Industry Overview
1, the concept
PCB (Printed Circuit Board), the name of the printed circuit board, also known as printed circuit board, is the support body of electronic components.PCB is an important electronic component, known as the "electronic aircraft carrier", downstream applications, including consumer electronics, communications, computers, automotive electronics, industrial control, Medical devices, defense industry, aerospace and other fields.
As a key component of electronic interconnection, PCB is a bridge that carries electronic components and connects circuits, widely used in almost all electronic products, is the cornerstone of the electronics industry.
2、PCB classification
PCB products from the technical classification can be divided into two types of classification in accordance with the circuit layer classification and classification according to the product structure.
(1) PCB according to the circuit layer classification
PCB can be categorized into single-sided, double-sided and multilayer boards according to the circuit diagram layer. Single-sided board is the most basic PCB, used in common household appliances, electronic remote control and other basic electronic products; double-sided board due to both sides of the wiring, such as consumer electronics, computers, automotive electronics, industrial control. Multilayer boards can be further divided into mid-bottom boards and high-level boards, which can be mainly categorized into 4-6 layers, 8-16 layers, 18 layers and above, and can be used for more complex circuits, of which high-level boards are mainly used in communication equipment, high-end servers, military and other fields.
(2) PCB by product structure classification
PCB according to the product structure can be categorized into rigid boards (hard boards), flexible boards (soft boards), rigid-flexible combination of boards, semi-flexible boards, HDI boards, packaging substrates. Rigid plate is manufactured for rigid substrates, and can provide mechanical support for electronic components, a wide range of applications. Flexible board for flexible printed circuit boards, made of bendable materials, can save the space required, so more used in various types of consumer electronic equipment. HDI boards take high-density interconnection technology, improve the board wiring density, and support the use of advanced packaging technology applications. Packaging substrate that is, IC package loading board, directly used to carry the chip, and provide electrical connection, protection, support, heat dissipation, assembly and other functions.
3, PCB development history
PCB has a long history, the earliest can be traced back to more than a hundred years ago, and continues to evolve to the present day. 1903, the German inventor Albert Hanson for the early breadboarding research, the invention of the predecessor of the PCB. Albert Hanson proposed the use of double-sided conductive through-hole structure concepts, similar to the modern through-hole board technology. He was also innovative in constructing prototype circuits that covered wires on insulated boards, and this work provided the basic framework for the subsequent development of PCB technology.
In 1927, French inventor Charles Ducas applied to receive a patent for a circuit board variant. He employed a stencil printing technique that used a stencil and conductive ink to print wires on an insulated surface, effectively creating circuits. This printed wiring technique was an early version of the evolution of today's circuit board plating process.
Austrian engineer Paul Eisler took an important step in the development of PCBs when he created the first functional PCB in 1941.Eisler's innovation was the application of a layer of copper foil adhered to an insulating substrate to provide a conductive path for electronic components. By 1943, he further introduced a radio with a PCB inside, a design that played a key role in the ensuing military operations of World War II.
In the later part of the 20th century, the PCB manufacturing process saw advances in etching and soldering techniques, and PCBs moved towards complexity and miniaturization. The space arms race between the major powers pushed PCB technology forward because of the pursuit of light weight and energy efficiency. Later the advent of the digital age triggered an explosion of electronic devices such as game consoles, VCRs, computers and CD players. As the size of electronic products shrunk, it became more and more difficult to manufacture PCBs by hand, leading to a surge in demand for industrialized PCB manufacturing. At the same time, PCB design is becoming more and more critical as components get smaller and wiring becomes more complex.
Nowadays, PCBs are becoming more and more complex, driven by technologies such as 5G, IOT, AI, etc. PCBs have evolved from the most basic through-hole boards to highly multilayered boards, rigid-flex boards, flexible boards, HDI boards using IC substrate technology, and so on.
Industry Status and Forecast
1, PCB manufacturing industry gradually transferred to mainland China
PCB industry is widely distributed around the world, the early United States, Europe, Japan, developed countries as the dominant. 2000 years ago, the United States, Europe and Japan accounted for more than 70% of the global PCB output value. However, in the past two decades, Asia, especially China, due to labor, raw materials, policy and industrial cluster advantages, attracted the global electronics manufacturing industry transfer. Mainland China, China, Taiwan, South Korea and other places gradually become the new manufacturing center. Since 2006, mainland China surpassed Japan to become the world's largest PCB production base, marking a shift in the industry's competitive landscape. Mainland China's PCB output value accounted for the proportion of global PCB gross output value rose from 8.1% in 2000 to 54.6% in 2021.
