How to Get the Best Value PCB Manufacturing in China

The aim of every business is to maximize on profit generation while offering quality products that foster customer loyalty. Hence, it is hard for electronics industry players to ignore the low cost PCB manufacturing in China. Regardless of how great your PCB design may be, price is a core factor that determines whether you remain competitive and generate substantial profits. For this reasons, top international electronics brands have embraced PCB manufacturing in China in a bid to reduce production costs. However, there are numerous PCB manufacturers in China offering low cost production but not all offer quality products. Hence, you must conduct due diligence before ordering PCBs in China. Here are a few things you should consider;

A Manufacturer’s Track Record:

You may choose to order PCBs from China due to the low costs but it is important to understand that the cheapest PCB manufacturer may not always be the best. Therefore, do not choose a PCB manufacturer based on pricing only. Go for a PCB manufacturer with a proven track record of producing qualify PCBs. Go through the manufacturer’s website to read customer reviews and determine whether their services are worth your attention.

Order In Bulk:

You get the real value of ordering PCB manufacturing in China when you order in bulk. Therefore, it is advisable to plan your PCB production order based on your projected sales rate in order to maximize on profits. The higher the ordered PCB quantity, the lower the cost and subsequently, the higher the profit margins for you.

Give Accurate Information:

With the current digital evolution, people are doing business online while miles apart. This applies to ordering PCBs in China. You place your order from the comfort of your office and wait for the products to be delivered to you once they are ready. Hence, it is crucial to give accurate information and double check your order details before placing your order. A simple mistake can cost you huge financial resources because you end up with large quantities of PCBs that you cannot use.

Seek Information on Online Forums:

Before placing your PCB manufacturing order in China, it is advisable to join online forums that talk about PCBs or that are made up of like-minded business people who order goods from China. Such forums give neutral and unbiased information about manufacturers that they have dealt with in the past. Their views are helpful at deciding the best PCB manufacturer to work with in China.

Summary

Though opting for PCB manufacturing in China increases your profit margins, the process and idea should well through of and researched. As aforementioned, a small mistake like ordering from the wrong PCB manufacturer can lead to huge business losses. Talk to a company representative to determine whether they understand what you need and enquire about the clients they have manufactured for before. That is how you determine whether they are reputable and capable of delivering quality products.

Agile Circuit: Unknown Facts about Printed Circuit Boards

Agile Circuit: Unknown Facts about Printed Circuit Boards: In the last 100 years, Printed circuit boards have by far proven to be one of the most significant inventions. And nowadays there hardly d...

Factors determine the price of a PCB board

PCB cost sometimes is confused for many customers, buyers and someone new in printed circuit board industry due to its diversity in specification and production process. This article is to inform some key factors that determine the price of a board, which help you to better plan your design and clear the cost details.

PCB price is composed of many elements, each element many bring to difference in final PCB offer. The first is every PCB factory will have expense in house, equipment, labor and other operation cost as all other companies. This part cost may differ a lot for PCB manufacturers from different area. Take this part of basic cost aside, today we mainly discuss the factors of a printed circuit board specification and process.

a. PCB material and thickness

There are many types base material types used for PCB production. Take the most common used FR-4, there are many manufactures (such as SY, KB, GJ, ITEQ, Rogers…) provide different grade CCL with different thickness from 0.2mm to 3.0mm or more... It will have significant impact on price to choose different material types and thicknesses.

b. Copper thickness

Common copper thickness used is 18um (1/2 oz), 35um (1oz), 70um (2 oz), 105um (3 oz), 140um (4 oz) etc.. Usually the heavier of copper, the expensive of PCB cost. Heavy copper require bigger line width and space in design too.

b. Surface finishing / treatment

For most of PCB manufacturers, there are OSP, HASL, Lead-free HASL, Immersion gold /tin/silver, Plating gold and other treatment could chose to customers, but different requirement in treatment will also cause the cost difference. Take the most used HASL and Immersion Gold (ENIG) for example, the cost of ENIG is much higher than HASL, and the bigger area need to deal with, the higher cost need to pay.

c. Drilling/ Line/Production process

For drilling, quantity, types and size will have impact on production cost. Usually for normal PCB factory, when the hole size is smaller than 0.3mm, there will be around 5% cost increased. And big quantity of hole will also some cost increased due to production efficiency reduced (time increased).
And another factor is line width and space, the production cost will different for conductor width /space 4mil/4mil, considering production difficulty, reject rate and so on.
Other factors require special process like half plated hole, blind & buried via, tented via, press fit holes, microvias, carbon oil and so on will also take part of cost.

