Your Reliable Carbon Ink PCB Manufacturer in China

Your Best Carbon Ink PCB Supplier

PCBMay is a reputable manufacturer of PCB. We have a broad range of carbon ink PCB ideal for various applications. When it comes to your carbon ink board needs, PCBMay is your no.1 choice!

PCBMay carbon ink PCB also called carbon conductive PCB, are versatile circuit boards with carbon ink enforced onto the copper pad. This PCB is used for keypads, keyboards, RF shielding, welding equipment, remote controller, automotive vehicles, industrial engine control, etc.

Our series of PCBMay carbon ink PCB comes in different sizes, thicknesses, weight, features, and capabilities. It includes 4-layer PCB, immersion gold PCB, PCB black conductive adhesive, multi-layer PCB, etc. You can have it at the best prices.

If you want a specific carbon ink PCB production request, we can offer full customizations to meet your requirements. Just send your detailed needs; we will handle the rigorous manufacturing process.

Moreover, even for bulk orders, PCBMay can supply you with carbon ink PCB. We have a large stock of carbon ink PCB products available in our factory, ready to ship anytime, anywhere. All products are thoroughly tested and inspected through our advanced inspection machines and equipment. PCBMay carbon ink printed circuit board is RoHS, CE, SGS compliant, and more.

With more than 12 years of accumulated experience, we specialize in producing the highest quality carbon ink PCB. Our products are well-appreciated in 60+ countries with perfect 24/7 sales technical support and after-sale service.

Besides carbon ink PCB, PCBMay also manufactures PCB board, IC test board, PCB peelable solder mask, hard disk PCB, and more. We are your one-stop-shop solution for all types of PCBs in China.

PCBMay maintains the best manufacturing and operations of carbon ink PCB supplies. If you wish to skyrocket your business, always trust PCBMay!

For your inquiries and orders, please don’t hesitate to contact us today! Our sales representative will accommodate you 24/7.

Carbon Ink PCB: Ultimate FAQ Guide

It has a similar appearance to other kinds of PCB, but it performs specific unique tasks that distinguish it from the competition. This PCB is less expensive while retaining the same level of performance.

They are becoming more popular among manufacturers. More and more people are asking about the Carbon Ink PCB that is used in PCBMay. This article will offer our expertise on carbon ink PCB for the benefit of our clients and others who want to learn more.

What Is Carbon Ink PCB?

Carbon ink PCB (also known as carbon conducting circuit boards) are circuit boards that have carbon ink added to the copper pads. Solder platings like ENIG and HASL are being phased out in favor of this alternative.

Carbon is utilized as a conductor to connect several traces and as a resistor between the traces and the components.

The control of printing, resistance control, and baking are all essential in this kind of PCB manufacturing. Printed carbon can be used on various circuit boards, including rigid-flex boards, flexible circuit boards, and rigid-flex boards.

Carbon Ink PCB

Which Materials Are Used In Carbon Ink PCB?

The lifespan and performance of carbon ink PCB are determined by the materials used to construct it. The electrical characteristics of a PCB, like impedance, resistance, and signal integrity, are thus dependent on the materials employed in its fabrication.

Materials to consider for your carbon ink PCB are listed below:

Silkscreen

On a board, silkscreen is used to display symbols as well as other content such as numerals, marks, characters, and other symbols and information. Information about PCB identifiers and assembly is provided by this layer, which has a functional purpose. The placement of the parts and other factors can be critical to the successful completion of the assembly.

PCB Silkscreen

Solder mask

A solder mask is the plastic coating placed atop copper materials to prevent solder from contacting the copper foil. It is essential for the distinctive green color of PCB. The solder mask serves to shield the conductive copper tracer from oxidation as well as to insulate it.

The kind of solder mask material used is dictated by which it is applied to the copper layer:

• Epoxy Liquid
• DPSM
• LPSM
• CCL

Copper foil

It is composed of a thin coating of copper that conducts electricity. Copper foil production standards comprise AR-type W, STD type E, and ANN-type E. AR-type W is the most common copper foil.

Substrate

This layer is responsible for the structural support and strength of the PCB. This layer is made of FR-4 (glass-reinforced epoxy), a type of epoxy with glass reinforcement.

The abbreviation FR refers to “fire resistance.” Many different types of FR are classified according to their flammability, efficiency, and the substance they are made of.

