PCB News - Quickly understand common professional terms in PCBA processing

Quickly understand common professional terms in PCBA processing

As a practitioner in the PCBA processing industry, in order to facilitate daily work, it is necessary to be familiar with common PCBA processing terms. This article lists some common professional terms and explanations for PCBA processing.

1. PCBA

PCBA is the abbreviation of "Printed Circuit Board Assembly", which refers to a series of processing and production processes of PCB board through SMT patch, DIP plug-in, functional test, and finished product assembly.

2. PCB board

PCB is the abbreviation of "Printed circuit board", usually refers to the circuit board, usually divided into single-sided, double-sided, multi-layer board, commonly used materials are: FR-4, resin, glass fiber cloth, aluminum substrate.

3. Gerber file

The Gerber file mainly describes the collection of the file format of the drilling and milling data of the circuit board image (circuit layer, solder mask layer, character layer, etc.). When making a PCBA quotation, the Gerber file needs to be provided to the PCBA processing plant.

4. BOM file

The BOM file is the bill of materials. All materials used in PCBA processing, including the quantity of materials and the process route, are an important basis for material procurement. When making a PCBA quotation, it also needs to be provided to the PCBA processing plant.

5. SMT

SMT is the abbreviation of "Surface Mounted Technology", which refers to the process of solder paste printing, chip component mounting, and reflow soldering on the PCB.

6. Solder paste printing

Solder paste printing is a process in which the solder paste is placed on the stencil, and the solder paste is leaked through the holes on the stencil through a squeegee to accurately print it onto the PCB pads.

7. SPI

SPI is the solder paste thickness detector. After the solder paste is printed, SIP detection is required to detect the printing of the solder paste and achieve the purpose of controlling the printing effect of the solder paste.

8. Reflow soldering

Reflow soldering is to send the mounted PCB board to the reflow soldering machine. After the high temperature inside, the paste-like solder paste is heated to become liquid, and finally it is cooled and solidified to complete the soldering.

9. AOI

AOI is automatic optical inspection. The welding effect of PCB board can be detected by scanning and comparison, and the defects of PCB board can be detected.

10. Repair

The act of repairing defective boards detected by AOI or manually.

11. DIP

DIP is the abbreviation of "Dual In-line Package", which refers to the processing technology of inserting pin components on the PCB board, and then processing by wave soldering, cutting the feet, post-welding processing, and washing the board.

12. Wave soldering

Wave soldering is to send the inserted PCB board into the wave soldering furnace, and complete the soldering of the PCB board after flux spraying, preheating, wave soldering, and cooling.

13, cut feet

Cut the feet of the components on the soldered PCB board to reach the appropriate size.

14. Post welding processing

Post-welding processing is to repair the incompletely welded PCB boards that have been inspected.

15. Wash the plate

The cleaning is to clean the flux and other harmful substances remaining on the PCBA finished product to achieve the environmental protection standard cleanliness required by the customer.

16. Three anti-paint spraying

Three anti-paint spraying is to spray a special coating on the PCBA cost board. After curing, it can be insulated, moisture-proof, anti-leakage, shock-proof, dust-proof, anti-corrosion, anti-aging, anti-mold, and anti-parts loosening. And the performance of insulation and corona resistance can extend the storage time of PCBA and isolate external corrosion and pollution.

17. Pad

Turnover is a place where the surface of the PCB board is widened and the local leads are not covered by insulating paint, which can be used for welding components.

18. Package

Packaging refers to a packaging method of components. Packaging is mainly divided into DIP dual in-line and SMD chip packaging.

19. Pin spacing

The pin pitch refers to the distance between the center lines of adjacent pins of the mounted component.

20, QFP

QFP is the abbreviation of "Quad flat pack", which refers to a surface-mounted integrated circuit in a plastic thin package with wing-shaped short leads on four sides.

21, BGA

BGA is the abbreviation of "Ball grid array", which refers to the integrated circuit device in which the leads of the device are arranged on the bottom surface of the package in a spherical fence shape.

22, QA

QA is the abbreviation of "Quality assurance", which refers to quality assurance. In PCBA processing, it often represents quality inspection to ensure quality.

23, empty welding

There is no tin between the component pin and the pad or there is no soldering caused by other reasons.

24, false welding

The amount of tin between the component pin and the pad is too small, which is lower than the soldering standard.

25, cold welding

After the solder paste is cured, there are fuzzy particles attached to the pad, which cannot meet the soldering standard.

26. Wrong piece

The component position is wrong because of BOM, ECN error or other reasons.

27. Missing parts

The place where the components should be soldered without soldering components is called missing parts.

28, tin slag tin ball

After the PCB board is soldered, there are excess tin dross tin balls on the surface.

29, ICT test

Test the PCBA circuit open circuit, short circuit, and welding condition of all components through the test probe contacting the test point. It has the characteristics of simple operation, fast and rapid, and accurate fault location.

30, FCT test

FCT test is commonly referred to as functional test. By simulating the operating environment, the PCBA is in various design states at work, so as to obtain the parameters of each state to verify the function of the PCBA.

31. Aging test

The aging test is to simulate the influence of various factors that may appear in the actual use conditions of the product on the PCBA.

32. Vibration test

Vibration test is a test that simulates the anti-vibration ability of components, parts, and complete products in the use environment, during transportation, and during installation. It is used to determine whether the product can withstand various environmental vibrations.

33. Finished product assembly

After the test is completed, the PCBA and the shell and other parts are assembled to form a finished product.

34, IQC

IQC is the abbreviation of "Incoming Quality Control", which refers to the quality inspection of incoming materials and the quality control of the purchased materials by the warehouse.

35, X-Ray detection

X-ray penetration is used to inspect the internal structure of electronic components, BGA and other products, and it can also be used to inspect the quality of solder joints.

36. Steel mesh

The stencil is a special mold for SMT. Its main function is to help the deposition of solder paste, and the purpose is to transfer an accurate amount of solder paste to an accurate position on the PCB board.

37. Fixture

Fixtures are products that need to be used in the mass production process. With the help of fixture production, production problems can be greatly reduced. Fixtures are generally divided into three types: process assembly fixtures, project testing fixtures and circuit board testing fixtures

38, IPQC

Quality control in the PCBA manufacturing process.

39, OQA

Quality inspection of finished products when they leave the factory.

40. DFM manufacturability inspection

Optimize product design and manufacturing principles, processes, and accuracy of devices. Avoid product manufacturing risks.

The above are 40 commonly used professional terms about PCBA processing. It is convenient for PCBA practitioners to understand the PCBA processing industry faster. After understanding these commonly used terms, it is also more convenient to communicate with customers, factories, and PCB designers in many aspects.