Concept Difference of SMT and PCB Assembly

SMT is a surface mount technology, which is the most popular technology and process in the electronic assembly industry nowadays. The PCB assembly is short for Printed Circuit Board Assembly. In short, the board becomes PCB after the SMT processing and DIP plug-in.So PCB is a step in the assembly of SMT, that is to use automatic placement machine to mount on the surface of PCB. 

Main flow of PCB assembly

PCB assembly is also known as PCBA, we can get the PCB after the entire process of  SMT and DIP. This process can be divided into several main steps: customer orders, customer information, procurement of raw materials, material test, SMT, DIP, PCBA test,packaging and sale. Thus, SMT is an important part of PCB assembly, which indicates that the PCB assembly includes the SMT. 

Main flow of SMT

SMT is also called the surface mount technology, which is mainly used the placement machine to mount the micro parts on the PCB, this process is mainly divided into the following main steps: put PCB into rack, PCB printing, SPI Solder thickness sample test, mounting, visual inspection before flow, reflow,AOI, appearance inspection, functional test, packing and OQA sample check.These steps have completed the whole process of SMT.

By analyzing the processes of SMT and PCB assembly, we can clearly see the difference between them. The whole process of PCB assembly contains SMT and many other important steps, these links in the fabrication process of PCB are indispensable. We can produce the PCB board that meets the requirements of the customer only to ensure that every step of the processing quality.