Many PCB procurement or engineers looking for PCB manufacturers to do the board, always feel the price is high. But neither know where the cost is too high, but also do not know how to optimize the cost under the premise of ensuring the quality of the board. So they can only compare the different prices to accept the lowest one.
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To help everyone to reduce the cost of PCB manufacturing We share the super practical PCB procurement guide. 10 tips to reduce the cost of PCB are follow:
A PCB substrate is a dielectric material most commonly composed of epoxy resin and glass fiber weave (sometimes unwoven) which is used to hold the traces and components in PCB stack-up. These materials may be supplemented by ceramics to increase the dielectric constant. The substrate material chosen will determine the mechanical, thermal, and chemical properties of a circuit board.
Different brands of plates, the price is not the same. For example, GDM will be cheaper than the KINGBOARD, SYTECH, Nan Ya when substrate TG value more than 150&#;, Pre-preg sheet thickness more than 0.2mm with multilayer board. But GDM iis generally used to do more single-sided, not recommended for multilayer boards. There are also some unknown miscellaneous plates, cheaper, can also be used but with relatively poor performance, the probability of quality problems will be relatively high.
If you order multilayer PCBs which are more than 8-layer, you need to use a better performance of the board, it is recommended to use the TG170 better, more cost-effective.
PCB ink is the ink used for Printed Circuit Board (PCB), where the important physical properties are the ink's viscosity, thixotropy and fineness. These physical properties need to be known in order to improve the ability to use the ink.
There are 2 factors that need to be considered: color and brand.
Color, the most common is green oil, but if you want to use special colors of ink, such as blue oil, white oil, yellow oil, black oil, etc., will generally increase the price.
Brand-wise, the best one is currently TAIYO ink, which mainly shows high viscosity, stable dielectric constant, good insulation and oxidation resistance, but it is more expensive. Other brands of ink will be relatively cheaper, but the quality is not particularly stable. If it is used in bulk for products, we recommend using TAIYO ink, the quality is stable, and the products run relatively stable.
PCB films are acidic or alkaline protective coating to transfer the circuit patterns to CCL, they are usually divided into negative film and positive films.
If there are small boards, line width pitch 5/5 mil or more batch board, the manufacturer will choose to use film for the sake of capacity. And the larger the board size, the higher the filming cost, generally the minimum cost is between $16-32. (Small batch prototype production usually uses the LDI exposure machines rather than film. And batch for the pursuit of capacity will first use film, and then use LED traditional exposure.)
The thinner the line, the higher the price. When the width or spacing of line spacing is lower than 5/5 mil, generally the price will increase. Because of the thinner line, the accuracy requirement of the equipment and the quality of the chemical solution will be higher. At the same time, the yield will be relatively low, resulting in higher costs.
The smaller the hole the higher the price, the diameter of less than 0.3mm will increase the price. The more holes the higher the price will be. There are other special holes which will also increase the cost, such as half-hole, greater than 6.0mm PTH hole, etc.. Because the hole is small, only one board can be drilled at a time when punching holes in the PCB material, which is less efficient, and the possibility of breaking the drill nozzle is also greater, leading to higher costs.
Generally, most PCBs are manufactured using a copper thickness from 1 oz. to 3 oz.
Surface copper &#; 2oz copper thickness, hole copper greater than 25μm board will increase the cost. Because the price of copper itself is more expensive, the thicker the copper price will be higher. In addition, the cost of extra electric copper, resulting in an overall price increase.
PCB price difference of the Board thickness is not significant in 1.2 and 1.6mm. But if the board thickness is not less than 2.0mm, its cost will increase accordingly. The thicker the board represents the more sheets of glass fiber cloth, so the cost will increase.
A routing slot is a hole that is too big to be formed by normal drilling methods in the circuit board.
The cost will increase for more gong slots and the size of gong slots below 1.0mm. This is because the board with more gong slots is mostly shaped, resulting in the processing length being elongated, and in addition, if the width of the slot is smaller, the processing cannot be too fast, and it is easy to break the milling cutter, so the processing efficiency is lower and the natural production cost increases.
Common surface finish processes are: OSP (antioxidant), Immersion Tin (Sn), lead-free Immersion Tin (environmental protection), Electrolytic Hard Gold, Electroless Nickel Immersion Gold (ENIG) and some combination of processes. The price of the above process is more expensive, i.e.: OSP (anti-oxidation) &#;Immersion Tin (Sn) &#;lead-free Immersion Tin &#;Electrolytic Hard Gold &#;ENIG.
It is worth mentioning that generally the immersion Tin is used more often as the high cost performance. But some manufacturers' OSP process is even more expensive than immersion Tin! This is because for cost reasons, the prototype factory will be a number of customers of the same process of the board together for shipment, but because OSP is difficult to tin so fewer customers need, which leads to OSP process of the board patchwork difficulties, can only be shipped separately, so the price will rise a few dozen dollars.
