More and more types of printed circuit boards are commonly used in electronics applications, so it make PCBs as a very high valuable technology. Such as control system, safety system, smart home system, from computers and mobile phones to radio equipment and machinery and so on. No matter single sided PCB, double sided PCB or multilayer PCB are all widely used in these applications.

1. Single Sided PCB

Single sided PCB is the most basic type of PCB, it has the conductive copper and components mounted on one side of the board and the conductive wiring connected on the other side. It only contains one conductive layer and it has simple low density design, so it is low cost and suitable for simple and high volume products such as camera systems, printers, radio equipment, calculators, and much more.

2. Double Sided PCB

Double sided PCB is very similar with single sided PCB, but it has two sides traces with a top and bottom layer. It can be mounted conductive copper and components on both sides, allow for the routing of traces around each other by jumping between a top and bottom layer by way of vias. So it greatly increases the circuit designer's flexibility in circuits designing and results in a higher density of circuits without the need of point-to-point soldering.

It is intermediate level of circuit complexity and is low cost, suit for lighting systems, vending machines, amplifiers, car dashboards, and many more, but do not suit for electromagnetic interference reduction techniques.

3. Multilayer PCB

Multilayer PCB is a circuit board that has more than two layers. Unlike a Double-Sided PCB which only has two conductive layers of material, all multilayer PCBs must have at least three layers of conductive material which are buried in the center of the material. These appear as several layers of double-sided circuit boards, laminated and glued together with layers of heat-protective insulation between them. It increases the complexity and density of PCB design, the designer can produce very dense and high complex design on one board with the availability of more than 30 layers in multilayer PCBs configurations, frequently between 4 and 8 layer. These are likely to be different depending on the various device. Often they have an even number of layers as odd layers can lead to issues with the circuit board. This includes problems like warping and twisting after soldering, and no cost savings as they’re not the standard to produce.

Advantages of Single Sided PCB

* It is a good choice for low density design.

* It is very cost-effective and affordable due to the simple and basic design.

* The manufacturing process is very simple and cause less manufacturing issues.

Advantages of Double Sided PCB

* It offer higher flexibility for the designers and have an increased circuit density.

* It have lower cost rates and are used as an intermediate level for the complexity of the circuits.

* It effectively reduces the size of the board so it is great cost-saving.

Advantages of Multilayer PCB

* It is inherently smaller than other PCB with similar functionality

* It is light weight construction based on its smaller size.

* Its quality is better than than single and double-layer PCBs because of its large mount work and planning.

* It increases the durability due to its structure and service environment.

* It enhance the flexibility if combine with the flexible construction techniques.

* It is more powerful.

Disadvantages of Multilayer PCB

* It cost much more than single and double layer PCBs

* It is more difficult to produce, requiring much more design time and careful manufacturing techniques.

* It need skilled designers due to its extensive design.

* It takes more time to produce due to its complicated manufacturing requirement.