High speed! Panasonic Megtron 6 Material + resin plug hole + back drilling + gold finger, creating an extremely reliable “hard core” PCB!

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In cutting-edge fields such as 5G, high-speed servers, high-end industrial control, and precision medicine, the performance and reliability of PCBs directly determine the success or failure of end products.

Faced with the challenges of soaring signal rates, surging wiring density, and harsh working environments, ordinary boards and processes are no longer able to cope. How to break through?

The answer lies in the ultimate selection of materials and meticulous craftsmanship!

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1. Cornerstone choice: Panasonic Megtron 6 – the “guardian” of signal integrity

Top-level low loss: As a high-end member of Panasonic’s Megtron series, Meg6 has extremely low dielectric loss (Df) and stable dielectric constant (Dk). This means that when high-frequency and high-speed signals are transmitted, the signal attenuation is smaller and the distortion is lower, which effectively guarantees the purity and integrity of the signal. It is an ideal substrate for 10Gbps+ or even 25Gbps+ high-speed designs.

Excellent reliability: Megtron 6 board has excellent heat resistance (high Tg), low CTE (coefficient of thermal expansion) and long-term stability. In harsh environments such as high temperature, high humidity, cold and hot shock, it can still maintain stable electrical performance and mechanical strength, greatly reducing the risk of failure and extending product life.

Processing friendliness: Good drilling performance and chemical resistance provide a solid foundation for subsequent high-precision processing (such as back drilling and resin plugging).

2. Precision filling: Resin plugging – “Minimally invasive experts” to eliminate hidden dangers

Solve pain points: Through holes on high-density boards (especially BGA areas), if there is residual air in the hole or the copper is not fully plated, it is very easy to cause “hole blowing” or “hole copper fracture” due to thermal expansion during reflow soldering, causing fatal defects.

Process essence: Resin plugging technology uses precision control to completely fill the inside of the through hole with specially formulated epoxy resin, and forms a solid support body after curing.

Core value: Eliminate hole blowing/board explosion, eliminate gas in the hole, provide structural support, and significantly improve thermal reliability.

Enhance planar connectivity: Provide a flatter and more solid pad surface for surface mounting (especially fine pitch BGA), reducing the risk of cold soldering.

Conducive to high-density wiring: The surface after plugging is flat, and wiring can be safely carried out on it, freeing up valuable space and improving wiring freedom.

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3. Signal purification: back drilling (controlled depth drilling) – the “scavenger” of high-speed signals

Signal killer – stubs: When the signal is transmitted from the surface layer to the inner layer through the via, the metal pillars (stubs) in the unconnected part of the hole are like an “antenna”, which will strongly reflect the high-speed signal and cause serious signal distortion (ringing, edge degradation), especially in the frequency band above GHz.

Precise removal: Back drilling technology uses a high-precision depth-controlled drill bit to accurately drill out the non-conductive and non-connecting stubs in the via.

Core value: Significantly improve signal quality: greatly reduce signal reflection and loss, improve signal rise time, and improve system bandwidth and stability.

Reduce crosstalk and EMI: eliminate unnecessary “antenna” effects, reduce noise radiation and interference.

High-speed design is one of the key processes to achieve signal integrity of ultra-high-speed digital circuits (such as server backplanes and high-speed SerDes channels).

We are deeply involved in the field of high-end PCB manufacturing, and have mature experience in processing Panasonic Megtron 6 boards.

We can accurately control the filling fullness and surface flatness of the resin plug holes, equip with high-precision back drilling equipment to ensure accurate depth control, and strictly test the plating thickness, hardness and wear resistance of the gold finger. We are committed to providing a solid circuit board foundation for customers’ high-end, high-speed and high-reliability products.

