The essential components of a printed circuit board are:
– Base Material: It is a thin board of non-conductive laminate material, rigid or flexible, which supports all conductors and components: and,
– Conductor: High purity of copper in the form of thin strips that firmly attached to the base material.
The base material provides mechanical support to the copper areas and components attached to the copper. The electrical properties of the completed circuit depend upon the dielectric properties of the base material and must therefore, be selected and controlled.
The conductors provide not only the electrical connections between components but also mechanical support for components once soldered.
When the completed board provides mechanical support and all necessary electrical connections to the components, it is essentially a Printed Circuit Board or Printed Wiring Board. The term printed becomes popular because the constructive areas are usually generated by means of a printing process like photo-engraving, which are commonly used to print drawing.
Tin-Lead soldering has been the basis for interconnections since the beginning of the use of printed circuits, and all associated materials and processes have been developed with the use of that material in mind. But now, a rapid change to lead-free technology revolution has gotten much more attention, there have also been important evolutionary changes in the technology as the industry continues to meet the need for higher circuit and component density and faster circuit. As a result, printed circuit boards continue to be designed to be ever smaller, or larger to suit the requirements of specific applications such as server space. Printed Circuit Board will continue to change the electronic world and much smaller printed circuit board will be the challenges for most Board manufacturers.