Your Premier Blue PCB Manufacturer in China

Why Choose PCBMay for Your Blue PCB

PCBMay has vast knowledge and expertise in manufacturing blue PCB. We are famous as one of the best PCB assemblies suppliers and manufacturers offering reliable printed circuit boards with various colors in China. 

Blue PCB resembles Arduino blue color. Compared to green and red printed circuit boards, it has a shallow contrast between planes, empty spaces, and traces. The magnification of the blue solder mask color is mandatory and necessary for inspecting manufacturing fails. 

If you’re a PCB designer, blue PCB is the best option when using a board with the label. It is the best choice to match the solder mask color with your Arduino. 

At PCBMay, you can find the correct blue PCB for your design. We are your trusted partner when it comes to your blue PCB need. Along with our professional and skilled technical engineers, our team can help you consider your application requirement, credibility, and product life span. 

If you’re looking for a reliable one to manufacture and customize your blue PCB, you are in the right place. We have a skilled production team and engineers to design, manufacture, and customize your blue PCB requirements. 

We are utilizing advanced and high-tech production equipment to produce your blue PCB requirements. PCBMay stocks a wide range of blue PCBs in our warehouse, and all are ready to ship worldwide. 

Since we are committed to customer satisfaction, we prioritize on-time delivery, reliable products, and qualified production, which our clients deserve. PCBMay blue PCBs are accessible at low cost without compromising the quality. 

Trust PCBMay now!  Together, we will build an excellent partnership in the future!

Blue PCB: The Ultimate FAQ Guide

In comparison to other PCBs, such as the green PCB, the use of blue PCB is less frequently seen.  We are one of the leading printed circuit board manufacturers in China, and we receive a lot of inquiries regarding blue PCB. As a result, we decided to create a FAQ about it.

What Is A Blue PCB?

Blue PCB facilitates the sharing of data or control connections into a working piece of hardware. They provide electrical connections as well as mechanical support using conductive channels.

Blue PCB

The circuit boards are blue not because their dye or paint is blue, but because they resemble a soldering mask. The blue color matches the solder mask, which covers the copper cables on the circuit board. It looks similar to the Arduino blue.

However, they are well-known for more than just their appearance. The difference between planar traces and empty regions is tiny.

The magnification is required in a blue solder mask because it improves the identification of production flaws.

That’s why when you are building complicated circuits and electrical devices such as RC robots, you should choose blue PCB circuit boards.

What Are The Characteristics Of The Blue Printed Circuit Board?

Blue PCB has many similarities to other PCB. Some of the distinctive characteristics of blue PCB, however, stand out. The features of a blue PCB are-

• Power and communications can be routed across hardware components using a blue PCB circuit board.
• Electrical components are applied to the top of the blue PCB using solder, which is used by the designers.
• It enables designers to accurately extract any stretched parts from the blue substrate without affecting the others during repairs.
• You can easily detect the metals on the blue surface of the PCB.

Features Of Blue PCB

What Are The Applications Of Blue PCB?

A unique aspect of blue PCBs is that they are very efficient. That is why they are widely used in many electrical components. You can implement a blue PCB in these particular fields-

• The healthcare and medical industries
• LED lighting
• Electronics consumer product industry
• Machinery
• The Aerospace Industry
• Marine-based industry
• Vehicle and parts industry
• Safeguard Equipment Market
• Electronic communications
• Defensive/military

What Are The Advantages Of Blue PCB?

While it is known to be unique and efficient, it is considered to be the ultimate top pick for many electronics manufacturers. It has advantages. If you are considering buying a blue PCB, these are the advantages-

• Reducing wire while being compact
• Simple repair
• Very easy to identify metal on the circuit board
• Eliminates extra steps
• Looks better than other printed circuit board
• Reliability
• Flexible

What Are The Different Types Of Blue PCB Boards?

Like other types of PCB, blue PCB also has variants. These variants make them more useful and easy to work with. The following types of blue PCB are available on the market-

• Single-Layer PCB
• Double-Layer PCB
• Multi-layer PCB
• Rigid PCB
• Flexible PCB

How Does A Blue PCB Work?

The PCB full form is a Printed Circuit Board. If you observe a blue PCB, you will see a ‘Blue board’, ‘Lines’, and ‘Pads’ which are connected to different points together. You can make connections with various electronic components with the blue PCB by soldering the metals.

You can check out this video if you want to know how a blue PCB works in detail.

Working Process Of A Blue PCB

You will see that the blue PCB is shaped like a sandwich because of the layers of various materials that are stacked on top of one another.

Layers Of A Blue PCB

● FR4

The base material you will see is called FR4. It gives the blue PCB rigidity and thickness.

● Copper

The very next layer you will notice is a copper foil which is glued to the board.

● Solder mask

A solder mask is a color given to the topmost layer. This layer imparts a pleasing blue color to the PCB.

