PCBA Tech - Impact of 5g on PCB assembly industry

It is expected that the impact of 5G on electronic equipment should not be underestimated. From faster data rate to more data traffic, the impact will be huge. Importantly, manufacturing innovation needs to be able to handle this scale and quality. From transportation to industrial applications, from mobile phone connection to entertainment applications, its impact will be everywhere. PCB assembly industry is no exception.

At present, the influence of 5G in various industries has been exposed. With the publication of 5G patent charging standards by various technology giants, the official has clearly proposed to ensure the launch of 5G commerce and the landing of boots, so as to dispel the doubts of the market.

5G layout is the main industry line in the future. According to the in-depth investigation of the industrial chain, with the replacement and upgrading of 5G base stations and other equipment, the PCB in the upstream component link benefits the most, and the application increment is significant. Shengyi technology is also concerned as a supplier of ipcb because it has the production capacity of high-frequency PCB materials. 5G most beneficial industry PCB.

One of the main impacts of the emergence of 5G will be the requirements for smaller and smaller designs, so there is a need for high-density interconnection with thin plate routing. Improper handling may result in signal performance degradation. Signal transmission will not only be delayed, but also affect the data flow. Therefore, manufacturers need to ensure that the design is well implemented to prevent any of these problems. To a large extent, this problem is solved by using an improved semi addition process (commonly known as MSAP) because it can accurately form the trace, resulting in better impedance control.

In the traditional reduction process, the chemical treatment for the vertical etching line also dissolves copper in the horizontal direction along the trace, and a trace with higher accuracy is formed in a vertical line with rectangular cross section by using MSAP. It can not only maximize the circuit density, but also reduce the signal loss.

Whether using MSAP or traditional tools, AOI or automatic optical inspection tools need to be used to check various defects of PCB. So far, automated best detection has been used to test PCBs and point out any defects. This is done by checking the cam design and then ensuring that the design is reproduced. For circuit boards supporting 5G, additional capacity needs to be provided through the AOI system, which can check potential defects by measuring the top and bottom wiring wires. Recently, PCB manufacturers have been able to take advantage of 2D metrology technology. In this way, higher impedance control can be realized, and high throughput and high sampling rate can also be realized. In addition, through advanced AOI system integration, PCB manufacturers can combine AOI processes on a single platform to achieve high efficiency in terms of time and manpower. This is in contrast to the need for valuable floor space to put a variety of tools together. An additional difficulty is that whenever the panel is measured manually and production stops, valuable time will be wasted.

Fortunately, although the AOI system continues to evolve and provides PCB manufacturers with this ability to combine multiple processes on a single platform, advanced AOI workflow can also include verification process. Conversely, there is no need to use a separate system to find PCB defects. This is particularly important considering the fact that validation is very resource consuming, usually more than three times the inspection process. In addition, since the use of 5G requires additional verification, if manufacturers use traditional tools, they will invest a lot of resources. Whether through floor space or manpower, it will lead to a significant increase in costs. However, in the new method, the use of artificial intelligence can ensure that false alarms are filtered out. The operator can then focus on those defects that can be solved using an automatic optical shaping system. This in turn saves time and effort in moving each panel to the verification station. Not to mention the risk of panel damage caused by transporting each panel. A single centralized remote multi image verification station can solve all these problems.

Another benefit of the combined AOI system is that it facilitates data aggregation and analysis. In turn, this means that PCB manufacturers can easily obtain relevant insights from the aggregated data, which helps to make decisions quickly. Through the integrated AOI workflow, it is also easy to track PCBs and isolate any defective PCBs. This in turn eliminates a lot of trouble that can be caused when a defective PCB is deployed to any device.

Although it will take some time to implement 5G on a large scale, the fact is that every industry, including PCB manufacturing, needs to be prepared for upcoming changes. If the operation is correct, PCB manufacturers can benefit from the fact that PCB inspection and verification achieve very high accuracy and can easily track defective PCBs. Needless to say, every aspect of this will bring cost-effectiveness and provide a great competitive advantage.

It is estimated that 5G will bring more than 60 billion incremental opportunities to PCB boards. The evolution of communication technology brought by 5G will eventually be reflected in the upgrading and reconstruction of communication facilities, which will inevitably bring growth opportunities to relevant electronic component industries.

As the "mother of electronic products", the profound changes in the downstream will benefit the PCB industry. 5G construction will undoubtedly become an important driving force to drive the growth of the PCB industry in the next 2-3 years. In terms of total volume, first of all, the replacement wave caused by 5G drives the blowout demand for PCB board shipment. The Ministry of industry and information technology expects that 5G mobile phones will be launched in the second half of 2019. Considering that 5G mobile phones still need to be compatible with 4G in the early stage and are more difficult than 4G mobile phones, it is expected that the domestic mobile phone shipment is expected to reach 574 million and 144 million in 2022.

In addition, since 5G needs to use the high frequency band for signal transmission, the number of base stations will increase significantly. There are two ways to add base stations: macro base station and small base station. According to the 2018 white paper on China's 5G industry and application development issued by CCID Consulting, it is expected that the increment of 5G macro stations will reach 3.6-5 million and the number of small base stations will reach 7.2-10 million. The total number of base stations will be 3.3-4.6 times that of 4G base stations, laying a huge growth space.

From the commercial use in 2020, the number of 5G connections in China will reach 428 million by 2025, and the five-year compound growth rate will reach 155.61%. The blowout of data demand forces the communication equipment to improve the data processing capacity, and the corresponding PCB plates are expected to develop into multiple layers, and the price is also increased accordingly. CAITONG Securities said that the changes in base station construction brought about by technological innovation in the 5G era will create a new incremental market for electronic products, and PCB will benefit deeply as the carrier of components. It is conservatively estimated that the incremental space created by 5G for PCB will reach 61.8 billion within five years, and China's PCB industry is expected to usher in massive growth opportunities.

Combined with the popularity of PCB industry, PCB assembly industry will also usher in a new round of demand market. IPCB is a manufacturing enterprise focusing on SMT patch processing, dip plug-in, assembly processing and OEM \ ODM order supporting services. The company has obtained ISO9001, TS16949, 3C and management system certificates. Since the establishment of the company, we have been providing perfect services for customers in various industries, and have accumulated rich experience in SMT processing, PCB assembly processing, OEM / ODM OEM and PCBA processing. The processing field covers industrial control motherboard, camera, communication network, security, medical equipment, photoelectric, image processing, meter module, power control system, etc. We can guarantee your product quality and bring you perfect service. We look forward to cooperating with you!