Basic Etching

Today I will explain about the process of manually creating a printed circuit board (PCB) from scratch. The process start with an initial design of the circuit and then reverse drawing the circuit into a piece of copper plate with a permanent marker. Before drawing on the copper plate, the plate is cleaned with an extra fine sand paper until the plate is shining. This process is to eliminate the oxidized layer from the copper plate.

Finished circuit drawed on the board

After drawing the circuit on the board, and the ink is let dry, the etching process is implemented. What is etching? Etching is the process of creating an image on metal or other surfaces by means of an acid. Remember to wear gloves when doing this process as it involves highly acidic materials.

Chemical used as the acid

Etching process 1

Etching process 2

While the board is inside the acidic liquid, the tray is to be shake constantly to remove the unwanted layer of copper until the circuit design can be seen clearly. After etching process, the circuit connection lines which are covered with the permanent marker can be observed clearly. The board should be dry completely and then remove the permanent marker layer and the copper connections in the circuit can then be seen.

Before Etching

After Etching

After removing the permanent marker

The end result is shining connections of copper on the board which we called as printed circuit board or PCB. After this the board can be drilled with holes so that components can be placed on it and be soldered.


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