Printed Circuit Board
The simplest kind of PCB has components and wires on one side and interconnections (the printed circuit) on the other. PCBs may have components mounted on both sides and may have many internal layers, allowing more connections to fit in the same board area. Boards ..................
The connections are metal strips (usually copper). The pattern of connections is often produced using photo-resist and acid etching. Boards, especially those for high frequency circuits such as modern microprocessors, usually have one or more "ground planes" and "power Planes "Which Area Large Areas of Copper for Greater Current Carrying Ability.
A computer or other electronic system might be built from several PCBs, e.g. processor, memory, graphics controller, disk controller etc. These boards might all plug into a motherboard or backplane or be connected by a ribbon cable.
(1995-05-01)