Top trends and techniques for sequential lamination PCB

By Technotronix | Date posted: May 17, 2021 | Last updated: May 17, 2021

The trend of utilizing electronic products is the motivation to produce more technical creations. As the ages become advanced, electronic innovation also gets smarter with time. From households to rockets technology in every possible field, electronic devices are spreading their demands.

And as the demand graph is getting peak, competition in the market is getting neck to neck. Any traditional mass production cannot be enough to beat the opponent. Highly skillful, advanced-level service only has to provide room for your company in this market.

This is not an easy operation to become outstanding in the market. From material selection to design in every aspect, you have to put extra care to make it unique from the market. Great quality of PCB manufacturing techniques is the heart of your best PCB Assembly foundation.

What is sequential lamination PCB?

Production fabrication is the process of rearranging a circuit board to a bodily configuration of PCB based on how the client demand. Sequential lamination is one of the steps of technical lamination.

Sequential is the method of adding a copper or some specific metal layer. For the best results, every PCB board is going through a minimum of two lamination processes or more than that.

Traditional circuit board sequential lamination

Nowadays, multilayer PCB used most of the time. This type of board is tinier in size. The component also used in the time of manufacturing concise the density of the product. In a simple word, multiple layers of circuit boards make Assembly manageable to use flexibly.

Simultaneously, PCB’s stuck-up design is a single-layer circuit board that needed some convenient fabrication. By knowing the manufacturing competence well, it will be easy to do that.

Sequential lamination is a common step in the PCB fabrication process. The process is described below –

Sequential lamination’s success rate in multiple-layer boards is very high. Especially in high-density electronic technology, it is more fruitful. Here it’s the main function to maintain high signal messages like communication.

Some challenges sequential lamination has to face

The whole process of lamination is not that easy, and it seems it has to phase multiple challenges in its procedure. Like –

Limitations in the number of cycles

As said previously, for the favorable results of lamination, more than two cycling required. But that doesn’t mean it accomplished in whatever times you want. Cycling has to be restricted two-four times to prevent defect to the Assembly.

Aspect ratio

For the drill holes equipment, other factors that have to be concerned with are the aspect ratios. Aspects ratio is the measurement of depth in the aspect of the diameter of the drill hole.

Based on what type of equipment is used in bore vias to like – beams drill or drill press, the ratio is varied, and according to it, the calculations are done. The aspect ratio limited the layer used in multiple layers circuits for different calculations.

Drill hole alignment in case of Garber file

Gerber is a 2D file commonly used in PCB designing. Designers like the Garber file because of its generating power of software in PCB Circuit.

But there are some problems during the Gerber file’s lamination, as there is a huge chance of mistake in the fabrication of the circuit board. That causes misalignment of the circuit. This type of error increases the overall cost of the circuit and the time of reversal.

Cost

Sequential lamination is a spontaneous building process that requires several days to build the desired board. So, the more time it consumes to develop the circuit, the more expenses gradually increase with it.

Despite all these limitations, it is one of the best processes of fabrication in PCB circuit boards. It is very useful because it minimizes the circuit’s layer and can maintain the temperature with environmental changes. Not only that, it reduces the weight of the copper layer. Sequential lamination cut down the need for buried vias or blind via which is also one of the plus points of this lamination.

So, if it is possible to neglect the shortcomings of this lamination, it will be a blessing to the technology of PCB.

Trends for sequential lamination:

Number of layers reduce in a noticeable extent by using sequential lamination.
Make the PCB so that it can handle easily.
The structure of the board gets simplified.

Technique for sequential Lamination PCB:

The above mentioned are some weaknesses of lamination techniques. Now in this passage, we discussed the technique we have to use for the best results of sequential lamination.

