What are the Various Types of Printed Circuit Boards?

Printed circuit boards are the integral part of modern day electronic devices. They are the self-contained modules used in electronics used in various industries such as end-user products, military equipment, medical devices, telecommunications etc.

Depending on the level of complexity used to build variety of automated and semi-automated electronic components, printed circuit boards fall into three main types:

Single-sided: They are so named because these PCBs have only one layer of substrate. One side of the substrate contains all electronic components on the surface and connecting pathways on the other side.

Double-sided: The double sided boards are relatively complex structures than single-sided boards. When the space of the substrate is not sufficient to accommodate all the components then double sided boards are used. To reduce the level of complexity, effective utilizing of the space by employing electronic parts on the both sides of the insulating board is done.

Multi-layered: The next higher level of complexity generates the need of multi-layer boards. These are the boards that have more than two layers of substrates. Most common multi-layer printed circuit boards include 4-layers, 6-layers, 8-layers, and 10 layers. Each layer of the substrate in the PCB is separated by Pre-preg, an insulating material.

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