Printed Circuit Board, also called Printed Wiring Board (PWB). The generic term for completely processed ‘printed wiring’, where predetermined conductive patterns are used to interconnect electronic components on a common insulating base. It includes single-sided, double-sided and multilayer boards made with rigid, flexible and rigid-flex materials, but the most usual PCB is a substrate of copper-clad laminate material which has been etched to form a pattern of conductive traces. More correctly, but less usually, referred to as a ‘Printed Wiring Board’ (PWB). Especially within the computer industry, the term is also loosely applied to a board onto which semiconductor components are connected, although this is properly called a Printed Circuit Assembly (PCA). Bare PCB or blank PCB is a non-conducting board or substrate that is used to connect electronic components, such as discrete semiconductors or ICs, or passive devices such as capacitors, inductors or resistors, via conducting copper tracks to make an electrical circuit.
