Quality PCB – How To Judge?
With the rapid development of mobile phones, electronics, telecommunications, and other industries. The printed Circuit Board industry continues to grow rapidly. At the same time also prompted people to require more and more—about the PCB number, weight, color, material, precision, reliability, etc.
But because of the competition of the PCB market, PCB material is also on the rising trend. So more and more manufacturers enhance the core competitiveness. Often use the low price to monopolize the market.
However, behind this ultra-low cost is, reduce the material cost and production cost, which makes PCB easy to crack, easy to scratch, the precision, and other comprehensive factors of non-compliance. It will seriously affect the product solderability and reliability, etc.
Many electronic engineers and purchasing personnel is not sure. In fact, there is no standard method of judgment. But you can see from the following points to have an initial judgment:
The first method is to distinguish from the appearance. The other is from the PCB board itself to judge its quality specification requirements.
1. Firstly, distinguish the quality of the circuit board from its appearance:
First, to distinguish the material used for the plate. Then from the board’s ink color, copper deposition, surface treatment, smell up.
The material usually is as followings:
The ordinary HB board, 22F, is the cheapest and easy to deform and break, only can be used as a single panel. The component surface color is dark yellow with an irritating odor, rough copper, and thin.
Single-sided 94V0 and CEM-1 boards are higher than the cardboard but cheaper than the semi-glass fiberboard. The component surface is light yellow, mainly for industrial boards and power panels with fire rating requirements.
FR4 glass-fiber board, high cost but good strength. Basically, most of the double-sided and multilayer boards used this material; copper can be very precise; the unit board is also heavier.
The surface treatment includes OSP circuit board, Immersion Gold circuit board, Hot Air Solder Leveling circuit board, and other processes. There all require PAD surface cannot be contaminated. Otherwise, it will affect solderability.
Also, the Standard of size and thickness, the appearance of the weld should be considered because it may influence the quality of soldering.
2. Secondly, Super quality PCB boards need to meet the following requirements:
1. To meet the requirements of electrical connections;
2. The line’s width, thickness, and distance should meet the requirements to avoid hot, broken, or short-circuited.
3. The copper surface should not be easy to oxidize. Or it will affect the installation speed and can not be used for long after oxidation.
4. There is no additional electromagnetic radiation.
5. Shape without deformation. Now all of them are mechanically installed. And the hole position of the circuit board and the deformation error of the line of design should be within the allowable range.
6. High temperature, high humidity and resistent to the special environment should also be considered.
7. The mechanical properties of the surface shall comply with the installation requirements.
The above are some basic methods to judge the quality of PCB boards during the purchase of PCB boards. Be sure to polish your eyes to choose the right PCB Manufacturer.
