What is PCB? (Part 7 - PCB Surface Finishes)

PCB Surface Finishes vary in price, availability, shelf life, reliability and assembly processing. While each finish has its own benefits, in most cases, the process, product or environment will dictate the surface finish that is best suited for the application. It is recommended that the end-user, designer or assembler work closely with us to select the best finish for your specific product design.

Hot Air Solder Leveling(HASL)

HASL is an acronym that stands for Hot Air Solder Leveling, a type of finish for printed circuit boards (PCB).

Immersion Gold (ENIG)

ENIG is a surface plating used for printed circuit boards. It consists of an electroless nickel plating covered with a thin layer of immersion gold, which protects the nickel from oxidation.

Immersion Silver (Iag)

It consists of thin immersion silver plating over the copper traces.

Immersion Tin

The immersion tin provides a consistently flat surface approximately 20-40 micro inches in thickness.

Organic Solderability Preservative (OSP)

Organic Solderability Preservative, or OSP is a method for plating printed circuit boards. It uses a water-based organic compound that selectively bonds to copper and provides an organometallic layer that protects the copper during soldering.

What is PCB? (Part 6 - PCB Solder Mask)

PCB Soldermask

Solder mask or solder resist is a lacquer-like layer of polymer that provides a permanent protective coating for the copper traces of a printed circuit board (PCB) and prevents solder from bridging between conductors, thereby preventing short circuits. Solder mask was created primarily to facilitate wave soldering used in mass assembly. Solder mask is traditionally green but is now available in many colors.

What colour we are commonly supporting?
Please refer below:

Green


Blue


Black-Matt


Black-Glossy


White


Red

What is PCB? (Part 5 - PCB Copper Thickness)

PCB Copper Thickness

The vast majority of PCBs are manufactured with "1 ounce copper" on the outer layers. If there are inner layers, they are almost always manufactured with "1/2 ounce copper".

The thickness of the copper layer on the PCB affects the behaviour of the circuit. PCB copper thickness is usually measured in ounces per square foot, or frequently, just ounces. It can also be given in micrometres, inches or mils.

Let's see what we can support you with:

What is PCB? (Part 4 - PCB Board Thickness )

PCB Board Thickness

Different field of usage may determine the required PCB thickness.

Let's have a look at the ones that we can support:

What is PCB? (Part 3 - PCB Layer Count)

PCB Layer Count

Depending on your circuit's complexity, PCB always has its way to support you. It can range from single layer up to more than 20 layers.

We are supporting the ones below:

What is PCB? (Part 2 - PCB Base Material)

PCB Base Materials

There are different types of PCB materials. Allow us to introduce those that we are commonly supporting:

FR4

- FR4 (Flame Retardant) is a Glass Fiber epoxy laminate.
- It is the most commonly used PCB material 1.6mm.
- FR4 uses 8 layer of Glass Fiber material.
- The maximum ambient temperature is between 120 ̊C & 130 ̊C, depending on thickness.

Flexible Circuit


- Is typically a composite, less than 0.01inchs thick of metal foil conductors and a flexible dielectric substance.
- Conductors are usually banded to the dielectric with an adhesive.
- Conductors are often protected by conductive & insulative coating.

Metal Core


- Aluminum is the material used for metal core PCB.
- Is very effective to achieve heat conduction from the PCB. (So that, heat sinks can be replaced).
- Shielding effect from electro-magnetic field (e.g. to reduce induction of HF fields to PCB circuit) and strong structural strength (to increase the mechanical stability for cases, when PCB is impacted to vibrations).

CEM-3

- CEM-3 (Composite Epoxy Material) is very similar to FR4.
- Instead of woven Glass Fabric a “flies” type is used.
- CEM-3 has milky white color and is very smooth.
- Excellent PTH reliability equivalent to FR4
- Electrical properties equivalent to FR4

Roger

- Excellent high frequency performance due to low dielectric tolerance & loss.
- Good heat resistance and moisture resistance, lower warpage, good mechanical properties and electrical properties.
- Stable electrical properties versus frequency.
- Low thermal coefficient of dielectric constant.
- Excellent dimensional stability.
- Volume manufacturing process.

S1170

- S1170 suitable for high-count layer PCB.
- Widely used in computer, communication equipment, precise apparatus and instrument, router, and etc.
- High Tg 170 ̊C (DSC)
- Excellent thermal stability.
- Excellent anti-CAF performance.
- Low water absorption.

CEM-1

- CEM-1 most commonly used material for domestic single sided PCBs.
- CEM-1 is a paper-based laminate with one layer of woven Glass Fabric.
- CEM 1 has very good flatness, thermal resistance, and dimensional stability.
- CEM-1 is not suitable for Plate-Through-Hole (PTH).
- CEM1 can only be used for one-layer PCB.

BT RESIN


- BT Resin (Bismaleimide-Triazine resin) is the mixture of Bismaleimide, which as such is also used a raw material of PCB’s and Cyanate Ester.
- Product with very high glass transition temperature(Tg)- up to 300 degree C – and very low dielectric constant can be obtained.
- These properties make these materials very attractive for use in PCB’s.

What is Printed Circuit Board - PCB (Part 1 - Introducing PCB)?

A printed circuit board, or PCB, is used to mechanically support and electrically connect electronic components using conductive pathways, tracks or signal traces etched from copper sheets laminated onto a non-conductive substrate. It is also referred to as printed wiring board (PWB) or etched wiring board.Printed circuit boards are used in virtually all but the simplest commercially-produced electronic devices.

PCBs are inexpensive, and can be highly reliable. They require much more layout effort and higher initial cost than either wire wrap or point-to-point construction, but are much cheaper and faster for high-volume production; the production and soldering of PCBs can be done by totally automated equipment. Much of the electronics industry's PCB design, assembly, and quality control needs are set by standards that are published by the IPC organization.

~ extracted from Wikipedia~