CHAPTER 5 – Making Printed Circuit Boards

This chapter describes the making of printing circuit boards (PCB). One of the first steps in making a printed circuit board is to generate an artwork for each signal layer of the board. Many factors affect the quality of printed circuit board. For instance, the higher the quality of a printer, the finer line resolution can be achieved on circuit board. When making a single-sided PCB, artwork represents the bottom side of the circuit board. Through-hole components are inserted from the bare side through to the side with copper circuitry. It is suggested that when making a single-sided board, the artwork should be printed normally. It is very important that all the pads of the vias line up with their mates so that there is no problem when drilling and inserting the barrels. It is found that tin-plating is used to protect the copper surface of a circuit board from oxidation and to provide better solderability or solder wetting. Further, the chapter describes drilling and shaping the printed circuit boards.