Key Questions to Ask a PCB Manufacturer -

Before finalizing a future printed circuit boards supplier, a lot of reviews and screening are necessary from the customer&#;s side. PCB Trace Technologies Inc recommends never rushing to choose a PCB manufacturing and assembly service without adequate screening by the customer. When screening, it is necessary to ask them key questions. This will not only let customers pick the most dependable manufacturer, but also prevent them from linking up with dubious ones.

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Two of the most important areas that concern customers when getting their PCBs manufactured are:

• Quality of the boards the manufacturer will deliver
• Turnaround time for the delivery

The customer must ask the manufacturer questions about their practices, processes, and certifications to make sure of getting the best quality boards after fabrication and assembly. PCB fabricators typically have a broad range of capabilities. In-depth questioning about their quality systems, processes, and compliance with international standards will reveal a wealth of information. Customers must allow their design and engineering teams adequate time to allow them to prepare key questions for the printed circuit board services. These could include:

Experience Level

Looking into the experience level of the PCB supplier. This is an important factor, since there is a greater chance that a fabricator with a vast experience has already handled the type of boards the customer requires. Inexperienced manufacturers are more likely to experiment with the requirements to gain their experience. This could not only play havoc with production timelines, but also saddle the customer with flawed PCBs. It is preferable to prioritize companies with more experience.

Questioning the manufacturer about the number of years they are in business may seem simplistic. However, it is only the beginning to opening the doors to further questions about the type of boards they have produced earlier, and whether their services match the customer&#;s expectations. For instance, a manufacturer may have above 20 years of experience in producing rigid boards. However, they may not be able to produce flexible boards, as they do not have that experience.

Manufacturing Facility

It is important to know if the PCB supplier has their own manufacturing facility. For instance, if they do not have their own facility, they will simply be acting as mediators, and may not be capable of providing the consistent quality of boards the customer needs. Therefore, a reliable manufacturer must not only claim to have a large manufacturing facility, but should be one who owns their manufacturing unit.

Number of Employees

Manufacturers with their own manufacturing unit must also have adequate staff to operate the facility. Appropriate staff levels allow them to sustain best practices when they handle large orders.

Another advantage with adequate number of employees is the PCB production unit can commence work on a new order without inordinate delays. For instance, if they are already running other orders, and they have maxed out their capacity, the next order must wait until they have free capacity. The increase the turnaround time may not match the customer&#;s production cycle.

Employee Education and Training

Even with an adequate level of staffing, there is no guarantee the output quality will be up to the customer&#;s requirement if the employees lack proper education and training. It is necessary the manufacturer has engineering expertise necessary for reviewing boards and making recommendations for improvement. Proper skill and training is necessary for operators to effectively handle the process machinery.

Questions about staff education and training often discloses the ability of the manufacturer to collaborate across various organizational levels, while communicating effectively.

Delivery Capabilities

It is frequently necessary for the customer to know if the manufacturer can ship to their location. Depending on the location, the fabricator may require a license to export products to other countries or to ship to a specific location, without issues. There is no point engaging in quality discussions and price negotiations if the manufacturer does not have the capability of delivering to the requisite destination.

Minimum Order Quantity

It is important to know if the PCB production unit has a minimum order requirement, and a maximum order limit. The minimum order requirement is significant if the customer is a small organization, or they are looking for a short run of a specific product. Information about the maximum order limit is necessary in case the plan is to scale up the PCB requirements in the future.

Establishing these factors in the beginning is necessary, as PCB requirements are ongoing for a company, and the customer is looking for a dependable manufacturer to meet not only the current requirements, but also their future requirements.

Cancellation Policy

It is necessary for the customer to know the cancellation policy of the PCB supplier, if they should cancel the order. The customer must make sure to have full information on the order cancellation policy before placing the order. This helps to avoid running into unpleasant surprises in case of order cancellation.

Manufacturing Philosophy

Some printed circuit board fabrication units place higher priority on delivering products quickly at low costs. Others value effectiveness and factor stakeholder requirements in their decisions. The difference between being efficient and effective lies in the way manufacturers involve in process control.

Process Control

The customer must know whether the manufacturer will align their processes to meet the requirements of the board&#;s shape, layout, materials, and components. This is important as the decision will also impact the sub-processes involved in the manufacturing stages.

The manufacturer&#;s processes must ultimately lead to matching the customer&#;s design specifications with the necessary precision and accuracy. They must take time to know whether the manufacturer has the ability to create accurate images, has the equipment to maintain a precise alignment of layers in multilayer boards. Whether they can accurately etch each layer, drill vias and mounting holes with precision, and provide the board with the necessary surface finish.

Technology

The customer may need to take decisions about electronic components, thereby impacting PCB assembly stages. For instance, they may have to choose between using through-hole components and surface mount components for their board. The manufacturer must have appropriate equipment to handle the technology. For surface mount components, the manufacturer must have the proper pick-and-place equipment and reflow soldering machines. For handling through-hole components, they should have auto-insertion equipment and wave soldering machines.

If the boards are for medical and aerospace applications, the customer must find out if the manufacturer has specific board cleaning technology.