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Mold costs: If it is a prototype or small batch, the general board factory is used to drill and mill the shape, without additional milling fees. However, if it is a large volume, you need to open a mold to punch the board, resulting in a set of mold costs, the board factory generally quoted in more than $160.
Test fee: If it is a sample or small batch, generally use the flying probe test, the cost varies from $16-64 (depends on the number of test points to determine the file). If it is a large volume to open the test frame to test, high efficiency and lower overall cost! Test rack costs are generally between $160-210.
Don&#;t break the bank &#; save money with these ten practical PCB manufacturing tips.
Getting that PCB of yours manufactured is no easy feat, and there&#;s a boat load of machinery, human labor, and processes that make it all happen. But your list of concerns is probably different and involves getting your board back promptly while saving some money. That&#;s why we&#;re here &#; to help you avoid any unnecessary complexity and errors in your PCB design that can take a huge amount out of your wallet come manufacturing time. So without further ado, here are ten practical PCB manufacturing tips that are guaranteed to save you money on your next trip to the fab house.
First, this guide is for members of our community who are just venturing out into PCB design and manufacturing. We won&#;t cover anything super complex related to high-speed design impedances, blind/buried vias, etc. Second, any of the values we listed in this blog post should be verified with your manufacturer, since every fab house uses their own machinery and processes. Measure twice, cut once!
While this one might be the most obvious, it&#;s also the one factor that can take a huge chunk out of your wallet. Always try to keep your completed board size to a minimum, as the bigger it gets, the bigger your costs get. This also works the other way around. If you make your board too small, a manufacturer will need very precise equipment to put everything together, also costing more. So at the end of the day it&#;s a balancing act for you to navigate between size and complexity, but try to err on the side of less is more.
Before you go and tell your manufacturer to use one of those cheaper, substitute materials for your layer stack, hear us out. Think about when you get that board back. What if it fails within days, weeks, or months after you power it up?
If you skimp on materials now, you&#;ll probably wind up losing more money in the long run when you find that your boards are glorified coffee coasters. So when it comes to selecting materials for your layer stack, use the standard, quality stuff &#; it&#;s there for a reason.
Unless you have a crazy looking enclosure to fit your design in, always design your board in the standard square and rectangular shapes characteristic of most PCBs. Doing anything out of the norm will skyrocket your manufacturing costs significantly. Also, don&#;t&#; bother adding any internal cutouts to your PCB unless you need it to mount to an enclosure. Keep it simple!
This one works just the opposite of your board size. As the spacing between your copper objects like pads and tracks decreases, the more your manufacturing costs will increase. The reasoning behind this is fairly simple. The more stuff you pack into a smaller package, the more precise the manufacturing machinery will need to be. Many fab houses have a standard set of spacing requirements, which is somewhere around 8-10 mils minimum spacing between pads, tracks and track widths.
Always check with your manufacturer to see their specific spacing requirements. And save yourself from some added worry about adding design rules in your PCB design software for these spacing requirements so you don&#;t need to think about it while you design.
The smaller your holes and annular rings, the higher your manufacturing costs will climb. Again, it comes down to smaller spacing needing precise machinery. Many fab houses will even charge extra if you need holes that are smaller than 0.4mm, so be sure to give your manufacturer a call to avoid any unnecessary costs.
There are three types of vias: through-hole vias, blind vias, and buried vias. You&#;ll only use the last two for high density and high-frequency PCBs. So this one is simple: if your design doesn&#;t need these types of vias, leave them out to avoid any extra manufacturing costs.
Before you go adding a bunch of additional layers for more routing space, power planes, or performance, think again. The difference between a four layer board and a two layer board is double! Keep things clean and compact on your next design, and only use as many layers as needed to get the job done, even if that means a little more in board size.
At a fab house, PCBs are made on a giant panel with a bunch of other PCBs, or just yours depending on how many you ordered. You can save yourself a ton of money at this point by using the largest panel size available from your manufacturer. Getting all of your boards on one panel means that rapid-fire pick and place machine can get all your parts placed in one go without requiring any additional setup time.
There&#;s a reason why the electronics industry uses a standardized set of sizes and components &#; it makes everyone&#;s job easier and more efficient. It also adds some potential for automation in all of those high-tech pieces of manufacturing equipment. To avoid any wasted money required from having your manufacturer assemble your weird components by hand, stick with the industry standard specifications, which may differ between each fab house.
Last but not least, unless you&#;re building a mega complex design, it&#;s best to stick with standard surface mount components (also called Surface Mount Devices, or SMDs). Why? A few reasons:
If you decide to go with a mixed-component technology with both surface mount and through-hole parts, prepare for some added costs. These type of setup will require multiple passes through the soldering oven and some manual hand assembly.
So there you have it, ten practical PCB manufacturing tips that will save you loads of money on your next PCB design. A reminder: do your homework by checking with your manufacturer to see what their specific requirements are for spacing, hole diameters, panelization, etc. And you never know, your fab house might have some cost-saving tips of their own to offer.
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