THE MAJOR HISTORY OF PCB MANUFACTURING TO DATE
If you look back to the history of pcb manufacturing, it will take you to the early 1900s. This is when the first printed circuit board was produced and its patent was submitted.
Back then, the electronic industry struggled a lot . The engineers used point-to-point construction for boards where the regular replacement and larger rockets were required. Pcb manufacturer used to face many inconveniences while going through the whole process that is why Charles Ducas submitted a patent in 1925. In this patent he requested the approval so a direct electric path on an insulated surface could be created.
After WWII in 1943, Dr. Paul Eisler started making the very first operational printed circuit boards. Since the early 1920s, the electronic industry has seen many changes, betterments, and inventions such as:
In the 1920s: Material could be Masonite, Bakelite or even thin wood pieces.
1947: The first double-sided printed circuit board was produced with holes through the plates.
In the 1950s-1960s: The board material shifted to resins.
In 1957: The first meeting of the newly formed “The Institute of Printed Circuits” was held in Chicago, Illinois.
In 1960: Production of the multilayer printed circuit board begun.
This is not the end, pcb manufacturer kept on trying advanced techniques to come up with better quality and conveniences in pcb manufacturing.
As printed circuit boards have become a crucial basis for an electronic circuit, especially if you are searching for a reliable pcb manufacturer, then you must have some basic knowledge about pcb manufacturing.
There are several ways to achieve best results with the pcb manufacturing process although all the processes are nearly the same except for some small variations. Printed circuit boards are made from different substances. One of the widely used in the current era is glass fiber that is known as FR4.
You might have a rough idea about this if you have ever met with any pcb manufacturer; there are certain steps such as designing a diagrammatic structure of the board that will be crafted into a layout to form its physical design. The final step is to pass the board through the computers to export machine-readable files.
When a pcb manufacturer chooses a bare board, they create all the required tracks on the board, and later remove all the unnecessary copper from it. The chemical etching process plays an important role in pcb manufacturing. Ferric chloride is the most common etch that is used with printed circuit boards.
Pcb manufacturer takes the help of photographic process in order to gain accurate track patterns during the pcb manufacturing. In this process, copper on the circuit board is covered with a photo-resist of a very thin layer.
After this process, the pcb manufacturer drags the circuit board into the etching process with ferric chloride where they remove all the unwanted copper and track. Hence, the ideal product is achieved.
Pcb manufacturing is becoming advance every day with the latest methods and technologies that help several pcb manufacturer across the globe.
Intel,GE Healthcare,EMERSON,Rice University is the author of this article on pcb assembly. Find more information, about pcb fabrication.