Electronics production and manufacture

- information and articles about techniques used in the assembly and build or manufacture and production of electronics equipment, including component technologies, placement, soldering (including infrared reflow, wave and vapour phase) as well as process monitoring.

Production Process Overview

There are many processes involved in producing a surface mount, of any other electronic circuit board. These processes all need to be combined so that they operate together and provide the highest quality output.

• Overview of an electronics assembly / production process.
• Overview of the PCB manufacturing process detailing how PCBs are designed and manufactured.

Component placement

One of the major elements in the manufacture of electronic circuit boards is the placement of the components onto the boards. While some printed circuit boards may have only a few components, some of today's electronic circuit boards may use several thousand. This is clearly not suitable for manual assembly and therefore automated techniques must be used.

• PCB Pick and place systems

Soldering

Basic soldering processes

• Solder
• Solder paste and how to use it
• Lead free solder and soldering techniques
• Solder resist
• Manual or hand soldering
• Soldering irons and soldering stations - the key points to note about them
• SMT soldering - soldering processes applicable to surface mount technology.
• Infrared reflow soldering
• Wave soldering
• BGA solder process

Standards and Lgislation

There are several standards and some legislation covering the manufacture of electronic equipment.

• RoHS - Restriction of Hazardous Substances - the EU directive to reduce the levels of hazardous substances in electronic equipment
• What is the WEEE Directive? - for Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment