Why Are Printed Circuit Boards Green?

Printed Circuit Boards (PCBs) are everywhere. In your computer, DVD player, Mobile Phone, Car Stereo, etc. Anything electrical these days is guaranteed to have a PCB within it.

If you have ever looked at one, they seem to resemble a miniature city. The analogy (of a miniature city) is not too far off the mark. The tiny buildings are places where electrical signals need to go to and the roadways are the means they use to do it. PCBs have played an active role in the process of eliminating wires and miniaturization. In fact, you may be surprised to know that they have been around for over one hundred years.

The underlay of a PCB is formed using a very thin layer of Copper and usually, several layers can exist in any given PCB. Sometimes Nickel is used instead of Copper but the idea is to have a layer that will allow electricity to be conducted. The top layer or the overlay needs to be made of a non-conducting material. For this, the popular choice has been Green Epoxy Resin. Since it is very effective and most importantly inexpensive, almost all PCBs you encounter will look green. The cost factor is very significant when you consider the millions of PCBs that are manufactured in the world today. Ultimately, someone will purchase them, and using the most cost-effective materials in production makes sense.

If you are interested, there are many different do-it-yourself kits that are available, where you can play around and create your own PCBs which will perform a simple function.

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