The cause of all this deformity is the many layers used in PCB. Big numbers of layers reduce the potential of the PCB. So, if the number of layers used is decreased, it will be a fair solution to the problems.
To minimize the number of layers, some embedded elements can be put in to layers. By this method, apart from the top and bottom layers, only a few layers are required.
Proper alignment of the components used in the board, which is connected by each. Passive components need to use more in number to delete the drawback. And the active components are used to try to embed them in between layers of the circuit.
Another solution is using a 3D device instead of 2D. The more advanced technology of 3D helps to cope with the consequences of lamination.
Turnkey PCB assembly is an incredible remedy to all problems. Turnkey PCB Assembly will handle every problem by its organized management.
From manufacturing, maintaining, stoking to delivering every aspect are rectified by Turnkey’s advanced technology. And Turnkey PCB is also very reliable and safe. You can trust on its work efficiency.

Conclusion
The commitment of the sequential lamination is very straightforward. It furnishes PCB multiple-layer stack up, which gives security to your precious documents. PCB Lamination techniques will be a good option for circuit designing. So, if you want an up-to-date, ready to use, modern PCB assembly circuit, definitely go for sequential Lamination PCB.

At Technotronix, we have over 4 decades of experience in PCB fabrication. You can rely on our PCB design and fabrication process that, in turn, lead to that perfect PCB fabrication. An improper design can lead to a wide variety of issues such as imbalance. We provide you products at an affordable price, including testing services. If you require any kind of printed circuit board fabrication, conformal coating, NPI, circuit board prototype services, you can drop an email to sales@technotronix.us or give us a call at 714/630-9200.

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What’s the difference between Rigid PCB and Flexible PCB?

By Technotronix | Date posted: May 13, 2021 | Last updated: May 13, 2021

Printed Circuit Board (PCB) forms the core of many electronic devices today. The strength and durability of these devices depend on how strong the PCB is. One can also custom-tailor their PCBs based on the specifications. We have numerous types of PCBs based on their uses and construction like single-layer PCB, double-layer PCB, and multilayer PCB. The other two most commonly used PCBs are rigid and flex PCBs.

In this article, we tell you what are the differences between Rigid and Flex PCBs.

Rigid PCB vs Flexible PCB

As the name itself conveys, rigid PCBs are inflexible while flex PCBs can be bent and shaped to fit on the system in any way.

Flexible PCBs consist of a thin insulating polymer film with conductive circuit patterns and a thin polymer coating for protecting the conductor circuits. Flex PCBs have been used in the manufacture of many advanced electronic products. If designed correctly, flex PCBs are not only versatile but also record no failures. They are of great use in limited space requirements like medical devices, aerospace appliances, automotive applications, and consumer electronics.

Rigid PCBs are also popular owing to their lower cost. In consumer electronics where there is a large space availability, you can use rigid circuit boards. You can rely on the following tenets to understand the differences between rigid PCB and flex PCB.

Design

Rigid PCBs are used in some consumer electronics like desktops, laptops, music keyboards, toys, TVs, etc. If you need more sophisticated designs or meet high-performance standards, your choice should be flex PCBs. Flexible printed circuit boards are also used in low-technology applications like LED lighting and also in bendable applications like kitchen cabinets. Whichever you are using, ensure you are maximizing design and avoid any layout flaws.

Baselayer

The base layer of a PCB tends to be rigid and this contains glass reinforcement. The material used is FR4 that gives excellent stability, mechanical strength, thermal resistance. But the ability to bend is minimal. Flexible circuit base materials are made of polyamide that has excellent flexibility properties but does not have the same mechanical properties as that of rigid PCB materials like FR4.

Copper Layer

Electro Deposited (ED) and Rolled Annealed (RA) are the two types of the copper film. RA is flexible than ED and hence used in flex PCBs. ED is mostly used in rigid PCBs. Of course, it does have certain flexible properties. You can also go for high ductility electrodeposited copper used in flex PCBs which is equivalent to RA.

Adhesive Layer

A rigid PCB doesn’t bend and hence the adhesive layer requirements are limited to thermal and chemical properties. The flex PCBs on the other hand has additional requirements that allow bending. The adhesive that is used on rigid board would crack in a flex application. Hence you need to go for something that has stretching properties. For this, make sure to go for an adhesive that has different thermal, mechanical, and chemical properties than the ones used in rigid boards.

