The crucial role of PCBs in the automotive industry

• ISO 26262: focuses on the functional safety of automotive electronics, addressing potential hazards throughout the product lifecycle. This standard ensures a systematic approach to risk assessment and mitigation, enhancing the development of fail-safe systems.
• IPC-6012DA: covers performance specifications for rigid PCBs, ensuring reliability and durability by setting requirements for base materials, conductive patterns, and surface finishes.
• AEC-Q100 to AEC-Q200: standards set by the Automotive Electronics Council for electronic component qualification, covering stress test requirements for integrated circuits and passive components. These standards guarantee the reliability of electronic components in the demanding automotive environment.
• IATF 16949: this certification is crucial for companies in the automotive industry, ensuring quality management systems that provide for continuous improvement, defect prevention, and the reduction of variation and waste in the supply chain.
• VDA 6.3: a process audit standard developed by the German automotive industry, focusing on process capability and ensuring that suppliers meet stringent quality requirements. This standard involves comprehensive audits to evaluate and improve process effectiveness.

Adherence to these standards ensures PCBs meet industry benchmarks for safety, reliability, and consistent performance.

• Temperature resilience: PCBs in vehicles must handle a wide range of temperatures, from extreme heat to freezing cold, without compromising performance. With the advent of electric vehicles (EVs), the need for materials that can withstand even higher temperatures is crucial, such as laminates with a high glass transition temperature (TG) of 180°C or more.
• Vibration and shock resistance: constant vibrations and shocks during vehicle operation necessitate reinforced PCB structures to absorb and mitigate these forces.
• Thermal management: proper thermal management prevents overheating, which can damage electronic components. Materials with high thermal conductivity aid in dissipating heat efficiently.

• Emission control: EMC standards define acceptable limits for electromagnetic emissions from electronic components to prevent interference.
• Immunity requirements: these standards also address the PCB's resilience to external electromagnetic disturbances, ensuring reliable operation even in the presence of EMI from external sources.
• Shielding and grounding practices: implementing effective shielding and grounding techniques minimizes electromagnetic emissions and enhances immunity to external interference, preventing crosstalk between PCB components.

• Temperature resilience: materials must withstand wide temperature ranges without degrading.
• Moisture resistance: low moisture absorption prevents PCB deterioration over time.
• Thermal conductivity: high thermal conductivity materials help dissipate heat, ensuring the longevity of electronic components.
• Mechanical strength: materials must possess adequate strength to withstand vibrations and shocks.
• Dielectric properties: stable dielectric properties are crucial for consistent signal transmission and preventing signal distortion.
• UL certification: in addition to meeting industry-specific standards, automotive PCBs should comply with Underwriters Laboratories (UL) certification requirements. UL certification is an American standard for testing the safety of material combinations, including flammability, ensuring that the PCB materials are tested for safe and reliable operation. UL-certified materials are crucial in mitigating risks, particularly in high-temperature environments within vehicles.

Compliance with UL standards, RoHS, and other safety regulations ensures that the materials used in PCBs meet specific safety benchmarks, reducing risks associated with toxic substances and promoting environmental sustainability.

• Thermal cycling: evaluates PCB performance under repeated temperature changes, ensuring durability against thermal stress.
• Thermal shock: assesses PCB resilience to sudden temperature variations, ensuring components can withstand rapid cooling or heating.
• Vibration testing: tests PCB durability against mechanical vibrations and shocks, identifying potential weak points in the design or manufacturing process.

These rigorous testing protocols are vital for ensuring the long-term reliability and resilience of PCBs in demanding automotive environments.

• Continuous component sourcing: establishing relationships with reliable partners to ensure long-term availability of components.
• Traceability systems: implementing unique identifiers and maintaining detailed records for quality control and rapid issue resolution.
• Logistics and storage solutions: offering worldwide logistics and storage solutions to ensure timely delivery and availability of PCBs when needed.

• Flexible PCBs: provide versatility in design and can be bent or folded without breaking, ideal for tight spaces in vehicles.
• Multi-layer PCBs: enable higher density of components and complex circuitry within a smaller footprint, supporting advanced electronic systems.
• HDI PCBs: high-density interconnect PCBs allow for more connections in a smaller area, improving performance and reliability.
• Rigid-flex PCBs: combine the benefits of both rigid and flexible PCBs, providing enhanced durability and flexibility for complex automotive applications.
• IMS boards: insulated metal substrate boards are used for better thermal management, crucial in high-power applications like EVs.
• Surface finishes: surface finishes such as e.g., chemical nickel gold, chemical tin, or OSP (organic solderability preservatives) are essential for ensuring the durability and solderability of PCBs. These finishes protect the copper circuits from oxidation and improve the reliability of solder joints.

• Electric vehicles (EVs): require PCBs that can manage high power loads efficiently and reliably, with enhanced thermal management capabilities.
• Autonomous driving: involves a multitude of sensors and computing systems, necessitating PCBs that can handle complex data processing and communication tasks.

• Cost vs. performance: high-quality materials and advanced manufacturing processes can be expensive, but they ensure long-term reliability and reduce the likelihood of costly failures.
• Economies of scale: large-scale production can help mitigate costs, making high-performance PCBs more affordable.
• Utilization and panel efficiency: optimizing the utilization of materials and panel processing can significantly reduce costs, offering a competitive edge.

• Recycling programs: implementing recycling programs to recover valuable materials from end-of-life PCBs.
• Eco-friendly materials: using materials that have minimal environmental impact and are easier to recycle.
• Energy-efficient manufacturing: adopting energy-efficient processes to reduce the carbon footprint of PCB production.
• Carbon footprint management: monitoring and reducing the carbon footprint associated with PCB production and logistics.

In the fast-evolving automotive industry, PCBs are pivotal in driving innovation in safety features, communication systems, and overall vehicle performance. This exploration underscores the critical role of PCBs, emphasizing the importance of adhering to standards, strategic material selection, rigorous testing, and long-term considerations. By embracing innovative technologies, future trends, and sustainability initiatives, the automotive industry can develop reliable, durable, and high-performance PCBs, meeting the stringent requirements for safety and reliability.

Would you like to learn more about PCB cost drivers? Have a look at our guide to smart procurement.

Our team will be happy to advise you on any of the aforementioned topics and share our knowledge and expertise to ensure functionality, usability, and reliability combined with efficient and stable manufacturability.