PCB Board Thickness Choice: How Thick the Board 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 board thickness choice gives you a practical advantage when…

Solder Paste Rheology and Viscosity Control in SMT Solder paste is not a simple liquid, and the number printed on its datasheet is only part of the story. Paste is a suspension of metal particles in a flux vehicle, and its flow behaviour changes with the rate at which it…

Dynamic Flex Design: Bend Radius, Grain and Copper A flexible circuit that bends once during assembly and a flexible circuit that bends a million times in service are different designs. The difference is not the material alone but the geometry of the copper and the direction in which it is…

Rigid-Flex Assembly: Process Sequence and Handling A rigid flex board is assembled while flat and folded into shape afterwards. The process sequence is longer than for a rigid board, the materials are less tolerant, and the opportunities for damage are concentrated in a few steps. What a Rigid Flex Contains…

PCB Differential Routing Rules: Two Traces Together Electronics manufacturing has become a discipline of small details. Solder paste volumes, placement accuracy, temperature profiles and inspection limits all add up to the final result. This guide looks at PCB differential routing rules from the perspective of a PCBA factory floor, covering…

Conformal Coating for Medical Device PCBs A medical device that runs a large current through a small board produces heat, and the surfaces it presents have to survive repeated cleaning and disinfection. Conformal coating is the usual answer, but the material only works when the board underneath it is clean…

PCB Stackup Planning: Ordering the Layers 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 stackup planning gives you a practical advantage when you choose a…

PCB Controlled Impedance Plan: Deciding the Targets 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 controlled impedance plan gives you a practical advantage when you…

Solder Mask Dam Width and Sliver Control on Fine Pitch Between two adjacent pads on a fine pitch board sits a thin strip of solder mask whose only job is to keep molten solder in place. That strip is the solder mask dam, and when it is too narrow the…

Integrated Circuit Boards and PCB Types Explained The phrase integrated circuit board is used for two different things. One is the small package that contains a silicon die, the other is the printed board that carries that package together with the rest of the circuit, and the distinction matters as…