Your Valuable Consumer PCB Manufacturer in China

Why Choose PCBMay for Your Industrial PCB

Do you want to find a supplier who can help you with consumer PCB layout, manufacturing, and assembly service? PCBMany can offer a one-stop PCB solution for you. Every process is on one roof and we are not outsourcing. The quality is under our control.

We have over 500 workers in our workshop and the monthly production capacity is 40,000 square meters. Even in the peak season, when you have large demands, we can always support you.

There are many consumer products that need to be put into the market sooner, so you need to produce the consumer PCBs very quickly. This is our expertise. We can offer 24h fast service for your prototype of consumer PCB. After you test it is good, then you will place large volume order to us.

Just send your inquiry to us, our sales team will support you.

Consumer PCB: The Ultimate FAQ Guide

There are many times when your mobile or Laptop got disturbed and you take it to the repair center.

After a while when the specialist tells you that there is a problem with your motherboard or you need to change an IC or component then it’s become hard for you to realize what they want to say.

Actually, they want to say that there is a problem with one or more components in the central PCB.

So you can imagine how important PCB is for our everyday electronics products. We will dig deep into PCB.

Consumer PCB

Now we will discuss the consumer PCB and you will read this guide.

Consumer PCB Introduction:

There are many steps to follow when an electronics company or startup launches a product. For example, first, you have to do proper planning for the product you want to launch.

This means that a special plan is needed on why the product is being designed or what it is being designed for.

After that, they have to design the product as per pre-planning. Here one of the important steps is PCB Designing. For this, at first, we have to create a rough design.

Then the final design will be made by optimizing the previous design. Generally in the case of consumer PCB designing, we have to emphasize the size of the PCB.

When a PCB is designed for a portable product, the size of the PCB should be smaller than usual.

So before making PCB, it is necessary to analyze the circuit very well during circuit design or drawing.

In many cases, it is seen that there are various problems in the final product due to not designing the PCB properly, and as a result product quality decreases.

In all these cases the user experience will be not so good. Of course, there will be a bad impact on branding.

Because most electronics companies do not focus on these basic steps and processes, sometimes they face huge losses on some products.

You have to analyze the design prepared by your designer very carefully. If necessary, you have to test the PCB again and again.

For this, you should first contact a PCB manufacturer and make a few sample PCBs.

Then you have to prepare a complete product using that PCB and you have to test that product.

Now you can easily detect faults in the PCB design and instruct your designer to change the design accordingly.

It is easy for the designer to change the design as per the user requirement because now both the product designer and the PCB designer have the access to the test results.

In this way, we can build a great consumer product with a great user experience and tremendous flexibility and practicality.

Big Tech giants and electronics manufacturers follow these steps to build their widely popular devices.

All those devices are so practical that they easily become an essential part of our lives.

Now a lot of opportunities are being created as many advanced types of microcontrollers are entering the market.

These types of microcontrollers are easy to use and long-lasting. As a result, new products can be easily developed with the help of these microcontrollers.

For all these reasons many startups are starting now. Especially IoT-based startups are opening in large numbers.

As a result, the demand for PCB designing and manufacturing is increasing.

Consumer PCB

The number of personal projects is also increasing which means that many people are interested to design customized products only for their own needs or doing it for someone else.

It is expected that by 2040, the demand for PCB designing and manufacturing customized products will increase by 70%.

According to some researchers, internet traffic will grow faster to IoT-enabled devices than any other devices within the next five years.

According to a prediction, 75 billion IoT-enabled devices will be used in near future.

When IPv4 appears it boosts this growing demand many folds even with using some unique methods such as Sharing IP addresses.

So it is clear that consumer PCB demand will increase tremendously in the next few years. As a result, many manufacturing companies will open.

But the main challenge for electronics product designers now is to find good manufacturing companies.

So the PCBs that are made for consumer products need to be made very seriously. This is because most consumer products are used excessively.

The demand for flexible PCBs is also increasing day by day, especially for consumer products.

The main reason for this is that people are now more inclined towards flexible products.

