PCB Blog

History of Surface-mount Technology

Surface-mount technology was developed in the 1960s and became widely used in the late 1980s. Much of the pioneering work in this technology was done at IBM. Components were mechanically redesigned to have small metal tabs or end caps that could be directly soldered to the surface of the PCB. Components became much smaller and component placement on both sides of the board became far more common with surface-mounting than through-hole mounting, allowing much higher circuit densities. Often, only the solder joints hold the parts to the board, although parts on the bottom or “second” side of the board are temporarily secured with a dot of adhesive as well. Surface-mounted devices (SMDs) are usually made physically small and lightweight for this reason. Surface mounting lends itself well to a high degree of automation, reducing labor cost and greatly increasing production rates. SMDs can be one-quarter to one-tenth the size and weight, and one-half to one-quarter the cost of through-hole parts.

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