What is PCB Baking and its Importance in the Industry?

The progress in the PCB industry has led us to witness great inventions and upgrades in this domain. In this aspect, PCB baking is an important factor that demands our attention. 

When we are learning about PCBs, we cannot forget the importance of PCB baking. So what is PCB baking? We are going to dig deeper into this concept for you today in this post. But before we get on with it, we need to know why PCBs are important. 

Well, PCBs are significant for us because you cannot use your mobile phone or a home appliance without a PCB. They are also good for product miniaturization to optimize their functioning. However, with time the PCB producers faced some problems with the lamination and mounting. Therefore an applicable solution in the form of PCB baking was introduced. 

Today, PCB baking is crucial for the protection against delamination on small and sensitive PCBs. 

What is PCB baking?  

PCB baking is a special method that completely dries the PCBs. The purpose of this method is that there should be no moisture in the PCBs at all. Moisture can complicate the performance of PCBs because it causes corrosion and might also be a possible reason for electrical failures and short circuits. Therefore a preventative measure was important in the form of PCB baking to stop this moisture from damaging the circuit boards completely. Well, this is not it. How much your PCBs will absorb the moisture depends on their substrates. Some substrates are good at water resistance, while others are not. Speaking of PCB baking, you need to know that it is not a piece of cake. 

There are some important considerations. But for this section, we are going to give you a quick overview of the process. You need to bake the PCBs in a reliable oven at an optimum temperature which is 130 degrees centigrade. This much heat is sufficient for the PCBs to have their moisture fully evaporated. As we have mentioned earlier, PCB baking is good for moisture evaporation to prevent delamination, but another good benefit of this method is that it also stops moisture outgassing. Outgassing mainly damages the circuit board panels and hampers the PCB performance. 

Why do PCB Baking?

You must be thinking, do you really need to go for PCB baking? Well, yes, you have to! Because there is a possible chance a single trace of moisture can negatively impact your PCBs. Therefore, to make sure your PCBs are functioning normally, you need to bake them at a fixed temperature.

Also, when condensation interacts with the copper plates of the PCBs, it causes outgassing which is not good for the overall structure of the PCBs. It also damages the soldering, and the connection between the PCB parts and the boards becomes weak. One another impressive advantage of PCB baking is that it prevents chances of delamination as well. 

Do we need PCB Baking?

Yes, experts believe that all types of PCBs must undergo baking. It is because whether your PCBs are simple and small or big and complex, PCB baking will just enhance their longevity and performance in the long run. Plus, it will exclude moisture and dry out the PCBs to protect them from the risk mentioned earlier.

Well, one thing to note about PCB baking is that there is no fixed time for it. Instead, PCB baking can be done at any point in the PCB production process. But the ultimate goal is to remove the moisture from the PCBs. 

Fixing Conditions for PCB Baking

Well, by far, you know why we need to consider PCB baking. Also, you have a general overview of how it takes place. But in this section, we are going to see some conditions for PCB baking to drive good results from it. 

These are industrial conditions, and almost every PCB producer sticks to these guidelines for making PCB baking an effortless process. Keep in mind that these are the conditions when you are using OSP surface finish. 

1. If the shelf life of PCB is up to 2 months, then it is crucial to fully bake it at 120 degrees centigrade for a straight hour. 
2. In case a producer wants to store the PCBs for up to 12 months, then baking them at 120 degrees centigrade for two hours will prove to be beneficial.
3. In case a producer has stored the PCBs for 6-12 months after their production, then it is important that they bake their PCBs for four hours. 
4. If the storage duration has exceeded 12 months, then it is better to bake them at 120 degrees centigrade for 6 hours. In these cases, experts don’t recommend such PCBs for usage because alterations and damage to the PCBs layers are more likely to occur. Therefore damaged layers hamper the performance of the PCBs. Besides, weak soldering and insatiability of the PCBs can also happen due to expired PCBs. Problems with the solder paste and chances of detachment of the PCB parts with the boards can also occur due to expired PCBs. The producers must change their options for surface finish and switch to ENIG in order to make PCBs able to last for 12 months easily. It will protect the PCB layers as well, plus the chances of contamination will be none. 
5. After baking, the producer can keep the baked PCBs for a maximum of 5 days only and then immediately publish online or deliver them within five days. If there is a delay, it is important to rebake them before listing them online. 

Method of Stacking for PCB Baking

1. If your PCBs are large in size, then it is better to stack them in a flat alignment in which only 30 PCBs can be included in the batch. After this, we need to bake them and then put them on a flat surface to let them cool completely for ten to fifteen minutes. During this, keep an anti-bending tool with yourself so that you can immediately use it before things get complicated due to warping. Keep the PCBs horizontal so that the chances of warping will be less. 
2. In case you are working on small to medium-sized PCBs, then it is important to stack them flat, and in this case, you can include 40 PCBs in a single badge. When our PCBs are small, we can arrange them in a vertical way easily. Just like the large PCBs, you also need to cool them for ten minutes. Use an anti-bending tool to prevent the risk of warping. 

Now it’s time to quickly take a look at the precautions you need to consider while PCB baking. These will help you execute the process without any hustle in a safe and protected manner. 

 

Precautions for PCB Baking

1. Make sure to maintain the temperature for PCB baking. Extra temperature for PCB baking can instead damage the PCBs during the process. Also, if you are unable to provide them with sufficient heat, the moisture will not be removed completely from the setup. 
2. After baking, it is important to use the PCBs immediately. Due to some reasons, if it’s not possible, then it is better to rebake them or protect them from interacting with moisture by proper sealing. 
3. It is beneficial to rely on a durable drying mechanism for PCB baking to provide the PCBs with sufficient heat to remove moisture. 
4. Experts believe that always relying on fresh and high-quality PCBs for soldering will eventually pay off the PCB baking in the end as compared to using expired and substandard PCBs. 
5. Try not to voltage industrial guidelines and quality standards when you are in the middle of the process so that you can completely make sure that your PCBs have been dried through baking. 

Conclusion

Here you have all the important aspects of PCB baking. We have tried to discuss the industrial guidelines and expert opinions for the sake of your ease and seamless experience with PCB baking. It is important to know there are different factors that influence PCB baking. 

Being a producer, you must be able to look out for these factors to avoid complications in PCB baking. Other than this, now you know what precautions are important when you want to go for PCB baking. 

All in all, PCB baking is a crucial process that helps you improve the performance of your PCBs on all counts so that they can serve your clients longer through consistent and flawless functioning.