This article is mainly aimed at newbies in the PCBA industry or friends who want to enter the PBCA manufacturing industry. In this article, FS Technology will introduce some simple PCB knowledge to you, hoping to help you understand this content.

Classification of PCB boards

single panel

FS Technology believes that this is the simplest and most basic circuit board that all turnkey PCB assembly companies can complete. Its parts are concentrated on one side of the circuit board, and the wires are concentrated on the other side. Because the wires only appear on one side, this kind of PCB is called a single-sided (Single-sided). When the circuit board industry was not very developed, the craftsmanship and production capacity were poor. This board had many strict restrictions on the design circuit (because there is only one side, the wiring cannot cross and must go around a separate path), so this board is used.

Double panel

For turnkey PCB companies, this type of circuit board is no problem. This board has traces on both sides, but to use two-sided traces, there must be a proper circuit connection between the two sides. Such "bridges" between circuits are called vias. Vias are small holes in a PCB, filled or painted with metal, that can be connected to wires on both sides. Because the area of ​​the double-sided board is twice as large as that of the single-sided board, the double-sided board solves the difficulty of the staggered wiring of the single-sided board (which can lead to vias on the other side), and is more suitable for use in more complex circuits than the single-sided board.

Multilayer board

In order to increase the wiring area, single-sided or double-sided wiring boards are often used for multi-layer boards. A printed circuit board with one double-sided inner layer, two single-sided outer layers, or two double-sided inner layers and two single-sided outer layers, alternated by a positioning system and insulating bonding materials and conductive patterns. Printed circuit boards interconnected according to design requirements become four-layer and six-layer printed circuit boards, also known as multi-layer printed circuit boards. This type of circuit board is extremely challenging for PCB manufacturers, and it requires strong PCB manufacturing capabilities to manufacture circuit boards with more layers. The number of layers on the board does not mean that there are several independent wiring layers. In special cases, an empty layer is added to control the thickness of the board. Usually, the number of layers is an even number, including the outermost two layers. Most motherboards are 4 to 8-layer structures, but technically, almost 100-layer PCB boards are possible. Most large supercomputers use fairly multilayered motherboards, but since such computers can be replaced by clusters of many ordinary computers, ultra-multilayered boards are gradually being phased out. Because the number of layers in the PCB is closely combined, it is generally not easy to see the actual number, but it can still be seen if you look closely at the motherboard.

Abbreviations on PCBs

GND

It is a short of the ground end of the wire. Represents the ground or 0 wire. This ground is not a real ground, but an assumed ground for the application. For the power supply, it is the negative terminal of the power supply.

GND (Ground)

It is represented as ground or 0 on the circuit diagram and on the circuit board. GND represents the common terminal, it can also be said to be the ground, but this ground is not the real ground. It is the ground assumed by the application, and for the power supply, it is the negative terminal of the power supply. It is different from the earth. Sometimes it needs to be grounded, sometimes it doesn't, depending on the situation. A ground wire is a wire in an electrical system or electronic device that connects to the earth, enclosure or reference potential zero. In general electrical appliances, the ground wire is connected to the casing to prevent electric shock accidents caused by the destruction of the insulation in the casing. The ground wire is the abbreviation of the grounding device, and the ground wire is divided into working grounding and safety grounding. The protective grounding wire that people use to prevent electric shock accidents when using electronic equipment such as household appliances and offices is a safety grounding wire. More PCB knowledge can be found in the FS Technology PCBA blog.

ANT on the circuit board

The word "ANT" on the board is the antenna element. An antenna is a transformer that transforms guided waves propagating on a transmission line into electromagnetic waves propagating in an unbounded medium (usually free space) and vice versa. The English in the circuit diagram is the abbreviation of abreviation, sometimes used in combination, ant is the abbreviation of anter, meaning "antenna", antsw is the combination of ant (antenna) and sw (switch), which means antenna switch.

rt on the circuit board

Rt is a variable resistor, which generally refers to a thermistor or other variable resistors. Its function is to change its own resistance value according to the surrounding temperature, thereby adjusting the resistance of the entire circuit.

Other board related terms

VDD: supply voltage (unipolar devices; supply voltage (4000 series digital circuits); drain voltage (FET).

VCC: Supply Voltage (Bipolar Devices); Supply Voltage (74 Series Digital Circuits).

VSS: Ground or Negative Supply.

VEE: Negative voltage supply; source (S) of the FET. [h]

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