Types of Printed Circuit Boards (pcb)

A Printed Circuit Board (PCB) is plastic board base that provides mechanical support and medium for electrical connections of various electrical components. The circuits inside the sheet layers are made using strong conducting material such as copper whereas the board is made up of non-conducting material like plastic. The electrical components are generally soldered on the PCB to provide strong mechanical support and electrical networks.

Types of PCB’s

• Rigid PCB
• Rigid-Flex PCB
• Flexible PCB

A rigid PCB is an inflexible PCB that uses a strong solid substrate material such as fiberglass that remains the board from twisting or curving in any manner.

Applications and Benefits of Rigid PCB

• Rigid PCB’s are generally used in electronic devices such as laptops, desktop computers, television sets, toys etc. due to their low cost.
• In the medical sector, they are used in tomography equipment, electromyography machines and magnetic resonance imaging systems due to their large size and non-portable characteristics.
• In aerospace industry, they are used in Auxiliary Power Units (APU), airplane cockpit instrumentation and temperature sensors due to their high temperature handling capability.
• They are also used in AC/DC power converters, Electronic computer units and transmission sensors as they can be constructed with plated copper base for high durability.

Structural Characteristics

Rigid PCB’s can be very handy as they are designed using copper and aluminum substrates and high temperature laminates. High temperature laminates provide protection from engine heat and surroundings impurity.

Rigid-Flex PCB’s are made by the combination of rigid and flexible PCB’s, hence they have characteristics of both types of PCB’s. A rigid PCB is connected with a flexible PCB integrated together through a strong electrical connection.

• They are a combination of optimum quality rigid and flexible boards. Sometimes, they consist of multiple inner layers that find its uses in various sectors that require high stability such as signal transmission devices.
• They are widely used in aerospace industries due to their limited spacing and very light weight characteristics.
• Due to their high flexible nature, they are prone to vibrational disturbances in the board as well as connection joints.
• They have a wide application in difficult environmental conditions such as moisture proof, water proof and shock proof requirements.
• Due to comparatively very less solder points, Flex PCB’s ensure strong electrical connections.

Mostly, flex boards involves multiple layers of flexible substrates that are connected to each other externally or internally in the circuit externally or internally. They pose a great difficulty as they are designed in a 3D space environment that enables them to twist or roll as per the application requirement.

As the name suggests, they include the PCB’s that are flexible in nature. Flexible PCB’s is just another name for flexible circuits.

Applications and Benefits of Flexible PCB

• Due to their small size, less weight and reduced amount of hardware needed for fabrication, they consists about 10-15% of globally produces PCB’s.
• It is famously known as “Electronic interconnected packaging solution”.
• They are primary choice where flexible packaging parts are required.
• Flexible PCB’s dispel heat at a very greater rate that finds its use in the aeronautical industry.
• They are widely used in high speed controlled impedance designs that offers very minimal impedance to the conducting current.

Flexible PCB’s come in single double or multilayer format. They require different non-conducting material such as flexible photoimagable solder mask to provide strong bending and curving wherever required. The base is designed using a flexible PCB is a polymer film which provides foundation for the laminate.