Coverlay Adhesive Selection For Flex Circuits A coverlay is the flexible equivalent of a solder mask. It is a layer of polyimide film coated with an adhesive that is laminated over the finished circuit to protect the conductors and to define the areas where components or connectors will be attached.…

PCB Copper Plating Improvement: Getting Better Each Lot Modern electronics depend on boards that are assembled correctly the first time. Every product – a phone, a charger, a medical instrument or an industrial controller – relies on thousands of solder joints that must conduct current for years. This article explains…

PCB Copper Plating Selection: Choosing What Fits Buyers and engineers often focus on the finished product and forget the production line behind it. In practice, most field failures can be traced back to process decisions made during assembly. Understanding PCB copper plating selection gives you a practical advantage when you…

PCB Copper Plating Control: Holding It Steady Buyers and engineers often focus on the finished product and forget the production line behind it. In practice, most field failures can be traced back to process decisions made during assembly. Understanding PCB copper plating control gives you a practical advantage when you…

Flexible Heater PCB Design And Power Density A flexible heater is a resistive circuit formed on a thin polymer substrate, usually polyimide, that can be bonded to a curved or irregular surface. It replaces a wound wire element with an etched foil pattern, which makes the heat distribution repeatable and…

UV Curing Solder Mask For Quick Prototypes A photoimageable mask is applied as a liquid or a dry film, exposed through a artwork and developed to open the pads. The exposure step uses ultraviolet light to cross link the coating where it should remain, and UV curing is therefore the…

PCB Copper Plating Traceability: Following One Board Modern electronics depend on boards that are assembled correctly the first time. Every product – a phone, a charger, a medical instrument or an industrial controller – relies on thousands of solder joints that must conduct current for years. This article explains PCB…

In Circuit Test Fixture Design An in circuit test uses a bed of nails fixture to contact every accessible net on a board and measure its components and its connections. The fixture is the interface between the board designer and the test engineer, and it succeeds or fails on decisions…

PCB Copper Plating Timing: How Long It Takes Modern electronics depend on boards that are assembled correctly the first time. Every product – a phone, a charger, a medical instrument or an industrial controller – relies on thousands of solder joints that must conduct current for years. This article explains…

Solder Bead Prevention in Assembly A solder bead is a small sphere of solder that sits on the board surface away from any joint. Beads are usually between the size of a grain of sand and a pinhead, they are not part of the circuit, and they are a problem…