Today, no new car can run without an onboard computer — and those computers need sophisticated automotive printed circuit boards to make them run. In this passage, we are talking about the automotive PCB and the application. Please check and read the content we prepare below for more information.

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What is the basic introduction of automotive PCB？

Furthermore, it is estimated that automotive electronic system with a market capitalization of 191 billion dollars will rocket to that with 314.4 billion dollars by 2020, with an average compound growth rate of 7.3%. A top-level automotive possibly contains 150 electronic control units that are mostly sensors and processors inside cockpit. According to some report, real value of 65% of electronic products lies in dynamical system, automotive body and chassis and most is concerned with digital power. Electronic value in electromotives will go over 70%.

Automotive containing electronic equipment are sure to apply electrical circuit board. In 2014, global automotive PCBs account for 4.6 billion dollars and this number is estimated to be over 7 billion dollars by 2020.

Application of automotive system is to increase automotive performance that up to now is displayed in three aspects:

a. Environmental improvement refers to fuel saving and exhaust reduction, that is, a process from gasoline, natural gas and biofuel to hybrid power and pure electricity. Electromobiles have become the main development trend.

b. Security increase refers to traffic accidents reduction, ranging from airbag to radar monitoring, stereo camera, night infrared monitoring, automatic collision-avoidance and automatic driving. It's estimated that self-driving automobiles will be commercialized in three years.

c. Convenience and comfort ranges from audio specific to automobiles, video and air conditioner to computer, mobile communication, Internet, navigation and electronic toll collection all of which have to be more convenient and user-friendly.

What is the basic requirement of automotive PCB？

• Quality insurance requirement

Automotive PCB manufacturers should conform to regulations of ISO9001. We are fully compliant with the ISO9001:2008 quality management system and is committed to adhering to the strictest standards in manufacture and assembly.

Automotive products have their own particularities. In 1994, Ford, GM and Chrysler combined to set quality control system in automotive industry, QS9000. In the early 21st century, compatible with ISO9001 standards, a new quality control system in automotive industry was published, that is, ISO/TS16949.

ISO/TS16949 is a set of technological regulations in global automotive industry. Based on ISO9001, with special demands in automotive industry added, it focuses more on defect prevention, decreasing quality fluctuation and waste that tend to be generated in automotive component supply chain.

When implementing ISO/TS16949, special attention has to be paid to primary 5 key tools: PPAP (Production Part Approval Process) regulating that products should receive customers' approval prior to volume production or after modification, APQP (Advanced Product Quality Planning) regulating that quality plan and previous quality analysis should exist before production, FMEA (Failure Mode and Effects Analysis) analyzing and coming up with measures to prevent products' potential failure, MSA (Measurement System Analysis) necessarily analyzing variation of measurement result to confirm measurement reliability, SPC (Statistical Process Control) mastering production procedure and product quality change with the application of statistical techniques. Therefore, the first step for PCB manufacturers to enter automotive electronic market lies in getting TS16949 certificate.

• Basic requirement of performance

a. High reliability

Automotive reliability primarily comes in two aspects: lifespan and environmental resistance. The former refers to the fact that normal running can be guaranteed within a lifespan while the latter refers to the fact that PCB functions remain unchanged when environment changed.

The average automobile lifespan in 1990s is in the range from 8-10 years and the present range from 10-12 years, which means that both automotive electronic system and PCB should fall within this range.

In the process of application, automobiles should withstand climate change, from extremely cold winter to hot summer, from sunlight to rain, and environment change owing to temperature rising as a result of their own running. Put it differently, automotive electronic system and PCB have to withstand multiple environmental challenges including temperature, humidity, rain, sour fog, vibration, electromagnetic interference and current surge. Additionally, since PCBs are assembled inside automobile, it is mainly influenced by temperature and humidity.

b. Light weight and miniature

Light weight and miniature of automobiles is beneficial to energy saving. Light weight derives from weight reduction of each component. For example, some metal parts are replaced by engineering plastic parts. Moreover, both automotive electronic equipment and PCB should be miniature. For example, the volume of ECU (Electronic Control Unit) applied in automobiles was approximately 1200cm3 at the beginning of 2000 while that is less than 300cm3, decreasing by four times. Plus, starting point firearm has transformed from mechanical firearm connected by wires to electronic firearm connected through flexible wires and with PCB inside, decreasing by more than 10 times in terms of volume and weight.

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