Editing Printed circuit board (section)

{{Short description|Board to support and connect electronic components}}
{{Use American English|date=November 2024}}
{{Distinguish|Printed electronics}}
{{Redirect|PC board|the mainboard of personal computers|Motherboard}}
{{Redirect|Panelization|the page layout strategy|N-up}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=November 2024}}
[[File:SEG DVD 430 - Printed circuit board-4276.jpg|thumb|Printed circuit board of a DVD player]]
[[File:PCB Spectrum.jpg|thumb|Part of a 1984 Sinclair [[ZX Spectrum]] computer board, a printed circuit board, showing the conductive traces, the [[Via (electronics)|through-hole paths]] to the other surface, and some electronic components mounted using through-hole mounting]]

A '''printed circuit board''' ('''PCB'''), also called '''printed wiring board''' ('''PWB'''), is  a [[Lamination|laminated]] sandwich structure of [[electrical conduction|conductive]] and [[Insulator (electricity)|insulating]] layers, each with a pattern of traces, planes and other features (similar to wires on a flat surface) [[Chemical milling|etched]] from one or more sheet layers of copper laminated onto or between sheet layers of a non-conductive substrate.<ref>{{cite news |title=What Is a Printed Circuit Board (PCB)? - Technical Articles |url=https://www.allaboutcircuits.com/technical-articles/what-is-a-printed-circuit-board-pcb/ |website=AllAboutCircuits.com |access-date=June 24, 2021 }}</ref> PCBs are used to connect or [[Electrical wiring|"wire"]] [[Electronic component|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 [[Via (electronics)|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 additional design effort to lay out the circuit, but manufacturing and assembly can be automated. [[Electronic design automation]] software is available to do much of the work of layout. Mass-producing circuits with PCBs is cheaper and faster than with other wiring methods, as components are mounted and wired in one operation. Large numbers of PCBs can be fabricated at the same time, and the layout has to be done only once.  PCBs can also be made manually in small quantities, with reduced benefits.<ref>{{cite book | last1=Bhunia | first1=Swarup | last2=Tehranipoor | first2=Mark | title=Hardware Security | chapter=Chapter 2, section 2.6, A Quick Overview of Electronic Hardware| date=2019 | isbn=978-0-12-812477-2 | doi=10.1016/b978-0-12-812477-2.00007-1 | page=36}}</ref>

PCBs can be single-sided (one copper layer), double-sided (two copper layers on both sides of one substrate layer), or multi-layer (stacked layers of substrate with copper plating sandwiched between each and on the outside layers). Multi-layer PCBs provide much higher component density, because circuit traces on the inner layers would otherwise take up surface space between components. The rise in popularity of multilayer PCBs with more than two, and especially with more than four, copper planes was concurrent with the adoption of [[surface-mount technology]]. However, multilayer PCBs make repair, analysis, and field modification of circuits much more difficult and usually impractical.

The world market for bare PCBs exceeded [[US$]]60.2 billion in 2014,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.iconnect007.com/index.php/article/92973/world-pcb-production-in-2014-estimated-at-602b/92976/?skin=pcb |title=World PCB Production in 2014 Estimated at $60.2B |website=iconnect007 |date=September 28, 2015 |access-date=April 12, 2016 }}</ref> and was estimated at $80.33 billion in 2024, forecast to be $96.57 billion for 2029, growing at 4.87% per annum.<ref>{{cite web | title=PCB Market Size | website=PCB Market Size, Share, Trends | url=https://www.mordorintelligence.com/industry-reports/printed-circuit-board-market | access-date=22 December 2024}}</ref>