If you look at the big companies you will see that they are in a kind of competition to make their devices flexible.

In a few years, we will see fully flexible smartphones, smart TVs, laptops. But the technology inside the flexible product is as complex as it looks or feels easy to use.

Outside it looks like a product but inside it is a flexible PCB. There are many factors to maintain in the process of flexible PCB manufacturing.

Flexible PCB

Which is not available to most so-called PCB manufacturing companies. If you want to design a flexible PCB for your project, you must choose the manufacturer only after verifying it well.

Previously, most devices used single-sided PCB to 4 layer PCBs. But now as the feature, the complexity of consumer products is increasing, so the use of more complex minimum 6-layer HDI flex boards and rigid-flex boards is also increasing.

Now we will discuss some important points about consumer PCB like what is consumer PCB? What are the advantages and disadvantages of consumer PCB? What are the components of consumer PCB etc?

What is Consumer PCB?

In simple words, consumer PCB is the PCB made for consumer products such as smartphones, smart TV, smartwatch, etc.

Nowadays consumer PCBs are widely used even in a small school or college projects. The demand for consumer PCBs is ever increasing.

Basically, PCB is the board where a whole circuit diagram is physically implemented so that it cloud be used for a device without any problem.

We call it ‘printed’ because as in a printer if you give some document or image it will print a copy of the original document or image on paper here also if you put your PCB design into the machine it will physically print that that design on a board mainly made of plastic or glass fiber or some other material.

Usually, all the wiring is done by a copper-coated track. For flex-PCB and rigid-flex PCB, the baseboard will be made of different materials so that it would be flexible or semi-flexible.

Rigid-Flex PCB

Generally, components are mounted through surface-mounted holes.

Advantages and Disadvantages of the Consumer PCB:

There are so many advantages and disadvantages of consumer PCB. Before you choose consumer PCB you have to be aware of that.

Implementing complex circuits in less space:

Normally it is hard to implement a complex circuit using physical wire and it is also not useable in a small space.

Think if you have to implement a complex circuit in a breadboard

How hard it is to do so.

Moreover, it is not useable in consumer products or devices. But here Consumer PCB makes the revolution.

In consumer PCB copper traces are used to connect all the components.

As a result, It is become easy to create or implement a connection within a compact size which is not possible by using physical wires.

So a great advantage of consumer PCB is its space efficiency.

Ease of Repair:

In consumer PCB it is easy to change components when it is needed. Because all the components are installed through surface-mounted holes.

So if you want to desolder it from the board. In a professionally designed board, all the information such as the name of the electronic components and their polarities is clearly labeled so that it will be easy for a repairer to find out the component easily and repair it easily.

Short Circuit Protection:

The short circuit problem is one of the most common problems of any electronics or electrical product. But the substrate materials of PCB are always insulated.

So each traces and vias are fully safe in a PCB.  There is no chance of a Short circuit issue.

If any components of a PCB stop working it will not able to damage another component. You can easily change that damage component without any fear.

Time-saving:

The traditional methods of making circuit connections and installing components are time-consuming.

Because you have to do it manually and also you have to be careful about the angle of each and every wire you used in connection.

So this is time-consuming and also it is not safe. On the other hand, it is super easy to build a PCB, and assembling components is taking less time than the traditional method.

Movement Restriction:

Components used in a printed circuit board are installed in such a way that it is not easy to move them.

It is one of the great advantages of consumer PCB because so many consumer products we use in our daily lives, they have to tolerate jerking in the time of using them.

Consumer PCB

So even if the PCB board within that product moves a little bit but there is no chance of the movement of components within it.

The solder flux material prevents the movements of each and every component.

Tight Connections:

There is almost no chance of loose connections. Copper tracks confirm that all the connections will happen automatically.

Less Noise:

A properly designed PCB confirms that there will be less noise from the circuit arrangements. If it is not designed properly then noise will cause degradation in performance.

Components on PCBs are organized in such a way that the path lengths of the electrical current between them will be as less as possible.

It decreases the chances of crosstalk in between components and traces.

