Pros and Cons of Surface Mount Technology (SMT)
Surface mount technology has many advantages and disadvantages in terms of design, manufacturing cost, PCB assembly and reliability.
Here I will discuss Surface Mount Technology ( SMT ).
Advantages and Disadvantages of Surface Mount Technology
Although surface mount technology.offers some design-related benefits or advantages such as smaller and flexible PCBs, lighter weight, noise, shock and vibration, a major disadvantage is that not all electronic components can be used as SMD. Let's discuss and understand one by one.
Advantages of Surface Mount Technology
- Smaller, thinner PCBs : SMD components are 60-80% smaller than through-hole counterparts. These components also weigh significantly less. Therefore, they occupy less space on SMT PCBs making them smaller and slimmer.
- PCB Flexibility Since SMD components are directly mounted or soldered to the surface of the board, surface mount technology offers great flexibility inPCB materials and designs. Flex PCB and Rigid Flex PCB are only possible with SMT.
- Reduced cardboard and material costs : SMT PCBs are smaller in size and do not require any plated through-holes. There are also many SMD components that cost less, which are smaller electronic components . This helps to reduce the cost of SMT PCB manufacturing . Because surface mount components are smaller and thinner, costs are reduced in handling, packaging and shipping.
- Automate Simplified Production : Through-hole electronic components have leads that need to be manually inserted into plated through-holes. These leads need to be bent, shaped and cut. This is not the case for SMD components. Using automatic SMT picking machines , they can be placed on the board automatically. This reduces processing and production costs.
- High signal transmission and high frequency : SMT PCB components can mainly support high-density double-sided PCB and multi-layer pcb . Due to the low latency, these boards are capable of high-speed signal transmission. Additionally, since SMD components have no or short leads, radio frequency interference is reduced. Also SMT pcb assembly has stronger anti-vibration ability and no noise.
Disadvantages of Surface Mount Technology
- Expensive Equipment : Most of the SMT equipment such as relow ovens , picking machines, solder paste screen printers and even hot air SMD rework stations are expensive. Therefore, an SMT PCB assembly line requires a huge investment.
- Difficult Inspection : Due to the small size and many solder joints of most SMD components, it is very difficult to inspect. BGA packages have solder balls and joints under the component, very difficult to inspect. Also SMT inspection equipment is very expensive.
- Easily damaged : SMD parts are easily damaged if dropped. They are also very sensitive to anti-static and require anti-staticproducts for handling and packaging. Typically there is a clean room environment for processing.
- Expensive small batch production : It is expensive to make SMT PCB prototype or small batch production. There are also some technical complexities that require a lot of experience and training.
- Less Power : Not all active and passive electronic components can be used in SMD. Generally, SMD parts have less power.
SMT PCB Assembly in China
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