The bare PCB board functions more like a carrier than it does independently. On the bare board, engineers chemically etched traces that acted as wires. Through electrical connections, it will create a bridge to the various PCB components on the board, enabling them to work. In this essay, PCBshare will introduce you to some typical electronic components.
The components for printed circuit boards are discussed in detail in this article. You may be confident that assembling your PCB will be simple thanks to having all the functionality you require.
PCB Components Identification
When it comes to practically all electronic components, PCBs are commonplace. The components that go into the overall PCB design are very important when developing PCBs; as a designer, you may need to keep in mind the following while identifying PCB components.
Determine the printed circuit board or PCB
Choosing the PCB that would work best for your project is the first thing you need to do. There are various PCB kinds. Do you need stiff, rigid-flex, or flexible PCBs for your project? You must pick a PCB that is appropriate for your project.
Identify other “nut and bolt” electronic circuit components
These are the components that regulate and govern how electricity is distributed across the board. This comprises passive parts like capacitors (a piece with two forked wires) and inductors, as well as active parts like resistors (color-coded tubes that reduce electric current) and potentiometers (variable resistors that are often rectangular or circular and labelled with an ohm measurement) (coiled-wire pieces). Oscillators, which are cylinders or boxes denoted with the letters “X” or “Y,” a relay box (denoted by the letter “K”), and transformers are further electrical parts that you can encounter (marked with a “T”).
The battery, fuse, diode, and transistor of the circuit board
A PCB must contain a shower, diodes, fuses, and transistors. The entire PCB is powered by a battery. The charge is amplified by a transistor. A diode only permits one path of current to flow while blocking the other. If a circuit receives too much current, a fuse will blow.
One or more processors
You need processors for PCBs. In order to receive input and provide the right output, processors are crucial. You might need to put more than one processor on the PCB, depending on the PCB section. These days’ PCBs have multiple processing cores that collaborate to carry out instructions.
Connectors on smaller circuit boards (especially on the motherboard)
PCBs require connectors. Connectors are tiny electronic components that can rapidly and easily detach or terminate a circuit line. Connectors do exist in a range of forms, dimensions, levels of quality, and complexity. One-piece card edges and two-piece board-to-board connectors are the most widely used connector types. Small circuit boards are best suited for one-piece card edges.
Other chips on the circuit board
These smaller circuit boards will have printed silicon boards underneath other components and will resemble the larger one in appearance.
RAM (Random Access Memory) connection position on the circuit board
Supplemental RAM comes in the form of long, thin rectangular chips, whereas the RAM that comes with a circuit board may seem as rows of tiny gray boxes.
PCB Components List
A PCB is just a plain board without any details. A PCB is made up of various components, some of which are mentioned below:
Classified by component properties
We often further categorize electrical components into two classes in order to simplify management based on numerous elements such as power gain, functions, source type, and regulating current flow.
Active Components
These parts are referred to as active components since they create energy in the form of voltage and current rather than using it themselves. The term “energy givers” also applies to active components. They need energy from an outside source to carry out their task.
● Transistor：
There are many different types of transistors, and each has a different symbol. Because several varieties of transistors share the same package type, the type of transistor cannot be inferred from its look. Only the transistor’s model number and symbol may be used to determine its kind. We include a few of their most popular varieties here.
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N-channel junction gate field-effect transistor (JFET) |
P-channel junction gate field-effect transistor (JFET) |
Metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistor (MOSFET) |
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Enhancement mode, N-channel MOSFET |
Enhancement mode, P-channel MOSFET |
NPN bipolar junction transistor (BJT) |
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PNP bipolar junction transistor (BJT) |
NPN Darlington transistor |
PNP Darlington transistor |
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● Integrated Circuits：
Integrated Circuits are active components that manage the signal flow on a circuit board. Both large and tiny integrated circuits are used by designers. THT integrated circuits may be recognized by their large projecting pins. SMT integrated circuits, in comparison, may be physically big, but their pins are closely spaced. The pins in certain SMT integrated circuits are concealed beneath the body.