18-layer mechanical blind hole + step + back drilling + immersion gold + gold plating 30U + M6 high-speed circuit board

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With the development of science and technology, information and communication technology are changing with each passing day, and people’s requirements for computer performance are getting higher and higher. Correspondingly, the hardware requirements for computer communication equipment are also getting higher and higher. PCB is the basic product of electronic equipment, and its high-end precision determines the performance of the entire finished computer communication equipment!

Today, SHENZHEN BEST PCBA CO., LIMITED brings you an FPGA acceleration card for high-performance computing and network acceleration devices. Let’s first take a look at what the PCB board looks like.

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The bright red solder mask ink, immersion gold + electroplated gold finger 30U” surface treatment process make the whole product look very high-end. But what really attracts people to this product is not just its appearance, but its complex design and precise production process. First of all, let’s take a look at its step process.

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The conventional step process is to use non-flowing glue PP to press and stack the layers in the step part. And our product needs to achieve a high-speed effect, so the whole board uses Panasonic M6 PCB high-speed board, but there is no non-flowing glue PP corresponding to M6 on the market. We can only use flowing glue PP for pressing, which is very challenging for the production of step parts. In addition, this product is also an 18-layer mechanical blind hole board. Let’s take a look at the pressing structure diagram

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The motherboard of the product is divided into two boards, L1-4 and L5-18, and the finished product is made after three laminations. The lamination of multi-layer boards is extremely difficult, and the lamination of multi-layer special board products must be controlled in detail. The result of a mistake is that all the previous efforts are wasted! Finally, in order to ensure the transmission of high-speed signals, reduce signal attenuation, ensure that the signal is stronger and more reliable, and also to prevent signal distortion problems, we also added back drilling technology in product production. CKT-1 drills from the top layer to the bottom layer with a depth of 1.25+/-0.05, CKB-1 drills from the bottom layer to the top layer with a depth of 0.35mm and a depth of 1.45+/-0.05, 0.351mm with a depth of 1.25+/-0.05, 0.352mm with a depth of 1.05+/-0.05, and 0.353mm with a depth of 0.2+/-0.05.

AI servers trigger PCB demand

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High-end HDI leads with a growth rate of 16.3%, and the global market targets US$18.9 billion in 2029

 

The AI computing power arms race is setting off a profound change in the PCB industry. As the global AI server shipments soar at a growth rate of over 80%, the number of layers of traditional server motherboards has exceeded the 18-layer technical threshold, and the demand for high-end HDI boards has surged by 150%. The PCB industry has ushered in a key node for technological generational leap.

1. The growth rate of PCB in the server field leads other application fields.

The application of PCB in servers mainly includes accelerator boards, motherboards, power backplanes, hard disk backplanes, network cards, riser cards, etc., and its characteristics are mainly reflected in the number of high layers, high aspect ratios, high density and high transmission rates. With the upgrade of server platforms, server PCBs continue to develop towards higher-layer boards, which puts forward requirements for the upgrade of technology and equipment. The Purely server platform corresponding to PCle3.0 generally uses 8-12 layers of PCB motherboards; the Whitley platform of PCle4.0 requires 12-16 layers of PCB layers; for the Eagle Stream platform that will use PCle5.0 in the future, the number of PCB layers needs to reach 16-18 layers or more. According to Prismark data, the unit price of PCBs with more than 18 layers is about three times that of 12-16 layers. According to IDC data, global server shipments will reach 14.95 million units in 2022, a year-on-year increase of 10.4%; IDC predicts that global server shipments will reach 19.71 million units in 2027, corresponding to an average annual compound growth rate of 5.7% from 2022 to 2027.

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According to Prismark data, the server/data storage market size will be approximately US$291 billion in 2024, a year-on-year increase of 45.5%, far exceeding the growth rate of other segments of the electronics market. Due to the huge computing and storage requirements of emerging artificial intelligence applications, Prismark expects the server/data storage market to become the strongest growth driver for the entire electronics market in the next five years, with the market size expected to grow by 36.1% year-on-year in 2025 and an average annual compound growth rate of 11.2% from 2024 to 2029, leading other segments of the electronics market.

