Making PCBs More Reliable - Miracle Electronics

1. Making PCBs More Reliable - Miracle Electronics Designers are required to pay special attention to their design choices when they are manufacturing PCB assemblies for no matter which industry and application. This is because PCBs are tiny yet the most essential components of any electronic equipment, which is why it is very important that these components are of high quality and highly reliable too. PCB quality versus reliability You may think that a high quality PCB will definitely be reliable too. But, this is not always the case! Quality and reliability are two different aspects, and must be understood well. PCB quality– Every PCB assembly is required to meet certain expectations and standards in every design aspect such as plating thickness, surface finish, planarity, and more. Because all these are

2. measurable quantities, it is easy to check whether the board has met all the requirements necessary for these aspects, or not. It is important to check for all these aspects to ensure the PCB’s high quality. PCB reliability– Reliability covers the entire life cycle of a product, and there are several factors that affect reliability, such as the product design, material variability, and manufacturing process control. Thus, even if the best practices have been followed and all the processes have been carried out flawlessly, there may be variations in the reliability of the PCB if there is different in the design and materials used. And, the reliability can result in PCBs having latent defects. Thus, while quality can be easy to define by identifying if the board complies with standard specifications or not, reliability is not easy to define, as it is difficult to predict how long the PCB will run productively and effectively. How to have a reliable PCB? To have a reliable PCB, here are some things that need to be taken care of. Connectivity should be maintained– For an electronic equipment to function properly, it is important that all electronic components within the equipment are well-connected to one another. For example, within integrated circuits, silicon dies must be connected

3. to metal lead frames with bonding wires, which in turn must be connected to copper pads with solder, which should be connected to one another with vias, traces, and copper pours. All these connections shouls remain intact over the lifespan of the equipment, in order to have a PCB called as a high reliability board. Thermal expansion of every component should be equal– When the PCB temperature rises, every component expands at different rates. Thus, the expansion along the length of the PCB is not the same as the expansion along its width; and this unequal expansion can crack the barrels of through-hole vias in the PCB, thus making it inoperative. So, in order to have a high-reliability PCB, it is important that the materials used within a single board should have matching thermal expansion co-efficients. Vias must be filled– Open vias near pads within a PCB can capture contaminants like flux, which can slowly corrode the copper with time, leading to a disconnection. Also, solder thieving can be caused by molten solder flowing into the via hole from a nearby pad, leaving very little solder for a proper bond between the pad and the components. This is why it is important to fill the via with conductive/non-conductive material, in order to prevent such failures. These are just some of the possible ways to build a reliable PCB. A professional PCB manufacturer from India, like Miracle Electronics, can take up all the important and necessary ways to

4. manufacture a reliable PCB, so that the customers using their boards have a smooth functioning and fault-free procedures. For more Information: https://www.miracle.net.in/