PCB Surface Finishes Finishes Deep Dive

[@frax84]

These kinds of videos are pure gold (not ENIG) for people like me who are "self-taught" in PCB design and have gaps in their knowledge here and there. Thank you!

[@jacobfaseler5311]

5:05 they’re actually a lobbying group that aims to sustain the copper industry. They also have a treasure trove of useful info - including a wider body of knowledge than most sources on high-current bus bar design and fabrication.

[@damon-burton]

Great breakdown. Your explanation of the trade-offs between signal integrity, cost, and reliability is spot on. It's clear you have a deep understanding of the subject matter. I'm particularly interested in learning more about the environmental impact of different surface finishes. Are there any eco-friendly options that don't compromise performance?

[@MrMarsjano]

In my opinion best type of surface finish for RF is ISIG (Immersion Silver and Semi-Autocatalytic Gold Plating). It is expensive and hardly available, but has great performance.

[@petersage5157]

12 to 24 months shelf life?! That's practically crib death! In my particular niche of simple circuits that mangle guitar tone, small lot hand-populated thru-hole circuit boards are de rigueur, and shelf life of the surplus boards made by the fabricator is a priority unless I want to use them as coasters. I've found that Sn/Pb HASL boards remain usable many years after fabrication; if I'm worried at all about oxidation on an old board, I'll just scrub it with a ScotchBrite pad for a few seconds before populating. Since there's a culture of modding/tweaking these circuits that is almost as old as the first electric guitars, another important consideration is (I know Google won't know how to spell this) reworkability of populated boards; here again, Sn/Pb solder has a solid track record going back several decades.

[@selvakumarn7292]

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