With industrial development over time, consumers now have a wider variety of PCB colors to choose from, including green, blue, white, red, and black. However, from the past to the present, green has remained the most mainstream color. This raises the question: why has green become the primary color choice for PCB production?
Green PCBs are one of the most widely used types, as a result, large-scale production costs are relatively low. This makes them a more economical solution, which is why many manufacturers as well as PCBWay choose green as the primary color for their products.
During the PCB manufacturing process, chemicals are needed to remove those unwanted parts. Green PCB boards are easier to develop than PCB boards of other colors because during chemical development, green is more easily saturated by the developer, making it easy to remove the unwanted parts.
The color of green PCBs enhances the visual contrast of high-brightness metal pads and labels, making the board easier to identify and maintain. On one hand, due to current manufacturing processes, certain line quality inspections still rely on human observation. Staring at the board under strong light for extended periods can be very tiring, and comparatively, green is the least straining color on the eyes. On the other hand, in typical PCB manufacturing, the entire product goes through processes like board fabrication and SMT. During SMT soldering, the PCB undergoes solder paste application, component placement, and final AOI verification, all of which require optical positioning and calibration. The green background color improves the recognition accuracy of these processes.
Green PCBs are more common than other colors, making it relatively difficult for others to guess or imitate a circuit board’s specific design, thus providing better confidentiality. Some manufacturers choose black PCBs for added security since the black color makes it harder to see the internal wiring, which can make reverse engineering more challenging.
Compared to other colors, green PCBs are relatively safer and more environmentally friendly. For example, blue and black inks contain cobalt and carbon, which have certain conductive properties and could potentially cause short circuits when powered. Green, by contrast, has a lower risk of short circuits. Additionally, green PCBs are generally more eco-friendly and do not typically release toxic gases when used in high-temperature environments.