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Benefiting from the drive of technologies such as artificial intelligence, data centers, and high-performance computing, the strong demand in the server market will drive the growth of high-end PCB product markets such as high-layer boards and high-end HDI. According to Prismark data, the global server/data storage PCB market size will be US$10.916 billion in 2024, a year-on-year increase of 33.1%, far exceeding the growth rate of other PCB application fields; it is expected that the global server/data storage PCB market size will reach US$18.921 billion in 2029, and will lead other PCB application fields with a compound growth rate of 11.6% from 2024 to 2029.

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2. HDI is the largest incremental market for AI servers.

AI servers are the fastest growing type of server/data storage. According to IDC data, global AI server shipments will reach $24.1 billion in 2023 and $28 billion in 2024, a year-on-year increase of 16%. Among them, the growth rate of high-end AI server shipments will reach 128%. Among them, NVIDIA occupies a dominant position in AI server GPUs, and it is expected to ship 6.9 million GPUs in 2024, with a growth rate of 82%.

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In the next five years, AI systems and servers will be the main driving force for the growth of PCB demand. According to Prismark data, the global PCB market size for AI/HPC server systems (excluding packaging substrates) will be close to US$800 million in 2023, and is expected to reach US$1.9 billion by 2024, a year-on-year increase of nearly 150%; by 2028, the PCB market size for AI/HPC server systems (excluding packaging substrates) will catch up with general servers, reaching US$3.17 billion, with an average annual compound growth rate of 32.5% from 2023 to 2028, far exceeding the growth rate of PCB market size in other fields. AI servers and HPC systems have become an important driving force for the development of low-loss, high-layer boards and HDI boards.

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AI servers mainly involve three products: the GPU substrate requires a high-layer board with more than 20 layers; small AI accelerator modules usually use 4-5-order HDI to achieve high-density interconnection; traditional CPU motherboard. In addition, as AI servers are upgraded, GPU motherboards will also be gradually upgraded to HDI, so HDI will be the fastest growing PCB related to AI servers in the next five years, especially the demand for high-end HDI products above 4 orders is growing rapidly. Prismark predicts that the average annual compound growth rate of HDI related to AI servers will reach 16.3% from 2023 to 2028, which will be the fastest growing category in the AI server-related PCB market.

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When the annual shipment of AI server GPUs exceeds 6.9 million, and the value of a single server PCB reaches three times that of traditional equipment, this wave of advanced PCBs driven by the computing power revolution is irreversible. From the rigid demand for 18-layer boards on the PCle5.0 platform to the accelerated penetration of HDI in GPU modules, technological iteration is reshaping the industry’s competitive landscape. For PCB manufacturers, breaking through the manufacturing bottleneck of 20-layer high-layer boards and conquering precision processing technology for HDI above level 4 are not only technical answers to the explosive growth of AI computing power, but also the key to opening the door to the trillion-dollar data center market. In the 11.6% compound annual growth track predicted by Prismark, only companies that tilt their R&D resources toward core technologies such as high-speed materials and ultra-micro hole processing can gain the upper hand in this computing power-driven industry upgrade.

What are PCB, PCBA, SMT and DIP?

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1. PCB (Printed Circuit Board): Printed Circuit Board

PCB is like the “blood vessels and skeleton” of electronic devices. Imagine that electronic devices are like a city, current is the “resource” flowing in the city, and PCB is the roads that transport “resources” and the framework that supports the city structure.
PCB is made by printing conductive lines and patterns on an insulating substrate. These conductive lines connect various electronic components, allowing current to flow smoothly in the circuit, thereby realizing various electronic functions.
For example, our common computer motherboard is a kind of PCB. There are densely packed lines and various jacks on the motherboard, which are used to connect electronic components such as CPU, memory, and graphics cards. Engineers will carefully design the layout and line direction of PCB according to the functional requirements of the computer. Just like urban planners design the layout of roads and buildings in the city, they have to consider how to make the connection between various components the most reasonable and efficient. Then, through plate making, etching and other processes, the designed pattern is turned into an actual PCB.
2. PCBA (Printed Circuit Board Assembly): Printed Circuit Board Assembly

PCBA is the process and result of installing and soldering electronic components to the circuit board based on the PCB. Simply put, PCBA is a PCB that has been installed with electronic components, just like a city that installs various buildings (electronic components) in the corresponding positions after building roads and frames.