Solder Mask Of A Blue PCB

● Silkscreen

The letter you can see on the Blue PCB board is called silkscreen. This layer adds letters, numbers, which makes it easy to assemble, and indicators for the users to understand the board better.

Silkscreen Of A Blue PCB

A blue Printed Circuit Board, commonly known as a blue PCB, physically supports the electrical parts listed above and joins them via the use of conductive pattern signal lines etched from copper sheets bonded and soldered to the board.

What Is The Manufacturing Method Of Blue PCB?

Blue PCB is manufactured in a variety of ways by different industries. They prefer to go for the most cost-effective way without sacrificing quality to cut costs. If you want to manufacture a blue PCB, you should consider the steps below-

● Design and Output

You should design the PCB layout. There is a lot of software available such as Eagle, Altium, etc.

● File to Film

Once your design is approved, manufacturers will use a special printer called a plotter to make photo films of the PCB.

● Printing Inner layers

First, the copper layer will be laminated. This layer must be cleaned. Then the manufacturers will remove the unwanted copper.

● Layer Alignment

After cleaning the copper, the layers need to be aligned for the next stages.

● Drill

After aligning the layers, the drilling process begins. The board is drilled to 100 microns in diameter.

PCB drilling

● Final Etching

The excess copper is removed once again while the tin secures the copper layer.

● Solder mask

The panels are cleaned and covered with blue epoxy solder mask ink. The board then undergoes UV light. In this layer, your designed PCB will get a blue color.

● Silkscreen

Finally, the silkscreen step is needed to print symbols or letters for your blue PCB.

How To Drill Vias Through A Blue PCB?

The printed circuit board drilling is a complicated and critical process. It must be executed with the appropriate tools and engineers.

PCB Drilling Tool

You have to use drill bits that are around 0.05 mm in diameter. Then you can start drilling holes through the copper pads on your PCB.

Electro-coating

After drilling holes, apply copper in the drilled holes with electro-coating.

Via Holes

A via is a plated-through hole in a PCB that is used to join a trace on the top surface of your PCB to other traces located deep inside your board.

You must have maximum negative tolerance while drilling vias in your PCB. You can use an annular ring if needed.

Via Holes In Blue PCB

We recommend you watch this video to get a better knowledge of how to drill vias in blue printed circuit boards.

How Much Does A Blue PCB Cost?

One of the reasons the blue PCB is preferred is because of its price. Of course, the price is not fixed. It can vary on different factors like base material, copper quality, layer, board quality, thickness, etc. These factors, however, increase the quality of the blue PCB and the price also goes higher. As the top PCB manufacturer in China, we can provide blue PCB at $0.5-$2.00 per piece.

What Is The Standard Thickness Of A Blue PCB?

The standard thickness of a blue PCB is considered to be 0.062 inches.

Though you can customize this thickness depending on your choice of the fabrication process and assemble. In a Multilayer blue PCB, you can laminate different thicknesses of boards and assemble them.

The thickness of blue printed circuit boards is influenced by these variables-

• Board material
• Vias types
• PCB layer numbers
• Drilling tools
• The thickness of the copper layer

How To Choose A Blue PCB Material?

A printed circuit board (PCB) holds the circuit and electronic components using a sheet, pads, and layers of copper laminated. The quality of the material used to construct a blue PCB can have an impact on the overall quality of the electronics. To choose a good blue PCB material for your product, you must know the choice of the materials.

Circuit Board Material

This is the base of a blue PCB. Other components such as copper, silkscreen, etc. are laminated in the circuit board. You can choose your blue PCB board material based on dielectric constant, DK.

Lamination

Lamination is the process of stacking layers of a material and joining them to make PCB more powerful and easy to use. The laminates properties are the thermal expansion coefficient, Tg and CTE. FR-1, FR-4, CEM, and Teflon are the dielectric commonly used in laminates.

Copper

Copper is applied in PCB because of its conductivity. Choosing good quality copper can make your blue PCB high speed and expensive.

Substrates

The substrate is a platform to hold all the components of a PCB in its place. The quality of substrates determines how a PCB performs. There are different types of substrates used over time in PCB. The most common substrate is ‘Fiberglass’. Flexible polymers are also used as substrates.

What Are The Design Parameters For A Blue PCB?

Due to the large number of variables involved in blue PCB design, you may be unfamiliar with the parameters. This initial stage will describe how your PCB will appear, how it will function, how it will hold the parts, where it will be placed in your product, and the size.

Concept

After you find out what type of blue PCB is needed, your next step would be identifying the board’s final concept. This first step will define how your blue PCB is going to look, the performance, how it will hold the components, its placement in your product, and the dimensions.

Schematic

The next step is to draw the circuit based on the final concept. This schematic will contain all the data needed for the electrical parts of the board to function properly and also the part name, rating, manufacturer part ID, and value.

