With the continuous improvement of electronic communication technology, more and more traditional quick turnaround PCB production methods are far from being able to meet this era of rapid development. If you want to really quickly produce quick turnaround PCBs with high precision, good performance, and cost savings turnaround PCB, which is undoubtedly the biggest challenge for quick turnaround PCB design engineers.

Quick Turnaround PCB Production Method

There are many methods of manufacturing and processing quick turnaround PCB, but the main manufacturing methods are physical methods and chemical methods:

Physical method: By using various knives and electric tools, manually carve away the unnecessary copper on the quick turnaround PCB.

Chemical method: By covering the protective layer on the blank copper-clad laminate, the unnecessary copper is etched away in a corrosive solution, which is currently used by most developers. There are many ways to cover the protective layer, mainly including the most traditional manual painting method, pasting custom self-adhesive method, film photosensitive method, and the thermal transfer printing quick turnaround PCB method that has only been developed in recent years.

Adhesive stickers: There are various stickers on the market that are made into strips and discs, and different stickers can be combined on the blank quick turnaround PCB as needed, and they can be corroded after sticking.

Photosensitive film: print the quick turnaround PCB diagram on the film through a laser printer, and pre-coat a layer of photosensitive material on the blank copper-clad board (there are coated copper-clad boards for sale in the market), expose, develop, fix, and clean in a darkroom environment After that, it can be etched in the solution.

Thermal transfer printing: Print the circuit directly on the blank quick turnaround PCB through a thermal transfer printer, and then put it into the corrosion solution for corrosion.

Disadvantages of Quick Turnaround PCB Production

Physical method: This method is laborious and has low precision. Only relatively simple circuits can be used. The main disadvantages are labor-intensive and time-consuming, the accuracy is not easy to control, and there is no recovery. It has high requirements for operation, and few people have adopted it so far.

Chemical method: The process is relatively complicated, but the precision is controllable. It is currently the most widely used quick turnaround PCB method, but there are still many problems.

1) The printing accuracy depends on the accuracy of the printer cartridge used. The lines printed by the printer with poor performance are uneven, and it is easy to cause disconnection and adhesion during the corrosion process.

2) The exposure and development time of the photosensitive plate are not easy to control, and the optimal exposure time of each batch of quick turnaround PCBs will be different, which requires repeated trials to master.

3) The control of the corrosion process is difficult: it is impossible for a single-piece corrosion board to be equipped with the professional control equipment used in the mass production of the quick turnaround PCB factory, and the temperature, concentration, and pH of the corrosion solution will have a greater impact on the corrosion quality. If you want to do a good job in quick turnaround PCB, you must accumulate experience many times. Otherwise, material scrap is very serious.

4) The photosensitive plate has high requirements on the environment and must be stored in complete darkness at low temperature, and the exposure process must also be carried out in a darkroom.

5) The finished quick turnaround PCB etched must be drilled by hand, and it is difficult to control the accuracy of manual punching.

At present, the production of quick turnaround PCBs such as electronic digital products, automobiles, and medical products has relatively strict requirements on technology and speed.

How to Judge the Quality of Quick Turnaround PCB?

Distinguish the quality of quick turnaround PCB from the appearance. In general, the appearance of quick turnaround PCB can be analyzed and judged by three aspects;

1. Standard rules for size and thickness.

Quick turnaround PCB has different thicknesses for standard circuit boards, and customers can measure and check according to the thickness and specifications of their own products.

2. Light and color.

The external quick turnaround PCB is covered with ink, and the circuit board can play the role of insulation. If the color of the board is not bright, if there is less ink, the insulation board itself is not good.

3. The appearance of the weld.

Quick turnaround PCB has many parts. If the soldering is not good, the parts are easy to fall off the circuit board, which will seriously affect the welding quality of quick turnaround PCB. It is very important to have a good appearance, carefully identify it, and have a stronger interface. Quick Turnaround PCB needs to meet the following requirements:

1. It is required that the telephone should be easy to use after the components are installed, that is, the electrical connection must meet the requirements;

2. The line width, line thickness, and line spacing of the line meet the requirements, so as to avoid line heating, open circuit, and short circuit;

3. The copper skin is not easy to fall off under high temperature;

4. The copper surface is not easy to oxidize, which affects the installation speed, and it will be broken soon after oxidation;

5. No additional electromagnetic radiation;

6. The appearance is not deformed, so as to avoid deformation of the shell and misalignment of screw holes after installation. Now it is all mechanized installation, the hole position of the circuit board and the deformation error between the circuit and the design should be within the allowable range;

7. High temperature, high humidity and resistance to special environments should also be considered;

8. The mechanical properties of the surface must meet the installation requirements;

How do Quick Turnaround PCB Manufacturers Grow?

Quick turnaround PCB has been used in business since 1948. With the rapid development of the electronics industry, quick turnaround PCB manufacturers have sprung up. Conventional single-sided and double-sided PCBs are far from meeting customer needs. According to statistics in 2017, China’s quick turnaround among PCB products, multi-layer PCBs with less than 8 layers accounted for 41.5%, so how should quick turnaround PCB manufacturers thrive under the pressure of the market?

1. Introducing advanced automatic production equipment.

Quick turnaround PCB manufacturers should continue to expand their own "hard power", introduce advanced production equipment, increase the degree of automation of production, adjust the input of production factors, move closer to the direction of high precision, high density and high reliability, and improve production efficiency.

2. Establish a sound technical management team.

Quick turnaround PCB production is not accomplished overnight, and requires a lot of tedious process steps. Only by establishing a sound technical management team, can quick turnaround PCB manufacturers rationally allocate personnel in each production process, greatly improve the production quality of products, and ensure delivery time.

3. Cultivate a good sense of service.

This is crucial no matter what industry you are in. When receiving inquiries from customers, quick turnaround PCB manufacturers must respond in a timely manner, give reasonable solutions and carefully answer customers' doubts. Cultivating a good sense of service can not only promote cooperation between the two parties, but also help reflect their own strong comprehensive strength.

Under the heavy pressure of market development, if quick turnaround PCB manufacturers can continue to improve in terms of technology and service, they will surely gain more room for development. Looking at the development situation in recent years, a major crisis facing China's quick turnaround PCB industry mainly comes from competitors. Under such circumstances, it has become the general trend to eliminate low-end excess capacity and move towards high-tech products.