Several Noticing Points of PCB Silk Screen
As is well-known, silkscreen defines the text-based information printed onto the surface of a circuit board, which can be included company logos, component identifier and warning symbols, etc. It is an indispensable part of printed circuit board, so you’d better learn more about the silk screen instead of shallow understanding. Besides, you also need to pay attention to these noticing points of silk screen.
Values for silk screen
Values for silk screen are the first noticing point of PCB silk screen. Generally speaking, a good silk screen aspect ratio is 10:1 or .100’’ high by .010’’ thick, while the positioning error between silk screen to top-layer shall be within .003’’.
Marking location
In the silk screen of PCB manufacturing process, the markings for reference designation and component outline are taken from the design and copied to the board. Commonly speaking, PCB manufacturers are required by IPC to provide both a manufacturer’s mark and an identifier which will allow for lot tracing if problems occur. Moreover, manufacturers will try to locate them in non-critical board areas though there are no strict standards for where these markings appear. If these markings are required to be placed in a specific area or omitted, you should specify it in the PCB files, in fabrication design or in the contact with the manufacturer.
Price factor
Provided that you are a bit pricing sensitive, then price becomes a noticing point of silk screen. You should pay attention on the following aspects for saving PCB costs. Firstly, color matters! Standard color, for example, while will charge you less than other unusual ones. Additionally, larger geometries are also beneficial for cost saving. If possible, requesting silk-screening on one side only may cut your artwork costs in half.