Proper process control and technology application allows the manufacturer to maintain the necessary turnaround time for delivery, while ensuring a satisfactory product quality.

Inspection and Testing

To maintain a proper process control, the manufacturer must also have adequate inspection and testing procedures in place. This is necessary for error-detection and to take remedial measures on process parameters from start of manufacturing to the finish.

It is important to know what inspection methods the manufacturing process uses and where. Essential stages of inspection must involve stencil and solder paste deposition, component mounting, and soldering. This may involve manual inspection and automated optical inspection. Soldering BGA may require X-ray inspection. The customer must make sure inspection processes have the capability to detect wrong polarity, missing components, wrong components, solder shorts, insufficient solder, and or excessive solder.

It is necessary to find out about the capability of the manufacturer to conduct first article inspection. This involves destructive testing of the first few completed electronic circuit boards to ensure they are made of the specified materials and technology.

Certifications and Compliance with International Standards

Electronic circuit board manufacturers typically exhibit information about their certificates, thereby demonstrating their commitment to quality and compliance with international standards.

The customer must find out if the manufacturer complies with the ISO quality management standard. This is an international standard, and certification to this standard shows the manufacturer can meet or exceed the customer&#;s needs through a company-wide quality management system.

If necessary for the boards, the customer must find out if the manufacturer&#;s products comply with IPC, UL, RoHS, WEEE, ISO and/or other specific international standards.

Compliance with Environmental Standards

The electronics industry places great importance to environmental sustainability. Most reputable manufacturers comply with RoHS standards, restricting the use of hazardous substances throughout the manufacturing process. The customer should ask about the ability of the manufacturer to treat waste water from the fabrication processes.

ESD Safeguards

ESD or electrostatic discharge is one of the major causes of initial failure of electronics assembly. Static electricity accumulating on operator clothing can discharge through electronic components causing latent failure that may not show up in regular testing, but cause field failures to increase.

The manufacturer must be aware of ESD and the entire manufacturing setup must have proper ESD safeguards in place, including anti-static mats and grounding arrangements. Assembly operators must wear anti-static clothes, including proper head-dress and shoes.

The customer must also find out if the manufacturer extends ESD safeguards to their warehouse or storage facility. Storage of PCBs and components before and after assembly is an important factor affecting the quality of products.

Storage and Baking

It is essential that the manufacturer uses a climate-controlled storage facility to store bare PCBs. The customer must find out if the manufacturer uses vacuum-packed, heat-sealed, moisture-barrier bags for storing PCBs. This is significant if their boards must not develop camber and twist during storage.

Medical and aerospace products may require PCBs to be thoroughly baked before assembly. If necessary for their boards, customers should find out if the manufacturer has the necessary infrastructure and machinery for baking boards.

Conclusion

With so many circuit board fabrication units to select from, it may be overwhelming for customers to pick the right one. PCB Trace Technologies Inc recommends that with judicious questioning, the task of separating the best from the others will become easier. Proper questioning will demonstrate firsthand how some manufacturers simply do not measure up to the others.

Customers and/or buyers who are relatively new to the printed circuit board (PCB) industry may sometimes be confused as to how a particular project is priced by the fabricator.  In this post we&#;ll demystify the factors used by fabricators to calculate price, empowering you to better plan and price your next PCB project.

PCB Pricing is a result of many different elements.  Every PCB manufacturer will have some similar needs for overhead expenses including the need for a facility, equipment, labor and raw material costs.  Additional overhead expenses that affect PCB pricing include chemical processes and waste water treatment systems; which require special (i.e. expensive) approvals, permits, zoning, etc. Every manufacturing industry has raw material costs, but the raw materials used specifically in the printed circuit board fabrication process can be very expensive (examples include gold, silver, copper, nickel, lead, fiberglass, epoxy resin, and a variety of chemicals).

Manufacturing overhead & raw material costs aside, when a fabricator sets out to calculate PCB pricing of a printed circuit board, there are both primary (board size, quantity, layer count, lead time, etc.) and secondary (tooling, finish type, drill type, lamination process, etc.) cost considerations.  We&#;ll start by tackling the primary cost considerations:

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Primary Cost Determining Factors

Board Size

A panel is one of the raw materials used to produce a printed circuit board.  The size of a printed circuit board, or how much &#;real estate&#; it uses up on a panel will be a significant factor when calculating cost/price. Seems simple enough but things can get more complicated.  For example, depending on the dimensions it&#;s possible to have a board that takes up less real estate but is actually higher in cost.  The reason for this relates to the overall size of the panel used to manufacture the board; one dimension may fit the panel better than the other. For example, consider two parts with the exact same total square inches per board.  The first is 2&#; x 6&#; and the second is 3&#; x 4&#;. A standard production panel will produce more of the 3&#; x 4&#; board then the 2&#; x 6&#; board and therefore, the cost per board would be lower for the 3&#; x 4&#; board.

Quantity

Quantity is important because many manufacturers will have a minimum cost for an order.  For instance, a project may only require 10 pieces but the minimum order cost may require 20 pieces.  As the quantity increases the cost per board will go decrease until the minimum manufacturing cost has been achieved.

