Technical terms that are frequently used in the Printed Circuit Board manufacturing industry.
To simplify communication Eurocircuits uses abbreviations for many of these technical terms. Most of the technical terms and abbreviations are international standards in the Printed Circuit Board manufacturing industry. However to make it clear to everyone involved, we here present a list of technical terms and abbreviations along with their explanation.
Definition | Short Description | Supporting Documents | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | PCB | Printed Circuit Board (also know as “the board”). | Printed Circuit Board |
| 2 | TOP | Top side of the PCB. | Top side of the PCB |
| 3 | BOTTOM | Bottom side of the PCB. | Bottom side of the PCB |
| 4 | BUILDUP | Defined build of a PCB such as number of layers an their sequence. | PCB or Board Buildup |
| 5 | LAYER | Individual layer of a PCB. | LAYER of the Printed Circuit Board. |
| 6 | OUTER | The Outer Layer(s) of the PCB either the TOP or BOTTOM side. | OUTER Layer |
| 7 | INNER | The Inner Layer(s) of the PCB. | INNER Layer |
| 8 | THROUGH HOLE | A hole that goes through the PCB from the Top Layer through to the Bottom Layer. | NPTH – Non Plated Through Hole and PTH – Plated Through Hole |
| 9 | VIA HOLES | A hole that creates an electrically connected through the PCB. | Via Hole |
| 10 | SMD or Surface Mount Device | Surface mounted Device. | Surface Mount Device |
| 11 | CORE | A rigid base material laminate with copper on one or two sides. | Core or Rigid Copper Laminated Base Material |
| 12 | PREPREG | An unpressed base material without any copper foil. | Prepreg or Unprocessed Copper Free Base Material |
| 13 | FR4 | Fiberglass reinforced epoxy laminates that are Flame Retardant. | Fibreglass Reinforced – Flame Retardant Base Material How Often Can You Raise a Eurocircuits PCB to Lead-free Soldering Temperature |
| 14 | DELIVERY FORMAT | The method in which you ask Eurocircuits to produce and delivery your PCB design. | Delivery Format Guidelines for customers that opt for the Eurocircuits standard panel |
| 15 | eC REGISTRATION COMPATIBLE | PCB’s or Customer Panels that have the necessary Tooling Holes to be used with the Eurocircuits eC-stencil-mate or eC-stencil-fix equipment. | eC-Registration Compatible |
| 16 | STENCIL | Stainless Steel template for applying Solder paste onto the board. | Stainless Steel template for applying solder paste onto the board |
| 17 | PANEL BORDER | Extra material around your PCB or multiple PCB’s to form a Customer Panel. | Panel Border of a Customer Panel |
| 18 | PANEL CROSS OUTS | A Panel where defective PCB’s have been visually crossed out. | Panel without Cross Outs |
| 19 | PANEL SPACING | The PCB Spacing defines the extra space you want between different PCB’s on the Customer Panel. | PCB Spacing on a Customer Panel |
| 20 | PCB SEPARATION METHOD | Pre-cut the boards in a Customer Panel for easy removal after assembly. | PCB separation method – on a Customer Panel |
| 21 | PANEL OUTLINE | The required contour of a Customer Panel. | Panel Outline |
| 22 | BOARD THICKNESS | The thickness given in mm based on the base materials used including copper foil. | Board Thickness |
| 23 | Tg | Tg stands for Glass Transition Temperature and is one of the parameters of a base materials. | Tg – material Tg |
| 24 | COPPER FOIL | Copper Foils is the base copper thickness applied on OUTER and INNER layers. | Copper Foil |
| 25 | EXTRA PTH RUN | When producing multilayers with Blind and Buried Via Holes, the panel may need to pass through the galvanic Plating process multiple times. | Extra PTH run |
| 26 | EXTRA PRESS CYCLES | When producing Multi-layers with Blind and Buried Via Holes, additional Press Cycles may be required. | Extra Press Cycles |
| 27 | BLIND and BURIED VIA HOLES | A Blind Via connects an Outer Layer to one or more Inner Layers but does not go through the entire board. A Buried Via connects two or more Inner Layers but does not go through to an Outer Layer. | Blind and Buried Via |
| 28 | Cu | Cu is the chemical abbreviation for Copper | Cu -Copper |
| 29 | TW | The Track Width is specified in mm | TW – Track Width |
| 30 | TT | The Track to Track spacing specified in mm | TT – Track to Track |
| 31 | TP | The Track to Pad spacing is specified in mm | TP – Track to Pad |
| 32 | PP | The Pad to Pad spacing specified in mm | PP – Pad to Pad |
| 33 | FINISHED HOLE SIZE | The finished hole size or ENDHOLE is the diameter that the PCB designer specifies in his PCB layout. | Finished Hole Size |
