Development trend of SMT: SMT (surface assembly technology) is a new generation of electronic assembly technology. After the rapid development in the 1980s and 1990s, it has entered a mature period. SMT has become a comprehensive high-tech involving a wide range, rich content and interdisciplinary.
In recent years, SMT has entered a new development climax and has become the mainstream of electronic assembly technology. SMT is an assembly technology that directly pastes and welds micro components suitable for surface assembly to specified positions on the surface of printed boards or other substrates without drilling insertion holes on printed boards. Because the geometric size and space volume of various chip components are much smaller than those of plug-in components, this assembly form has the advantages of compact structure, small volume, vibration resistance, impact resistance, good high-frequency characteristics and high production efficiency.
When double-sided mounting is adopted, the assembly density is about 5 times, so that the area of printed board is saved by 60% – 70% and the weight is reduced by more than 90%. SMT is widely used in the production of almost all electronic products, such as investment electronic products, military equipment, computers, communication equipment, color TV tuners, video recorders, digital cameras, video cameras, digital cameras, pocket high-end multi band radios, walkmans, MP3 players, pagers and mobile phones.

SMT is the main development direction of electronic assembly technology and has become the mainstream of electronic assembly technology in the world. SMT evolved from thick and thin film hybrid circuits.

The United States is the country where SMD and SMT originated first in the world, and has always attached importance to giving full play to the advantages of SMT in high assembly density and high reliability in the field of investment electronic products and military equipment. In the 1970s, Japan introduced SMD and SMT from the United States to be applied in the field of consumer electronic products, and invested a lot of money to vigorously strengthen the development and research of basic materials, basic technology and popularization and application.

Since the middle and late 1980s, Japan has accelerated the comprehensive popularization and application of SMT in the field of industrial electronic equipment, In only four years, the number of SMT applications in computers and communication equipment increased by nearly 30% and in fax machines by 40%, making Japan quickly surpass the United States and take the lead in SMT in the world. SMT in European countries started late, but they attach importance to development and have a good industrial foundation, and their development speed is also very fast.

Their development level and the use efficiency of SMC / SMD in the whole machine are second only to Japan and the United States. Since the 1980s, the four Asian dragons in Singapore, South Korea, Hong Kong and Taiwan Province have spared no expense to introduce advanced technology, so that SMT has achieved rapid development.

According to the prediction of Philips, by 2010, the utilization rate of plug-in components worldwide will drop from 40% to 10%, on the contrary, SMC / SMD will rise from 60% to about 90%. The application of SMT in China started in the early 1980s.

At first, SMT production lines were introduced from the United States, Japan and other countries for the production of color TV tuners. Subsequently, it was used in the production of video recorders, cameras, pocket high-grade multi band radios and walkmans. In recent years, it was also gradually applied in computers, communication equipment and aerospace electronic products.