Board Level Block Diagram

After the schematic step, you will do a board-level block diagram that is a drawing that describes the final dimensions of your PCB.

Positioning of Components

This step will determine where the parts will be placed in your blue PCB. You may need to go through many rounds of revisions to get the component placement just right.

First Pass Routing

In this step, you have to determine the routing priority and the routing of the circuit in your blue PCB.

Testing

Following the completion of the design, you should conduct a series of tests to verify that your blue printed circuit board (PCB) fulfills all the requirements. The design will be complete if it passes the test; if it fails, you will have to go back through the stages where you’ll have to make changes.

How Are The Inner Layers Separated On A Blue PCB?

Your blue PCB can fail due to inner layer separation. To create a functional PCB, you must lookout for the inner layer separation and how they cause it.

Causes of Inner Layer Separation

There are two main reasons for the separation of the inner layer: copper bond failure and excessive debris.

Copper Bond failure

On some PCBs, the inner copper layer does not successfully connect to the circuitry. This may occur when the bond is subjected to high levels of stress or heat.

Having a thick and large hole design on a blue PCB makes it more vulnerable to copper Bond failure. This problem is becoming more frequent nowadays because technology is evolving, as is the thickness of the board used in the manufacturing process.

Excessive Debris

During the process of drilling holes, debris can seep into the connecting hole. Small particles like inorganic fillers can make up these holes. Cleaning is an important step of the manufacturing process, yet it is often neglected or ignored completely.

How to Prevent Inner Layer Separation

Preventing the inner layer separation in your blue PCB is a must.  Though you may not see the separation during testing as they happen during stress.  They are most likely to occur during the PCB assembly process.

However, you can reduce the risk of inner layer separation by following these steps.

• You can use materials with high-temperature resistance
• You can use high-quality materials, drilling parameters for your blue PCB to reduce the risk of inner layer separation.

What Is The Procedure For Assembling A Blue PCB?

Printed Circuit Board (PCB) assembly is the method of connecting electronic parts with the printed circuit board wiring.  The last step before utilizing a fully functional electronic device is to connect the electronic components to the printed circuit board.

PCB assembly is a critical operation.  The assembling of PCB is a critical step in the technology sector. Therefore, you should take adequate care, pay attention to the details, and be as accurate as possible.

The assembling process of the PCB may be accomplished in three approaches.

Blue PCB Assembly

Surface Mount Assembly (SMT):

Many blue PCB assembly companies depend on this technique for the majority of their operations. The electrical components that have metal tabs are soldered to the blue printed circuit board (PCB).

However, with efficient soldering techniques, this approach allows for greater circuit density since the components are attached to both sides of the blue PCB, rather than just one side.

Plated Through-Hole

These methods use lead-tipped components. It is necessary to utilize blue PCBs with holes drilled into them. Because the leads are effectively placed into the drilled holes, it is simple to construct the printed circuit board with the components on board.

Electro-Mechanical Assembly

Box build assembly is another term for this technique.  This method utilizes the parts like wire harnesses, custom metalwork, molded plastics, looms, and finally cable assembly to assemble the blue PCB with the electronic component.

Why Does A Blue PCB Differ From A Green PCB?

The blue color of the PCB used for the solder mask corresponds to the Arduino blue color. Comparing the blue PCB to the green PCB, the distinction between spaces and traces is minor.

Blue color can indicate solder mask magnification and it is essential to detect manufacturing flaws.

The contrast between the solder mask and the Silkscreen is quite significant, which is advantageous when using the blue color as an accent. In this case, if you want to use blue PCB for a board with labels, you have made the right decision.

Furthermore, it is a great option if you’d like to match the solder mask color with the color of your Arduino.

Blue Solder Mask

How To Specify The Impedance Control Of A Blue PCB?

It is important to ensure that your blue PCB board provides the excellent performance that you require while working with blue PCB. The impedance of the board on which you are working is an important factor to take into consideration.

Controlling the impedance of your blue PCB will enhance the functioning of your board. To begin, you must understand the variables that can have an impact on impedance control.

Trace Width

The trace width on a blue PCB is equal to the width of a copper foil and its coating. When the trace width is increased, the impedance decreases.

Copper Thickness

The copper thickness affects the impedance of the PCB. If the copper thickness increases, the impedance falls.

Dielectric Thickness

The dielectric thickness is the thickness of the insulating material that separates the traces on a circuit board. The impedance increases slightly when the thickness of the dielectric is increased by a significant amount. The relationship between the dielectric thickness and the impedance is logarithmic.

Dielectric Thickness

Dielectric Constant

The dielectric constant of a PCB tends to fluctuate inversely with frequency. A blue PCB with a steady and low dielectric constant is ideal for high frequencies and low control impedance. A higher dielectric constant may have unexpected effects on impedance since it is more difficult to measure.

