Keywords: PCB Fabrication

Printed Circuit Boards (PCBs) act as the centre stage of every significant electronic item. These miraculous inventions are manifested in nearly all computational electronics starting with simple entities such as digital clocks, calculators etc. In simple terms, the PCB interconnects electrical circuitry in the electronics it carries out the electrical and mechanical functions of a circuit of the devises. In summary, PCBs instruct the electricity as to where to go making your electronics become alive. It is advised that circuit designers should go round the PC board shop before embarking on the PCB design so that one can closely talk with the fabricators regarding their needs in PCB manufacturing. It assists the designers avoid making errors from being passed to the design phase if they are not so necessary. Whereas, if the organization has asked more PCB manufacturing inquiries through outsourcing to overseas suppliers this becomes unpractical. For this reason, the article under consideration has been provided in order to give the proper perception of the manufacturing process steps of PCB board. Perhaps it provides circuit designers and individuals with little knowledge regarding PCB Industry an outlook on how it is created and help prevent some of those mistakes.

Oversight in this aspect of construction could create a number of issues in your PCB development process. These can extend from your boards failing to be produced to low yields or even early faults on the field. On the other side, there are ways in which these time consuming and costly contingencies can be eased by design actions. Let us first get to an answering of your question, which is ‘what is PCB fabrication process?’ and then we shall discuss on the significance of this aspect of knowing the process of PCB development.

What does the PCB Fabrication Process Involve?

It may not be very useful to transition directly to fabrication without understanding how a schematic or an idea you have in mind connects with the different steps you will need in order to be able to realise that idea. In order to give a proper definition to the process of PCB fabrication, it would be useful to first explain several other related terms and their connections to one another.

PCB Development: In its simplest term, PCB development could be described as getting a circuit board designed and ready for production. This typically includes three stages: Structural, Mechanical, Electrical, Electronics, Instrumentation & Control design, Manufacturing and testing. In all but the most basic designs this is done iteratively to arrive at the highest quality design achievable within the time allowed for development. 

PCB Manufacturing: PCB manufacturing is the actual process of creating your board layout. This is a two-part process starting from board fabrication, and it includes printed circuit board assembly or PCBA.

PCB Testing: PCB testing, often known as the bring-up, is one of the final steps of designing a PCB after manufacturing. Testing during development assesses the capacity of the board to carry out the planned operating functions effectively. As with other developmental stages, during that phase all the deficiencies and mistakes as well as places that require the change because of the impossibility to reach an optimal performance are detected, and another cycle is started to integrate those changes. 

PCB Assembly: PCB assembly or PCBA is known as the second process or the second step of the manufacturing of PCB which involves mounting of the individual board components to this bare PCB through soldering.

The PCB Fabrication Process

PCB fabrication means the process or procedure by which a design in a circuit board is translated into a structure following the data in the design pack. This physical manifestation is achieved through the following actions or techniques: Emulation of the intended layout on copper-clad laminates

Of reducing thickness or just planning off some copper on the inner layers to bring out the traces and pads.

Fabrication of the PCB layer stack up involved laminating of the board materials at high temperatures.

Creation of mounting places, through-hole pin locations and VIAS

Cleaning or stripping of copper layer(s) down to the trace and-pad level

Pin holes and via holes are important plating features.

Protection of surface by applying some layer or solder mask.

Directions of silkscreen printing reference and polarity, the logos or other marks on the surface

In addition, an optional finish may be applied over the copper portions of the surface.

OK, let’s find out what it means for PCB development.

Should PCB Fabrication Process Be Familiarized?

The question can and probably should be asked: Can we ask ourselves the question: is the knowledge of the process of PCB fabrication useful? However, PCB fabrication is not a design task, but an outsourcing task that contracts a manufacturer (CM). However, it is important to note that fabrication is not a design activity although it is performed strictly in accordance with the standards given to your CM.

Unfortunately, in most cases your CM has no information regarding your design intent or performance goals.

Manufacturability: The capability of your boards to be manufactured depends for a number of the features below. These are; checking to confirm that there are proper clearances between the board surface      features and edge and ensuring that the chosen material has a CTE high enough to handle PCBA particularly when doing no-lead soldering. Either of these could result in the inability of your board being built without redesign Costs of building your board, in general, will be affected by these reasons as well as by unforeseen redesign demands. Moreover, if one will decide to panelize the designs, that too will not be possible without prior planning.

Yield rate: It should be pointed out that nothing prevents your board from being successfully fabricated even though there are fabrication issues present. For example, limiting parameters that test CM’s equipment to its tolerance limits will lead to increased numbers of boards that are not usable.

Reliability: Based on the specific use of a board, it is categorized depending on IPC-6011. For rigid PCBs there are three classification levels that establish prescribed requirements for board construction, to provide a specified degree of …performance reliability. Attempting to have your board designed with a rating less than your application needs will most certainly give you a very unstable performance or outright board failure.

So, to this question, the answer is a resounding yes! That is why it is crucial to understand the PCB fabrication process because the decisions on this step will likely create echoes throughout the PCB development process, fabrication, and even during the device’s operation stage. The only real protection you have from the types of problems that can stem from your lack of knowledge about the PCB fabrication process as a factor in your design is the application of DFM rules and guidelines founded on the capabilities of your CM.

To get the maximum benefit out of DFM to protect against other time consumption and extra manufacturing costs you need a strategic and efficient design analysis. As with the Document Automation Tool package, it is possible to generate several complex detailed views that will help your CM during the PCB manufacturing stage.