All About High Density Interconnect Circuit Boards

These days, high density circuit boards (also known as HDI boards) are becoming increasingly popular, especially as the demand for consumer electronics continues to rise. So, what exactly is an HDI printer circuit board? What sets it apart from a regular circuit board? Read on to find out.

HDI Printed Circuit Boards vs. Traditional PCBs The main difference between an HDI board and a traditional board is that HDIs tend to have a much higher circuitry density. This means that they are more powerful without the need to be any larger in size, which is ideal for today's small electronic gadgets like smart phones, tablets, and music players.

Benefits of HDI PCBs Because HDI printed circuit boards are more expensive to produce, it's important that today's manufacturers have a justification for using them. Fortunately, there are all kinds of advantages that come along with using HDI printed circuit boards over other types available on the market.

Perhaps the biggest benefit to using this type of board (especially with today's technology) is the fact that HDI boards allow for more components to be placed on both sides of the board itself. Furthermore, with HDI boards, connections can be placed even closer together without any problems. The same cannot be said of regular printed circuit boards.

Furthermore, due to the fact that components can be placed closer together, information travels more quickly among these boards, which results in fewer signal delays.

How is HDI Cost Effective? Many PCB manufacturers or designers of PCBs that are mass produced may be finding themselves wondering just how making the switch to an HDI PCB could possibly be cost effective. This is a fair question; fortunately, there are many great answers.

For starters, these boards can typically be made at about half the size of a regular board. This remains true of layered boards, which means that an eight-layer circuit board could be made into a four-layer board with this kind of technology. This cuts down on production costs while also saving the company money on packaging and shipping; these are savings that can add up greatly over time.

While HDI PCBs aren't quite yet the norm, it's expected that they may become the norm in the PCB manufacturing industry not too long down the road. This is why now is a good time for designers to consider making the switch.