Making PCBs More Reliable - Miracle Electronics

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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
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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 PCBs 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
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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
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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/