What is the PCB Fabrication Process? An Introduction

When I set out to buy my first car there was no shortage of advice from family and friends on how not to get stuck with a lemon. I cannot say how many times that I heard, “You get what you pay for.” Even being forewarned, I still managed to purchase a couple of cars that had more problems than I suspected. I can vividly recall lying in the snow on the side of the interstate trying to fix my car and get to an appointment for which I was already late. My Achilles’ heel when buying a car was always paying too much attention to its appearance and not enough to how mechanically sound or it was.

Failing to pay enough attention to the quality of construction of your boards can present a number of problems for your PCB development process. These can range from the inability of your boards to be manufactured to low yield rates or even premature failures in the field. However, there are ways in which these time-consuming and costly contingencies can be eased by design actions. Let’s first begin by answering your question, “What is the PCB fabrication process?” and then look at the importance of understanding the process for PCB development.

What is the PCB Fabrication Process?
It might not be helpful to jump directly into fabrication without knowing the relationships and steps between the schematic or idea you have in mind and getting that idea made. Before defining PCB fabrication, it may be helpful to define a few other terms and their interrelationships.

PCB  Development: Yhong PCB development can be defined as the process of taking a circuit board design from the design to the production. This typically includes three stages: design, manufacturing and testing. And for all but the simplest designs, this process is iterative with the objective of arriving at the highest quality design within the development time allotted.

PCB Manufacturing: Yhong PCB manufacturing is the construction of your board design. This is a two-step process that begins with board fabrication and ends with printed circuit board assembly (PCBA).

PCB Testing: PCB testing, sometimes referred to as bring up, is the third stage of Yhong PCB development; performed after manufacturing. Testing during development is done to evaluate the board’s ability to perform its intended operational functionality. During this stage, any errors or areas where the design should be modified to improve performance are identified and another cycle is initiated to incorporate the design changes.

PCB Assembly: PCB assembly or PCBA is the second step or stage of Yhong PCB manufacturing in which the board components are mounted to the bare board through a soldering process.