You might never have heard the abbreviation "PCB" before, but you unquestionably rely on a variety of PCBs in your daily life. The device you are reading this on needs a PCB to function, for instance.
Learn more about the meaning and history of PCB in this post.
Meaning
The abbreviation "PCB" stands for "printed circuit board". The term "printed circuit board" is commonly abbreviated to "PCB", both within industries that use and manufacture PCBs and in general usage.
The abbreviation can be pluralized as "PCBs" to refer to multiple printed circuit boards.
Various types of printed circuit boards, which can have varying levels of complexity, are in use in all the modern electronic devices you use, ranging from your smart watch to blood pressure monitors and even the storefront lighting that lights your way at night.
In lay terms, printed circuit boards can simply be described as boards that link all the electronic components of a device, as such functioning as the foundation that makes it possible for a device to work.
Example Usage
The following examples take a look at the way in which the abbreviation PCB, meaning "printed circuit board", may be used in a sentence:
- Most PCBs are rigid, but some are flexible and there are even PCBs that have flexible as well as rigid components.
- Your garage door's PCB is broken. It will have to be replaced.
- The earliest electronic devices did not have PCBs, so all the components had to be soldered to a chassis instead.
Origin
The electronic and electric circuits that were in use in the late 1800s and very early 1900s were wired using a so-called "point to point" system. These early systems were expensive and took up a lot of space, so inventors began looking for alternative options.
The well-known inventors Albert Hansen and Thomas Edison both experimented with alternative ways to wire electric circuits in the first decade of the twentieth century.
The first working example of the modern PCB was, however, invented by Paul Eisler, an Austrian engineer. He incorporated his printed circuit board into a radio set in 1936.
This design was used in military applications soon after, but the first commercially-sold PCB arrived on the market in 1948. By the mid 1950s, printed circuit boards appeared in many household electronic devices, and the technology has been improved and miniaturized ever since.
PCBs are still evolving to this day, with 3D printing techniques now being in use and various degrees of complexity being applied, depending on the device into which a PCB will be incorporated.
Printed circuit boards are typically rectangular or square-shaped green boards featuring chemical etching that typically has a silver color. If you have ever opened up an old laptop, remote control, or smartphone, you will have seen a PCB.
Phrases Similar to PCB
Printed circuit boards (PCBs) can also be referred to as:
- Printed wiring boards (PWBs).
- PC boards.
Different types of printed circuit boards are in use:
- Very simple PCBs are called breakout boards.
- Hole-through PCBs rely on holes through which leads are threaded and soldered to the other side of the board.
- Surface-mount PCBs feature components that are soldered directly onto the laminated board. These are most popular now.
What Is the Correct Saying?
The correct abbreviation is "PCB", meaning "printed circuit board".
Ways People May Say PCB Incorrectly
Some people, knowing what a printed circuit board looks like and also knowing that it is sometimes called a "PC board" may assume that printed circuit boards are only used in computers. Some may even confuse a PCB with a computer's motherboard.
Printed circuit boards are incorporated into nearly all modern electronic devices, and are by no means limited to computers alone.
Acceptable Ways to Phrase PCB
You can use the abbreviation "PCB" to refer to a printed circuit board in the company of people who understand what these letters stand for. Most people know what a PCB looks like, but not many also know what these ubiquitous boards are used for or what they are called.