During the PCBA process, various electronic components such as resistors, capacitors, chips, etc. need to be accurately placed in the designated positions on the PCB, and then firmly connected to the circuit board through welding and other methods. This is like when building a house, bricks, wood, steel beams and other materials must be accurately placed in the right position and fixed so that the house can be stable.

For example, the circuit board inside the smartphone in our hands is completed through the PCBA process. Various tiny electronic components are accurately installed on the PCB, and then a complete circuit system is formed through welding, so that the mobile phone can realize various functions such as calling, taking pictures, and surfing the Internet.

3. SMT (Surface Mount Technology): Surface Mount Technology

SMT is a commonly used installation technology in PCBA. It is like putting a “tight-fitting piece of clothing” on the PCB, and directly mounting the surface mount components with no pins or short pins on the surface of the PCB.
Compared with traditional plug-in technology, SMT has many advantages. It can make electronic products smaller, lighter and more compact. Just like the current smartphones, the reason why they can be made so light and thin is due to SMT technology. Through SMT technology, more components can be installed in a smaller space, greatly improving the integration and performance of the circuit.
For example, the chip in the mobile phone is installed on the PCB through SMT technology. The chip mounter is like a very precise “manipulator”. It can accurately place the tiny chip on the PCB, and then through the reflow process, the solder paste is melted at high temperature, and the pins of the chip are connected to the pads on the PCB to form a strong electrical connection. In this way, the mobile phone can realize various complex functions.

4. DIP (Dual In-line Package): Dual In-line Package
DIP is a packaging method for electronic components. Imagine that a DIP packaged electronic component is like a small box with two rows of “feet” that extend from both sides of the component to form two rows of parallel pins.
During the PCBA process, DIP components can be installed on the PCB by plug-in. Just like inserting a small box with feet into a board with holes, and then soldering it through processes such as wave soldering.
For example, some old-fashioned radios or simple electronic toys may use DIP packaged electronic components. Although these components are relatively large in size, they are low in cost. For some products with low cost requirements and low volume requirements, DIP packaged components are still a good choice.
In short, PCB is the carrier of electronic circuits, PCBA is the circuit board that completes component assembly, and SMT and DIP are two different electronic component installation technologies. They work together to form an important link in electronic manufacturing, bringing us a variety of powerful electronic devices.

14-layer thick copper PCB

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In the field of electronic circuits, the quality and performance of PCB directly affect the overall performance of electronic devices. We bring you a 14-layer thick copper board. Let us take a deeper look at the 14-layer PCB with both inner and outer layers of 2oz and appreciate its unique charm and advantages.

The 2oz copper foil thickness of the inner and outer layers gives this PCB excellent current carrying capacity. In high-power electronic devices, such as power supplies, motor drive devices, etc., it can easily cope with the transmission needs of large currents, effectively reduce line impedance, and reduce power loss, thereby improving the energy efficiency and stability of the equipment. Whether it is the core control board of industrial automation equipment or the power distribution board of high-end servers, 2oz copper thick PCB can provide reliable power support.

Let’s take a look at its slice diagram：

The 14-layer multi-layer structure design provides a good shielding and isolation environment for signal transmission. The reasonable layout and wiring between each layer, combined with the stability of 2oz copper foil, can effectively control signal transmission, crosstalk and other issues. For application scenarios with extremely high requirements for signal quality, such as high-speed digital circuits and radio frequency communication circuits, this PCB can ensure the integrity and accuracy of the signal, allowing high-speed and stable data transmission, laying a solid foundation for the high-performance operation of the equipment. For example, in the signal processing module of a 5G base station, it can ensure the fast and accurate interaction of massive data!