Some manufacturers will provide higher quantity discounts but deliver smaller quantities over time.  For example, a 500 piece order may be placed with 100 pieces delivered each month until the order has been completely fulfilled.  In this case, the manufacturer achieves manufacturing efficiency by producing all 500 pieces at the same time and the customer achieves cash flow efficiency by only paying for the product that has been delivered.

Lead Time

For PCB Manufacturers, the told adage &#;Time is Money&#; rings true as well! The quicker a project needs to be manufactured the more it will cost &#; frequently between 30 and 200% more.  For a manufacturer, there are real costs involved with prioritizing new projects higher than existing work in process and some of that cost is reflected in pricing.

Layer Count

The number of layers is also a significant cost-determining factor.  Single-sided or double-sided PCBs are roughly the same cost to manufacture.  However multi-layer PCBs create additional costs in the materials and manufacturing process. Typically, moving to a 4 layer PCB from a 2 layer PCB will double the price.  Adding additional layers to a multi-layer project will add additional cost but the price increase related to adding more layers is not as pronounced.  For example, the cost to go from 4 layers to 6 layers may represent a 50% increase opposed to the 100% increase incurred when moving from a 2 layer to a 4 layer PCB.

Drill Size and Count

Another factor to consider is the smallest hole size to be drilled and the total number of drilled holes.  When the hole size is less than 0.015&#; the cost of the PCB can increase between 5% and 10%.  A large number of holes can increase the cost further by a similar percentage.  This is due to the fact that the manufacturing process has to be adjusted for smaller hole sizes and large hole counts and the number of panels that can be drilled at one time decreases.

Material Type and Thickness

There are many material types that can be used to manufacture a PCB, the most common of which is called FR-4.  FR-4 is simply fiberglass and material woven together with an epoxy resin that includes fire-resistant properties. Higher temperature FR-4, Polyimide, Hybrid Capable, High Copper Weight, and Flex are some other material types that could be selected to create high copper weight, hybrid capable PCBs or more.  The most common material thickness is 0.062&#;.  Selecting different material types and thicknesses can both have a significant impact on price.

Trace/Space

Many of today&#;s designs/projects require components that are very small.  To accommodate, the spacing between copper features on a board need to be smaller.  To keep board costs in check it&#;s important to leave as much space as possible.  Trace/space that drops below 0.006&#; may see a 5% to 10% increase in costs.

These are the primary variables a fabricator will consider when preparing a price quotation for a customer but there are many more. To help you design smarter, more cost-effective printed circuit boards, it is helpful to understand the considerations and calculations behind a quoted price.  Now, we&#;ll continue by diving deeper into some of the secondary cost-determining factors:

Secondary Cost Determining Factors

Tooling and Test Charges

Tooling costs may include cost for CAM time, film costs, etc.  There are a variety of tests that can be performed related to manufacturing a printed circuit board.  An Electrical Test would be the most common, which will do a basic open and shorts test of the PCB to make sure it is electrically sound.  Additional tests are typically done by customer request and include TDR for Impedance Testing, Ionic Testing, etc.  The specific costs related to these items vary greatly by manufacturer.

Finish Type

The most common finish type is still a lead finish called Hot Air Solder Leveled (referred to as HASL). There are a variety of other finishes, silver finish options, several gold finish options (ENIG, body gold, gold fingers, etc.) and more. These non-standard finishes can add 10% to 20% or more to the cost of the project.

Drill Type

Our last post discussed mechanical drill costs.  If much smaller holes are required &#; often referred to as microvias &#; then a laser drill process is required.  Use of a laser drill can add significant costs to the overall process.  Another cost factor to consider are blind or buried vias; vias that do not go all the way through the entire board.  Each additional drill process can add as much as 20% or more to the overall board cost.

Lamination Process

Processing a multi-layer printed circuit board that requires something outside the standard process can add costs.  For example, a process that includes sequential lamination or laminating FR4 with a different material type such as polyimide.

Specification Standards

IPC Class 2 is a common standard for final printed circuit board inspection and quality processes.  Class 3 is an upgrade from Class 2 that requires additional processes such as coupons and cross-sections to be added to the manufacturing process. Those customers who require a higher degree of quality assurance may want to consider requesting a Class 3 process but should also expect a 15% to 20% increase in project cost.

Via Fill

Vias on a PCB are usually not filled completely.  They will have copper plating and finish in the holes but they will not be completely filled.  However, vias can be filled, if required, with either non-conductive or conductive material.  This process will add 10% or more to the cost of the PCB.

Fabrication

Additional costs will be incurred when there is additional fabrication that needs to be done to the finished board.  These include things like counterbores, countersinks, complex routing, controlled depth drilling etc.  These costs vary greatly depending on what is required.

These are many of the secondary variables a fabricator uses when preparing a price quotation for a customer. 

Conclusion

Of course, for a customer, the price of a printed circuit board is not always a measurement of the true costs in the manufacturing process.  Delays in delivery by the fabricator or a board failure because of an inferior manufacturing process can cause the real price to be much higher. So, when quoting your next printed circuit board project, be sure to clearly identify your project requirements, ask the right questions of your fabricator and design for optimal performance and price efficiency.

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