Several factors you need to specify in order to determine the impedance of a blue printed circuit board (PCB).

• Target impedance
• Trace height
• Control trace spacing (the distance between copper components)
• Trace width
• Layers the impedance traces are on

How To Test The Assembly Of A Blue PCB?

Assembly testing techniques of PCB are a vital part of the production process and should not be overlooked. Though different manufacturers use different techniques. These are some of the standard testing methods of blue PCB assembly-

In-circuit Testing

This is the most reliable kind of PCB assembly testing currently available. This testing is often carried out on more powerful connections. This testing is quite costly. Though the cost depends on several factors like board and fixture size.

An In-circuit Testing procedure activates and powers the individual circuits. Although this test intends to provide 100 percent coverage, you will only get 85-95 percent coverage. The fascinating part is that the coverage you get is completely devoid of human mistakes.

In-circuit Testing

Flying Probe Testing

In comparison to in-circuit testing, this testing is less expensive. This test looks for the following things-

• Resistance
• Capacitance
• Diode issues
• Shorts
• Inductance
• Opens

The flying probe testing method is based on the usage of needles connected to a probe that is placed on an x-y grid that is generated using basic CAD.

Automated Optical Inspection (AOI)

The blue PCB is photographed using an automated optical inspection system that utilizes either a single 2D camera or a 3D camera. After that, the program analyses the pictures of your board with the drawings of the board.

Your board will be highlighted for inspection by a technician, who will then run tests on it if it does not conform to the necessary schematic to a certain degree.

AOI Testing

Burn-in Test

This testing exposes your devices to high levels of power, typically at their maximum stated capability. For 48 to 168 hours, the electricity is sent through the board in a continuous loop. If the board fails, the situation is referred to as infant mortality. Armed forces or medical application boards that have higher infant death rates are not the best choices.

X-ray Inspection

This kind of testing is referred to as ‘AXI’. This is a thorough examination instrument, rather than a testing mechanism.

Through the use of this test, an x-ray specialist can detect defects early in the production process by examining the x-ray images.

• Barrels
• Internal traces
• Solder Connections

AXI tests are available in 2D and 3D formats, with 3D providing a quicker testing time.

This inspection can examine components that are normally concealed from views, such as connection and ball grid array packages with shoulder joints below the cheap package. While this inspection can be extremely helpful, it does need the employment of a professional and knowledgeable technician.

X-ray inspection of PCB

Functional Testing

These are the items that are required for functional testing-

• The best types of hardware available.
• UL and other industry standards
• Fixtures

Both the functional test and the factors are often provided by the customer. It will take some time, so if you need to get your product out the door as quickly as possible, it might not be the best choice for you.

Functional testing, on the other hand, may save face while also saving money from a quality and lifespan perspective.

Depending on the conditions, various kinds of functional tests may be performed to evaluate your PCB.

When a PCB functional test is carried out, the functioning of the PCB is validated in the end-use environment of the device under consideration. The criteria for a functional test, as well as its development and methods, can differ significantly depending on the blue PCB and final product.

Testing On PCB

What Is The Blue PCB Packaging Process?

Blue PCB packaging is more than just an aesthetic choice. Blue PCBs, despite their appearance as massive slabs of copper and fiberglass, are surprisingly fragile. As a result, you should use caution while packing your blue PCB.

Anti-Vibration Packaging

The potential of vigorous handling during shipping means that blue PCBs may be susceptible to shock or flex damage.

A PCB may be subjected to shock or flexing as a result. Ample cushioning should be utilized to restrict movement inside the exterior packaging and cover sensitive parts like exposed pins, to avoid accidents.

Compact Packing

Make sure you wrap the delicate objects with elastic material to allow for the effect of vibration to be seen at the component’s toughest section.

Compact Packaging

Floating packaging

They use the compact packing technique very much the same way. With elastic material, you may put a tiny pad on the immediately strained portion of an object and spread the contents’ impact.

Mold box packaging

To accomplish the shockproof impact, this system utilizes the model to create a mold box with the same form as the product and uses it to package the goods. The primary method used for packing tiny, lightweight goods.

Moisture-Proof Packaging

Moisture in the air may harm your blue PCB in many ways. An inadvertent drop of water from above, for example, may transfer a circuit’s trace onto the circuit board, resulting in a short circuit.

To keep your blue PCBs dry, you can keep them in a moisture barrier case with desiccants. Desiccant is used to suck moisture out of the air in the container.

Silica Gels For Moisture Proof Packaging

Conclusion

A blue PCB is appreciated for its visual appeal, as well as the fact that it is extremely simple to work with. When compared to the other PCBs available, the labels are considerably easier to read on a blue Printed Circuit Board.

In PCBMay, we make affordable blue PCBs. You can contact us at any moment if you need help.