Why are most (if not all?) silicon based boards Green? Does this signify anything in particular? Would if I wanted a lovely shade of Mauve?
I have a red sound card.
It is from China:D
Then you’d have an iMac!
In the ancient days, a lot of these printed circuit boards used to be a sorta translucent brownish color, I presume this is the native color of the material. I’ve seen a gazillion PCBs in my life, the only other color I’ve seen besides translucent brown is a deep blue. I forgot who made that particular board, it must have been about 15 years ago. Maybe AST memory boards or something…
The reason the PCBs are green is because the manufacturer made it that color. Surely it would be cheaper to make without the coloring agent, so there must be a compelling reason. My WAG is that they do this to make the silkscreened white labelling stand out with more contrast. As for green, well, things tend to become standards. I’d certainly look twice if I got a red PCB.
BTW, if anyone knows where to buy sheets of green PCB material, let me know. I need a couple of approx 16x20in sheets of clean, undamaged, unperforated PCB for a project. Oddly enough, it is supposed to be the perfect substrate for an antique photographic process I use. I tried Formica but it just didn’t work.
Chas… I might have a line on that silicon for you, but I’m also curious about this antique phonograph process. I do a lot of work with audio restoration and preservation and I’m always happy to find a fellow. Unfortunately, you’ve disabled your e-mail in your profile. Let me know how I can get in touch with you. 
Actually, I have a new 733 G4 Powermac, running 9.2 & OSX. Ahhhhhh! That new computer smell! But, as far as I know, the PCB’s are still green… You’d think Apple would revolutionize this already… perhaps clear PCB’s?
PCBs (Printed circuit boards, which are made from copper on a hard plastic, not silicon) are “naturally” the color of the plastic, which is usually a light yellow.
The reason that they’re green is that they’re dipped in “solder mask” which keeps solder, the soft metal that’s used to connect components to the board, from going places where it isn’t supposed to (there are two places that copper is present on the board- at the holes, where it has to be exposed so it can be soldered properly, and traces, which are essentially wires- these need to be kept intact)- it’s really not a must for hobbyists working with PCBs, but when the soldering is done by massive machines doing several joints at once, the mask protects the exposed board from the excess solder. So, to sum it up in one line, the solder mask is a nonconductive material that prevents the traces from picking up solder when they go through the soldering machines. It also, in theory, protects the traces from things like fire.
Solder mask is usually green, but it comes in a brownish color as well. As for why it’s green, it’s probably because A. you can see the silk screened information (the white text) printed on it and B. it’s probably the mask’s “natural” color.
Sorry, it’s a PHOTOgraphic process, you know, cameras and printing pictures and stuff like that. The specific problem is that I do an antique printing process that requires each color to be printed separately, then dried. The paper shrinks and stretches each time it’s printed, so if you glue it to a backing board, it doesn’t stretch. The problem is, almost all materials I’ve tried won’t let go of the paper once I’ve finished printing. One guy who does this process claimed that green PCB material is the perfect stuff. PCB material is designed to be as unsticky as possible, so solder flux residue can be washed off.
D’oh! I’ll need to read more carefully… or get more than two hours of sleep a night…
I’ll get back with you on monday about the PCB if I can find my info.
If you want some variety, Netgear network cards are blue.
Brown boards are made a paper, fibrous material, not plastic, as far as I’ve ever known. They also suck.