Printed Circuit Assembly. This refers to a bare PCB that has gone through the assembly process and is fully populated with electronic components. While PCB refers to the bare board itself, PCA explicitly denotes the finished, functional hardware ready for integration or testing.
Heard on the job
The bare boards arrived from fabrication yesterday, and the PCAs should be off the pick-and-place line by Tuesday.
Also heard as
- PCBA
- printed circuit board assembly
- PWA
Do not mix it up with
- PCB: A PCB is the bare unpopulated board, while a PCA has all the components soldered to it.
Related terms
PCB
Printed Circuit Board, the physical fiberglass and copper substrate that holds and connects components.
Bare board
A manufactured printed circuit board before any components are soldered onto it.
SMT
Surface mount technology: soldering components onto pads on the board surface instead of through holes.