Durability

Any electronic device demands high durable designs. Flexible PCBs are more durable because of the low weight of the board. This also reduces the risk of damage caused by high vibrations. Flex PCBs are built using polyamide that makes them well-suitable for extreme heat conditions. If you want your electronic products to bend without any breaking, flexible PCBs are your go-to solutions.

Bend Ratio

Across the route corners of a PCB, electromagnetic interference (EMI) is a possibility and cannot be ignored. You may see it being generated at right angles. If you have chosen a rigid PCB substrate, make sure to have soft corners instead of sharper corners that are often seen in rigid PCBs.

Bend Ratio is the ratio of the thickness of a flex PCB vs the bend radius. If you have chosen a flex PCB, you should think of the bend ratio. Going below the bend ratio results in mechanical failure.

Flex circuit overlay

The manufacturing process of both rigid and flex PCBs is the same. The drilling and plating of holes and vias, photo imaging, etching of copper traces, outlines, and planes, the heating of PCBs for removing moisture are all same. Post this step, rigid PCBs move to the solder mask station and flex circuits go to the circuit overlay station. The difference between circuit overlay and rigid PCB’s solder mask is that the circuit overlay film is flexible.

The film is made of polyimide film coated with a thermoset adhesive that is laminated using pressure and heat for easy flow and to fill in the gaps between pads and traces. This helps in preventing the trapping of air between layers. The adhesive oozes called adhesive squeeze out. Once you finish the lamination process, any component or features cannot be used anymore.

Budget

Usually, rigid printed circuit boards are less costly than flexible PCBs. The rigid circuit boards reduce the weight and size of your design. But that doesn’t mean flex PCBs are too expensive. You can see what you can eliminate in the flex board design to reduce the cost. You can get rid of unnecessary connectors, wire harnesses, etc. So, if you consider this, you may find even the flex PCBs as cost-effective.

Similarities

Flex PCBs and rigid PCBs are similar in certain aspects.
End-goal remains the same – connecting components
Design Standards are similar in terms of hole size and thickness
Identical manufacturing process

Wind up

Rigid and flex PCBs find their use in different products like rigid PCBs find their way in larger products like TVs, desktops, etc. while flex PCBs are more for compact products like smartphones, and wearable technology. You can choose either of them considering your application’s demands, industry preferences, and impact.

Whether you choose rigid PCB or flex PCB, make sure to follow the rigorous inspection and testing processes to make sure there are no design flaws. Evaluate the PCB types and plan your project milestones. There are manual and automated inspection methods that ease the process of inspection. Make sure you have a fully functional PCB irrespective of what type of PCB you choose.

You can also choose the right Rigid flex PCB manufacturer who can review the PCB layout designs. Check out how Technotronix has been leading the way for over 4 decades in both rigid as well as flex PCBs across multiple industries.

What are the Defect Detection Strategies for Bare PCB Board?

By Technotronix | Date posted: March 22, 2021 | Last updated: May 5, 2021

PCBs performing a very critical role in electronic Equipments a robust defect detection strategy is the need of the hour to ensure that any costly mistakes are avoided. This is true for both bare PCB boards as well as fully assembled circuit boards. Let us look at both these aspects in some detail.

Defect detection strategies for fabricated PCBs

Essentially, PCB fabrication is a very exact science that leaves very little room for error. One major requirement, therefore, is to verify the electrical continuity of the board.

There are two major ways for bare PCB testing of raw fabricated boards as below:

Bed of nails test fixture
Flying Probe test system

Bed of nails test

The way this works is that a test fixture is built for the specific PCB design. The fixture contains a number of spring-loaded test pins. In fact, this is where the test gets its name. The PCB is pressed down on the test pins, which in turn check them for electrical conductivity. This test is particularly known for its low testing time.

Flying Probe test

A Flying Probe test originated for bare board testing and involves testing for shorts, opens and the like. The main parameter that is tested is resistance between points. However, these tests have evolved to measure capacitance and inductance as well. In fact, this is what makes them effective for testing not just bare circuit boards but PCB assemblies as well. The many reasons why this test is popularly used for defect detection include:

They are cost-effective.
They have fewer accessibility issues as opposed to ICT testers.
Since the movement of probes is controlled by a software, changes are easy to implement.
As compared to ICT testing, they offer improved test coverage.

