Ep.12: An overview of bare PCB fabrication w/ Dave Wilcox

Even though we talk a lot about PCB assembly on this show, one aspect of the process still remains a bit of a mystery to Chris and Melissa - the ins and out of the PCB fabrication process. On this episode are joined by Dave Wilcox, a CAM engineer at CircuitHub who has been working with PCBs for 32 years. Dave gives us a 10,000 ft level overview of the PCB fab process, using a simple, standard 1.6mm thick, 2-layer board as an example and breaks it down into all the steps that have to take place in order to have a finished circuit board that is ready to be assembled:

1. Engineering/CAM

2. Drilling

3. Print Outer layers

4. Plating and Etching

5. Solder Mask

6. Surface finish - ENIG/HASL

7. Silkscreen

8. Routing

As always if you have any questions for us (or Dave), you can email us at contact@pickplacepodcast.com or tweet us @CircuitHub or @WAssembly.