To obtain a finished product, a fast printed circuit board needs to go through the following steps.
PCB Design and Development
Firstly, computer-aided design (CAD) must be used to develop PCB designs. Design is the blueprint for the subsequent process. The design phase is the stage of defining the circuit layout and schematic. Different circuit components are filled into each PCB layer.
All relevant details of the PCB must be specified in the design document. The format type submitted to fast PCB manufacturers is called "Gerber file", which is a known board layer format in the industry. The Gerber file indicates what the device should follow and where it should go. The aperture library and drilling files are sent separately, and they determine the hole size to be referenced.
PCB material procurement
The output of any PCB design is preliminary, which lists the substrates, copper foils, and other materials required to build a printed circuit board. The PCB file format is usually Gerber 274 format, which is widely accepted by PCB manufacturers. In the Gerber file, PCB materials are clearly written, such as FR-4, aluminum, ceramic, etc PTFE、 Polyimide, etc.
Circuit patterning
The patterning process is the use of photolithography and other techniques to transfer designs onto copper plates. Photolithography technology utilizes photoresist, which is a photosensitive material that can dissolve or not dissolve under light. This process can print the required copper patterns onto the board.
Etching PCB wiring
The circuit board with patterns undergoes etching process to remove unwanted copper foil, leaving the expected traces and patterns on the PCB. After the corrosion etching process, use a stripping solution for cleaning.
drill
Next, specialized equipment will be used to drill holes in each layer, which can be accomplished through mechanical or laser methods. PCBs with higher density and smaller holes usually require longer processing time, resulting in higher costs.
copper plating
Due to the fact that holes or vias serve as connections between layers, they are plated with copper to form conductive paths between the layers of the PCB. Copper plating also has another function, which is to increase the copper thickness of the copper wire.
Solder mask and screen printing
The solder mask layer is printed on the top and bottom of the PCB to protect the copper area outside the solder pads.
Screen printing, also known as component marking, is a component marking printed on the surface of a PCB to clarify the position of components, which is very useful for the installation, repair, and maintenance of components. PCB assembly process
Surface Treatment
The exposed copper pads on the PCB can also be surface treated with various chemicals to protect them from changes in environmental temperature and humidity. Due to the easy oxidation of copper, surface treatment or finishing is an extremely important step. The most commonly used PCB surface treatments are HAL, ENIG, and OSP.
Quality inspection and testing
The main purpose is to manufacture circuit boards that meet design and functional requirements; Therefore, PCBs should undergo visual inspection processes such as automatic optical inspection. For fast PCB manufacturing, these are still necessary steps to understand defects and issues as early as possible.
The PCB still needs to undergo testing to check for circuit issues such as short circuits and open circuits. For small-scale manufacturing and prototype design, a flying pin tester can be used to access the contact pads. For large-scale production, online testing is a better choice because the operation time is faster.
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