Usually, the quotation for printed circuit boards is given by the factory. With the continuous advancement of Internet technology, many factories now have their own online quotation systems for PCB. There are some factors that affect cost and price.

 

1. PCB size (dimensions)

 

Let's talk about the size of printed circuit boards. If it is a rectangle, it is length × width. If it is a circle, or other irregular shapes, it shall be calculated according to the maximum shape range. In general, material waste caused by irregular shapes should be included.

 

2. Batch Production

 

The larger the batch, the lower the price per products.

 

3. Material

 

The board material is crucial for manufacturing. The factory tends to use the raw material of the long-term cooperative supplier. But for PCB boards with special requirements, the designer needs to specify the board material, and the price will be different. For example, there is a rogers material for microwave radio frequency, the price is 10 times that of ordinary board.

 

4. PCB layers

 

There are single-sided board, double-sided board, 4-layer board and 6-layer board. The number of board layers is usually even. The higher the number of layers, the higher the price.

 

5. Delivery date

 

The production cycle of single-sided and double-sided PCB is 3-4 days. If it is particularly urgent, you can choose 48-hour or even 24-hour rush, but the cost will increase. If there are problems in the design that need to be clarified, the time will start counting after all the problems are confirmed.

 

6. Special process

 

Every factory has its own process parameters. If your design exceeds the process capability, they will carry out special control during production. The production cost will increase. Furthermore, the following conditions will also affect the quotation.

 

· Board thickness

 

The conventional thickness of the double-sided board is 0.4, 0.6, 0.8, 1.0, 1.2, 1, 6, 2.0, 2.4 (in mm). If you choose other thickness boards, the price will increase.

 

· Color of solder resist ink

 

The circuit board is generally covered with a layer of ink. The ink does not stick to the solder, we call it the solder mask layer. Green is the most common and economical, so the solder mask is also called the green oil layer. Red, yellow, blue, white and black are also available. Among them, the black ink plate is the most difficult to produce, and the cost will be high.

 

· Pad treatment

 

Copper is easily oxidized in the air and affects welding, so the parts that need to be welded must be surface coated. It's also called surface treatment. The processes include lead HASL, lead-free HASL, immersion gold, nickel-plated gold, OSP, immersion silver, etc.

 

Tin spraying is the most common process in the PCB industry, which has the advantages of good solderability and low cost. The disadvantage is that the flatness is not good, especially when the window is opened in a large area, it is easy to appear uneven. Lead-free HASL is to meet the requirements of environmental protection, and the cost of this process is high.

 

Immersion gold is to use displacement reaction to form a thin layer of gold at the welding place, which has good flatness and good solderability.

 

OSP relies on the chemical reaction between the potion and the copper skin to form an organic protective film. This film has anti-oxidation, thermal shock resistance, and moisture resistance. OSP is generally used less.

 

Immersion silver refers to plating a layer of silver on the welding position, which is rarely used. Silver is easy to oxidize and blacken in the air, and it requires welding within a specified time.

 

· Electronic test

 

It detects whether there is an open circuit in each solder joint of the same network in the circuit, and whether there is a short circuit in each solder joint of different networks. Proofing and small-batch boards are tested by flying probes. We can think of flying probes as two test leads of a multimeter. Compare with the existing data, if the place is connected, or the place is disconnected, record it. Large batches of boards are generally tested with a bed of needles, which requires the production of test fixtures, which is a parallel measurement method with fast test speed but high cost.

 

· Character color

 

Generally, the text color on the PCB board is white. If it is to be made into other colors, the cost will increase.