Since their invention at the entry of the century and following their patenting by the Austrian Paul Eisler in the year 1946, the printed circuit boards have evolved drastically. The evolution has gone beyond their original intention and functionality. Today, PCBs are tiny, flexible, complex multilayered that if compared to their original members you cannot find any physical relationship. Maybe the only thing that reunites the current and original PCBs is the functionality. The boards are also produced in bulk and at a higher rate as compared to the previous manufacturing techniques courtesy of the advancement that has been made in the area of technology. Even some years ago, the micro-vias, the HDI and the FPGAs were only available for the most expensive designs but today they are readily available to all the designers throughout the world.

As the technology and the demand for more electronic devices grows, so does the development of printed circuit boards do. As the basis for the development of all the electronic and electrical devices, the PCBs feel the intense pressure for the growth ands the development. As the consumers ordering for more slim, lighter and faster devices and the manufacturing sector demanding for more functionality, the PCBs industry must continue evolving and developing into the future.

But what exactly do we expect from the future of the printed circuit boards especially in the area of technology?

The future of the PCB

While the modern PCBs are manufactured at an outstanding rate, for example check this Low-Cost Flexible PCB Manufacturing Process, but there is room for more improvement as consumers keep pushing for more advancement in their functionality, shape, size and the components attached directly to the board. There is also plenty of room in advancing the manufacturing process itself as consumers demand increases. There has to be inventions and innovations that can lead to better and faster processes that can allow the manufacturers meet the consumers demand. That as why our most predictions for the future of the printed circuit boards have to focus on these specific areas.

The PCB board cameras

Board cameras commonly known as the printed circuit board cameras are the type of cameras that are mounted directly into the printed circuit boards. they are made up of the aperture, the lens and the image sensor and they are designed to carry out the functionality of taking both the digital videos and the images. These cameras are very tiny and they can be fixed in all types of the PCBs. The tininess allows the cameras to be fixed in any electronic devices.

The tininess in the size of the board cameras have made them find applications in the following industrial areas;

Medical instruments

The small sized cameras have found application in the area of the medicine for the non-invasive and the invasive medical procedures.

• Small sized cameras have been introduced which can be swallowed by patients under doctors’ instructions so that it can take videos of the digestive systems without the doctor doing any invasion surgery.
• In the same area of medicine, we can find wearable cameras which are gaining great use in the area of medical surgery to give instructions to the patients.

Surveillance technology

Because these PCBs cameras are very small in size, they can be hidden in the objects and hence they are a very great fit for the surveillance without people knowing their presence.

• Many consumers especially in business premises and homes are using such type of cameras to carry out surveillance against the intruders. As the technology keeps improving, its need fort the security also keep growing.
• These industries are just a few examples of how security surveillance should be boosted and we are expecting more complex and better trend in the future.
• Improved day/night or the low lighting board cameras are also under development in order to improve on the medical and the surveillance images and the videos.

Consumer electronics

Board cameras have found great utilization in the consumers electronic goods, in particular portable gadgets such as the phone cameras. 

• Today, the handheld radios, laptops, desktops, mobile phones and the tables utilize the board cameras technology.
• Today, the consumers are pushing for more advanced and quality hand held cameras which must be achieved in the near future.

Three dimensional printed electronics

The three -dimensional printing is one of the exciting discoveries in the recent years. From three-dimensional printing organ to fire arm and ammo, the three-dimensional printing has accomplished a lot of things in the industry and in the area of the PCB manufacturing there is no difference. The 3D printing in the electronic industry is set to revolutionize how the PCBs will be manufactured in the nearby future.

This 3D systems makes a 3D circuit by printing the substrate item and adding a liquid ink on top to create a functional electronic circuit. Then surface mount devices are added to complete the creation of the final PCB. The outcome is a circuit that can take any shape that a designer desires.

Below are the advantages that 3D printing can offer to the manufacturers and the clients when compared to the traditional methods of designing the PCBs;

• Novel designs

• By allowing the circuits to be printed on the top of an existing shape, 3D PE printing allows the circuits to take un imaginable shapes that could not be attained by the use of the traditional methods.
• The three-dimensional Pes can be shaped to fit on any circular pattern while maintaining its mechanical, physical and the electrical functionality and this trigger introduction of new products features and functionalities.
• Shaping of the 3DPEs is not the only function, but they can be used to print even very large PCBs that cannot be printed using the traditional methods.