In 2023, the domestic revenue of the top ten PCB listed companies revenue totaled 140.46 billion yuan. Among them, Dongshan Precision has the largest revenue volume, with revenue of 33.651 billion yuan in 2023. The second largest company is Peng Ding Holdings, with revenue of 32.066 billion yuan in 2023.
2, the market will enter a new growth cycle, China's PCB industry continues to develop healthily
Due to the de-stocking pressure and the interest rate hike to curb inflation, the global PCB market size has shrunk in 2023. According to Prismark data, the global PCB output value in 2023 fell 15% year-on-year to $69.517 billion. However, as the market inventory adjustment, weak demand for consumer electronics and other issues enter the closing stage, as well as the accelerated evolution of AI applications, PCB will enter a new growth cycle, is expected to grow by about 5% year-on-year in 2024, and PCB manufacturers are expected to rebound in the crop rate. In the medium to long term, the global PCB industry will usher in a renaissance, it is expected that the global PCB output value is expected to reach 90.413 billion U.S. dollars in 2028, with a compound growth rate of 5.4% from 2023 to 2028. China's PCB industry continues to develop healthily, in 2023 the Chinese mainland PCB output value of 37.794 billion U.S. dollars, accounting for more than 50% of the global market share.
3, according to the product structure, multilayer boards accounted for the mainstream
From the product structure point of view, in 2022 the global PCB market Top3 products were multilayer boards, packaging substrates, flexible version, accounting for 36.5%, 21.3% and 16.9% respectively. China's market is dominated by multilayer boards, accounting for 49%, but mainly 8 layers of low-end products, high-value products such as high multilayer boards, high-level HDI boards, packaging substrates and other products accounted for a relatively low proportion. In recent years, the domestic factory actively develop high-end areas, the relevant products gradually landing, and production capacity to obtain further expansion, the future proportion of high-end products is expected to increase.
4, the industry toward improving product accuracy, density and reliability of development
The global PCB industry is committed to improving product accuracy, density and reliability to meet the demand for high-performance PCB boards in downstream industries. Looking forward to five years, packaging substrates, 18 layers and above, multilayer boards and high-density interconnect board (HDI) market demand is expected to grow significantly, and it is predicted that 2023 to 2028 CAGR will reach 8.8%/7.8%/6.2%, respectively, the rate of growth exceeds the industry's average growth level. Traditional PCB rigid boards such as single and double-sided boards, 4-6 layer boards, and 8-16 layer boards are expected to have a CAGR of 3.1%/3.4%/5.5% from 2023 to 2028, respectively, with low growth rates.
Policy analysis
Benefit from the booming development of end-use applications and the global semiconductor industry chain capacity transfer to China, the domestic PCB market space continues to grow, while the introduction of a number of important domestic policies to support the development of the PCB industry, including fiscal and taxation policies, talent subsidies, R & D project support, etc., to promote the PCB industry to achieve autonomy and control, to ensure its sustainable development.
PCB Preparation Process
The main PCB production processes are divided into three categories, namely, subtractive, semi-additive and additive, which are applicable to different types of products. At the same time in the production of the same substrate can also be based on the demand for the use of the above three types of technology mixing process. Currently, subtractive and semi-additive methods are the mainstream PCB production processes:
Subtractive method (subtractive): subtractive method is in the raw material copper-clad substrate, through drilling, hole metallization, graphic transfer, plating, etching or engraving and other processes, selective removal of part of the copper foil, the formation of conductive graphics. The disadvantage is that it will make the exposed copper foil layer in the etching process may produce the line down the side of the etching problem, resulting in the production of less than 50 μm line width / line spacing yield is too low, but the process is applied to ordinary PCB, FPC and HDI and other circuit board products is more than enough;
Semi-Additive Process (SAP): In the pre-treated substrate (copper cladding), the areas that do not require plating protection, then plating and coating of corrosion-resistant coatings, and finally through the flash-etching to remove the excess chemical copper layer, if the substrate has a base copper, the process is a modified semi-additive process (mSAP). Since the chemical copper layer etched by the flash etching process is very thin, the etching time is short and not prone to line side corrosion problems. Semi-additive method is suitable for the production of 10μm ~ 50μm between the fine line width line spacing, and the thickness of the line is easy to control, is the current ABF and other fine line carrier board the most mainstream manufacturing methods;
Additive Process (AP): After printing the circuit on the insulated substrate containing photosensitive catalyst without copper foil, the copper line pattern is plated on the substrate by the method of chemical copper plating to form a printed circuit board with a chemical copper plating layer as the line, the process is more suitable for the production of fine lines with a pitch of 10 μm or less, but due to its special requirements for the substrate, chemical copper deposition, the combination of the copper plating and the substrate is also very strict, the combination of requirements. Therefore, with the traditional PCB manufacturing process is a big difference, the cost is high and the process is not mature, the current production is not large.
