{"id":744,"date":"2023-08-19T18:29:23","date_gmt":"2023-08-19T18:29:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.anzer-usa.com\/resources\/?p=744"},"modified":"2025-08-16T14:26:59","modified_gmt":"2025-08-16T14:26:59","slug":"pcb-plated-through-hole","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.anzer-usa.com\/resources\/pcb-plated-through-hole\/","title":{"rendered":"PCB Plated Through-Hole Description"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>A PCB plated through-hole, often abbreviated as PTH, is a type of hole that passes through a printed circuit board and is plated with a conductive material to create an electrical connection between different layers or sides of the board. Plated through holes are a fundamental feature of many <a href=\"https:\/\/www.anzer-usa.com\/resources\/multilayer-pcb-assembly\/\">multilayer PCBs<\/a> and provide a means to connect various circuit components, traces, and layers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The process of creating plated through holes involves several steps:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ol class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Drilling<\/strong>: Holes are drilled through the PCB at specific locations where interconnections are needed. Depending on the PCB design, these holes can be small, ranging from a fraction of a millimeter to a few millimeters in diameter.<br><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Plating<\/strong>: After drilling holes, they are typically coated with a thin layer of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.anzer-usa.com\/resources\/pcb-traces\/\">conductive material<\/a>, such as copper. This plating can be done using various methods, including electroplating or chemical deposition. The conductive material lines the walls of the hole and covers its surface.<br><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Copper Etching<\/strong>: The outer layers of the PCB are typically made by etching away excess copper from a copper-clad laminate sheet. The plated through-holes are not etched, so the copper plating remains intact.<br><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Component Mounting<\/strong>: Components (such as resistors, capacitors, integrated circuits, etc.) are placed on the PCB&#8217;s surface and soldered to the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.anzer-usa.com\/resources\/pcb-lines-and-traces\/\">copper traces<\/a>. The plated-through holes allow these components to be electrically connected to other layers of the PCB, enabling complex circuit configurations.<br><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Soldering<\/strong>: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/feed\/update\/urn:li:activity:7089574900750848000\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Soldering<\/a> creates a solid mechanical and electrical connection between the components and the PCB. The solder flows through the plated through-holes, making contact with the copper plating inside.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n<p>A PCB Plated Through-Hole is critical in enabling the interconnection between different layers of a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.anzer-usa.com\/resources\/multilayer-pcb-assembly\/\">multilayer PCB<\/a>, which is commonly used in modern electronic devices. They provide a reliable means of transmitting signals and power between various parts of the circuit, facilitating the functionality of the device as a whole.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A PCB plated through-hole, often abbreviated as PTH, is a type of hole that passes through a printed circuit board and is plated with a conductive material to create an electrical connection between different layers or sides of the board. Plated through holes are a&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":2287,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[162],"tags":[73,99,80,85],"class_list":["post-744","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-electronic-manufacturing","tag-anzer-is-the-answer","tag-electronic-contract-manufacturing","tag-quality-pcb-assembly","tag-soldering-process"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.anzer-usa.com\/resources\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/4-Layer-PCB-Cross-Section.jpg?fit=1200%2C600&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.anzer-usa.com\/resources\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/744","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.anzer-usa.com\/resources\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.anzer-usa.com\/resources\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.anzer-usa.com\/resources\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.anzer-usa.com\/resources\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=744"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.anzer-usa.com\/resources\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/744\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2288,"href":"https:\/\/www.anzer-usa.com\/resources\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/744\/revisions\/2288"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.anzer-usa.com\/resources\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2287"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.anzer-usa.com\/resources\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=744"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.anzer-usa.com\/resources\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=744"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.anzer-usa.com\/resources\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=744"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}