Printed Circuit Board Basics – An Introduction to the PCB Industry

Citation

Willis, B. (2004), "Printed Circuit Board Basics – An Introduction to the PCB Industry", Circuit World, Vol. 30 No. 3. https://doi.org/10.1108/cw.2004.21730cae.001

Printed Circuit Board Basics – An Introduction to the PCB Industry

Printed Circuit Board Basics – An Introduction to the PCB Industry

Dan BeaulieuUP Media Group

Keywords: Printed circuit boards, Reference

This A5 booklet on printed board manufacture is currently in its fourth edition and is a very useful reference to anyone with an interest in printed boards. It sets out to give a basic overview of board types, materials and production processes in a simple to read format all packed into 70 pages. It is well illustrated with drawings and photographs to outline the manufacturing flow (Plate 1).

Plate 1 The fourth edition of "Printed Circuit Board Basics"

The booklet is divided into seven chapters covering industry overview, specifications, design, manufacture, and managing the business. Chapter 7 offers a glossary of terms included in the book and generally used throughout the industry. Selected images in the glossary held to illustrate the terms and definitions. I guess, the inclusion of more examples in the booklet would be my only suggestion to improve it. Close up views of drilled holes, plated sections and possible some of the defects referred to in the text would be beneficial.

This type of guide takes a lot of time to produce and can be expensive to print and bind, its very high quality and nothing less than you would expect from UP Media Group. At a cost of $35 it makes an ideal booklet to include with any basic workshop on PCB manufacture, as there would be no better simple guide.

Bob Willis