PCB or Printed Circuit Board is the traditional name for the bare board of which you supply us with the layout data and which you use to mount your components on once we have delivered it to you.
A printed circuit board, or PCB, is used to mechanically support and electrically connect electronic components using conductive pathways, tracks or signal traces etched from copper sheets laminated onto a non-conductive substrate.
When the board has only copper tracks and features, and no circuit elements such as capacitors, resistors or active devices have been manufactured into the actual substrate of the board, it is more correctly referred to as printed wiring board [PWB] or etched wiring board.
Use of the term PWB or printed wiring board although more accurate and distinct from what would be known as a true printed circuit board, has generally fallen by the wayside for many people as the distinction between circuit and wiring has become blurred.
Today printed wiring [circuit] boards are used in virtually all but the simplest commercially produced electronic devices, and allow fully automated assembly processes that were not possible or practical in earlier era tag type circuit assembly processes.
A PCB populated with electronic components is called a printed circuit assembly [PCA], printed circuit board assembly or PCB Assembly [PCBA]. In informal use the term “PCB” is used both for bare and assembled boards, the context clarifying the meaning.
The IPC preferred term for populated boards is CCA, circuit card assembly. This does not apply to backplanes; assembled backplanes are called backplane assemblies by the IPC.
Back to Technical Terms and Abbreviations
Overview
One of the key concepts in electronics is the printed circuit board or PCB. It's so fundamental that people often forget to explain what a PCB is. This tutorial will breakdown what makes up a PCB and some of the common terms used in the PCB world.
Over the next few pages, we'll discuss the composition of a printed circuit board, cover some terminology, a look at methods of assembly, and discuss briefly the design process behind creating a new PCB.
Suggested Reading
Before you get started you may want to read up on some concepts we build upon in this tutorial:
- What is Electricity?
- What is a Circuit?
- Voltage, Current, Resistance, and Ohm's Law
- Connector Basics
- Soldering 101 - PTH
- Signals
Translations
Minh Tuấn was kind enough to translate this tutorial to Vietnamese. You can view the translation here.
What's a PCB?
Printed circuit board is the most common name but may also be called "printed wiring boards" or "printed wiring cards". Before the advent of the PCB circuits were constructed through a laborious process of point-to-point wiring. This led to frequent failures at wire junctions and short circuits when wire insulation began to age and crack.
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courtesy Wikipedia user Wikinaut A small trace connecting the Reset pad to elsewhere on the board. A larger, thicker trace connects to the 5V power pin.