What Are The Carbon Ink PCB Types?

Carbon Ink PCBs are often categorized according to the frequency of usage, the number of layers, and the substrate utilized. Among the most common Carbon Ink PCBs that you can use in your gadget are as follows:

• High-frequency
• Aluminum backed
• Single-sided
• Double-sided
• Flexible
• Rigid-flex
• Rigid
• Multi-layer

What Are The Applications Of Carbon Ink PCB?

A carbon ink PCB can be utilized in a variety of applications. The two most important uses are as follows:

Printed Carbon Resistors

Precisely controlled replication (PCR) is a viable option for applications that require the duplicate of an intended purpose on a board or other specified substrate. Ink printing using carbon ink may put an arrangement of fixed resistance in almost any size and shape on a flat surface, including a PCB.

Carbon Contacts

Carbon connections are etched with highly conductive ink and may be utilized for various applications, including keyboard connections, LCD contacts, etc.

Although gold-plated boards are more costly than carbon-ink PCBs, both are equally effective. Carbon ink works in the same way as solid gold on a circuit board in that it provides a protected surface contact for touch-key connections.

Carbon Ink PCB Application

What Are The Carbon Ink PCB Advantages?

If you consider using carbon ink PCB in your products, you should be aware of the benefits of using this kind of PCB.

• It is environmentally beneficial since it does not damage the environment’s air, soil, or water.
• They are used in everyday electronic devices, electronic measuring equipment.
• Carbon PCB is significantly less expensive than most other types of PCB while maintaining consistent performance.

Carbon Ink PCB Advantages

What Is The Difference Between Carbon Ink PCB And Hard Gold?

Carbon Ink PCB is frequently used in place of real gold because of the expensive cost of hard gold. Particularly in comparison to hard gold, carbon ink boards offer lower prices and more excellent reliability, owing to the lower manufacturing costs of carbon ink, as well as a more straightforward implementation process.

For example, dried carbon ink is often durable enough to endure more than one million keyboard operations or even more than one hundred insertion activities of edge connectors without exhibiting signs of wear or more excellent resistance.

As additional consideration for carbon pad, it should be observed that the carbon ink circuit interface should have excellent viscosity stability for use in warmer regions. When it comes to cost, it is preferable to use Carbon Ink PCB rather than Hard Gold if your budget is limited.

Hard Gold Plating

What Are The Assembly Processes of Carbon Ink PCB?

Here are the procedures you need to follow to assemble your Carbon Ink PCB:

The Carbon Ink PCB assembly always begins with the most fundamental element of the PCB: the base. The base is composed of many layers, each critical to the finished PCB’s overall functioning. These alternate layers are as follows:

Substrate

The main component of a PCB is the substrate. It is responsible for the toughness of the PCB.

Copper

A slight coating of the copper layer is applied to each PCB’s functional sides to make them more conductive.

PCB Copper Layer

Solder mask

The solder mask is placed at the top of copper foil, and it is this layer provides PCB with its distinctive green hue.

Solder masking is an essential step in the production of Carbon Ink PCB. As a consequence, it prevents copper lines from coming into contact with other conductive materials.  In other words, the solder is responsible for keeping everything within its proper position.

Silkscreen

The PCB has a white silkscreen as the finishing touch. Labels are applied to the PCB  using letters and symbols inside this layer. The purposes of all of the circuit board’s components are more evident after it’s all done.

This video will show you how to assemble your PCB.

How To Design A Carbon Ink PCB?

PCB design has many different factors, which may make the parameters seem strange. The first step will discuss the overall design of your PCB and how it will look, how it will work, be utilized, and where it’ll be placed in your device.

Concept

Your next move once you’ve determined what kind of PCB you’ll need is to define the ultimate idea of the board. This initial stage will set the tone for how your PCB will appear, function, hold components, and more.

Schematic

Next, a circuit must be made to match the final design. All the electrical components on the board will work perfectly. They have access to all necessary information, including part names, values, manufacturer IDs, and ratings.

Block Diagram

Once you’ve completed the design, you will finish your PCB with a final block diagram to write up your circuit board’s specifications.

PCB Block Diagram

Positioning of Components

This stage will decide where all the elements of your Carbon Ink PCB will be positioned. You will need to do several revisions to ensure that you are placing the components correctly.

