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What is SMT PCB
In recent years, SMT PCB has become one of the popular and effective methods for producing electronic circuits. This guide will provide you with a detailed understanding of what they are, why companies use them, and what you should pay attention to if you plan to use them.
In recent years, SMT PCBs have become one of the popular and efficient methods for producing electronic circuits. In this guide, you will learn in detail what they are, why companies use them, and what you should pay attention to if you plan to use them.
What are SMT PCBs
Surface Mount Technology (SMT) for printed circuit boards is a process that places components directly onto the top of the circuit board instead of passing parts through the board. This helps reduce manufacturing costs and increase the speed at which printed circuit board manufacturers produce boards.
SMT is the industry abbreviation for Surface Mount Technology. This includes all the assembly and mounting techniques used for surface mounting on printed circuit boards. This is related to SME, but SMT refers to the process and technology, while SME refers to the machines used by PCB manufacturing companies.
Similarly, what is the difference between SMT and SMD? The devices placed on the board are separate from the process flow and assembly machines.
SMT Equipment
There are various types of SMT equipment currently on the market. Here are some common equipment types and what you should know.
Passive SMDs
Passive SMDs mainly include resistors and capacitors. In rare cases, they may also include inductors, crystals, or other components with individual requirements. Passive SMDs have a variety of predetermined package sizes to help the machine know where to place them.
Transistors and Diodes
Transistors and diodes are circuit board components that help guide and control the flow of electricity. Because transistors and diodes typically only work in one direction, they have three connection points (instead of two), which helps ensure they can only be mounted to the circuit board in one way.
Integrated Circuits
Integrated circuits combine multiple electronic chips together, placed in one chip, usually (but not always) made of silicon. They are at the heart of most printed circuit boards because they are fundamentally smaller, faster, and cheaper than circuits made other ways.
Most manufacturers add integrated circuits as the last step in the manufacturing process.
Advantages of SMT
The main advantages of using SMT PCB assembly when manufacturing printed circuit boards include:
Small Size: Size is one of the important issues for many products, and surface mounting minimizes the depth required to manufacture most components. This is especially important for many modern devices such as smartphones, tablets, and smartwatches, as they require SMT PCBs to be as small as possible.
Lightweight: SMT systems weigh only one-tenth of what through-hole components require. This reduces stress on the circuit board itself and allows companies to reduce costs by using less material, which is also an important reason why they use the PCB SMT process.
Increased Flexibility: By placing some components directly on the surface, companies can leave more space for components that cannot be placed on the surface. This provides additional flexibility in manufacturing and allows the production of electronics that could not otherwise be manufactured to the required specifications.
Assembly Technology
Assembly techniques vary, but for safety and stability, most companies manufacture printed circuit boards at least 18 inches x 24 inches, and then cut them along predetermined lines to separate the finished circuit boards into usable components. For SMT assembly, this is much more efficient than printing each circuit board separately.
The surface mount process itself begins with the use of pads (small dots of various metals), and the assembly machine adds solder paste to the pads. After adding the solder paste, the machine picks up the components and places them on the circuit board.
Once everything is in place, the circuit board goes through a special heating process, heated just enough to melt all the solder particles in the solder paste without damaging other components. With proper design, the melted solder paste will also pull each component into place. After this, the circuit board is cleaned and cooled to remove all excess particles and solder paste, and then inspected for defects before shipping.
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