● Transistors：
There are many different types of transistors, and each has a different symbol. Because several varieties of transistors share the same package type, the type of transistor cannot be inferred from its look. Only the transistor’s model number and symbol may be used to determine its kind. We include a few of their most popular varieties here.
● Diodes：
Diodes are active components that mainly let electricity to flow in one direction while blocking it in the opposite. Therefore, to indicate the direction of current flow, their leads contain polarity indicators. Some THT diodes have a black body and the appearance of THT resistors. Some diodes are enclosed with glass. SMT diodes are more compact and resemble SMT resistors or capacitors in appearance. There are several varieties of diodes.
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Rectifier Diode
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Schottky diode
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Zener diode
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Light Emitting Diode (LED)
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Photodiode
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Tunnel diode
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Varicap diode
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Shockley diode
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Silicon-controlled rectifier (SCR)
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Constant-current diode
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Diac
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Bridge rectifier
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● Light Emitting Diodes：
Light-emitting diodes, sometimes known as LEDs, are active parts that produce light when a single-direction current flows through them. THT LEDs feature two projecting leads and a plastic body. SMT LEDs feature a lens-enclosed cubical body through which the light emits.
● Rectifier Blocks：
Four diodes are often placed in a certain order to form a rectifier block, which aids in converting AC waveforms to DC. The SMT rectifier blocks are physically considerably smaller than the THT rectifier blocks, yet they are both cubical architectures. The AC and DC connectors are normally marked on the body of the rectifier blocks.
● Crystal Oscillatorsv：
When switched on, crystal oscillators often produce recognized waveforms. Typically, the bodies of THT and SMT crystal oscillators are made of metal.
Passive Components
The energy that active electronic components supply to the circuit is used by passive electronic components. These parts can only store energy; unlike active parts, they cannot generate energy. The term “energy acceptor” also applies to passive components.
● Resistor：
One of the most popular parts, its primary job is to regulate the circuit’s current flow. For instance, reducing the current before utilizing the LED might prevent burnout by shielding it from strong currents. The illustration below illustrates symbols for resistors:
● Capacitor：
People instinctively conjure up the concepts of charging and discharging when discussing the purpose of capacitors. This is only its most fundamental function, but based on this fundamental function, several circuit phenomena may be achieved, such as the ability of a capacitor to discharge abruptly with great energy in a camera or to cause severe vibration in a motor. Phase-shift capacitors, electric heating capacitors, coupling capacitors, and other types of capacitors are often employed in daily life. Different capacitor types are employed in many sectors and serve various purposes. The capacitor sign is seen in the illustration below:
● Inductors：
For the purpose of adding a known inductance to the route of the electrical signal, inductors are passive components. Typically, inductors have a core with a wire wound around it. Depending on the kind of inductor, the core could be made of ferrite or air. THT resistors and inductors have a similar appearance. To denote their significance, they may also be color coded. SMT inductors have two leads and a cubic form.
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Air Cored Inductor
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Magnetic Core Inductor
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Tapped Inductor
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Ferrite Bead
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●Jumpers：
Short insulated wire jumpers are used to connect two tracks. Only electrical continuity between tracks is offered via jumpers.
● Connectors：
Connectors are passive parts used to terminate many signals at a single location on a circuit board. Connectors can assist in transferring power to the PCB from an external source. Connectors often contain several pins, and because of their design, a matching item can mechanically couple with them. Connectors come in a variety of sizes and forms.
Categorize PCB Components by Package
You may see that the electrical components on the same circuit board employ various packaging techniques if you pay close attention to the PCBA board you are holding in your hand. In plain English, one is placed into the PCB board hole directly, while the other is soldered to the PCB board. Therefore, based on their packaging techniques, PCB components may be separated into two groups.
Through-Hole Component
Electronic parts almost universally come in through-hole packages. These packages feature pins that are long enough to be passed from top to bottom and soldered onto the bottom layer of a PCB. They are additionally known as multilayer packaging. Routing for such a package may be carried out on the top layer, bottom layer, or other layers of the PCB.
