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Which Term To Use - PWB or PCB?
Is there any real difference between the terms Printed Wire Board and Printed Circuit Board? Which do you recommend?
Is there any real difference between the terms Printed Wire Board (PWB) and Printed Circuit Board (PCB)?
Which do you recommend we use for internal and external documents?
R. D.
Expert's Panel Responses
This question has been discussed numerous times at IPC meetings and usually enables a fair amount of emotion.
All of the following are possible uses, depending on your age, geographic location (slang usage), and where/how you got your training. I'm sure there are more.
PB - printed board. the most generic term for a bare board
PWB - printed wiring board, one of the first uses when the issue was only a point to point connection.
PCB - printed circuit board, where the width, side to side and multi-layer relationship(spacing) of conductor runs has or is designed to have a specific effect on circuit operation other than just a point to point connection. Circuit impedance is a primary issue. In approximately 1999 the IPC Technical Activities Executive Committee made a mandate to only use the term PCB for all new document development because more often than not the printed circuitry design will have an impact on function.
PWA - printed wire assembly - older use
PCA - printed circuit assembly - logical to use with the 1999 change to PCB.
PCBA - printed circuit board assembly - multiplerequests/comments (strong push) from users and technical committees in Asia and Europe to use this as the preferred term.
Embedded active or passive components opens up a whole new range of possibilities as well.
While it would be good to have a single term (or pair of terms for bare boards and assemblies) reality is that there are many IPCdocuments of various age using different terms and many more book and magazine article authors, conference lecturers, etc., that pretty much use whatever term they are most comfortable with.
If preparing a document; it would be appropriate to use a term that most of the expected users would understand. In the world of electronics technology, it would seem that most usersshould be able to understand the content when any of these terms are used.
Jack Crawford
Director - Certification & Assembly Technology, IPC
Mr. Crawford is Director of Certification and Assembly Technology for IPC. He is technical liaison to the IPC committees that maintain critical industry standards and has presented numerous papers internationally.
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Great question.
IPC-T-50H, has a definition for each of these terms,
Printed Circuit Board, provides both point-to–point connections and printed components in a predetermined arrangement on a common base.
Printed Wiring Board, provides point-to-point connections but not printed components in a predetermined arrangement on a common base.
There is a difference between the two, but I would say the industry has used the term interchangeably throughout the history of electronic manufacturing.
Left to my devices all raw boards coming from the board shops should be called Printed Wiring Boards.
Leo Lambert
Vice President, Technical Director, EPTAC Corporation
At EPTAC Corporation, Mr. Lambert oversees content of course offerings, IPC Certification programs and provides customers with expert consultation in electronics manufacturing, including RoHS/WEEE and lead free issues. Leo is also the IPC General Chairman for the Assembly/Joining Process Committee.
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Most of the industry uses PCB. So that would be the term for me.
Edward Zamborsky
Regional Sales Manager, OK International Inc.
Mr. Zamborsky serves as one of OK's technology advisers to the Product Development group. Ed has authored articles and papers on topics such as; Low Volume SMT Assembly, Solder Fume Extraction, SMT Rework, BGA Rework, Lead Free Hand Soldering, Lead Free Visual Inspection and Lead Free Array Rework.
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No Real difference. PCB is the more modern term.
Gary Goldberg
President and CEO, PROMATION, Inc.
Mr Goldberg has practical experience in production line layout, process flow and cycle rate analysis. He knows how to avoid bottle necks and most related PCB or pallet handling questions.
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PCB gets my vote
Steven Adamson
Market Specialist, Nordson ASYMTEK
Market Specialist for Nordson ASYMTEK. Mr. Adamson worked for Kodak, Motorola and Plessey, ICL in the UK with 5 US and 2 UK patents. He was awarded a HNC in electrical engineering and was 2008 President of IMAPS. Mr. Adamson was a respected mentor in the electronics industry. He passed away October, 2011. Learn about the Steve Adamson Memorial Annual Scholarship Fund.
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M.C., PHO-TRONICS, USA
Karl Wengenroth, Enthone, Inc., USA
Jeff L Sorensen, Teridian Semiconductor, USA
Richard Stadem, General Dynamics AIS
Thomas Ip, Newsmart International Limited
I seem to recall that in the 1970s the board industry agreed that PCB was incorrect and that PWB accurately reflected the functionality. Some old timers, who resist change, clung to the inaccurate PCB term. Apparently, laziness has prevailed for man but PWB is frequently used now.
If you think about it, using lithography, today's SoCs (systems on a chip) are the only true "printed circuits", requiring only power.
Terrence Thompson, WDPI
Richard Kincaid