PCB Glossary and PCB Prototype

[Peter000]

Firstly, Let's learn some glossary of PCB

CAD: Computer Aided Design.
CAM: Computer Aided Manufacturing.
CAM Files: The files used for manufacturing PCB including Gerber file, NC Drill file and Assembly Drawings.
Ceramic Ball Grid Array (CBGA): A ball grid array package with a ceramic substrate.
Chip-on-Board (COB): A configuration in which a chip is directly attached to a printed circuit board or substrate by solder or conductive adhesives.
Chip: The individual circuit or component of a silicon wafer, the leadless form of an electronic component.
Component Side: The Side of a PCB on which most of components are mounted.
Coating: A thin layer of material, conductive, magnetic or dielectric, deposited on a substance surface.
Coefficient of Thermal Expansion (CTE): The ratio of dimensional change of an object to the original dimension when temperature changes, expressed in %/oC or ppm/oC.
Contact Angle (Wetting Angle): The angle between the contact surfaces of two objects when bonding. The contact angle is determined by the physical and chemical properties of these two materials.
Copper Foil (Base Copper Weight): Coated copper layer on the board. It can either be characterized by weight or thickness of the coated copper layer. For instance, 0.5, 1 and 2 ounces per square foot are equivalent to 18, 35 and 70 um-thick copper layers.
Corrosive Flux: A flux that contains corrosive chemicals such as halides, amines, inorganic or organic acids that can cause oxidation of copper or tin conductors.
Curing: The irreversible process of polymerizing a thermosetting epoxy in a temperature-time profile.
Curing Time: The time needed to complete curing of an epoxy at a certain temperature.
DFSM: Dry Film Solder Mask.
Die: Integrated circuit chip as diced or cut from a finished wafer.
Die Bonder: The placement machine bonding IC chips onto a chip-on-board substrate.
Die Bonding: The attachment of an IC chip to a substrate.
Dielectric: An insulating medium between conductors.
DIP: Dual in-line package with two rows of leads from the base in standard spacing between the leads and row. DIP is a through-hole mounting package.
Double-Sided Assembly: PCB assembly with components on both sides of the substrate.
DRC: Design rule check.
Dry - Film Resists: Coated photosensitive film on the copper foil of PCB using photographic methods. They are resistant to electroplating and etching processes in the manufacturing process of PCB.
Edge Connector: A connector on the circuit-board edge in the form of gold plated pads or lines of coated holes used to connect other circuit board or electronic device.
Edge Clearance: The smallest distance from any conductors or components to the edge of the PCB.
Electroless Deposition: The chemical coating of a conductive material onto a base material surface by reduction of metal ions in a chemical solution without using electrodes compared to electroplating.
Electroplating: The electrochemical deposition of reduced metal ions from an electrolytic solution onto the cathode by applying a DC current through the electrolytic solution between two electrodes, cathode and anode, respectively.
ESR: Electro-statically applied Solder Resist.
Fine Pitch: Fine pitch is more commonly referred to surface-mount components with a lead pitch of 25 mils or less.
Finger: A gold-plated terminal of a card-edge connector. Also see Gold Finger.
Flux: The material used to remove oxides from metal surfaces and enable wetting of the metal with solder.
FR4: Flame Retardent laminate made from woven glass fiber material impregnated with epoxy resin.
Functional Test: The electrical testing of an assembled electronic device with simulated function generated by the test hardware and software.
Gerber File: Data file used to control a photo plotter.
Ground Plane: A conductive plane as a common ground reference in a multilayer PCB for current returns of the circuit elements and shielding.
GI: The woven glass fiber laminate impregnated with polyimide resin.
Gold Finger: The gold-plated terminal of a card-edge connector. Also see Finger.
HDI: High Density Interconnect.
Hermetic: Airtight sealing of an object.
In-Circuit Test: Electrical test of individual component or part of the circuit in a PCB assembly instead of testing the whole circuit.
Hole Density: The number of holes per unit area on a PCB.
Interstitial Via Hole: An embedded through-hole with connection of two or more conductor layers in a multilayer PCB.


As the technology advancement in PCB Prototypes and Prototyping becoming more in the last few years, the old methods of using photo-resist  developer and ultra violet light has been now confined to mass production of PCB. Electronics hobbyists and students will definitely welcome the use of PCB transfer film in the making of simple PCB Prototypes.
In a few short steps you can produce your own PCB Prototypes in minutes using Press-n-Peel PCB Transfer Film. Press-n-Peel offers you the ability to take magazine or computer generated PCB layouts, and either photocopy or laser print them onto the Press-n-Peel Film, and subsequently transfer that image onto copper clad printed circuit board material by using an iron. Peel off the layer and etch the board in ferric chloride and you have a high quality printed circuit board in minutes.

The steps below illustrates the simplicity of this PCB Prototypes method.
1) Photocopy or Laser Print circuit image onto the dull side (emulsion) of Press-n-Peel Image Transfer Film.
Prepare: Clothes Iron, Steel Wool #00 (or SOS/Brillo with all the soap washed out), Packaging Tape,Photocopy or Laser Printed Circuit Image.
2) Cut Press-n-Peel, leaving a 1/4" border around the circuit image. Cut board to size. Clean copper board with steel wool, S.O.S. or Brillo pads. Rinse cleaned board with soap and water. Be sure to remove all soap residue. Dry thoroughly with lint-free cloth. Be sure to scrape any burrs that appear on the edge of the board that may have resulted from the cutting/shearing process. Burrs tend to keep the iron from making solid contact with thePress-n-Peel Film.
3) Place Press-n-Peel with image face down onto clean copper board. Iron the Press-n-Peel Film to the board a peice of plain paper between the iron and the film to reduce friction. Temperature setting on the iron is critical, and dependant upon your laser printer or photocopier. Suggested starting temperature is 275-325 degrees F. Iron setting is generally "polyester". Iron temperatures vary. Iron until board has completely and fully reached the temperature of the iron. Time varies with the size and thickness of the board. Generally this is 1.5 to 10 min. DO NOT USE THE STEAM SETTING!
4) Quench the board/film combination under cold running water. Peel the film off. To remove small "fills" in between traces and "filled donuts", cover the imaged copper board with clear packing tape, and then remove. This will pull all unwanted filled areasoff the board.
5) After removing "fills", trim the board (if necessary) to the final size. Wash the board in soap & water before etching to remove surface oxidation . Etch with Ferric Chloride (Note: Techniks does not sell PCB etching supplies -- available through local electronic supply stores & Radio Shack)
6) Using steel wool, scrub the Press-n-Peel image off as to reveal copper traces. This is best done under running water. Suggestion: Do not do this until your ready to drill and populate the board. The Press-n-Peel transfer resist protects the board from oxidation.
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[sorvillo]

very valuable information for me. Thanks a lot!