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Have you ever wondered what's inside your smartphone, laptop, or even your watch? It's the PCB - the heart of every electronic device. Let's take a closer look at what exactly a PCB is and how it works.
Printed circuit boards, also known as PCBs (Printed Circuit Board), are essentially the technological heart of most of the electronic devices we encounter every day. These small 'flat boxes', full of intricate patterns and paths, are the carriers of the components that together create a complete electronic circuit. A simple way to understand the role of a PCB is to compare it to replacing handwriting with print. In this context, handwriting represents connecting electronic elements with wires, and print means using the paths on the PCB. Without PCBs, the devices you know and use, such as televisions, mobile phones, and computers, would be unachievable.
Printed circuit boards can be divided into single-layer and multilayer. Single-layer PCBs, as the name suggests, have only one conducting layer (usually copper), placed on one side of the insulating material, called laminate. The laminate is necessary to provide insulation between the conducting layers, also known as tracks.
On the other hand, multilayer boards contain multiple layers of laminate and copper, which are pressed together under high temperature and pressure. These boards can contain from two to several dozen layers, which allows for complicated connections on a small surface.
The world of PCB technology is full of innovation, and one of the more fascinating inventions in recent years are the flexible boards, known as FLEX and RIGID FLEX. These boards differ from traditional PCBs in the material they are made from - instead of rigid laminate, kapton is used here. Kapton is incredibly resistant to temperature and chemicals, and at the same time, it is so thin that boards made from it can be easily bent. This solution is invaluable in places where a standard PCB would not fit due to its shape.
On each printed circuit board, we also find additional layers such as the solder mask and silkscreen. The solder mask is an insulating layer that covers the printed circuit board. In practice, it is a varnish that not only insulates but also gives the boards their distinctive colors. The most popular color is green, although the boards can be in any color.
Silkscreen, on the other hand, is a layer of paint applied by screen printing. It is used to mark various elements on the board, but also to mark the entire board. For example, component designations, track numbers, or the company logo are applied to this layer. In the space industry, this layer is often omitted to optimize the mass of the system.
Remember, at Popo Labs we are ready to help you transform your idea into a printed circuit board and, most importantly, into a finished product. If you're interested in creating PCBs, get in touch with us, and our team of experts will be happy to assist you.