First Pass Routing

To locate the routing of your circuit board, you’ll need to work out its routing priority and routing in this phase.

Testing

To ensure that your Carbon Ink PCB meets all of the criteria, you should run a test suite after the design is finished. If it works, the design is finished; but if it fails, you’ll go back and redo steps, making modifications to what you’ve already done.

You may use this video to take you through the process of creating your PCB by yourself.

What Elements Are Used In A Carbon Ink PCB?

All the PCB pieces work together to create a functioning system that powers our gadgets. Once you’ve adopted the same logic, you won’t believe putting so many different aspects on a PCB is too strange a concept.

To present you with some standard PCB-mounted electrical components, we will start with some of the most used parts.

Resistors

Resistors are among the most often used elements on PCBs, and while they are relatively easy to comprehend, they are pretty important. Electric flow is blocked by dispersing the excess energy as heat.

Capacitors

Another frequent component seen on a PCB is the capacitor. Capacitors’ purpose is to store electricity and provide it on demand to areas of the circuit that require it.

Inductors

While inductors, like capacitors, store energy, it is generated by the movement of current across them. A coil of wire may be used to make the simplest inductor.

Transformers

Transformers operate to change the voltage of electrical energy while simultaneously transferring the power across circuits. You can call it the voltage that is ‘transforming’.

Transistors

Transistors are amplifiers and electronic switches; in short, they are just simple amplification and switching mechanisms. Various kinds of transistors exist, with bipolar transistors being the most prevalent. The NPN and PNP variants may be further divided.

PCB Transistors

What Are The Processes For Specifying Control Impedance On Carbon Ink PCB?

During the fabrication process, the impedance of PCB traces is measured to ensure that they fall within design specifications. There are a few essential factors that may affect Carbon Ink PCB control impedance:

• The particular location and the typical copper plane’s distance.
• The copper trace thickness and extent
• The solder resists present.
• The electrical property of the base material and prepreg
• Transmission of signals through vias
• The core’s size

Carbon Ink PCB Impedance Control

What Is The Manufacturing Method Of A Carbon Ink PCB?

To ensure performance in manufacturing, the Carbon Ink PCB has a complex process applied to it. Every PCB is manufactured using the same process. Some more procedures are necessary for having additional layers.

If you’d want to manufacture a Carbon Ink PCB, try the following:

• PCB architecture
• Printing project design
• substrate construction
• internal layer printing
• copper stripping
• Inspection
• Laminates in the structure
• making holes
• Plating
• covering the boards with solder mask
• Silkscreening
• Surface treatment
• Testing Process

Carbon Ink PCB Manufacturing Process

What Are The Coating Used In A Carbon Ink PCB?

Conformal coating materials and chemistries vary based on the requirements of your PCB. Here are some of the most often seen ones:

Acrylic Resin (AR)

Conformal coatings such as Acrylic Resin (AR) are widely utilized since they are affordable and cover the most comprehensive spectrum of contaminants. The fact that they have a high degree of electrical properties and can be readily removed makes PCB rework a highly realistic proposition.

Silicone Resin (SR)

Silicone coats provide excellent protection across a broad temperature range and are highly resistant to chemicals, humidity, and salt spray attack. As a result of its rubbery composition, it is not abrasion resistant, although it performs very well when subjected to vibration strains.

Urethane resin (UR)

In addition to being abrasion-resistant, urethane resin (UR) coatings are also humidity resistant and chemically stable. These characteristics enable urethane coatings to be utilized in aircraft applications, which are beneficial for their resistance to fuel vapours.

Epoxy resin (ER)

In comparison to the other conformal coatings, epoxy resin (ER) is unique.  It provides excellent protection against dampness and abrasion; it also protects against contamination.

 Carbon Ink PCB Coating Comparison

How Vias Are Drilled In A Carbon Ink PCB?

A via is a connection between two copper sheets on a PCB. A via is a small punched hole that goes through several adjacent layers; the route is coated with copper, which forms an electrical contact between copper sheets by crossing through the insulation.

The first step is to install copper pads, which are used to drill holes into your boards. After that, inject chemicals into the drilled holes to liquefy the epoxy. After that, inject a chemical into the drilled holes to soften the epoxy. This will make all the copper pad layers far more accessible.

To finish up, use electro-coating to apply extra copper to drywall holes that have been created.

