The Working Principle of the PCB

PCB not only is an important electronic component, but also a provider of circuit connections. In our daily life, computers, mobile phones, refrigerators and other products have used the PCB. I believe that everyone is not strange to PCBs, but how much do you know about the working principle of the PCB?

The PCB is mainly composed of pads, vias, mounting holes, wires, components, connectors, filling, electrical boundaries, and the like. Common PCB layer structures include single layer PCB, double layer PCB, and multi-layer PCB. The main functions of each component are as follows:

Pad: It is a metal hole for soldering component pins.

Via: There are metal vias and non-metal vias, and metal vias are used to connect the component pin between the layers.

Mounting hole: It is used to fix the PCB.

Wire: It is used to connect the electrical network copper film of the component pins.

Connector: It is a component used for connection between PCBs.

Filling: It is used for the copper coating of the ground network, which can effectively reduce the impedance.

Electrical Boundary: It is used to determine the size of the PCB. All components on the PCB must not exceed this boundary.

The working principle of the PCB: It isolates the surface copper foil conductive layer by using the board-based insulating material to allow current to flow along pre-designed routes in various components. Thereby performing functions such as work, amplification, attenuation, modulation, demodulation, encoding and the like.

On the most basic PCB, the parts are concentrated on one side and the wires are concentrated on the other side. Since the wire only appears on one side, this PCB is called a single-sided PCB.

The wires of the multi-layer board must have proper circuit connections between the two layers. The bridging between the circuits is called a via. The vias in the PCB can be connected to the wires of each layer and then connected to multiple components.

The PCB makes the circuit miniaturized and visualized. It plays an important role in the mass production of fixed circuits and the layout of optimized electrical appliances, as well as the transmission of electrical signals between circuits. When the circuits are brought together, we also need to consider the current size, creepage distance, electromagnetic compatibility, thermal energy consumption, heat dissipation methods and the location of external connectors.