• Improved efficiency

• Since the 3D PE is a method that employs the additive technique where the process is done digitally, it is very conservative on the material that it uses compared to the 2D traditional methods.
• The system only applies the material that is needed and it does not add more and this implies that it is very efficient on material utilization.
• The method also improves on the quality of the end product by ensuring that errors that could originate from human are eradicated.
• Although circuits are likely to fail using this technique, it is very important to note that the sophisticated automation used in this area will eradicate such failures hence making it the most efficient.

• Environmentally friendly.

• Since there is no any limitation to the type of the material that should be used in the 3D PE manufacturing method, the manufacturer has the freedom of choosing the type of substrate that they want to use.
• This is what makes it easier to choose environmentally friendly material which are of low cost and readily recyclable. 

Because of the benefit listed above, the 3D PE printing method is advancing very quickly and very soon mass production shall be introduced. Even though this method has been currently limited to the sensors, antenna and the most gauges, research is being undertaken to expand the manufacturing methods to other sectors. This includes the development of the surface where they can be mounted, the development of the SMDs that can be attached and the introduction of the manufacturing techniques that can be used to ensure that the process is successful.

PCB auto-placers

Most Designs of the PCBs include an auto-router. This is very important as it helps in the routing of the PCB circuits to achieve the desired functionality at the end of the PCB layout process. It is very important as it ensures that the process of automation is achieved during the PCB manufacturing process.

However, the process of setting the auto-routers is very time consuming and therefore, the time that is saved during the automation is lost on setting this auto-routers. Due to this reason, the manufacturers are shifting focus towards the use of the auto-placers. Auto-placers make the process very fast by trying to integrate mechanical and the electrical CAD process thus making the process very simple. This difference is actually brought out by the constraints between the autorouters and the autoplacers;

Autorouters;

• The routing constraint are determined by the characteristics of the board and can be easily modeled within the PCBs designs environment. Ther characteristics are the number of the layers on the PCB, layer distances, the connection direction and the spacing between the tracks.

               Autoplacers;

• The constrains that determine the how components are to be placed can be dictated by the mechanical considerations.
• This includes the shape of the casing to cover the PCB, the heat dissipation, the ergonomic issues such as the positioning of some components such as the switch and the optimization of the pick and place method of manufacturing.

As you can note, the constraint dictating the autoplacers has nothing to do with the board design but the they are directly related to the product design. This is very significant to the PCB designers as they can account more than just having to design the PCB. While autoplacers can speed up the manufacturing process as compared to the autorouters, this will be determined by the optimization of the process and here is where the new technologies come into play. The idea of the integrated CAD system will save the day. It is the new trends that manufacturers are putting a lot of focus to ensure that at least they achieve something new.

The high -speed capabilities

Today, world is fast-paced and this is an indicator that people and technology should move very fast too. And as time converts into years, we expect things to get more faster and this includes even the electronics being manufactured. And to allow these electronics achieve the speed required in the future world, the PCB generated will play a very critical role. High speed PCB is the new idea running in the minds of the modern designers.

The general definition of the high speed PCBs is the PCB where the general integrity of the signal is affected by the PCB layout and this can actually mean two very significant things;

• Digital signals

• For digital signals, the integrity of the signal is determined by the digital pulses and therefore any effect on the pulses means that the signal is either delayed or sometimes cancelled.

• Analog signals

• In high speed analog signal, the integrity is always in the shape of the signal. Here, the signal threats will always appear in the shape of the altered signals.

In both the cases, the signal integrity can be affected by both the factors inside or outside the PCB such as the length of the PCB, the dielectric of the PCB, etc. as high speed functionality demand continue to gain momentum going into the future, PCBs with high speed innovations will be produced in order to meet this demand.

Focus on the flexible PCBs

This is the most growing area in the PCB industry estimated to have a market control of about $27 billion by the end of December 2022.

The flexible PCBs are already outshining the rigid PCBs in terms of market meaning the future of this type of technology is bright.

Several industries that are pushing the focus towards the flexible PCBs include; the LED lighting, wearable technology, the flexible displays and the medical instrumentation. People in the area of PCBs design should expect more growth in the demand of the flexible PCBs if the it continues in the path it has picked on currently.