A Complete Guide to Advanced PCB
A PCB is the primary building block of any electronic design and over recent years it has been developed to become very sophisticated components. There are different types of PCBs in the field and each one of them has its manufacturing specifications, usages, and the variety of materials used.
As the PCB market shifts from PC to high-frequency communications, smart devices, and automotive electronics fields, the PCB manufacturing and assembly industries are undergoing a series of changes. Since now the products are becoming smaller and more functions are required, here comes Advanced PCB, which provides both accuracy and precision.
Although, plenty of distributors and wholesalers are in need of advanced PCB now a days, but they have little to no knowledge regarding their application areas, production, and ordering channels. So, here in this article we will discuss about what is advanced PCB, its applications and some advantages and disadvantages as well.
What is a Advanced PCB?
Advanced printed circuit boards (PCBs) are PCBs with complicated structures and has much more number of layers as compared to a normal multi-layer PCB.
Advanced PCBs have higher wiring density per unit area than conventional PCBs and also have finer lines and spaces, smaller vias and capture pads and higher connection pad density as well.
Advanced PCBs find a lot of applications especially in high-end electronic components where speed and precision are very important such as Industrial equipment, Automotive Electronics, Communication equipment, Medical facilities, and Military field.
Advanced PCB – 14 Layers
Applications of Advanced PCBs
Advanced PCBs find much use in plenty of industries unlike the regular PCBs. Advanced printed circuit boards find a lot of use in areas such as:
- Industrial equipment – Advanced PCBs are used in these areas to allow for greater precision, the safety of workers, and faster operation of an equipment.
- Automotive Electronics – The use of advanced PCBs allow to hold the entire exquisite sensors and components that are needed for steady operation of a vehicle.
- Communication equipment – For routing signals and power, advanced PCBs are needed in these areas.
- Medical facilities – Advanced PCBs are used to assist medical equipment to monitor body temperature or heart-related application devices.
- Military field- They are fundamental towards the operation of guidance, military navigation, and control of warfare equipment.
Type of Advanced PCB
In case of advanced PCBs, the number of layers matters the most as it directly affects the performance. For example, double-layer high-level PCBs will perform better than single-layer advanced PCBs.
The following are the types of Advanced PCBs:
- Multilayer boards – It consists of up to three or more double panels stacked on top of each other. Theoretically, these can contain as many plates as needed.
- Rigid and flexible boards –Rigid PCBs are made up of rigid boards that cannot twist and typical used where bending is not required. Flexible boards can bend easily and are used in applications where bending is a must for electronic devices.
6-Layer Rigid-Flex
- High-frequency boards – These PCBs can carry high-frequency signals that are mainly above 1GHZ. They are somewhat expensive.
Advanced PCB Design and Manufacturing
The design process of Advanced PCB is similar to that of conventional PCB design process. The IPC-2221A generic standard is followed here as well.
You can use any available PCB design software to design the PCB layout, however it is a bit more complex as compared to normal PCB.
The manufacturing process of advanced PCB is similar to that of a multi-layer PCB. However the type of material used in two of them differ a lot. Since the Advanced PCBs work in environments where power and heat are incredibly high hence these PCBs require materials that can handle power and heat effectively.
In advanced PCB same Reflow Soldering and Wave Soldering PCB Assembly Process are followed but with High precision due to its small size and high density of electronic components.
Challenges
Some of the challenges with Advanced PCB are listed below:
- Advanced PCB technology is more costly as compared to conventional PCBs.
- Only few manufacturers can provide the technology required for PCBs with unprecedented high-density.
- High-density circuit boards are more prone to defects of conductive paths during the production process which results in rejection of final product.
- Methods available for repairing the broken conductive paths are expensive, complex, limited & slow.
- Constant pursuit of miniaturization of electronic devices further magnifies these limitations.
Comparison Between Advanced PCB and Standard PCB
Advanced PCB Manufacturer
While purchasing your advanced PCBs, you should choose the manufacturer very wisely. Because you do not want to work with a company that lacks experience producing Advanced PCBs. After all, you are spending your hard-earned money, and accordingly you should expect high-quality boards.
If you looking for an experienced manufacturer to produce Advanced PCBs for you, visit PCBWay.com. PCBWay is one of the most experienced PCB manufacturing company based in China with an experience of more than a decade in the field of PCB prototype and fabrication.
PCBWay has opened a separate advanced PCB production workshop to assist their customers to get their PCB s at the lowest price along with delivery punctuality and best product quality.
You can order your Advanced PCB from PCBWay by clicking here.
PCBWay has now came up with a new interesting feature for all its customers in collaboration with KiCad.
After completing your design on KiCad, you can now place your order on PCBWay with just one click!!
Steps
Step-1: For this you just have to click PCBWay Plug-in button on Kicad.
Step-2: After clicking the button, they will export the following files in your project：
1.Gerber files in correct format for production
2.IPC-Netlist file
3.Bom-file that includes all information of components
4.Pick and Place-file used in assembly
Step-3: After uploading the files click “Save to Cart” to place an order immediately .
Their engineers will double check the files before the production.
You can install the plug-in from the official KiCad repositories or you can also do manual installation.
To know all the details about this click here.