d. Quantity / Lead time

Quantity is an important factor for PCB cost, as many PCB manufacturers will have a minimum cost for an order because of many of work included is similar for 1pcs and 1Kpcs. So usually the quantity increase the unit cost will decrease
Lead time will also have some impact on PCB offer, especially for some quick turnaround board. Usually faster delivery means more will cost. To achieve a fact delivery, it will also require buyer provide complete PCB file include Gerber, specification, quantity, stack up and so on.

e. Fly test / E-tester/ Mould

Generally for sample and prototype (usually smaller than 3 square meters depends on boards), PCB supplier will suggest to using flying probe test to save cost. And mass production PCB manufacturer will require building e-tester. E-tester is non-recurring cost with no version updated, which is economical for repeat order.
Mould is usually used for mass production, and small usually use milling.

f. Quality required / Payment

For PCB quality standard, there is IPC2, IPC3, Military standard and so on. Simply speaking, the higher standard requires, the higher cost need.
Payment sometimes will also considered in the PCB offer for many PCB manufacturers.

LED COB PCB packaging process

  LED COB (Chip on Board) packaging process, first is covering the surface of the silicon wafer of substrate with a thermally conductive epoxy (generally use epoxy resin mixed with silver particles), and then place the silicon wafer to the right surface of the substrate indirectly, heat treatment firmly fixed to the silicon substrate is OK. Then build electrical connection between the silicon wafer and the substrate indirectly by re-wire welding methods. Its packaging process is as follows:

The first step is expanding chip.

Expanding LED chip film provided by manufacturer smoothly by chip expanding machine, make LED die closely attached to the film surface expanding for thorn crystal.

The Second step is gum.
Put the expansion chip ring to the surface of scraping gum machine with no silver layer, cover silver paste, place silver paste. It is suitable for bulk demolition LED chips. Using the dispenser place right amount paste on the printed circuit board.　

The third step is putting thorn crystal frame.
Put the r the expansion chip ring with silver paste into the thorn crystal frame. Thorn LED chips to circuit board under microscope by crystal pen.

The fourth step is putting thermal cycle oven.
Put circuit board placed with chip thorn to thermal cycle oven with thermostat for some time, and get out after silver paste curing ( not be too long, or the coating of LED chips will be roasted yellow, namely oxidization, which will bring problem to bonding). If there is no LED chip bonding, the above few steps is needed; If there is IC chip bonding, the above steps could be cancelled.

The fifth step is sticking chip.
Put the right amount red plastic (or vinyl) to the IC of PCB circuit board by dispenser, and then use the anti-static equipment (real suction pen or female) to put the IC die accurate on red plastic or vinyl.

The sixth step is drying.
Put chip die stick to the large flat heating plate outside the thermal cycle oven for some time, and also can cure naturally which may be longer.

The seventh step is bonding wire.
Uses aluminum wire bonders place chip (LED grains or IC chips) on to the PCB pads for aluminum wire bridging connection, which is Cob’s inner lead bonding.

 

The eighth step is pretesting.
Use public inspection tools (Choose different devices for COB different purposes, simple is the high-precision current regulator) detecting COB board, repair the board failed.

The ninth step is dispensing.
Use dispenser to deploy AB glue to bonding the LED die, IC is with vinyl. It could be packaged according to customer requirements.

The tenth step is Curing
Put the PCB circuit board sealed with paste outside the thermal cycle oven in thermostat. Drying time could set upon request.　　

The eleventh step is after- test.
Use the public test tool to test the electrical performance of sealed PCB circuit board again and then split the good and not good.

With the development of technology, there are aluminum PCB circuit board COB packaging, ceramic PCB circuit board COB packaging, and copper PCB circuit board MCOB package and so on.

  Compared with other packaging technology, COB technology cost is affordable (only with 1/3 of the chip), space is saving, and process technology is mature. But there is also some problem with COB technology. It needs allocated with welding machines and packaging machines sometimes couldn’t keep pace, with strict environmental requirements for PCB soldering and can’t be repaired and other shortcomings.

   Some chip on board design could improve the IC signal performance because they remove most or all of the parasitic parts. However, there may be also some performance issues with these techniques. In all these designs, because there are the lead frame sheets or BGA signs, it may not be well connected to VCC or ground. Problems may include a coefficient of thermal expansion (CTE) of the substrate and the poor connection problems.