Low Cost:

The cost of building a printed circuit board is affordable. From the past few years as the demand for the printed circuit board is increasing the cost for making PCB is also decreasing.

If you order a large amount of PCB from any manufacturer they will give you a super affordable price range.

Mass production of PCB is always cost-friendly.

So it is easy for electronics maker to build their product with consumer PCB.

Reliability:

Consumer PCBs are reliable. Because of its reliability different companies try to develop their product by using consumer PCBs.

Disadvantages of Consumer PCBs:

Hard Repairing Process:

Somehow if your PCB is damaged then it is almost impossible to repair it again. Mainly if traces and vias got damaged then it is hard to repair and it is better to replace the whole board than repairing it.

Specific Usability:

Consumer PCBs are designed for specific purposes or functions and they could not be used for other purposes or functions. One should design his PCB for the purpose he wants to use it otherwise he will face problems if he wants to change it later.

Environmental Pollution:

PCB manufacturing process is not environment friendly. Because different chemicals used in PCB manufacturing are not good for the environment. One of the major problems with consumer PCBs is not recyclable and most of the PCBs are made of plastic-like materials which cause pollution.

Limited Application Area:

In consumer PCBs, copper tracks are very thin and they are able to carry limited current only. So PCBs can only be used in those areas where lower current required.

Components of Consumer PCB:

We all know what a PCB is made of. First of all PCB substrate is very important.

Because the PCB foundation is made with it.

Consumer PCB Component Sourcing

This means that the board on which the PCB design will be printed is made of this material.

The copper trace is a very important component of a PCB board because it creates a connection between different components.

However, different types of components are used in boards made for different purposes. Yet some common components are used in almost all boards.

Such switches are used in almost all types of PCBs. LEDs are used as indicators in PCBs. When the current flows in a unit, the LED across of that unit lights up.

Components such as transistors and capacitors are used on all types of boards. Many boards use batteries as supplies.

Resistors are used to control current flow. Diodes are used to direct the current flow.

Consumer PCB Design Process:

PCBs are plastic-made or polyester film-made thin boards. But most commonly used PCB substrates are made of fiberglass epoxy resin. A copper foil will be attached to one or both sides of the board. PCB can be made of copper. In some cases, copper circuits are coated with tin-lead, nickel, gold for better conductivity.

The Consumer PCB Fabrication Process:

The consumer PCB fabrication process is a procedure that transforms our PCB design into a Physical structure maintaining all the specifications mentioned in the design files.

Multilayer PCB Stackup

This process is a combination of few steps. We will discuss all these steps in simple words so that you can easily realize the actual process.

Fiberglass saturation:

First, we have to follow the fiberglass saturation process. Then saturated glass fiber passed through rollers so that roller can give the required thickness to the saturated fiberglass and removes any excess deposits.

Strengthening the fiberglass:

After getting the thin-shaped fiberglass material we have to strengthen it. For that, we have to pass it through an oven. Then cut it into desired sizes.

Copper Foil Binding to Substrate Material:

In this step, the panels cut in the second step will be layered using adhesive copper foil. Then these stacks will be placed in a press at a pressure of 1500 psi and at a temperature of 340 degrees ferrite for an hour or more.

Drilling and Plating of the Holes:

Then we have to put the stacked panels into a numerical control machine and then holes will be drilled according to the desired position decided at the time of board laid out. Now it is time to plaiting the holes. To do so first coat the inside surfaces of the holes with copper because our goal is to provide a conductive hole. For a non-conductive hole, you can use non-conductive materials to coat the inside surface of the hole.

Printing the Circuit Diagram on the Substrate:

To print the desired circuit pattern on the substrate you can follow two methods. One is additive methods and the other is subtractive methods.

Printing the Circuit Diagram

In additive methods, copper will be coated on the substrate surface according to our desired pattern and the rest of the area will remain unplated. Most of the consumer PCBs are printed in this way.

In the subtractive method first, you have to coat the entire substrate surface with copper then according to the design the unwanted places have to be removed i.e. the coating material of those areas has to be removed.

