{"id":2115,"date":"2009-09-24T12:35:58","date_gmt":"2009-09-24T19:35:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mightyohm.com\/blog\/?p=2115"},"modified":"2015-09-26T11:11:05","modified_gmt":"2015-09-26T18:11:05","slug":"coombs-printed-circuits-handbook","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mightyohm.com\/blog\/2009\/09\/coombs-printed-circuits-handbook\/","title":{"rendered":"Coombs: Printed Circuits Handbook"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.amazon.com\/gp\/product\/0071467343?ie=UTF8&amp;tag=mightyohm-20&amp;linkCode=as2&amp;camp=1789&amp;creative=390957&amp;creativeASIN=0071467343\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-attachment-id=\"2116\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/mightyohm.com\/blog\/2009\/09\/coombs-printed-circuits-handbook\/41b213yfwhl\/\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/mightyohm.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/07\/41b213YFWHL.jpg\" data-orig-size=\"377,500\" data-comments-opened=\"1\" data-image-meta=\"{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;}\" data-image-title=\"Printed Circuits Handbook\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/mightyohm.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/07\/41b213YFWHL.jpg\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-2116\" title=\"Printed Circuits Handbook\" src=\"http:\/\/mightyohm.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/07\/41b213YFWHL.jpg\" alt=\"Printed Circuits Handbook\" width=\"377\" height=\"500\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>If <a href=\"http:\/\/mightyohm.com\/blog\/2008\/12\/horowitz-and-hill-the-art-of-electronics\/\">The Art of Electronics<\/a> is the bible of electronic circuit design, then the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.amazon.com\/gp\/product\/0071467343?ie=UTF8&amp;tag=mightyohm-20&amp;linkCode=as2&amp;camp=1789&amp;creative=390957&amp;creativeASIN=0071467343\">Printed Circuits Handbook<\/a><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" style=\"border:none !important; margin:0px !important;\" src=\"http:\/\/www.assoc-amazon.com\/e\/ir?t=mightyohm-20&amp;l=as2&amp;o=1&amp;a=0071467343\" border=\"0\" alt=\"\" width=\"1\" height=\"1\" \/> is almost certainly the bible of <a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Printed_circuit_board\">printed circuit board<\/a> (PCB) technology.<\/p>\n<p>I say this because even if you disregard the volumes of useful information inside (much of which I have never seen elsewhere online or in print), this book deserves to win &#8216;bible&#8217; status thanks to its 1000 pages and phonebook-quality heft!<\/p>\n<p>All joking aside, this book is a great resource for anyone is serious about making good PCBs.\u00a0 I have worked with PCBs as a design engineer for several years now, and I learned something about printed circuit boards within minutes of opening the cover.\u00a0 Hours later, I was still flipping pages.<\/p>\n<p>How could I walk away from a book that contains in depth discussions of topics like the difference between water soluble and no-clean flux and how to clean the leftover residue from each?\u00a0 Ever wondered what the myriad of surface finish options your PCB vendor offers you really mean?\u00a0 This book will explain the difference between HASL and ENIG, and why you shouldn&#8217;t blindly check the box that says &#8220;lead-free&#8221; without considering the consequences on your assembly process.<\/p>\n<p>This is the kind of stuff they don&#8217;t teach you in school, and as a design engineer I have received only glimpses of in the industry.<\/p>\n<p>Some of the highlights of this book for me are:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>The most thorough discussion of PCB manufacturing that I have ever seen (almost 300 pages!).\u00a0 Want to know how the PCB you just got was made?\u00a0 One layer or sixteen layers, it&#8217;s all in here.<\/li>\n<li>Lots of information about custom laminates, high density interconnect techniques, microvias, blind\/buried vias, plating and surface finishes, solder masks, conformal coating, etc.<\/li>\n<li>Several charts of current handling ability of PCB traces, planes, and vias.<\/li>\n<li>A chapter on thermal design of PCBs.<\/li>\n<li>Lots of information about soldering techniques.\u00a0 Ever wondered how soldering works and what flux really does?\u00a0 It&#8217;s in here too.<\/li>\n<li>Seven (!) chapters on design, manufacturing, and test of <a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Flexible_electronics\">flex circuits. <\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Be forewarned that the technical level of this book is fairly high.\u00a0 It is clearly targeted towards people working in the PCB industry, but most engineers and even serious hobbyists would probably get something out of it.\u00a0 That said, this is definitely not a book for beginners!<\/p>\n<p>(And to the other design engineers out there: Want to one-up the manufacturing and reliability guys in the break room?\u00a0 Read this book!\u00a0 :-))<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.amazon.com\/gp\/product\/0071467343?ie=UTF8&amp;tag=mightyohm-20&amp;linkCode=as2&amp;camp=1789&amp;creative=390957&amp;creativeASIN=0071467343\">Printed Circuits Handbook (McGraw Hill Handbooks)<\/a><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" style=\"border:none !important; margin:0px !important;\" src=\"http:\/\/www.assoc-amazon.com\/e\/ir?t=mightyohm-20&amp;l=as2&amp;o=1&amp;a=0071467343\" border=\"0\" alt=\"\" width=\"1\" height=\"1\" \/><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>If The Art of Electronics is the bible of electronic circuit design, then the Printed Circuits Handbook is almost certainly the bible of printed circuit board (PCB) technology. I say this because even if you disregard the volumes of useful information inside (much of which I have never seen elsewhere online or in print), this &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/mightyohm.com\/blog\/2009\/09\/coombs-printed-circuits-handbook\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Coombs: Printed Circuits Handbook<\/span> <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[40],"tags":[260,206,261,32,33],"class_list":["post-2115","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-books-and-resources","tag-book","tag-book-review","tag-engineering","tag-pcb","tag-printed-circuit-board"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pioCd-y7","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":76,"url":"https:\/\/mightyohm.com\/blog\/2008\/07\/new-flickr-group-for-photos-of-printed-circuits\/","url_meta":{"origin":2115,"position":0},"title":"New Flickr group for photos of printed circuits","author":"Jeff","date":"July 30, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Printed circuit boards can be interesting and beautiful, with their delicate traces and colorful components in all shapes and sizes.