 

4-layer step PCB, spray printed solder mask

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In the conventional step PCB products we make, the step position is generally treated with a window as the connection position of the components. As can be seen from the above picture, this product of ours has soldering done at the step position. The production of solder mask requires keeping the surface of the PCB work board flat, otherwise the silk screen ink will not cover it completely. Previously, the method we adopted was to silk screen the solder mask once before lamination. This method has great disadvantages. The ink after silk screen printing will become very brittle under lamination, and there is a high probability that the ink will fall off in the subsequent process. For this reason, we have thought of many solutions, but the effect is not very good.

After many attempts, our engineers came up with a solution, which is to use the principle of a character printer to print solder mask ink. No solder mask is applied before lamination, and solder mask is applied to the step part by printing after the finished product comes out. The result of the product is indeed satisfactory!

The above picture is the slice measurement data of our PCB. All aspects of the PCB data meet the customer’s requirements. In addition to the steps, this PCN also has yin and yang copper, half hole and other designs.

Buried copper block PCB is the cornerstone of circuit with excellent performance

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The buried copper block PCB, literally speaking, means that copper blocks are buried inside the PCB. These copper blocks play a very important role in the circuit system. First of all, its excellent heat dissipation ability is a highlight. With the trend of increasingly miniaturized electronic devices and increasingly enhanced functions, the heating problem of electronic components is becoming more and more serious. The copper blocks in the buried copper block PCB have good thermal conductivity and can quickly conduct heat away to ensure that electronic components work at a suitable temperature. For example, in the PCB of a high-performance server, a large amount of data processing causes the chip to heat up seriously. The buried copper block design can effectively prevent the chip from overheating and causing performance degradation or damage.

 

Today, we bring you a pure buried copper block PCB produced by BEST PCBA. The product does not have any complicated circuit production. The entire SET is made up of small copper blocks embedded on the board one by one. The base material of the product is a commonly used TUC-872 high-speed board. Different from conventional buried copper PCBs, the entire SET of our product is composed of copper blocks one by one. Direct etching will cause the copper blocks to scatter. During production, our engineers first etch the corresponding circuit pattern on the copper plate, and then press PP on the copper plate to fix the position of the copper block.

 

The above is a slice of our product. It is not difficult to see that the entire copper block is perfectly embedded in the board without any traces of splicing. The product has been perfectly delivered to the customer. If you encounter any problems in PCB production in the future, you can find BEST PCBA. Our strong team of engineers will do their best to serve you!

Special PCB board material product display

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At present, most PCB substrates are made of FR-4 glass fiber substrate. This material has good insulation, corrosion resistance, high temperature resistance, and high cost performance, so most PCBs use this as the substrate.

However, for some products with specific electrical performance requirements, the performance of conventional substrates is not enough. These special properties require the use of some special substrates to meet them. Today, we will introduce some common special substrate products.

TUC  872LK

   

The above is an 8-layer HDI PCB of TUC872. TUC872 is a high-speed special board that we often use. It has a low dielectric constant, which is conducive to the transmission of high-speed signals. It also has a low dielectric loss factor, which means low energy loss during signal transmission, ensuring the strength of signal transmission!

VT-901

This pancake-like PCB is made of VT-901 polyimide material. The ultra-high strength board performance enables the product to adapt to most harsh environments. Whether it is high temperature and high pressure, or low temperature and low pressure, it can perform its due functions well!