Industry Chain Analysis
PCB manufacturing industry is located in the middle of the industry chain, the upstream of the semi-cured sheet, copper-clad laminate CCL, copper foil, copper ball, etching solution, copper plating solution, etc. PCB industry chain downstream applications are wide, including communications equipment, network equipment, consumer electronics, servers, industrial control medical, automotive electronics, high-speed rail aerospace, etc. PCB manufacturing industry is located in the middle of the industry chain, by the fluctuations of upstream raw material costs and downstream industry demand changes. PCB manufacturing industry is located in the midstream, affected by the fluctuation of upstream raw material costs and downstream industry demand changes.
1、PCB raw materials
(1) Copper Clad Laminate
Copper-clad laminate (CCL) is the most common material in PCB manufacturing, is made of glass fiber cloth or wood pulp paper and other substrates as a reinforcing material with a resin glue solution infiltrated and covered with copper foil, and finally hot-pressed into the plate material, when used for multilayer boards are also called core board (core). According to the China Business Industrial Research Institute, PCB cost is mainly composed of direct raw materials such as copper-clad plate, accounting for nearly 50%, of which the copper-clad plate occupies 30%, due to small changes in the cost of labor and manufacturing costs, so the main determinant of the cost of PCB is the price of raw materials, especially copper-clad plate; copper-clad plate cost mainly consists of copper foil, resin and fiberglass fabrics, accounting for 42.1%, 26.1%, 26.1%, 19.1%, a total of 87.2%, 19.1%, totaling 87.3%.
Copper foil: copper foil is the carrier of conductive circuits, connecting the signal transmission between electronic components. Copper foil enterprises usually adopt the pricing model of "copper price + processing fee", so the fluctuation of copper price has a greater impact on the profitability of copper cladding enterprises. In the PCB industry chain, the relative concentration of the copper-clad board market is high, while the market concentration of PCB enterprises is relatively low, so the copper-clad board enterprises can pass part of the price pressure brought by the increase in copper prices to the midstream PCB manufacturers. However, the bargaining power of the downstream electronics industry is usually stronger, so when copper prices rise, copper cladding boards and PCB companies may be affected by the gross margin.
Substrate: The substrate is usually an insulating material, providing electrical insulation, mechanical support, heat conduction and other functions for copper-clad laminates. Common substrates include: fiberglass cloth substrate (FR-4, FR-5), paper substrate (FR-1, FR-2, FR-3), composite substrate (CEM-1, CEM-3), special substrate (metal, ceramic), as well as polyester film, polyimide film (PI), and so on. Among them, glass fiber cloth-based copper-clad laminate FR-4 is the main demand of the industry at present. Glass fabrics are generally divided into E-glass (standard), NE-glass (low dielectric), P-glass (low loss) and other types, of which P-glass is suitable for high-frequency and high-speed signal transmission.
Resin: Resin has adhesive properties, which can bond the different layers of the laminate together to form a stable structure. Copper cladding board with phenolic resin, epoxy, polyester, polyimide, polyphenylene ether, PTFE, etc., of which the largest amount of phenolic resin and epoxy resin: phenolic resin is phenol and aldehydes in the acidic medium or alkaline medium polymerization of a class of resins, including phenol and formaldehyde polymerization of resins in alkaline medium is the main raw material for paper-based laminating foils; epoxy resin is the main raw material for glass fiber cloth-based laminating board, with excellent adhesive properties and electrical and physical properties; polyphenylene ether resin has low bonding performance and electrical and physical properties; polyphenylene ether resin has low bonding performance, low bonding performance and electrical and physical properties. Epoxy resin is the main raw material for glass fiber cloth-based copper-clad laminates, with excellent bonding properties and electrical and physical properties; polyphenylene ether resin has a low dielectric constant and loss factor, suitable for high-frequency and high-speed signal transmission.
