Printed Circuit Board

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What Does Printed Circuit Board Mean?

A printed circuit board (PCB) is an electronic circuit used in devices to provide mechanical support and a pathway to its electronic components. It is made by combining different sheets of non-conductive material, such as fiberglass or plastic, that easily holds copper circuitry.

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PCB is also known as printed wiring board (PWB) or etched wiring board (EWB).

Techopedia Explains Printed Circuit Board

A PCB works on the copper films/assembly/circuit that are placed inside of it to provide a pathway for the flow of current. A PCB can hold various electronic components that may be soldered without using visible wires, which facilitates its use.

PCBs are found in nearly every electronic and computing device, including motherboards, network cards and graphics cards to internal circuitry found in hard/CD-ROM drives.

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Margaret Rouse
Technology expert
Margaret Rouse
Technology expert

Margaret is an award-winning writer and educator known for her ability to explain complex technical topics to a non-technical business audience. Over the past twenty years, her IT definitions have been published by Que in an encyclopedia of technology terms and cited in articles in the New York Times, Time Magazine, USA Today, ZDNet, PC Magazine, and Discovery Magazine. She joined Techopedia in 2011. Margaret’s idea of ​​a fun day is to help IT and business professionals to learn to speak each other’s highly specialized languages.