Rogers 4003C

RO4003 is a material with a hydrocarbon resin system and ceramic filler reinforced with woven glass cloth, and its electrical properties are close to those of PTFE/woven glass cloth materials. It is an excellent high-frequency PCB substrate with a stable dielectric constant. It can ensure the stability and accuracy of signal transmission in high-frequency circuits, and give the circuit good impedance control. It is widely used in microstrip line design, cellular base station antennas, point-to-point microwave communications, etc., and can ensure high-speed data transmission and stable signal coverage. For example, in the construction of 5G communication base stations, RO4003C can be used to make PCBs for base station antennas to meet the transmission requirements of 5G high-frequency signals.

High frequency mixed pressing Copper paste plugging Deep groove control Metal edging PCB

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With the rapid development of electronic technology today, PCB is the core component of electronic equipment, and its performance directly affects the quality and reliability of the entire electronic equipment. Most of the PCB products we usually see are made of a single core material, which is fine for conventional PCBs, but for some high-frequency and high-speed PCB products, the board value is relatively high. Mixing can save material costs. What we bring today is a Rogers 4003+IT180A mixed high-frequency PCB.

This product has a 6-layer PCB, L1-2 is high-frequency Rogers material, and L3-6 is conventional IT180 glass fiber material. This lamination structure saves material costs to a great extent while retaining the high-frequency performance of the product. However, mixed pressing is also a test of lamination technology. Core boards of different materials are prone to delamination during lamination, or layer deviation due to different expansion and contraction of the board. The lamination parameters of mixed pressing are more stringent than those of ordinary pressing.

The following figure is the pressing structure diagram of the product:

In addition, the product’s via process uses copper paste plugging. Copper paste has excellent electrical conductivity. In high-frequency and high-speed circuits, signal transmission has very strict requirements on conductivity. Copper paste plugging can effectively reduce the resistance and loss of signal transmission and ensure the integrity and accuracy of signal transmission.

 

PCB also has metal edging and controlled depth groove design. Metal edging can enhance the mechanical strength of the product, prevent edge wear, and have a certain electromagnetic shielding effect to prevent circuit signal interference. Controlled depth groove can facilitate the installation and fixation of components. Reasonable controlled depth groove design can reduce signal interference. By placing some sensitive components or signal lines in specific controlled depth grooves, electromagnetic interference with other components or signal lines can be avoided, improving the quality and stability of signal transmission.

 

How to solve the delay problem of wireless HDMI adapter circuit board?

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Latency issues with the wireless HDMI adapter circuit board may affect the synchronization of video and audio, especially in application scenarios that require real-time feedback. Here are some ways to solve latency issues:

1. Choose a low-latency wireless HDMI adapter: Some adapters on the market specifically advertise low latency features. Choosing such products can effectively reduce latency.

2. Update firmware and drivers: Make sure the adapter’s firmware and drivers are up to date. Manufacturers sometimes improve latency issues through firmware updates.

3. Adjust transmission parameters: Adjust parameters such as resolution, frame rate, and compression rate in the adapter’s settings to find the best latency balance.

4. Optimize wireless signals: Make sure the wireless signal is unobstructed, minimize obstacles, and use signal boosters or repeaters to extend the transmission range.

5. Use a wired connection: If the latency problem is very serious, consider using a wired HDMI connection as an alternative.

6. Use near-field communication (NFC): Some adapters support NFC, which can quickly pair devices and reduce latency during initial setup.

7. Restart devices: Restarting all related devices, including source devices, adapters, and display devices, can sometimes solve temporary latency issues.

8. Check power and connections: Make sure the power connections of all devices are stable, without power outages or voltage fluctuations.

9. Test different wireless channels: Wireless HDMI adapters usually support multiple wireless channels. Try using different channels to reduce interference.

10. Consult the manufacturer: If none of the above methods can solve the problem, you can contact the manufacturer’s customer service support for professional technical help.

Because the performance of the wireless HDMI adapter circuit board is affected by many factors, solving the delay problem may require trying multiple methods. In addition, as technology continues to develop, new solutions and products may continue to emerge.