Analysis of the advantages of laser marking in the PCB industry

Laser marking is a very advanced marking technology. Through the focused laser engraving technology, the characters and patterns that need to be marked are engraved on the surface of the object. Compared with traditional printing technology, laser marking has the characteristics of good quality, high consistency, strong wear resistance, high efficiency, cost saving, safety and reliability, and is widely used in the PCB industry.

Market demand under the advancement of science and technology

With the rapid development of the IT industry, smart phones, wearable electronics and other products continue to be thinner and lighter, and consumers are increasingly demanding electronic products. The production of PCBs must also be refined. In order to realize the quality control of the PCB production process, the marking of characters, one-dimensional code, two-dimensional code and other information on the PCB board is traced back, which has become the development trend of the industry.

Traditional printing technology is increasingly unable to adapt to new market technology needs due to poor wear resistance, low precision, poor aesthetics, and environmental pollution. Therefore, laser marking has become a trend in the PCB industry.

Defects in traditional printing technology

Marking on the surface of the PCB is like pattern drawing, company LOGO printing, contact information, QR code, etc, in the past, silk screen printing in traditional printing was usually used. Under the original market demand, traditional printing technology can also meet the requirements of the market, but as the quality of electronic products continues to increase, the requirements of consumers are getting higher and higher, leading to higher and higher marking quality of PCB boards in the market. Technology can not adapt to new market requirements, and its shortcomings are becoming more and more obvious, such as:

1. The wear resistance is poor. The wear resistance mentioned here is not the wear resistance of the metal material, it means that the ink on the surface of the PCB is often worn away, causing blurring and discoloration.

2. Aesthetic requirements, the appearance of metal surface printing is relatively low-end, not suitable for some products with high requirements on appearance, such as medals, metal business cards, exquisite company nameplates, crafts descriptions, etc. unable to meet their appearance requirements.

3. In the ordinary printing process, it is necessary to use chemical solvents such as organic solvents and heavy metal elements, which have certain toxicity and cause personal injury to the silk screen printing staff. In addition, during the drying process of the screen printing ink, the volatile chemical materials gradually volatilize into the air, causing pollution to the air and the environment.

Unique advantages of laser marking

The emergence of laser marking technology has successfully solved a series of problems in traditional printing technology. It is characterized by high precision, fast speed and stable performance. Moreover, it only needs to be controlled by computer, and the operation is simple, and can print various complicated patterns, characters, two-dimensional codes and the like, which fully meets the requirements of high quality marking of the existing PCB industry.

Compared with traditional printing technology, laser marking technology has many advantages:

1. Good quality and strong wear resistance.

The surface of the PCB board is clearly marked and beautiful. It can be marked with various LOGO, pattern, two-dimensional code, text and the pattern is directly engraved on the material, and the wear resistance is more prominent;

2. High processing accuracy.

The laser beam emitted by the laser is focused to a minimum spot diameter of 10um (UV laser), which is of great benefit in processing complex graphics and precision machining;

3. High efficiency, simple operation and low cost.

Users only need to set the parameters on the computer to mark directly, and the surface marking of the material can be completed in just a few seconds to ten seconds;

4. Non-destructive marking.

Laser marking uses non-contact processing, the laser head does not need to touch the surface of the material, so there is no need to consider damage to the material;

5. Wide range of use, safe and environmentally friendly.

Various thin metal and non-metal materials can be marked;

6. Stable performance and long service life of equipment.

With the development of technology, the service life of lasers has increased dramatically, and the service life of equipment has been greatly increased.

UV laser marking and CO2 laser marking technology in the PCB industry

Among the laser marking applications for PCB boards, the most used are UV laser marking and CO2 laser marking. UV laser marking and CO2 laser marking have the characteristics of small heat effect, good processing effect, high precision and fast speed, which have become the preferred technology for marking the surface of PCB board.

In the PCB industry, laser marking QR code technology can realize PCB production, process and quality traceability, and realize automation and intelligent management requirements to meet the needs of lean production, quality control and process improvement. Marking the QR code on the surface of the PCB is a common demand of current high-end customers and has been widely used.