Defect detection testing also benefits from the first article test. Essentially, this involves the testing the first circuit boards to establish what is known as “gold” units. If the first article tests do not show any defects, the entire production run is considered to have passed the connectivity tests. Another important purpose of the first article is also to set up a process of record for the board production. Once the POR is established and replicated, you can rest assured that each board will function similarly.

For the first article inspection, therefore, it is necessary to look at the following aspects:

Measuring and recording all the attributes of the board be it dimensions or resistance. Once these values are verified with the design specifications, you can rest assured that the board is good to go.
is also important to check for clarity in documentation.
For assembled boards, it is important to check that the parts and material installed, match the laid down specifications.

These steps ensure that any defects are ascertained at the first article stage itself and then you do not proceed to a large run production without sorting these out. If any errors are found, corrective action can be taken. Any changes that may be needed in design can also be identified at this stage.

In case of a bare PCB board, which is relevant or manual as well as automated inspection techniques. Simply put, what automated optical inspection does is to scan the board and then compare its image with that of the first article production board. Any errors are thus easily flagged. In addition, there are also manual inspections by trained technicians to ascertain any errors that may have been missed by the automated systems post the bare board manufacturing.

With so many checks and balances, an experienced Bare Board manufacturer can significantly reduce probability of errors and defects in bare PCBs. The bare boards ready for the next step, which involves mounting components on the board or what is popularly known as PCB Assembly.

Although we are largely talking about PCB Bare Board Manufacturing and ascertaining defect detection strategies for bare boards, it will be prudent to briefly look at some defect detection strategies for PCB Assemblies as well. Some of these include:

Visual inspection
Automated inspection
Flying probe testing
In-circuit testing
Functional Testing

Importantly, it is also important to ensure that the PCB design is optimized for manufacturability. In the absence of that you can run into a host of issues such as solder defects, Tombstoning. A PCB manufacturer with a proven track record can go a long way in helping you with robust design principles as also adherence to DFM rules and processes.

At Technotronix, we have over 4 decades of experience in fabricating as well as assembling high quality bare PCB boards. We configure PCB bare boards as per your specifications while also offering effective bare PCB testing capabilities. We can manufacture configurations of bare circuit boards based on your custom specification. please explore PCB fabrication services. Also, you can drop an email to sales@technotronix.us or give us a call at 714/630-9200 to solve your queries or to get a quick quote!

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RF/Microwave PCB Play the most important Role in High-Speed PCB Design!

By Technotronix | Date posted: March 15, 2021 | Last updated: April 30, 2021

What is your knowledge about RF and Microwave circuits? If nothing, then you are at the right place to understand everything about RF and microwave circuits. A few decades ago, no one was familiar with the word RF and microwave circuits because of their complex design in manufacturing these circuits.

The technology was not that advanced, simplifying circuit making, creating complexity in manufacturing RF and microwave PCBs. But in the current era, RF and microwave circuits are becoming a very crucial part of industrialization. RF circuitry is getting crammed into a wide array of commercial products. With RF circuitry, manufacturers are preparing wireless devices for several Industries like defense, medical, and communication applications, making RF circuits a crucial part of businesses. Check out top design guidelines for RF and Microwave PCB Assembly!

Not just RF circuits, but microwave circuitry can capture very high frequency (VHF) and Ultra high frequency (UHF) to the circuit. Now high-speed PCBs are getting RF and microwave technology to enhance the operational quality of the PCB. RF and microwave circuits have surpassed several challenges that the PCB manufacturers were facing previously, and now PCB manufacturing is becoming accessible for preparing RF And Microwave Printed Circuit Boards.

The range of RF Technology varies from 500 MHz to 2 GHz. After 2 GHz, the PCB designs come into the range of Microwave Printed Circuit Boards. So now we can differentiate between RF and microwave circuits, which are digital or analog.

What is an RF PCB?

Generally, PCB industries consider 100 MHz circuit boards as an RF circuit, which is quite understandable. The frequency range of RF circuits is very high, creating ample PCB solutions in manufacturing and operations.

