WHAT IS MOTHERBOARD?
A motherboard connects and transmits signals to and from peripherals, like your keyboard, mouse, and monitor. The same can be said for your components, such as your CPU, GPU, RAM, and others. The motherboard is essentially a large PCB, and the various lines you see are embedded copper tracks.
MANUFACTURING PROCESS:
A motherboard is mainly composed of two materials:
Layers of fiberglass for insulation
Copper to form conductive pathways
If you’re wondering why motherboards are made in layers, the answer is quite simple: to save space. Stacking 4-8 layers of copper-embedded fiberglass PCB makes motherboards significantly smaller. This also increases the speed of processing data since electrons have less distance to travel. Now, unless you know exactly what you are doing, you should never drill into your motherboard!. Of course, this doesn’t mean the PCB is never drilled; the PCB is pre-drilled before it even arrives at the factory. The drilling is for mounting holes and through holes for attaching and soldering components. Vertical interconnect access (VIAS) will also be soldered onto the motherboard and is basically electrical connections between the copper layers.
Creating The Base of a Motherboard
It all starts with the PCB or printed circuit board. Layers of very complicated slices of fiberglass are stacked/stuck together with a resin to form one solid layer. This new, single fiberglass layer will then be coated with a layer of copper on both the top and bottom sides. A chemical called photoresist, a light-sensitive material that forms a copper-etched trace on the PCB when exposed to light, is then coated on top of the copper layer. After coating the copper with photoresist, a pattern covering specific parts of the layer is then placed on top of it before exposing the entire slab to UV light. The board is then washed to remove the uncovered parts of the copper layer, exposing the almost-complete motherboard. When everything is completed, the actual motherboard manufacturing process begins.
Motherboard Manufacturing Process
1. Surface Mount Technology (SMT) : This is where smaller components are soldered onto the motherboard. The process starts with the PCBs stacked and pushed by a machine one by one to an advanced printer, which then follows a pre-labeled layout before soldering components in place. The motherboards aren’t sent straight to DIP because they need to be manually inspected first and then placed on an integrated chip tester to ensure that the print that was ordered is accurate. If it passes the test, then its journey continues.
2. DIP (Dual Inline Package) : This process starts with the motherboards being placed into a machine that installs the small capacitors. After that, larger components, such as 24-pin connectors, and input/output ports, are mounted by hand. Before a motherboard is ready for testing, it has to pass the manual inspection to ensure that the components are correctly installed. After the manual inspection, these are sent through a heat chamber that is said to go all the way up to 509° Fahrenheit (265° Celsius) to reinforce the recently inserted components. After this, it will then be ready for testing.
3. Testing : Testing is really easy to understand and, as always, important for quality control. All of the I/O ports, PCI Express Lanes, etc. will need to pass a series of tests before they are tagged as ready for packaging.
4. Packaging And Distribution : The packaging and distribution process is where the SATA cables, manual, I/O shield, driver installer, and just about everything you’d find inside a newly purchased motherboard is packed. The motherboard will also be packaged in an antistatic bag here.
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DISCLAIMER The information is provided by Tecquisition for general informational and educational purposes only and is not a substitute for professional legal advice. If you have any feedback, comments, requests for technical support or other inquiries, please mail us by tecqusition@gmail.com.
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