The PWB and PCB are often used interchangeably, both essentially meaning the same thing -- a bare board. The populated board is often referred to as a PWA (for printed wiring board assembly) or CCA (for circuit card assembly).The origin of the PWB term is, I believe, coming from the fact that boards were wired using discrete wiring (as a lab board), and replaced later with the copper traces (PWB). A true printed circuit board (PCB) is more a microcircuit term where a part such as a resistor is deposited on a ceramic substrate. Now for a little philosophy, most circuits today are quickly becoming printed circuit boards since trace length, routing, and proximity to neighboring traces directly influence the circuit performance directly. Power Supply and Analog Boards have several requirements, such as guard circuits, proximity to a component pin placed on them by circuit designers. The traces are acting as discrete components in the same way a resistor or capacitor does. ______________________________ Reply Separator _________________________________ Subject: PWB and PCB??? Author: [log in to unmask] at SMTPpost Date: 10/21/96 12:29 PM Is there a difference between a PWB - Printed Wiring board and PCB - Printed Circuit Board in the industry? Is it safe to assume (uh-oh) the PWB is the bare board and the PCB is the PCB w/components, i.e. a PCB assembly? Does anyone out there make a strict division between the two this way? ******************************************************* Doug McKean [log in to unmask] ------------------------------------------------------- The comments and opinions stated herein are mine alone, and do not reflect those of my employer. ------------------------------------------------------- ******************************************************* *************************************************************************** * TechNet mail list is provided as a service by IPC using SmartList v3.05 * *************************************************************************** * To unsubscribe from this list at any time, send a message to: * * [log in to unmask] with <subject: unsubscribe> and no text. * *************************************************************************** *************************************************************************** * TechNet mail list is provided as a service by IPC using SmartList v3.05 * *************************************************************************** * To unsubscribe from this list at any time, send a message to: * * [log in to unmask] with <subject: unsubscribe> and no text. * ***************************************************************************