Electronic manufacturing is one of the most important type of information technology industry. For the production and assembly of electronic products, PCBA (printed circuit board assembly) is the most basic and important part. There are commonly the SMT (Surface Mount Technology) and DIP (Dual in -line package) productions.
A pursuing goal in the production of electronic industry is increasing the functional density while reducing the size, i.e., to make the product smaller and lighter. In other words, the purpose is to add more functions to the same size circuit board or to maintain the same function but reduce the surface area. The only way to achieve the goal is to minimize the electronic components, to use them to replace the conventional components. As a result, the SMT is developed.
SMT technology is based on replacing those conventional electronic components by the wafer-type of electronic components and using in-tray for the packaging. At the same time, the conventional approach of drilling and insertion has been replaced by a speedy paste onto the surface of PCB. Moreover, the surface area of PCB has been minimized by developing a multiple layers of boards from a single layer of board.
The main equipment of SMT production line includes: Stencil printer, SPI, pick and place machine, reflow soldering oven, AOI.
Advantages from SMT products
To use SMT for the product is for not only the market demand but also its indirect effect on cost reduction. SMT reduces the cost because of the following:
1. The required surface area and layers for PCB are reduced.
The required surface area of PCB for carrying the components is relatively reduced because the size of those assembling components has been minimized. Moreover, the material cost for PCB is reduced, and also there is no more processing cost of drilling for the through-holes. It is because the soldering of PCB in the SMD method is direct and flat instead of relying on pins of the components in DIP to pass through the drilled holes in order to be soldered to the PCB. In addition, the PCB layout becomes more effective in the absence of through-holes, and as a consequence, the required layers of PCB are reduced. For example, an originally four layers of a DIP design can be reduced to two layers by the SMD method. It is because when using the SMD method, the two layers of boards will be sufficient for fitting in all the wiring. The cost for two layers of boards is of course less than that of the four layers of boards.
2. SMD is more suitable for a big quantity of production
The packaging for SMD makes it a better choice for automatic production. Although for those conventional DIP components, there is also an automatic assembling facility, for example, the horizontal type of insertion machine, the vertical type of insertion machine, odd-form insertion machine, and IC inserting machine; nonetheless, the production at each time unit is still less than the SMD. As the production quantity increases for every working time, the unit of production cost is relatively reduced.
3. Fewer operators are required
Commonly, only about three operators are required per SMT production line, but at least 10 to 20 people are required per DIP line. By reducing the number of people, not only the manpower cost is reduced but also the management becomes easier.
Post time: Apr-07-2022