Industries are widely using RF circuit boards to successfully operate their business and find smart solutions after completing the circuit board design.

What is A Microwave PCB?

Microwave PCBs are the most used Printed Circuit Boards whose radio frequencies are above 2 GHz. This means these circuit boards can be operated only on high frequencies. Most communication signals and applications use Microwave or RF circuit boards, and these are the fastest PCB manufacturing technology.

Why Do Industries Need Microwave PCB and RF PCB?

For preparing fastest printed board circuits, manufacturers can commonly use Microwave printed circuit boards and RF circuit boards to transmit fast radio signals. Our boards have many different applications like wireless technologies, smartphones, robotics, security, and sensors. This means RF printed circuit boards are becoming a crucial part of modern industries.

If you think of preparing a fast-printed circuit board that can transmit millions of signals in minimum seconds, then RF circuit boards can help you get the finest solutions. Similarly, Microwave printed circuit boards can hold more frequencies than RF circuits, which means they can handle billions of communication signals in a couple of seconds.

Radio Frequency printed circuit boards are high frequency printed circuit boards that can enhance electronic appliances’ performance and their applications in the industries. With this instant application, these printed circuit boards are commonly used by defense, electronics Industries, smartphone industries, and other top industries that need printed circuit boards for a smooth operation.

RF and Microwave printed circuit boards are crucial to enhance each other’s performance, commonly used in aerospace sectors. Just because of the negligible errors in RF and Microwave printed circuit boards, industries are widely using these circuit boards to get a high-performance aerospace application.

Nowadays, digital signals are crucial in every circuit, and it is creating a fast transmission path for signal transformation. Also, RF PCBs and microwave PCBs can maintain dielectric constant, thermal conductivity, thermal coefficient of dielectric constant, and thermal expansion coefficient.

What are the factors affecting RF PCB & Microwave Printed circuit Boards?

Preparation of Microwave circuit boards and RF circuit boards are still difficult for manufacturers. Due to it, manufacturers face some problems in transmitting the radio signals and also have tight impedance tolerance.

If we talk about old age PCBs, radio and microwave signals are sensitive to noise, and they can respond directly to it. It can affect the quality of printed circuit boards, and also, manufacturers did not manage ample RF and Microwave printed circuit boards to get the perfect shape.

It affected these printed circuit boards’ operational quality and created complexity in transmitting radio signals to the printed circuit boards. Nowadays, industries are using high-speed printed circuit boards to operate several operations in the company. Some of these factors like impedance mismatch, size grounding, arrangement, and Kelvin connection can affect RF’s speed circuit boards.

RF circuit boards are giving multi gigahertz speed to the transmission of signal, and they can absorb energy in the form of heat. The signal transmitting on the circuit boards is fast, which is giving fast operations to the companies. Manufacturers are managing these printed circuit boards by reducing the resistance in cross-section for higher heat loss.

Conclusion

We are the top high-speed PCB manufacture in USA who gives you the fastest transmission speed in Microwave printed circuit boards. With this quality, you can find cost-effective and thermal effective printed circuit boards with ultimate durability.

Several factors can affect the durability of printed circuit boards, like the environment, which needs to be fixed on time. Our experts find smart solutions using the latest technologies available and prepare the best PCB prototype for Microwave printed circuit boards and RF circuit boards. It can enhance the operational qualities of your devices and will enhance the speed of signal transmission.

The experts understand every needs of industries, and prepare the best high-speed PCB design to utilize its speed to the end result. Mixed signal PCBs have complex designs, which have several complications while manufacturing. Our experts use the latest technical tools to prepare every Radio Frequency Printed Circuit Board.

The performance of these PCBs depends on the manufacturing process, which is done smartly by the experienced engineers, and gives it a physical shape efficiently. They find the best option in PCB manufacturing by reducing the impedance of the Microwave Printed Circuit Boards. If you want to manufacture high efficiency RF printed circuit boards, you can find a wide range of PCB manufacturing at Technotronix.

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Top trends and techniques for sequential lamination PCB

What is sequential lamination PCB?

Traditional circuit board sequential lamination