Surface Mount Device (SMD)
These components, as their name implies, are placed on just one side of the PCB; as a result, their routing is also done on that side or can be moved to a different layer utilizing vias in the PCB. This bundle includes almost every component of an electrical device.
Depending on the situation, either a through-hole or an SMD electronic component is employed. Although their sizes and soldering techniques differ, their operating principles and functions are similar.
PCB Component Designators
Many printed circuit boards have “cheats” embedded into them. You can identify each component with the aid of reference designators printed on the PCB surface.
A list of several popular reference designators is provided below. It’s crucial to realize that this is only a guide, though. A code for a different kind of component may be used by certain PCB designers, or they may just utilize a portion of this list. The lesson here is to never use reference designators as definitive identifiers, but rather as clues.
| ATT | Attentunator | BR | Bridge Rectifier |
| BT | Battery | C | Capacitor |
| CB | Circuit Breaker | DC | Directional Coupler |
| D | Diode | F | Fuse |
| G | Oscillator | IC | Integrated Circuit |
| J | Jumper or Jack | K | Relay or Contactor |
| L | Inductor | LED | Light-emitting Diode |
| MOV | Metal Oxide Varistor | LS | Loudspeaker |
| PS | Power Supply | P | Plug |
| Q | Transistor | POT | Potentiometer |
| R | Resistor | S or SW | Switch |
| T | Transformer | TB | Terminal Block |
| TC | Thermocouple | TP | Test Point |
| TR | Transistor | U | Integrated Circuit |
| VR | Variable Resistor | X | Transducer |
| XTAL | Crystal | Z | Zener Diode |
| ZD | Zener Diode |
How to choose the right PCB components?
Performance and Design Requirements
When the schematic design with virtual components is finished, you must create a Bill of Material for every component and ensure that their XYZ dimensions match the actual layout and that they are easily and affordably accessible on the market.
Mounting of PCB Components
The cheapest method is surface mounting, and the PCBA can be machine made because of the tiny components. This is seldom accomplished, though, depending on the application. After all the parts and components have been properly put and soldered together, the Printed Circuit Board Assembly (PCBA) is displayed if the PCB is intended for amateur projects. Large components are easier to handle while building a PCBA because they are generally done by hand. All of the parts and components are soldered and properly placed if the printed circuit board assembly is shown. There are multiple connections on a PCBA, a lot of through-hole PCB components are used on the board, and hand soldering is used.
Spacing requirements
Heat is produced by power components, which needs to be quickly dispersed. Because of this, there has to be more space between the board and the component itself. In some severe situations, a heat sink on the surface of the PCB component helps with heat dissipation. As a result, the final form of the PCB board may be impacted and taken into account during the original design.
Final soldering of the PCB Component
Review all component specs, characteristics, and physical constraints from their datasheets before deciding on the soldering process. Depending on this, you’ll either solder by hand, using the wave approach, or by using the production film work that you need to build PCBs. PCBA should be placed in the reflow oven. When hand soldering, it is advisable to start with heavy, through-hole components and work your way up to lighter ones and tiny spaces.
Summary
The foundation of practically all electronics and technology in the world are printed circuit boards. Circuit boards come in a variety of forms, all of which are appropriate for the current project. Are the greatest PCBs what you’re seeking? For more than 10 years, we have been regarded as one of the top PCB suppliers.
We constantly wish to learn more about you and share our expertise about PCBs with you. Consult a specialist for guidance on copper weight, material choice, component choice, etc. to achieve the best outcomes for your PCB project. You can contact us via mail so that we can talk about and work through your present problems.
Summary
The foundation of practically all electronics and technology in the world are printed circuit boards. Circuit boards come in a variety of forms, all of which are appropriate for the current project. Are the greatest PCBs what you’re seeking? For more than 10 years, we have been regarded as one of the top PCB suppliers.
We constantly wish to learn more about you and share our expertise about PCBs with you. Consult a specialist for guidance on copper weight, material choice, component choice, etc. to achieve the best outcomes for your PCB project. You can contact us via mail so that we can talk about and work through your present problems.