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There’s nothing more iconic than the white silkscreen contrasted against the backdrop of the classic green soldermask of a PCB. Chemical properties like moisture absorption (necessary for humid environments like sensors in agricultural IoT), and flammability are invaluable to consider for the longevity of your product however, environmental and sustainability constraints can also affect your PCB material choices. Mechanical properties include enclosure and form factor management, as well as things like density or flexibility particularly for rigid-flex boards.Įlectrical properties get a bit more involved with inclusion of dielectric necessities like impedance, signal integrity, and resistances that the design engineer will have to balance throughout the board (or system). Working through the PCB material necessities will have any engineer considering thermal, mechanical, electrical, and chemical properties involved in the process.įor thermal properties, you’ll want to consider temperature durability of valuable components, as well as the distribution of peak operating temperatures throughout your circuit design. In this article we’ll dive into the materials and design considerations that go into each layer of a PCB: silkscreen, soldermask, copper, and substrate. The PCB serves as the physical foundation upon which your electrical components, conductive traces, pads, and other features will reside. Your typical PCB consists of one or more layers of copper laminated between sheet layers of a non-conductive substrate. So you want to build your own PCB (Printed Circuit Board)? There are lifetimes of knowledge that go into any design for things like component placement, routing practices, stackup management, signal and power integrity - you name it, there’ve been a few thousand engineers responsible for smoothing the process out.Ī material selection guide is as good a place as any to start.