Towards ever greening electronic boards: low-power and sustainable

In an increasingly sustainability-oriented era, the design of electronic boards is also oriented towards energy saving and environmental awareness. The research of new solutions can help reduce the environmental impact, but also improve the energy efficiency of electronic devices. Some of the key technologies are applied in the design of energy-efficient and greener electronic boards, such as microcontrollers (MCUs), LED PCBs and 3D circuits.

Microcontrollers (MCUs) for energy management

Microcontrollers play a key role in the energy management of electronic devices. The selection of low-power MCUs is crucial to maximise the energy efficiency of a PCB. These devices allow the power supply of appliances to be dynamically regulated, reducing power when it is not needed and reactivating it when required. They offer features such as a sleep mode that deactivates unused components, helping to save energy.
Software design is as important in this field as the hardware. Developers can write code in a way that makes the most of the MCU’s power management capabilities, allowing precise control of power consumption. By reducing power consumption, battery life can also be extended.

LED PCBS

Electronic boards with soldered LED components are called LED PCBs and find application in many fields, from automotive to telecommunications, from consumer electronics to medical devices. The LED is soldered to the circuit and has a chip that activates the light when electrically connected. A thermal heat sink and a ceramic base are used to hold the chip.

In the lighting industry, high-brightness LEDs convert more than 60 per cent of their power consumption into heat and therefore require special circuit boards that can handle high temperatures. It is estimated that a temperature increase of 20°C, due to inefficient thermal management, can reduce component life by up to 50%. LEDs emit heat from the base and, in order to evenly distribute the heat generated, they are placed on a heatsink and ceramic substrate to avoid the formation of dangerous thermal build-up points (hot-spots) and to minimise power losses. The materials and substrates that compose the PCB must have the highest possible thermal conductivity.

The performance of a LED PCB is, therefore, closely related to its thermal dissipation capacity. In specific terms, aluminum PCBs allow heat to be transferred and dissipated with far greater efficiency than a traditional printed circuit board.

Biodegradable 3D printed circuit boards

The traditional polymer and plastic PCBs that we are used to seeing inside electronic devices could be replaced by 3D printed circuits made of an environmentally sustainable and biodegradable material: cellulose obtained from wood. PCBs are printed on the cellulose surface using a special finishing technique very similar to embossing. This technique makes the soldering process obsolete because the components are integrated into the printed circuit board during printing. Cellulose-based printed circuit boards can transmit data wirelessly during their production life and can be discarded afterwards, without affecting the environment. By replacing plastic in PCBs with cellulose composite materials, recycling of metal components installed on electronic boards also becomes much easier.