\u00a0 I just created a new Flickr group for photos of printed circuits like the one shown above.\u00a0 More details about the group can be found on Flickr: Photos exploring the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Electronics&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Electronics","link":"https:\/\/mightyohm.com\/blog\/category\/electronics\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"U1405","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/mightyohm.com\/files\/flickr\/2717399417_a3a9c6e8c4.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1337,"url":"https:\/\/mightyohm.com\/blog\/2009\/02\/diy-flexible-printed-circuits\/","url_meta":{"origin":2115,"position":1},"title":"DIY Flexible Printed Circuits","author":"Jeff","date":"February 19, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Here's a really cool Instructable about using a flexible copper-clad material called Pyralux to make flexible printed circuit boards.\u00a0 You could make some really cool business cards with this stuff. DIY Flexible Printed Circuits (via makezine)","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Electronics&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Electronics","link":"https:\/\/mightyohm.com\/blog\/category\/electronics\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Pyralux material","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/mightyohm.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/02\/f5x10thfb7fpni0medium-500x375.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1408,"url":"https:\/\/mightyohm.com\/blog\/2009\/03\/flickr-printed-circuit-boards-photo-pool-hits-100-members\/","url_meta":{"origin":2115,"position":2},"title":"Flickr Printed Circuit Boards Photo Pool Hits 100 Members!","author":"Jeff","date":"March 9, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"100 wonderful, amazing people have joined the Flickr Printed Circuit Boards Group since I launched it in July of last year! The pool features over 400 pictures of printed circuit boards, many of them CC licensed.\u00a0 There's a little bit of everything, from homebrew board fab to PCB jewelry and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Electronics&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Electronics","link":"https:\/\/mightyohm.com\/blog\/category\/electronics\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Flickr PCB Photo Pool","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/mightyohm.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/03\/pcb-photo-pool-100-members.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":3190,"url":"https:\/\/mightyohm.com\/blog\/2010\/10\/diy-integrated-circuit-design-with-mosis\/","url_meta":{"origin":2115,"position":3},"title":"DIY Integrated Circuit Design with MOSIS","author":"Jeff","date":"October 25, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"MOSIS, short for Metal Oxide Semiconductor Implementation Service,\u00a0is to integrated circuits what BatchPCB is to printed circuit boards. \u00a0That is, it's a batch order service that makes getting your own custom ICs fabricated more affordable by allowing lots of designers to contribute their designs and share the costs of a\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Electronics&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Electronics","link":"https:\/\/mightyohm.com\/blog\/category\/electronics\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Photo: SATRE ELECTRONICS","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/mightyohm.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/10\/EC101_Layout_50-500x363.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2635,"url":"https:\/\/mightyohm.com\/blog\/2009\/12\/printed-circuit-board-photo-collage-screensaver-for-os-x\/","url_meta":{"origin":2115,"position":4},"title":"Printed Circuit Board Photo Collage Screensaver for OS X","author":"Jeff","date":"December 4, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"One of my favorite ways to keep tabs on the Printed Circuit Boards Group on Flickr is with OS X's built-in ability to turn an RSS feed into a screen saver, as shown above. To create this cool and constantly changing screen saver, open the \"Desktop & Screen Saver\" pane\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Tutorials&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Tutorials","link":"https:\/\/mightyohm.com\/blog\/category\/tutorials\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"OS X Flickr PCB Pool Screensaver","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.mightyohm.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/12\/pcb_pool_saver-500x375.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1103,"url":"https:\/\/mightyohm.com\/blog\/2009\/01\/poll-who-is-your-favorite-prototype-pcb-vendor\/","url_meta":{"origin":2115,"position":5},"title":"Poll: Who is your favorite prototype PCB vendor?","author":"Jeff","date":"January 29, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"As I wait for my AVR High Voltage Programmer Shield PCBs to come back from BatchPCB, I'm starting to wonder what prototype PCB services other people are using for their boards. Ladyada has a PCB Cost Comparison Calculator that shows the significant differences in price between various low volume PCB\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Books and Resources&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Books and Resources","link":"https:\/\/mightyohm.com\/blog\/category\/books-and-resources\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mightyohm.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2115","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mightyohm.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mightyohm.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mightyohm.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mightyohm.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2115"}],"version-history":[{"count":39,"href":"https:\/\/mightyohm.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2115\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2438,"href":"https:\/\/mightyohm.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2115\/revisions\/2438"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mightyohm.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2115"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mightyohm.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2115"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mightyohm.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2115"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}