Many DIY players will find that the various board products on the market use a dizzying variety of PCB colors.
The more common PCB colors are black, green, blue, yellow, purple, red, and brown.
Some manufacturers have developed white, pink and other different colors of PCB.

In the traditional impression, black PCB seems to be positioned at the high end, while red, yellow, etc., are the low-end dedicated, is that right?

The copper layer of PCB without solder resistance coating oxidizes easily when exposed to air

We know that both the front and back of PCB are copper layers. In the production of PCB, the copper layer will have a smooth and unprotected surface no matter it is manufactured by addition or subtraction method.

Although the chemical properties of copper is not as active as aluminum, iron, magnesium, but in the presence of water, pure copper and oxygen contact is easy to be oxidized;
Because of the presence of oxygen and water vapor in the air, the surface of pure copper will undergo oxidation reaction soon after contact with the air.

As the thickness of copper layer in PCB is very thin, the oxidized copper will become a poor conductor of electricity, which will greatly damage the electrical performance of the whole PCB.

To prevent copper oxidation, to separate the welded and non-welded parts of the PCB during welding, and to protect the surface of the PCB, engineers developed a special coating.
The coating can be easily applied to the surface of the PCB, forming a protective layer of a certain thickness and blocking copper from air contact.
This layer of coating is called solder resistance layer and the material used is solder resistance paint.

Since it’s called paint, there must be different colors.
Yes, the original solder resistance paint can be colorless and transparent, but the PCB often needs to be printed on the board in order to be easy to repair and manufacture.

Transparent solder resistance paint can only show the PCB background color, so whether it is manufactured, repaired or sold, the appearance is not good.
So engineers add a variety of colors to the solder resistance paint to create black or red or blue PCB’s.

 
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Black PCBs are hard to see wiring, which makes maintenance difficult

From this point of view, the color of PCB has nothing to do with the quality of PCB.
The difference between black PCB and blue PCB, yellow PCB and other color PCB lies in the different color of solder resistance paint on the brush.

If the PCB is designed and manufactured exactly the same, the color will not have any effect on performance, nor will it have any effect on heat dissipation.

As for black PCB, its surface wiring is almost completely covered, resulting in great difficulties for later maintenance, so it is a color that is not convenient to manufacture and use.

Therefore, in recent years, people gradually reform, give up the use of black solder resistance paint, and use dark green, dark brown, dark blue and other solder resistance paint, the purpose is to facilitate manufacturing and maintenance.

At this point, we have basically clear about the problem of PCB color.
The reason for the appearance of “color representative or low grade” is because manufacturers like to use black PCB to make high-end products, and red, blue, green, yellow and other low-grade products.

To sum up, the product gives meaning to the color, not the color gives meaning to the product.

What benefit does the precious metal such as gold, silver have with PCB?
The color is clear, let’s talk about the precious metal on PCB!
Some manufacturers in the promotion of their products, will specifically mention that their products used gold, silver plating and other special processes.
So what is the use of this process?

The surface of the PCB requires welding elements, and a portion of the copper layer is required to be exposed for welding.
These exposed layers of copper are called pads, and pads are usually rectangular or circular and have a small area.

Above, we know that the copper used in PCB is easily oxidized, so the copper on the solder pad is exposed to the air when the solder resistance paint is applied.

If the copper on the pad is oxidized, it is not only difficult to weld, but also increases the resistivity, which seriously affects the performance of the final product.
So engineers have come up with all sorts of ways to protect pads.
Such as plating inert metal gold, chemically covering the surface with silver, or covering copper with a special chemical film to prevent contact with the air.

The exposed pad on the PCB, the copper layer is directly exposed.
This part needs to be protected to prevent it from being oxidized.

From this point of view, whether gold or silver, the purpose of the process itself is to prevent oxidation and protect the pads so that they can ensure a good yield during the subsequent welding process.

However, the use of different metals will require the storage time and storage conditions of the PCB used in the production plant.
Therefore, PCB factories generally use vacuum sealing machine to package PCB before the completion of PCB production and delivery to customers to ensure that no oxidation damage occurs to PCB to the limit.

Before the components are welded on the machine, the board card manufacturers also need to detect the degree of oxidation of PCB, eliminate oxidized PCB, and ensure the yield of good products.
The final consumer to get the board card, is through a variety of tests, even after a long time of use, oxidation will almost only occur in the plug and unplug connection parts, and on the pads and has been welded components, no impact.

Since the resistance of silver and gold is lower, will the use of special metals such as silver and gold reduce the heat generated during the use of PCB?

We know that the factor that affects calorific value is electrical resistance.
Resistance and conductor itself material, conductor cross-sectional area, length related.
Pad surface metal thickness is even far less than 0.01 mm, if the use of OST (organic protective film) treatment of the pad, there will be no excess thickness.
The resistance shown by such a small thickness is almost zero, or even impossible to calculate, and certainly does not affect the heat.