both sides of the layer and then etched away to show the design from the
printed films.
4. Printing the Inner Layers​ - The design is printed to a laminate, the body of the structure. A photo-sensitive film made
from photo-reactive chemicals that will harden when exposed to ultraviolet light (the resist) covers the structure. This will
help align the blueprints and the actual print of the board. Holes are drilled into the PCB to help with the alignment
process.
5. Ultraviolet Light-​ Once aligned, the resist and laminate go under ultraviolet lights to harden the photoresist. The light
reveals the pathways of copper. The black ink from before prevents hardening in areas that will be removed later. The
board is then washed in an alkaline solution to remove the excess photoresist.
6. Removing Unwanted Copper​- Now, it is time to remove any unwanted copper that remained on the board. A chemical
solution, like the alkaline solution, eats away at the unwanted copper. The hardened photoresist remains intact.
7. Inspection-​ The newly-cleaned layers will need to be inspected for alignment. The holes drilled earlier help align the inner
and outer layers. An optical punch machine drills a pin through the holes to keep the layers lined up. After the optical
punch, another machine will inspect the board to ensure there are no defects. From here on out, you will not be able to
correct any missed errors.
8. Laminating the Layers-​ Now, you will see the board take shape as the layers are fused together. Metal clamps hold the
layers together as the laminating process begins. A prepreg (epoxy resin) layer goes on the alignment basin. Then, a layer
of substrate goes over the prepreg followed by a copper foil layer and more prepreg resin. Lastly, there is on more copper
layer applied, which is the press plate.
9. Pressing the Layers​- A mechanical press is then used to press the layers together. Pins are punch through the layers to
keep them properly aligned and secured, these pins can be removed depending on the technology. If correct, the PCB will
 go to the laminating press, which applies heat and pressure to the layers. The epoxy melts inside of the prepreg that,
along with the pressure, fuses the layers together.
10. Drilling-​ Holes are drilled into the layers by a computer-guided drill to expose the substrate and inner panels. Any
remaining copper after this step is removed.
11. Plating-​ The board is now ready to be plated. A chemical solution fuses all the layers together. The board is then
thoroughly cleaned by another series of chemicals. These chemicals also coat the panel with a thin copper layer, which
will seep into the drilled holes.
12. Outer Layer Imaging-​ Next, a layer of photoresist, like Step 3, is applied to the outside layer before being sent for
imaging. Ultraviolet light hardens the photoresist. Any undesired photoresist is removed.
13. Plating-​ Just like in Step 11, the panel is plated with a thin copper layer. After this, a thin tin guard is layered to the board.
The tin is there to protect the copper of the outside layer from being etched off.
14. Etching​- The same chemical solution from before removes any unwanted copper under the resist layer. The tin guard
layer protects the needed copper. This step established the PCB’s connections.
15. Solder Mask Application​- All the panels should be cleaned before the solder mask is applied. An epoxy is applied with
the solder mask film. The solder mask applies the green color you typically see on a PCB. Any unwanted solder mask is
removed with ultraviolet light, while the wanted solder mask is baked on to the board.
16. Silk-screening-​ is a vital step since this process is what prints critical information onto the board. Once applied, the PCB
passes through one last coating and curing process.
17. Surface Finish​- The PCB is plated with either a solderable finish, depending on the requirements, which will increase the
quality/bond of the solder.
18. Testing-​ Before the PCB is considered complete, a technician will perform an electrical test on the board. This will confirm
the PCB functions and follows the original blueprint designs.

Let’s Apply

Direction:​ There are 18 Easy Steps to Design a Circuit Board. Label from 1-18 on the space provide

_____ A. ​Drilling
_____ B. ​Printing the Design
_____ C.​ ​Etching
_____ D. ​Ultraviolet Light
_____ E. ​Testing
_____ F. ​Inspection
_____ G. ​Laminating the Layers
_____ H. ​Pressing the Layers
_____ I. ​The Design
_____ J. ​Surface Finish
_____ K. ​Outer Layer Imaging
_____ L. ​Plating
_____ M. Printing the Inner Layers
_____ N. ​Solder Mask Application
_____ O. ​Silk-screening
_____ P. ​Plating
_____ Q. ​Removing Unwanted Copper

Let’s Analyze

True or False:
_____1. Outsourcing PCB assembly usually costs more than keeping it in-house false
_____2. Despite the high, but legitimate cost of overheads, contract assemblers still make big, fat profits. false
_____3. Outsourced PCB assembly operations produce better quality than captive ones. true
_____4. It’s okay to contract out production boards, but prototypes should always be built in house. false
_____5.All CEMs are the same. Same equipment, same experience, same old story. In the end, choosing a
contractor all boils down to price…false

Let’s Try (Evaluation)

Direction:​ Read each question carefully. Choose the letter of the best answer.

1.​ What PCB stands for,

a. Printing Circuit Board b. Printout Circuit Board
c. Printed Circuit Board d. None of these above
2.​ This term refers to a circuit board with no components mounted on it.
a. Bare board b. Via
c. Trace d. Pad
3.​ This term refers to the copper width of the PCB wires.
a. Bare board b. Via
c. Trace d. Pad
4.​ Interconnection of signal between different layers of a PCB.
a. Bare board b. Via
c. Trace d. Pad
5.​ This is one of the most basic units of PCB. A pad is a contact point used to connect components with a via and
is the point to which the components are soldered.
a. Bare board b. Via
c. Trace d. Pad

Let’s Create

Direction:​ Answer the following questions. Use the activity sheet for your answer. Answer the following
questions. Use the activity sheet for your answer.

1. Draw a Printed Circuit Board and identify its parts and their functions.