| 34 | PHD or TOOLSIZE | The diameter of the Tool used in production to drill the hole. | PHD – Production Hole Diameter |
| 35 | OAR | Outer Layer Annular Ring | OAR – Outer Annular Ring |
| 36 | IAR | Inner Layer Annular Ring | IAR – Inner Annular Ring |
| 37 | IPI | Inner Layer Pad Insulation | IPI – Inner Layer Pad Insulation |
| 38 | HOLE DENSITY | The number of holes per dm² of the board surface. | Hole Density |
| 39 | SM or SOLDERMASK | A protective layer of liquid photo image able lacquer applied on the TOP and BOTTOM side of a Printed Circuit Board. | SM-Soldermask |
| 40 | LEGEND | Text printed on top of the Soldermask. | Legend |
| 41 | LEAD FREE FINISH | Final finish applied to the soldering areas of the PCB to prevent oxidation and to them easier to solder. | Any Lead Free Finish |
| 42 | HAL | Hot Air Leveling Lead Free Tin (Sn) | HAL Lead-Free |
| 43 | Che Ni/Au or ENIG | ENIG, Electro less Nickel Immersion Gold, also called Che Ni/Au, chemical nickel gold or also known as soft gold. | Ch Ni/Au or ENIG (Electroless Nickel Immersion Gold) Soldermask on via-holes in case of chemical Nickel-Gold surface finish |
| 44 | MILLING | Used to form the contour of the PCB’s or Panels. | Milling |
| 45 | BARE BOARD TESTING | Electrical Testing of the non populated PCB. | Bare Board Testing |
| 46 | SHORT | An electrical connection between two or more nets or isolated points that should not be connected. | Short |
| 47 | OPEN | A discontinuity or non-connection within a net . | Open |
| 48 | LEAKAGE | A type of short, sometimes referred to as a high-resistance short. | Leakage |
| 49 | UL MARKING | The Underwriters Laboratory (UL) | UL Marking |
| 50 | PEEL-ABLE MASK | Also know as Peel-off Mask is a protective coating that can be easily removed. | Peelable Mask |
| 51 | CARBON CONTACTS | Carbon Ink normally used for keyboard contacts, LCD contacts and jumpers. | Carbon Contacts |
| 52 | SPECIFIC TOLERANCES | Tolerances that are required to meet specific design goals and are not within the latest Industrial Standard IPC A-600 (x) Class II. | Specific Tolerances |
| 53 | SPECIFIC MARKINGS | Customer specific markings such as logo, name, date code etc… | Specific Marking |
| 54 | PLATED HOLES ON THE BOARD EDGE | Plated through holes in the edge of the board. | Plated Holes on the Board Edge |
| 55 | ROUND EDGE PLATING | The edge of the board is plated with copper and then the final finish such as HAL. | Round Edge Plating |
| 56 | COPPER UP TO THE BOARD EDGE | Copper is placed up to the very edge of the Board Contour. | Copper up to the Board Edge |
| 57 | PRESS-FIT HOLES | Holes designed for the press fit of component leads, usually connectors. | Press-Fit Holes |
| 58 | CHAMFERED MECHANICAL or COUNTERSUNK HOLES | A beveled edge of a holes usually at 45 degrees. | Chamfered Mechanical Holes or Countersunk Holes |
| 59 | DEPTH ROUTING | Removing a specific area of the Outer Layer of the PCB to a specific depth. | Depth Routing |
| 60 | EDGE CONNECTOR GOLD SURFACE | A layer of gold plated to the fingers of the Edge Connector. | Edge Connector Gold Surface |
| 61 | EDGE CONNECTOR BEVELING | Reduce the square edge of the connector to a sloping edge to ease entry in to the socket. | Edge Connector Bevelling |
| 62 | HEATSINK PASTE | A paste used too fill Via Holes that are designed for Thermal dissipation. | Heatsink Paste |
| 63 | VIA FILLING | The filling of Via Holes with Resin or Soldermask. | Via Filling |
| 64 | PLATING INDEX | The density of the Copper distribution. | Plating Index |
| 65 | WARP and TWIST | The distortion of the PCB. | Warp and Twist |
| 66 | FIDUCIAL | An Optical target. | Fiducial |
| 67 | MICRO SECTION of a PTH | A cross section of a PTH Hole. | Micro Section of a PTH |
| 68 | DELIVERY TERM | Number of days required to manufacture. | Delivery Term |
| 69 | SHIPMENT DATE | The date on which the order is shipped. | Shipment Date |
| 70 | BOARD SURFACE | The board surface area expressed in dm². | Board Surface |
| 71 | ORDER SURFACE | The total delivered PCB surface area of your order expressed in dm². | Order Surface |
| 72 | NET PRICE | The price excluding Taxes or VAT. | Net Price |
| 73 | GROSS PRICE | The price including VAT | Gross Price |
| 74 | SINGLE PCB or SINGLE PANEL PRICE | The price for one unit of the delivery format chosen in the calculator. | Single PCB or Single Panel Price |
| 75 | BOARD PRICE | The price includes the price for the PCB’s selected in the calculator | Boards Price |
| 76 | TOTAL PRICE | The price for all selected items. | Total Price |
