As a key electronic interconnection of electronic products, printed circuit boards enable various electronic components to be connected through circuits to play the role of conduction and transmission. The reliability of electronic products depends largely on the manufacturing quality of PCB.
PCB manufacturing involves many processes and procedures, and electronic chemicals are required in multiple process links. In order to improve the performance of PCB, it is necessary to improve the production process and matching chemicals, so high-quality PCB-specific electronic chemicals are the guarantee for manufacturing high-end PCBs.
Current situation of China’s PCB chemical industry production technology
China PCB exclusive electronic chemicals industry started relatively late. At first, China manufacturers mainly enter the market through products such as bath cleaning agents, defoamers, etching, film stripping, and tin removal with low technical difficulty, and then gradually developed browning, copper sinking, and other electronic chemicals used in PCB manufacturing such as electroplating and chemical nickel gold.
In terms of ordinary double-layer board and multi-layer board exclusive electronic chemicals, Chinese manufacturers occupy a certain market share. However, electronic chemicals used in high-end PCBs such as high-frequency high-speed boards, HDI, rigid-flex boards, substrate-like boards, semiconductor test boards, and carrier boards, the overall technical level still has a certain gap compared with the international advanced level.
Since the performance of PCB exclusive electronic chemicals can determine the good and bad of PCB products in terms of integration, continuity, signal transmission and other characteristics and functions to a certain extent, high-end PCB manufacturers are cautious when supplying of PCB-specific electronic chemicals. Therefore, high-end PCB special electronic chemicals have been occupied by brands in Europe, America, Japan and other countries for a long time.
PCB exclusive electronic chemicals market is promising
With the continuous upgrading and application expansion of 5G communication, artificial intelligence, cloud computing, smart wear, smart home and other technologies, PCB is a key electronic interconnection part of electronic products, and the vigorous development of downstream application industries drives the continuous growth of PCB demand.
At present, there are still many low-tech products in the PCB products produced in mainland China, and there is still a certain technological gap compared with Europe, America, Japan, and Taiwan on the production capacity of HDI, rigid-flex board, similar carrier board, and carrier board high-end PCB.
With the rapid development of PCB companies in China in terms of business scale, technical capabilities, and financial strength, the production capacity of high-end PCBs will be further expanded in the future, which will promote the expansion of the high-end PCB exclusive electronic chemicals market.
Localization of high-end PCB exclusive electronic chemicals is accelerating
There years, we Chinese high-tech companies has imposed additional tariffs on some products due to some international reasons. Although we are a big manufacturing country in the electronics industry, some core materials in the manufacturing process have long been dependent on imports.
The international trade friction has prompted Chines enterprises to increase their emphasis on the independent control of core technologies and industrial chains, increase research and development efforts, and accelerate the process of independent control of key technologies.
Besides, China has increased policy support for the development of high-tech and strategic emerging industries, improve the level of self-control, and avoid key areas from being restricted by other external factors.
Chinese enterprises turn to core raw materials to promote upstream supply chain enterprises to strengthen technology research and development, continue to reform and innovate and accelerate the pace of localization, which also provides good development opportunities for PCB exclusive electronic chemicals enterprises.
As the products and technologies of Chinese PCB exclusive electronic chemicals companies are becoming more mature, the pace of localization will be further accelerated in the future.
Communication technology promotes sustainable development of electronics industry
Due to the higher frequency of 5G, the signal coverage of the base station is smaller than that of the 4G base station, so the construction density is higher, and a large number of supporting small base stations will be built.
At the same time, 5G base stations mostly use high-frequency/high-speed PCBs, and the total PCB demand for antennas/RRU/BBU is about 3-4 times that of 4G base stations.
The PCBs required for 5G communication are usually high-frequency, high-speed multilayer boards, HDI, multilayer flexible circuit boards, etc. The demand for high-end special electronic chemicals is expected to further expand.
Cleaner production become an important direction for the industry
In recent years, China’s requirements for environmental protection have been continuously improved, and the environmental protection requirements for the PCB industry have also been increasing.
The wastewater pollutants in the PCB production process mainly come from special electronic chemicals, so the above-mentioned elements are not included, and the potion formulation technology that can reduce wastewater has become the research and development focus of PCB special electronic chemical companies. Clean production has become an important direction for the development of industry technology.
