A step-by-step guide to choosing the right materials for a PCB
Printed Circuit Boards have gained huge popularity among day-to-day electronic components. From small and battery-powered devices like calculators to big electronic devices like PCs, everything is composed of PCBs in some way or the other. Therefore, PCB materials must be selected with utmost care and attention so as not to face issues at a later stage.
Many things are to be looked at during a PCB assembly in order to make a printed circuit board, some of the major components to focus on, are as follows:
Composition of the material
A PCB assembly consists of four major layers that are put together to form a single one. Chief components include, solder ink, copper and substrate. Out of all these, the bottom most layer, the ‘substrate’, is made of resin or glass epoxy. Most of the times, these are fire retardant which provides for a solid base to the PCBs.
Cheaper alternatives are also available but they are often recognizable by the smell they emit when heated or soldered and also do not last that long as compared to the real ones, since they do not possess the correct amount of thermal sensitivity an electronic device might demand.
The second layer, ‘copper’, is spread and laminated on the surface of the substrate with heat and adhesives. The copper layers are thin and often laminated on only one side making the PCB assembly a bit cheaper for inexpensive devices. These copper sheets must be non-flammable, heat resistant, and come with a low dielectric constant.
Also read:- Design a printed circuit board yourself
Thickness of the board
Most four-layer circuit boards are of standard 1.6mm thickness. The greater the thickness of the PCB, more is the support that will be provided to the connected devices with lower risk of failures.
The copper layer, in fact, also has a standard level of thickness. The same principle used while choosing the thickness of the board has to be used here since the copper layer must be thick enough in order to support heavy appliances.
Solder Resist Ink
The most commonly related colors to a PCB is brown or green. However, these are not just colors, this is the solder ink that is used to leak-proof the liquid solder. Most people these days, choose PCBs with solder ink over PCBs with no soler-ink.
Molten solder in a PCB places the components into the right place on the board. When the solder dries out, the copper plate becomes solderized protecting the plate against oxidation and prevents solder bridges to form betweens solder pads.
So, the next time you go out to buy a PCB, make sure you check these things. Also, visit Absolute Electronics to buy the best quality PCBs.
