What are the Applications of PCBAs?

PCBA, or printed circuit board assembly, is a semi-product of almost all electronic and electrical devices, systems, and equipment. As printed circuit boards are the “mother of electronics”, PCB and PCBA are always the most important part of hardware building since the modern era.

A PCBA is a printed circuit board mounted with electronic components, wiring harnesses, screws, and other materials. You can find PCBAs in an LED lamp, a headset, a printer, a smartphone, a vehicle, an airplane, etc. Check out applications of PCBAs in the below fields.

3C Electronics

3C means computers, communications, and consumer electronics. 3C electronics refers to electronic products bought by persons and used for work, communications, entertainment, and household daily life. For example, computers, smartphones, video game consoles, earbuds, headsets, LED lights, TVs, air conditioners, washing machines, and so on are manufactured from schematics to PCBs, assembled to be PCBAs, and installed with enclosures. The PCBs for consumer electronics are FR4 PCBs with any TG (glass-transition temperature) and aluminum PCBs. Consumer products don’t have complex structures and high thermal dissipation requirements. FR4 and aluminum PCBs are cheap and are enough to meet the thermal and mechanical requirements of consumer electronics. Nowadays, most countries command consumer PCBAs to be lead-free, and some countries require halogen-free PCBs. For lead-free PCB assembly, the reflow soldering temperatures (240°C – 270°C) are higher than that of lead-containing reflow soldering (210°C to 245°C). RoHS and REACH require the PCBA process to have the lead content of 3C electronics lower than 0.1%.  

Industrial Electronics

Industrial electronics refer to the electrical devices, machines, and equipment used for modern production in factories and workhouses and uses in public security, lighting, etc. For example, industrial electronics include industrial cameras used for machine inspection and transportation monitoring, high-power LED lights, laser heads, all kinds of sensors, and so on are industrial electronics. For industrial electrical products that need high thermal dissipation, the PCBs are copper-base PCBs, hybrid substrate PCBs, ceramic PCBs (including AlN PCBs, alumina PCBs, SiC PCBs, etc.), and high-Tg FR4 PCBs. For industrial electrical products that need to move positions, blend, or fit in compact spaces in uses, the PCBs are flexible PCBs and rigid-flex PCBs. Flexible circuit board assembly requires a jig to fix the FPC during the whole PCBA process.  

Automotive Electronics

Automotive electronics refer to all the electrical parts, modules, systems, and box builds used in vehicles, including classic vehicles, electronic vehicles (EV), hybrid-electronic vehicles (HEV), and self-driving cars. Besides, automotive electronics also include charging stations used for charging EVs and HEVs. The vehicles run on the roads at a fast speed with vibrations, and they have to keep the safety and comfort of people in the vehicles and keep from collation with other cars and external obstacles. These requirements lead to high standards of automotive PCBs and PCB assembly. Fabrication of automotive PCBs and PCB assembly has to follow the ISO 16949 quality management system and should be certified with IATF 16949:2016.  

Medical, Defense, Aerospace, and Aviation Electronics

Medical, defense, aerospace, and aviation electronics refer to all electronic components, modules, systems, and box builds used in these fields. PCBs used in medical, defense, aerospace, aviation, and automotive industries are high-reliability and high-performance circuit boards, and the four-terminal sensing that inspects micro resistance is necessary for these PCBs. Copper-base PCBs, high-frequency PCBs, ceramic PCBs, flexible PCBs, high-Tg PCBs, HDI PCBs, rigid-flex PCBs, and thick-copper PCBs are used for medical, defense, aerospace, and aviation fields. And the assembly for these PCBs may have to be fine-pitch PCB assembly. PCBONLINE has successful PCB fabrication and assembly experiences for 2mm-width double-sided flexible gastroscopes, rockets, and defense radars.  

Other Fields

PCBAs also find applications in outdoor/indoor plant growing, above/undersea/water lighting, mining, research development, energy, achitechive, and so on fields.