A PCB (printed circuit board) is the most common term that has been widely used in electronics world. The PCB is an electronic circuit board made of non-conductive material sheet or board as base but is etched or printed with conductive material strips like copper. Now, electronic components are mechanically fixed and electronically connected with each other through conductive strips on the board. That makes it a complete printed circuit board.
Before the invention of printed circuit boards, point to point construction and wire wrap methods were used to make electronic circuits. Today, PCBs are widely used mostly in every electronic device; gadget and appliance such as TV, Refrigerator, laptop even the LED light bulb in your home has got a PCB inside.
Types of Printed Circuit Board
Copper lines or tracks are there to connect the holes on the boards and electronic components are fixed in those holes. The boards are specially designed according to the desired circuit system and the construction is not difficult today with the help of software’s, although assembling tools are essential. Following are some commonly used printed circuit boards.
Single Sided PCBs: A single sided printed circuit board is the one that have one layer and the etching work is done on only one side of the board. The base now, coated with a thin layer of metal, commonly copper as it is the best conductor of electricity. The components are fixed on one side of the board and thus it is called single sided PCB.
Double Sided PCBs: Double sided PCB, the name itself says that the board is double sided, the conductive material is etched on both sides of the board and the board has holes in it that helps the components to be connected with each other on the both sides. The double sided PCB can deliver more and faster results.
Multilayer PCBs: These PCBs are idol for the use in industries and factories. In this, there are two or more PCBs are connected with each other simultaneously to complete a high power circuit. The designers design it in a way that it reduces the electromagnetic interference. The biggest multilayer PCB ever made had more than 50 layers.
Rigid PCBs: When someone says a PCB, you get a visual of a board made of hard material with components on it. Rigid PCBs are made of solid material as base such as fiberglass that does not twist. The best example of this kind of PCB is a motherboard inside a computer.
Flex PCBs: A flex PCB is made of flexible substance such as plastic which allows the designers and makers to produce a kind of board which fits into the devices or machines which are flexible. These PCBs can easily move or bend without damaging the components. These can be made in single, double sided and multilayer PCBs.
These were some of the widely used boards; double sided PCB is highly used among all, it is also merged with multilayer boards. Single sided boards are cheap in cost but rarely used now due to its design limitations. However, any electronic device is incomplete till it includes a suitably working printed circuit board.
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