The process of placing and soldering components to printed circuit boards (pcbs).
Base laminate
Main building brick of most pcb manufacturing processes. Copper foil bonded to epoxy glass (et al).
Board thickness
Almost any thickness of pcb can be produced, but 0.8mm, 1.6mm, 2.4, and 3.2mm are the commonest.
Circuit board
Shortened version of printed circuit board.
Circuit boards
See circuit board.
CNC
Computer numeric control.
Component location
Essentially a diagram printed on a pcb to indicate the location and orientation of components.
Component side
A traditional single sided (S/S) pcb has an obvious component side. This is the side components are placed with their legs through component holes to be soldered to pads on the track side.
Copper clad
See 'base laminate'.
Copper weight
In imperial terms, base laminate can be purchased as single sided (S/S) or double sided (D/S) half ounce, one ounce, two ounce, etc. One ounce refers to one ounce of copper per square foot and is nominally 35 microns thick.
D/S
Double sided printed circuit.
Drill file
Electronic data produced from a design package to enable CNC drilling and routing machines to be programmed. Most common file types are Excellon and Sieber Meyer.
Fast turnaround
Circuit boards made and despatched within days rather than weeks of being ordered.
FR4
A standard form of base laminate using copper foil bonded to epoxy glass.
Gerber files
Electronic data produced from a design package to enable the viewing/plotting of the layers required to manufacture a pcb.
Gerbers
See Gerber files.
HASL
Hot air solder level.
Ident
See component location.
Immersion coating
Electroless coating of copper in traditional pcb manfacture to achieve the basis of through hole plating, and/or the electroless deposition of tin, silver, or nickel and gold to pads and holes to offer a solderable finish to the circuitry. Tracks might also be coated in this way for particular reasons.
Layer
Probably the easiest way of visualizing the layers of a pcb is to think of the phototools required to make it. These will compromise up to two component locations and soldermasks, and as many copper layers as required to manufacture the circuit to design.
Legend
See component location.
Multi(s)
Short for multilayer(s) pcb(s).
Multilayer(s)
Typically printed circuit boards with three plus copper layers.
Notation
See component location.
Pad(s)
Parts of a copper layer surrounding holes on the circuitry which may be used for placement and soldering of traditional components, and/or solid areas for the placement and connection of surface mount components.
Pad annulus
Typically refers to the width of the ring of metal around a hole in a pad.
PCB(s)
Printed circuit board(s)
Phototool
A mask used for image transfer of the layers of a pcb.
Plots
The masters for phototools produced from Gerber files.
Prepreg
Uncured layers of epoxy glass used in the build of multilayer pcbs.
Printed circuit board
Generic name of any type of circuitry made in board form.
Prototype
A pcb made and built to test a design.
PTH
Plated through hole.
PWB
Printed wiring board. Essentially an American term now synonymous with PCB.
Quick turnaround
See fast turnaround.
Reflow
A term used to describe the fusing of a tin:lead alloy electroplated onto a circuit. Virtually outmoded.
S/S
Single sided. Just one copper layer on a printed circuit.
Short run
Depends on the size of the manufacturing facility and the size of the printed circuit boards to be made. To Elite Circuits Ltd, a short manufacturing run of printed circuits means from one to tens of panels of pcbs required to fulfil the order rather than hundreds.
Sieber Meyer
See drill file
SMT
Surface mount
Soldermask
A layer of cured ink on a pcb that covers tracks and exposes pads.
Solder paste
Associated with SMT. A paste screened onto a pcb or panel of pcbs to facilitate the placing and soldering of surface mount components. Also used to refer to the Gerber file used to produce the stencil/screen.
Solder side
In S/S terms, the track side as opposed to the component side.
Stuffing
A term still used occasionally to mean assembling.
Tooling
The processes and/or costs of setting up to manufacture a run of pcbs for the first time.
Tracking
Track layer(s) on a pcb.
Unclad
Cured epoxy glass without any copper layer(s).
Elite UK - printed circuit boards manufacturer, manufacturing printed circuits; pcb manufacturer and prototype circuit boards.
Elite Circuits Ltd is a UK based manufacturer of most types of printed circuit boards. And one, incidentally, who does actually make every PCB he delivers. The site of this UK manufacturer is in Cranbrook, Kent. Customers can order just one single-sided pcb, double-sided PTH (plated through hole) pcb, one multilayer pcb, or as many as they like of each type of printed circuit board. Very large quantities of any one design of printed circuit board is not the speciality of this particular pcb manufacturer. Elite Circuits Ltd is a printed circuit board manufacturer specializing in prototypes and short run quick turnaround. The Company can, however, produce quite large volumes of any type of PCB as made at Cranbrook. Every PCB they make, moreover, can be tested to design using their double-sided roving probe bare board tester. Elite's prices are very competitive (especially considering the renowned high quality of their product and the fact that they always keep their despatch date promises). At the prototype and short run end of the market, this PCB manufacturer stands out for his honesty and integrity in terms of the quality maintained and the promises made and kept. The same can also be said when he is asked to manufacture much larger runs as a single batch required quickly or with scheduled deliveries
