Printed circuit board

Rare card · No. 49073

A printed circuit board (PCB), also known as a printed wiring board (PWB), is a laminated sandwich structure of conductive and insulating layers, each with a pattern of traces, planes and other features (similar to wires on a flat surface) etched from one or more sheet layers of copper laminated onto or between sheet layers of a non-conductive substrate. PCBs are used to connect or "wire" components to one another in an electronic circuit. Electrical components may be fixed to conductive pads on the outer layers, generally by soldering, which both electrically connects and mechanically fastens the components to the board. Another manufacturing process adds vias, metal-lined drilled holes that enable electrical interconnections between conductive layers, to boards with more than a single side. Printed circuit boards are used in nearly all electronic products today. Alternatives to PCBs include wire wrap and point-to-point construction, both once popular but now rarely used. PCBs require...

Read on Wikipedia · Image Raimond Spekking, CC BY-SA 4.0