Vias In Carbon Ink PCB

How To Measure Sheet Resistance On a Carbon Ink PCB?

The probe size was selected to accommodate the error caused by unexpected variations in contact resistance, which may be almost equal to the sheet resistance. High-impedance voltmeters are typically used to evaluate the two probes’ current.

Two probes experience continuous current application. One must apply a geometry factor based on the form of the four-point matrix. In use, there are two well-known and simple to implement arrangements: square and in-line.

Researchers may use conductive bus bars that connect to a rectangular sample’s opposing sides to measure sample conductivity.

A number of methods were employed in the testing. Inductive measuring was one of them.

To get a rough measurement of resistance, use probes that are placed far apart and then come back together.

To evaluate the sheet resistance of flex circuits and stiff boards using carbon ink, silver ink, or their combined ink imprinted onto PCB, PCBMay utilizes four-probe testing equipment. This equipment can identify electrical properties, volume resistance, and sheet resistance in a semiconductor material.

What Is The Typical Thickness Of A Carbon Ink PCB?

Carbon ink is usually between 10 and 50 micrometers thick; this is because it is good at conducting electricity, so when printing carbon on the PCB, one should guarantee a gap between the carbon ink and any other printed elements to prevent short circuits, which usually require at least an 8mil disparity for Hoz copper.

PCB Thickness

How Carbon Ink PCB Are Tested?

Testing helps find the most severe mistakes, improve quality and safety, and enhance productivity while cutting costs.

Deciding which test technique would work best in your unique situation and spending constraints may be challenging.

Visual Inspection

The expert will use magnification or their bare eyes to discover solder problems and other obvious flaws such as component position, component positioning, missing components, and discoloration.

Visual Inspection Testing

In-Circuit Testing

For bigger batches and more developed devices, ICT is the most popular testing. Over 90 percent of faults are covered using automated testing.

Automated Optical Inspection

AOI employs single 2D or 3D cameras to capture very detailed pictures of the PCB. These images are then compared to one other and against a database of excellent and poor board examples.

What Are The Disadvantages Of A Carbon Ink PCB?

Carbon ink PCB is a unique kind of circuit board that has almost no drawbacks. One major drawback of carbon ink PCB is that the cured and dried carbon conducting ink has to resist process processes such as solvent washing and soldering without losing adhesion and conductivity. As a result, additional attention and various cleaning procedures should be addressed while constructing carbon ink PCB.

What Is The Carbon Ink Printing Process On a PCB?

In comparison to the PCB’s production method, carbon ink printing is different. The technique is quite comparable to silver ink PCB fabrication, although it differs in a few ways.

• Operators must wear gloves at all times.
• Any surface on which instruments are used has to be free of dust and dirt.
• When a test is run, screen-printing speed, as well as the speed of the ink’s return to the suction system, are all in the ideal range for optimal printing.
• Get the screen stencil, scraper, and carbon oil ready according to the engineer’s specs.
• Before the carbon ink is used, it should be well mixed using a viscometer to ensure its viscosity is within the expected range, and the ink should close promptly after usage.
• All PCB boards have to be scrubbed down with various contaminants, including plate grease, oxide, or other contaminants before they can be printed. QA must clear all carbon plates before being put into production.
• At 45 minutes, it takes just 150oC to dry carbon printed PCB boards. Carbon ink drying time takes 20 minutes and 150oC.
• After unloading, the operator should tell the quality control department to run carbon resistance and adhesion tests.

Carbon Printing Process On PCB

What Factors You Should Consider While Selecting A Good Carbon Ink PCB Manufacturer?

There are several obstacles to finding a reputable Carbon Ink PCB manufacturer. But if you are short on time or don’t want to spend a lot of work, you may try considering the following:

• The design of your board
• How they are addressing the thermal relief concerns
• You should make sure they are using the proper components.
• The process of their parts integration
• The service price
• How long it takes to manufacture your PCB
• PCB delivery mode

Conclusion

You have some more choices and room to work with the Carbon Ink PCB. The Carbon Ink PCB is compact, cheap, ultralight, and very efficient.

We hope that you have a better grasp of the PCB after this FAQ guide. PCBMay is China’s number one provider of carbon ink PCBs. If you need any information about the Carbon Ink PCB, please don’t hesitate to reach out to us. Our expert will answer any query you have.