One of the most revolutionary technological inventions of all time is the Printed Circuit board technology. As fascinating as a PCB is, most people have no idea about the history behind this chip that changed the electronic world completely. Looking at the revolution PCBs have brought into the world, one cannot help but marvel at the great mind that was responsible for sharing this ingenuity with the world.

Paul Eisler, was the genius who invented the PCB in 1936. He was born in Vienna in the year 1907. Seeing his inventions and its contribution to the electronic industry, one undoubtedly assumes he must have seen a lot of fame and fortune. That unfortunately was not the case as Paul Eisler lived a very hard life.

The Idea

It was around the year 1930 when Eisler while learning the printing technology started to think of using printing process to improve circuits. At that time, all circuits were made by point to point connections using wires. It made circuits complicated to manufacture and very prone to error. Eisler wanted to print the wires on the board using conducting ink.

To escape persecution by Nazis, he accepted a job offer in England. In England he had to sell some of his patents to survive while he continued to try his PCB idea to companies. Even though he did received some interest, the idea was not considered cost effective and hence, rejected.

First PCB

Sometime around 1943, he formed a radio with a PCB and filed a patent for the use of PCB in a variety of electronic products. He received little or no demand for his PCB until the time the American Government integrated the PCB in its war technology. It was only then, that the technology started spreading and Eisler received his long due share of fame in the electronic world.

It was at this point when the PCB technology underwent incorporation in a variety of electronic products and a revolution struck the electronic industry as every electronic product was transformed using a PCB.

Evolution in PCB

With time the PCBs have evolved into even smaller sizes allowing product designers to make smaller devices. In the recent years it has become obvious that the PCB has limitations when it comes to data transfer speeds. The next generation electronics require a circuit which will be able to meet this requirement.

The PCB is thus, swiftly being transitioned to meet the demands of this era. The future of PCB is a PCS (Printed Circuit Structure). A 3 dimensional PCS will allow faster data transfer, with fewer wires and components. 3D structures will allow the placement of components and traces around and inside the structures.

The PCS is still in the conceptual and developmental stages right now. Hence, PCB is the present technology, which is the face of electronics today and we owe it to the ingeniousness of Paul Eisler.