PCB production
Perhaps the most interesting part of our ECS factory tour was a walk through the PCB production plant. This is the first stop on the line for a motherboard, where conductive copper traces are sandwiched between insulating substrate layers.

PCB production begins with etching. Here, traces are carved into the first layer of copper to coat the top and bottom of the board.

Automated machines do this to multiple boards with almost frightening speed, and ECS has plenty of them going simultaneously.

After its first layer is etched, the boards are chemically cleaned and rinsed—a process that's repeated throughout the manufacturing process.

Boards then go to a lamination stage where they get an extra layer of substrate and copper on each side. Then they're cured, trimmed, and have their edges beveled.

Drilling follows, which is essential for not only connecting some surface-mounted components, but also for linking various layers of the board. You need holes to mount the board in an enclosure, too.

Throughout the process, boards are subjected to numerous automated and manual inspections.

After the boards are drilled, the holes are coated with a thin layer of copper. That's soon thickened by an additional copper plating process before the boards go off to have traces grafted to their new layers.

Finally, the boards move onto a solder-masking stage. Holes are plugged, the boards are dyed the desired color, and labels and logos are added to the outer surfaces. They then head off to final finishing before being subjected to a last visual inspection and electrical test.