PCB Factory Tour

Shenzhen Adventure Day 4

First they hand check the design to conform with their capabilities. They will make minor changes if necessary.

Next they drill out any holes needed in the boards. They very frequently check the bit quality, and bits are only used for 3000 holes before being swapped out.

Next they do some electroplating stages

Here they do the photo chemical processing steps that are light sensitive

Then they do silkscreening (I’m missing a picture of this…)

Next is depanelization, or cutting out the individual boards from the panel.

Finished boards

Next they have Quality Control:

• Chemical checks that boards have the correct properties

Inspecting the boards quality visually, they cut out a chunk of board, encase it in resin and then grind it down to the edge

They also digitally check every single board for continuity/impedance.  This machine essentially has two needles it touches between each point to test,