Pressing photo-resist material:

Here our goal is to press a layer of photo resistive material to the surface area of the panels. To do so we have to pass the panels through a vacuum chamber so that a layer of positive photoresist material is pressed firmly onto the entire surface of the foil.

Then by looking at the printed circuit pattern mask on top of the photo-resistant material you will understand that it is almost ready. Now the board with this printed circuit pattern mask has to be kept under ultraviolet rays.

Electroplating:

First, you need to remove the printed circuit pattern mask. Then spray on it with an alkyne spray. This will melt the distorted photoresistor. As a result, the copper foil will now be exposed.

Copper plating:

Copper is plated in the exposed foil area with a thickness of 0.001 to 0.002 inches. Here the foil acts as the cathode. Places that remain photo-resistant do not act as cathodes. Copper is coated with tin-lead or any other deoxidizing material to protect it from oxidation.

Connecting the Contact Fingers:

Now we will attach the contact fingers to the edge of the substrate so that it is possible to connect to the PCB. Now the fingers have to be plated on the board. The three materials used for plating are tin-lead, nickel, and gold.

Sealing and Stenciling:

Each panel will be sealed with epoxy resin to protect it from damage at the time of component installation.

Panel Cutting:

Now we have to cut the panels into pieces to get our desired boards.

Mounting the components:

The first step in activating PCB is to place a component in it. Different PCB boards are designed with different components. So the necessary component mounting is done at this stage.

Mounting Components

Soldering Components:

In this step, we will solder the components we need. If surface mount technology is used, then the board must be going through the reflow process again. So that the solder paste melts and makes a good connection with the components and helps each component to sit firmly.

Cleaning the remaining Flux:

Now the remaining flux needs to be cleaned using water and chemicals. Different types of chemicals are used depending on the type of solder.

Packaging:

The last step is the packaging. In this step prepared PCBs to need to be well packaged. Usually, it is best to use bubble wrap and foam in PCB packaging.

PCB Packaging

Quality Control:

Quality control is very important in PCB manufacturing. For this visual and electrical inspection is done. Some errors are from automated machines.

Such as during component mounting or during automated assembly processes some components may be placed in the wrong place.

During soldering, if an excessive amount of soldering paste is left behind then the two adjacent components or paths can be connected.

Extra amount hits caused by long-time machine operation can distort the PCB board. So we have to check all these things carefully and have to solve them.

Consumer PCB Prototyping:

A prototype PCB is made before a final PCB is made for a consumer product. Engineers test this PCB prototype many times and see if the PCB is able to perform its desired function.

Consumer PCB Prototyping

If the prototype PCB is working properly then more features are added or modified if necessary.

And then the final PCB is designed according to the prototype PCB.

One of the biggest advantages of PCB prototyping is that it helps to understand the efficiency of a product before final manufacturing.

This helps to reduce the error in the final product. PCB prototyping helps to reduce overall project costs.

How Consumer PCBs Work:

Since the consumer PCB has to maintain connections between different electronics components, it has to use copper tracks.

Like other devices, batteries are needed here, but for use in AC, the current demodulation unit is needed, which means that the use of PCBs is made suitable by converting high current to low current.

In PCB, the diode is used to make the current flow in a certain direction or to direct the current to a specific direction.

Resistance is used to control the current flow in the circuit. In PCB light-emitting diodes are installed across different components or units. It is used as an indicator.

For example, if the current flows in a component or unit, then the LED installed across it glows. Capacitors are used to hold electrical charges.

These components are used to meet the desired functions. Switches are used to allow or block the current flow in the PCB.

In addition to these components, more components are used according to the design. Different components are used in different circuits according to the design to meet the desired function.

Materials for Consumer PCB:

Consumer PCBs are made with a variety of materials. The most popular materials are fiberglass and resin. Copper, solder masks, and silk layers are also used. Substrate, Copper, solder mask, silkscreen are used to make four-layer PCBs.

The substrate of a PCB is usually made of fiberglass which belongs to FR4 material. FR means fire-retardant. The substrate layer is called the base of the PCB.

This is the thickest layer of PCB and it gives strength to PCB.

Epoxy and phenolics are also used to create substrate layers. Copper is used in the top layer of the substrate. It is attached to a substrate with adhesive material and heat.

Then we apply a solder mask to avoid the connection with other electrical parts.

Then we need to mark the name and value of all components so that it becomes easy to place components at their exact positions. The silkscreen layer is used for this marking.

Types of Consumer PCBs:

Single-Sided PCB:

A single-sided PCB is basically a single-layer PCB. It has a single-layer substrate as a base. Copper foil is attached on top of it.

A solder mask is used on it as a protective layer. The names and values of different components are marked with the help of silkscreen.

Double-Sided PCBs:

This type of board has one substrate layer and two conductive layers. The conductive layer is located on either side of the substrate layer.

The connection between the two layers is made through holes. In this case, most of the time surface mount technology is used.

Because it allows the components to be attached directly to the surface.

Multi-Layer PCB:

Multilayer PCB has more than two conductive layers.

In a multilayered PCB, there is one core Substrate and the first two layers will be attached to the core substrate with adhesive or high temperature and pressure like a double layer PCB.

Multilayer Consumer PCB

The rest of the layers will be connected with them and will be insulated by thin insulating material.

Multi-layer PCBs are used to implement more complex circuit and wiring combinations. Because of its higher assembly density, smaller size is preferred over the other two types of PCB.

Rigid PCBs:

Rigid PCBs are a type of PCBs which are rigid in nature. The base material of these PCBs is non-flexible. Rigid PCBs are widely used and most consumer devices contain rigid PCBs. Because of its strong base material, it is long-lasting and it is easy to repair.

Flexible PCB:

Flexible PCB is flexible in nature. You can bend it easily. The base material of flex-PCB is flexible. This type of PCB also comes in single layer, double layer, and multilayer formats.

Flexible PCB

As this type of PCB is lightweight and flexible in nature it is widely used in portable devices.

This type of PCB also helps to reduce the device size as it takes very little space.

Rigid-flex PCB:

The rigid-flex PCB is a hybrid PCB of rigid PCB and flex PCB. Many rigid PCBs are used in a rigid-flex PCB. The rigid part of the rigid-flex PCB is usually used for fitting connectors and for installing chassis.

Rigid-Flex PCB

The rigid-flex design helps to increase the capacity of any PCB. The biggest advantage of rigid-flex type PCB design is that it does not require any compromise in the design of the device so that any type of design can be done keeping in mind the convenience of the user.

Consumer PCB Applications:

There are so many applications of consumer PCB.

• Medical devices: Most of the medical devices related to diagnostic, monitoring, scanning machines, etc. use consumer PCB.
• LED Lights: LED has now become an important part of our lives. In almost every field LED is being used in huge quantities. The demand for LED PCBs is increasing day by day.
• Consumer Electronics: Consumer PCBs are used in almost all types of consumer electronics products such as TVs, cameras, mobile phones. Consumer PCBs are also used in home appliances such as refrigerators, microwaves, etc.
• Automotive Companies: Consumer PCBs are widely used in the automotive sector these days. Consumer PCBs are used in entertainment systems, navigation systems, automatic door lock unlocks systems, etc.
• Aerospace Companies: Consumer PCBs are used in different aerospace components such as different components of a plane, space shuttle, satellite, etc.

Consumer PCB has many more applications such as maritime applications, Safety and Security equipment, telecommunications equipment, military, and defense equipment, etc

Conclusion:

Consumer PCBs have now become essential in almost every case. The center figure of all kinds of technology is now the consumer PCB.

With the development of new types of PCBs, it is becoming possible to use consumer PCBs in almost all places.

Consumer PCBs are being used in everything from customized IoT devices to devices used in aerospace engineering.

As the demand for consumer PCBs is increasing rapidly, everyone from the designer to the manufacturer should be careful so that the perfect PCBs can be delivered.