Price and influencing factors of PCB

14 January 2020
New

Part 1: Various factors affecting the price of a PCB

The price of PCB is a lot of confusion for many buyers. Many people will also question how these prices are calculated when placing orders online. Let’s talk about the components of PCB prices.

1. the material used in PCB is different, resulting in price diversity

For ordinary double-panel, for example, the sheet material generally has FR4, the thickness ranges from 0.2mm to 3.0mm, and the thickness of copper varies from 0.5oz to 3oz. All of these have caused huge price differences in the sheet material; in the case of the solder resist inks, there is also a certain price difference between ordinary thermosetting oil and photosensitive green oil.

2. the surface treatment process is different, resulting in price diversity

Common ones are OSP (anti-oxidation), lead-spray tin, lead-free spray tin (environmental protection), gold plating, immersion gold, and some combination processes, etc., the more expensive the above process price.

3. the price diversity caused by the difficulty of the PCB itself

There are 1000 holes on both boards. If the hole diameter of one plate is larger than 0.2mm and the hole diameter of the other plate is less than 0.2mm, different drilling costs will be formed. If the two circuit boards are the same, but the line width is different, one The species are more than 4 mils, one is less than 4 mils, which will also cause different production costs. Secondly, some designs that do not take the ordinary board process are also added, such as half holes, buried holes, holes in the plate, buttons The board is printed with carbon oil.

4. the thickness of the copper foil is different, resulting in price diversity

Common copper and platinum thicknesses are 18um (1/2OZ), 35um (1OZ), 70um (2OZ), 105um (3OZ), 140um (4OZ), etc. The thickness of the above copper foil is more expensive.

5. customer quality acceptance criteria

Commonly used are IPC2, IPC3, enterprise standard, military standard, etc. The higher the standard, the higher the price.

6. mold fee and test stand

1) Mold cost, sample, and small batches. If the general board factory adopts the drilling and milling shape, it will not add the milling edge fee. When doing large quantities, it is required to open the mold punching plate, so there is a set of mold costs.
2) Test fee: The sample board is generally tested by the flying probe, and the batch is to be tested by the test rack. The price of the two test methods is also different.

7. Price difference caused by different payment methods

The shorter the payment time, such as cash payment, the lower the price.

8. order volume/delivery

1) The smaller the quantity, the more expensive the price is because even if it is 1PCS, the board factory has to do engineering materials, and the film is out of the film.
2) Delivery: The data delivered to the PCB factory should be complete (GERBER data, board number, board, board thickness, surface treatment, ink color, character color, and some special requirements should be clearly written)

It is not difficult to see from the above discussion that the diversity of PCB processing price has its inherent inevitable factors. This article can only provide a rough price range for reference. The specific price is of course directly related to the manufacturer.

Part 2: Various factors affecting the quotation

For the PCB we have a set of valuation formulas (ie, plate utilization methods) as follows:

Based on 1 square meter of the sheet, the size is 1020mm*1020mm

Assume that the PCB length is L and the width is H. The 1 square meter substrate can be used to produce this board.

The quantity is (1020/L+5)*(1020/H+5)=Z (that is, the number of layouts)

Unit price =X/Z

X is the price per square meter of material.

In addition to the material’s impact on the price of the PCB, the number of layers and the process will also have an impact on the price of the PCB. At the same time, PCB quotes are also available for sample and batch board quotes.

Sample quotations are divided into common templates and allegro. The delivery time of the ordinary model depends on the number of layers. One side can be used for one day. The two sides are generally three days, and the multiple layers are several days to ten days. This depends on the difficulty of the board. Some factories will also add a test fee. The delivery time of Allegro is shorter. However, an extra board will be added on the basis of the ordinary board.

The shorter the payment time, such as cash payment, the lower the price.

8. order volume/delivery

1) The smaller the quantity, the more expensive the price is because even if it is 1PCS, the board factory has to do engineering materials, and the film is out of the film.
2) Delivery: The data delivered to the PCB factory should be complete (GERBER data, board number, board, board thickness, surface treatment, ink color, character color, and some special requirements should be clearly written)