A PCB (Printed Circuit Board)-known in Chinese as *Yinzhi Xianluban* (printed wiring board) or *Yinshua Xianluban* (printed circuit board)-is a vital electronic component. It serves as the structural support for electronic components and acts as the medium for their electrical interconnection. Because it is manufactured using electronic printing techniques, it is referred to as a "printed" circuit board. The inventor of the PCB was the Austrian Paul Eisler, who first utilized a printed circuit board in a radio in 1936. Based on the number of circuit layers, PCBs can be categorized into single-sided boards, double-sided boards, and multi-layer boards. Recently, technology enthusiasts have designed an expansion card based on the AMD Promontory 21 chipset; this card can be installed as a standard PCIe device on any motherboard-including those from Intel-to provide additional interfaces such as M.2 and SATA.
The primary function of a PCB is to establish the electrical connections among various electronic components to form a predetermined circuit, thereby facilitating signal transmission. It serves as a critical electronic interconnect element within electronic products. In electronic devices, the PCB provides mechanical support for the mounting and assembly of various components-such as integrated circuits-while enabling the necessary wiring, electrical connections, or electrical isolation between them. Furthermore, it provides solder mask patterns to facilitate automated soldering processes, as well as identification characters and graphics to aid in component placement, inspection, and maintenance. PCBs can be broadly classified into rigid circuit boards, flexible circuit boards, and rigid-flex circuit boards. During the PCB design process, engineers must carefully consider the board's dimensions, the positioning of specialized components, and the layout of functional circuit blocks, all while adhering to established routing principles. Popular PCB design software tools are provided by companies such as Altium, Cadence, and Mentor.
