(This article was first published in the May 2008 edition of PCB Sourcing.)
Laying the Foundations
If you are building a house, you first have to ensure the foundations are right. It’s quite usual, as it happens, for the local building regulations to insist that said foundations are up to the required standard before permission is granted for the building of the house to continue.In fact, an inspection is required at the preparation stage.Prior to that, planning permission is needed for the site and the proposed method of manufacture to ensure everything the builder intends to do conforms to the aforementioned building regulations in force at the time.
What has this got to do with printed circuit manufacture you may well ask?
Well, contrary to the all too popular misconception that PCB manufacturers take a piece of base laminate, dip it in a tank of some magic chemical, and then pull out a finished circuit board after some few minutes dwell time, the production of quality PCBs requires planning, many and varied processes and procedures, and lots and lots of inspection (see Appendix A).
