A printed circuit board mechanically supports and electrically connects electronic components using conductive tracks etched onto a non-conductive substrate. Components are attached to the PCB through soldering. In surface mount construction, components are placed directly onto pads on the PCB surface, while through-hole uses leads inserted into holes. Modern automated assembly lines screen print solder paste, use pick and place machines to automatically position components, and reflow ovens to solder all at high volume.
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PCB Assembly
A printed circuit board mechanically supports and electrically connects electronic components using conductive tracks etched onto a non-conductive substrate. Components are attached to the PCB through soldering. In surface mount construction, components are placed directly onto pads on the PCB surface, while through-hole uses leads inserted into holes. Modern automated assembly lines screen print solder paste, use pick and place machines to automatically position components, and reflow ovens to solder all at high volume.
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Assembly on PCB
PRINTED CIRCUIT BOARD
A printed circuit board (PCB) mechanically supports and electrically connects electronic components using conductive tracks, pads and other features etched from copper sheets laminated onto a non- conductive substrate.
PCB's can be single sided (one copper layer), double sided (two copper layers) or multi-layer.
Conductor on different layers are connected with plated-through holes called vias.
Advanced PCB's may contain components - capacitors, resistors or active devices - embedded in the substrate.
ASSEMBL Y After the printed circuit board (PCB) is completed, electronic components must be attached to form a functional printed circuit assembly, or PCA (sometimes called a "printed circuit board assembly" PCBA). In through-hole construction, component leads are inserted in holes. In surface-mount construction, the components are placed on pads or lands on the outer surfaces of the PCB. In both kinds of construction, component leads are electrically and mechanically fixed to the board with a molten metal solder.
PCB with test connection pads
There are a variety of soldering techniques used to attach components to a PCB. High volume production is usually done with SMT placement machine and bulk wave soldering or reflow ovens, but skilled technicians are able to solder very tiny parts (for instance 0201 packages which are 0.02 in. by 0.01 in.)
by hand under a microscope, using tweezers and a fine tip soldering iron for small volume prototypes. Some parts may be extremely difficult to solder by hand, such as BGA packages.
Automated PCB assembly process In almost all situations a bare board loader, which may also be called a destacker or line loader, is used to feed unpopulated printed circuit boards into the line at the beginning of the production line Introducing Boards Into the Line SMT Solder Paste Application
If Surface Mount Technology (SMT) is being used in the assembly process the next item usually found in the typical production line is the Screen Printer. This unit applies a film of solder paste to the boards at the points where components are going to be soldered to the board. This works something like silkscreen printing on a T-shirt. A mask is made that only allows the paste to be "printed" only in the desired areas. Parts Placement
Following the Screen Printer sometimes an automated optical inspection unit or an inspection conveyor would be used to transfer boards into the Pick & Place machine. Some machines, depending on the technology used, are called Chip Shooters. In some cases special length entry and exit conveyors are required to match the specific Pick & Place machine. This machine is in a way the heart of the production process. It will "pick" components from a supply, normally some type of roll or cartridge storage, and "place" them in the appropriate spot on the board. The Pick & Place machine is likely to be the largest investments in the automated production line.
Assembly line with SMT placement machines Soldering Machine
Following the Pick & Place machine an inspection conveyor transfer boards into the soldering machine. When "Surface Mount Technology" (SMT) is involved this would be a reflow oven. In this type of soldering machine the PCBs travel inside the oven, which provides a controlled temperature profile to melt "Reflow" the solder paste soldering on the components.
When using "Through Hole" assembly methods a Wave Solder Machine would be used to solder the components. In this type of machine the PCBs travel over a "Wave" of solder with just the bottom of the board in contact with the molten solder.
Double Sided Boards
If product design has the board populated on both sides, as many are today, a "Board Inverter" will be required. This takes the board which is assembled on one side and simply flips it over, leading for trailing edge, and sends it on to a second screen printer that will apply solder paste to side 2 in preparation for component attachment. Next will come a second component placement process with associated feed and exit conveyors.
Accumulation
At the exit of the solder machine it is always a good idea to have some type of storage device. An accumulating conveyor is used for this purpose.