Although it is not a hard requirement, most SMT components are reflow soldering, while through-hole components are wave soldering. In the through-hole
PCB Assembly Manufacturing technology, components are inserted into drilled holes, and strong solder joints are formed by wave soldering. Usually, through-hole components are inserted manually.
For SMT components, the solder paste is applied directly on the pads to keep the component leads in one place. When the PCB passes through the dedicated reflow soldering, the solder paste will reflow. Here, a strong solder joint is formed. If you are using a hybrid type, you need to use wave soldering and reflow soldering at the same time. There are ready-made automatic pick-and-place machines that can reliably handle various components.
The difference between PCBA processing reflow soldering and wave soldering
Size: By default, SMT components or parts are small or miniature and do not need to be drilled. This looks clean and attractive, especially in the era of smaller electronic product board sizes.
Availability: Today, SMT has taken over through-hole components. They are smaller, and PCBA patches, which have replaced through-hole components such as resistors and capacitors, have accounted for more and more.
Performance: The use of smaller components in the patch makes the distance of electrical signal transmission shorter. This also reduces the signal flight time.
Cost-effectiveness: SMT parts are usually cheaper than through-hole parts, let us quickly understand the benefits of through-hole parts.
Availability: If you need larger parts for high-power applications, it may be difficult to find SMT equivalent parts. Through-hole parts are easy to obtain.
Strength: If the parts must withstand continuous pressure, the SMT solder joints may break. In this case, components such as connectors, switches, and other interface components require the strength that can be effectively provided from the leads soldered into the drilled hole.
Power: SMT is not a good choice for high-power circuits, because SMT
pcb in china soldering is difficult to achieve firm solder joints. Therefore, through-hole technology provides greater mechanical strength for thermal stability, high voltage, and mechanical stability.
