printed circuit board

An integrated circuit (IC), or silicon chip.

A typical printed circuit board (PCB). The PCB contains sockets for the integrated circuits, or chips, and the connecting tracks.

Close-up of a circuit board. This is an insulated board upon which is laid out an electronic circuit (an arrangement of the electrical components needed for a particular task or function). The board has a connector which joins it to another piece of equipment.

Electrical circuit created by laying (printing) ‘tracks’ of a conductor such as copper on one or both sides of an insulating board. The PCB was invented in 1936 by Austrian scientist Paul Eisler, and was first used on a large scale in 1948.

Components such as integrated circuits (chips), resistors, and capacitors can be soldered to the surface of the board (surface-mounted) or, more commonly, attached by inserting their connecting pins or wires into holes drilled in the board. The increased component density and complexity required by the electronics industry demands increasing use of multilayer PCBs which may have three, four, or more intermediate layers of copper conductor. PCBs include motherboards, expansion boards, and adaptors.