1) What is PCB?

PCB is the abbreviation of printed circuit board. PCB is an important electronic component in the electronics industry, and is considered to be a support for electronic components and a carrier for electrical connection of electronic components. This is why printed circuit boards are widely used in the manufacture of electronic products.

PCB has high wiring density, small size and light weight that is conducive to miniaturization of electronic equipment. Due to the repeatability and consistency of the graphics, the wiring and assembly errors are reduced. At the same time, the maintenance, debugging and inspection time of the equipment is saved. It is conducive to mechanization and automated production, which improves labor productivity and reduces the cost of electronic equipment. what’s more, the design can be standardized to facilitate interchange.

2) What is PCBA?

Since PCBA is the abbreviation of printed circuit board and component, so we can know that PCBA is the entire process of PCB empty board SMT (Surface Mounted Technology) and then DIP plug-in.

<1>SMT (Surface Mounted Technology) mainly take the use of  placement machine to mount some micro parts to the PCB board. Its production process includes PCB board positioning, printing solder paste, placement machine placement, over reflow oven and Product testing.

<2>DIP stands for "plug-in", a component that is inserted on the PCB version. This is about the components that in a large size and is not suitable for the integration of components in the form of a plug-in when mounting technology. Its main production processes include adhesive backing, plug-in, inspection, wave soldering, plate printing and finished inspection.

At present, many electronic products use PCBA board and flexible circuit. With the continuous development of electronic intelligence technology, the manufacturing technology of PCBA board is also improving.

3) What is the difference between PCB and PCBA?

PCB refers to the circuit board, while PCBA refers to the circuit board plug-in assembly, SMT process. One is a finished board and the other is a bare board. It is made of epoxy glass resin material and can be divided into 4, 6 and 8 layers according to the number of signal layers. 4 and 6 layers are the most common. Chip components such as chips are attached to the PCB generally. On the other side , PCBA may be understood as a finished circuit board, and the PCBA can be made only after the process on the circuit board is completed.

Briefly, PCB is a bare board and PCBA is a finished board. PCB has no element. And PCBA is the electronic components that manufacturers need to weld and assemble on PCB through SMT or plug-in after they get PCB as raw material, such as IC, resistance, capacitor, crystal oscillator, transformer and other electronic components. After high temperature heating in reflow soldering furnace, mechanical connection between components and PCB will be formed, thus forming PCBA. Generally speaking, PCB is a circuit board without components, and PCBA is a circuit board welded with electronic components.