The hardest hit area of technology dependence-PCB industry chain
In 2018, Sino-US trade friction broke out, and the United States began to suppress China from all aspects, especially in China’s high-tech field. As a first-class science and technology power, the United States has a large number of core technologies covering all aspects of the science and technology field. Taking advantage of this advantage, the United States has imposed a technical blockade on my country’s high-tech field in an attempt to prevent “Made in China 2025”.
In the electronic information industry chain, my country’s innovation ability is insufficient, and key core technologies are controlled by others.
Once the US Department of Commerce cuts off supply, ZTE’s main business activities will not be able to continue. From this incident, it can be seen that if we do not have core technologies independently developed, and do not have domestic alternative products, and only rely on one or two suppliers or countries, the supplier’s supply cuts off or the country restricts exports, which is a devastating blow to the company and even threatens the country’s economic security.
So in which aspects of the electronic information industry does my country still lack core technologies or products independently developed? There have been many interpretations and analyses of chip semiconductors, and the whole country has a certain understanding of this industry. This time we analyze an industry that is closely related to our daily life, that is, the circuit board industry. In modern life, circuit boards are indispensable for any electronic product. We analyze the entire industry chain from circuit design, circuit board manufacturing, and SMT mounting.
1.PCB circuit design
PCB circuit design is completely dependent on circuit board drawing software. Currently, the three major mainstream PCB design software are Altium designer (including protel98, 99, 99se, etc., this is an upgraded version), PADS, and Cadence allegro, which occupy 95% of the Chinese market.
Altium designer: a product of Australia’s Altium company. Relatively simple circuit board designs basically use this software, generally based on double-sided and four-layer circuit boards. This software is easy to use and is relatively widely used in schools.
PADS: Formerly called power PCB, a product of the American Mentor Graphics company. Most consumer electronic products are designed with this software, such as TVs, computers, mobile phones, cars, etc. This software is also relatively easy to use.
Cadence allegro: a product of American Cadence Electronics, mainly used for some circuit board designs with larger sizes or high layers. It has powerful functions, but it is difficult to use. Now several communication companies in China that you can name casually use this software.
Unfortunately, in the field of PCB design software, no Chinese company has independently developed products. Basically, all circuit board design software used by Chinese companies cannot escape these three companies. The road to domestic substitution of PCB design software is still far away.
2.PCB manufacturing
The technical level and quality level of PCB manufacturing have a vital impact on the reliability of circuit boards and the integrity of signal transmission. In PCB manufacturing, there are PCB manufacturers, software suppliers, material suppliers, and equipment suppliers.
3.Circuit board manufacturing suppliers
The following figure shows the ranking of global PCB suppliers in 2018. There are some small changes in the ranking now, but not too big. In the field of PCB manufacturing, we still have many options for domestic substitution. We mainly analyze the suppliers in mainland China:
(1) Shenzhen Nan Circuit
It is a leading enterprise in PCB manufacturing in mainland China and a state-owned enterprise. Its process technology capabilities lead the entire industry. Whether it is high-end circuit boards (5G, aerospace, industrial control, medical, etc.) or low-end circuit boards (home appliances, automotive electronics, etc.), it can achieve mass production. It is also the undisputed leader in the field of IC packaging substrate manufacturing in China (currently there are only three companies in mainland China that manufacture packaging substrates, Shenzhen Nan Circuit, Xinsen Express, and Zhuhai Yueya).
(2) Xinsen Express
It is a leading enterprise in mainland China’s express sample. Its products cover all fields from low-end to high-end. Its process level is somewhat different from Shenzhen Nan Circuit, but its product delivery speed is at the first-class level in China.
4.Software suppliers
There are currently three mainstream PCB auxiliary manufacturing software on the market: genesis, incam, and cam350. However, CAM350 has basically been gradually eliminated. The software of the entire industry is monopolized by an Israeli company, Orbotech.
Orbotech: There are genesis, incam, inplan, etc. Basically, the top PCB manufacturers in China all use Orbotech’s software.
Some small companies in China have developed software with similar functions based on genesis software, but they are only used for circuit analysis, without other modification and optimization functions, and have not been widely verified in the market, so they cannot be promoted for use.
5.Material suppliers
(1) Board/copper foil/prepreg
Board/copper foil/prepreg: Board/copper foil is the basic material for bearing circuits, and prepreg is an indispensable material for multi-layer circuit boards, mainly for bonding.
For these three materials, the common material suppliers are Jiantao (Hong Kong businessman, foreign-controlled), Shengyi (mainland China), Lianmao (Taiwan), Nanya (Taiwan), etc., and when it comes to high-frequency and high-speed materials, the commonly used ones are Rogers (USA) and Panasonic (Japan) boards. Some Shengyi high-frequency and high-speed boards are also used, but they can only be used on circuit boards with low high-frequency and high-speed performance requirements.
(2) Chemicals
Mainly include etching chemicals and electroplating chemicals. These two are the main materials that determine the line width and spacing precision on the circuit diagram.
These two chemicals are made of many different ingredients, which are related to the PCB manufacturer’s equipment, copper thickness, water pressure, transmission speed, etc.
(3) Solder mask ink
The main ones used are Nanya (Taiwan), Taiyo Ink (Japan, the most widely used), Atotech (USA), and Lianzhi (Taiwan). There are fewer manufacturers with relatively wide applications in China.
6.Equipment suppliers
(1) Drilling machine
Mechanical drilling machine: HITACHI drilling machine (Japan), SCHMOLL drilling machine (Germany). High-precision drilling basically uses Hitachi drilling machine. Basically, 90% of them are imported equipment from abroad, and 10% are domestic equipment.
Laser drilling machine (cutting): Foreign ones mainly include Germany’s TRUMPF, Italy’s PRIMA, and Japan’s Mitsubishi. Domestic ones mainly include HGLASER and Dazzle Laser.
(2) Exposure machine
There are two types: film exposure and laser direct imaging. The main suppliers are Orbotech (Israel), Zhisheng (Taiwan), and Daju (China). Orbotech is also a supplier of PCB software and supporting equipment production, which has certain advantages.
7.SMT mounting
In the field of SMT mounting, let’s not discuss electronic components (which are mostly monopolized by foreign countries). From the perspective of processing flow, the most important thing is equipment.
（1）Solder paste printer
Foreign brands: DEK of the UK, MPM of the United States, ERKA of Germany
Domestic brands: GKG of Keger, Grandseed of Guangshengde
（2）SMT machine
Basically, foreign brands account for more than half, including Fuji, Panasonic, Hitachi, YAMAHA, Universal, Siemens, Philips, Samsung, etc.
（3）Reflow soldering
Domestic brands: V-Tech, Nitto, Jintuo, Xinxiyuan
Foreign brands: ERSA of Germany, Vitronics Soltec of the United States
8.AOI inspection equipment
The more high-end ones are all foreign or Taiwanese equipment: Orbotech of Israel, Screen Technology of Japan, Gaoshui Technology of South Korea, and Deli Technology of Taiwan
The low-end and mid-end ones are mainly domestically produced, including Jintuo Co., Ltd., Shenzhou Vision, Jingce Electronics, and Changchuan Technology
