Easy PCB Quote: Step 1
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Printed Circuit Board Details
Quantity
Enter the quantity of boards that you need to purchase.
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Layers
The plains of copper connected by the plated through holes. On board text such as company name, logo, or part number that is correct reading on the top layer will insure the layers are placed correctly.
All orders placed as "1 layer" will be treated as single sided and the hole barrels will be non-plated. See Plated through holes (PTH)/Non-Plated through holes (NPTH) below.
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Board Material
FR4
Glass laminates are widely used for subtractive Printed Circuit Board fabrication because of their ability to meet a wide variety of processing conditions. Thermally stable copper-clad epoxy-glass laminates offer high mechanical strength and machinability, outstanding electrical characteristics, consistent drilling properties and V-O fire resistance. Designed for single and double-sided boards, they provide a combination of processing flexibility and finished board performance needed for many SMT applications. End use applications include automotive controls, commercial and consumer electronics, and industrial controls.
HiTg FR4
A high Tg is very important for the PCBs to guard against barrel cracking and pad fracture during the soldering process.
CEM-1
Composite Epoxy Material is very similar to FR4. Instead of woven glass fabric a "flies" type is used. CEM-1 is a paper-based laminate with one layer of woven glass fabric. It is not suitable for Plated Through Hole. CEM-1 can only be used for single-layer PCB.
Polyimide
This material uses special resins that provide improvement in mechanical properties. The material is especially good for high frequency performance.
- Loss Tangent = .01 (good) (excellent in analog circuits up to 2.0 ghz and digital circuits above 3.0 ghz) (stable with temperature variations).
- CTEr = + 220 ppm per degrees C (high). Tg is 250 degrees C.
- Electro-Deposited Copper only. (helps in peel strength and delamination but somewhat limits etch width tolerance due to undercutting).
- Layer-to-layer thickness control = + / - .002
- Excellent for multi-layer construction.
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Surface Mount
This relates to SMT (surface mount technology). The pitch of the surface mount is defined as the dimension in inches from center to center of surface mount pads. Standard pitch is >0.025", and fine pitch is 0.011"-0.025:. If you need <0.011" surface mount pitch, please make a note in the additional comments section.
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Board Thickness
Standard base thickness is 0.062" or 0.059".
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Finished Copper
This is how much copper your board will have on its surface. It is the copper foil thickness, plus plated copper, minus surface preparation. It is given in oz / per sq foot. 1 oz = a minimum of 0.0012"- 0.0014" thickness.
We offer finished copper of 1-oz., 1.5-oz., and 2.5-oz. If you need a different finished copper amount, please complete note your needs in the additional comments section of the request.
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Solder Mask
This is the typical "Green" color that is associated with circuit boards (we also offer blue, red, and black). We also call it LPI, for Liquid Photo-Imagable solder mask, which is the type, we use. It keeps the traces from shorting together when the soldering is done.
When none is selected, we coat the areas of the board not covered with optional solder mask with solder. This is a mix of Tin and Lead.
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Routing
We offer many options with respect to routing: individual, tab routing, tab routing with perforation, and v-score.
Individual
Our standard method is to individually route your boards so you receive a board for each quantity that you order.
Tab Routing
Rather that completing the route path around the board edge, "Tabs" are left so as to leave boards attached in pallets for ease in assembly.
When this is selected on the order form "We" will take your one up board files, and step and repeat as many images as will fit into a 12x14" (approximately) pallet. These Pallets will have a standard space of 0.1" apart, with 4 (0.1") tabs positioned at our discretion along the edges, and surrounded by a .5 border.
V-score
This method creates two beveled scoring lines along the perimeter of your boards. This makes it easier to break apart the boards at a later date. You would receive your boards in panel form like tab routing (see above image). Please note that the minimum back set is copper 0.030" from the cut line. See here for more information.
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Board Size WxL
The size listed is a rectangle area your board will fit within.
If your board is round or odd-shaped then use the longest dimensions to ensure that your pricing matches (please note: if your board is not square or rectangular then your pricing might be adjusted when your order is reviewed by our Pre-Engineering department).
If your board is in metric, please convert to inches.
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Surface Finish
PCB Surface Finishes vary in price, availability, shelf life, reliability and assembly processing. While each finish has its own benefits, in most cases, the process, product or environment will dictate the surface finish that is best suited for the application. It is recommended that the end-user, designer or assembler work closely with their PCB supplier to select the best finish for the specific product design. Multicircuits' extensive experience in lead-free manufacturing of printed circuit boards has been instrumental in successfully converting countless projects from solder to a lead- free alternative.
Immersion Silver
With the pending lead-free legislation impacting PCB manufacturing on a global scale, the immersion silver process is rapidly gaining popularity as the lead-free surface finish of choice. While ENIG presently has a larger market share, over the past 12 months more immersion silver process lines have been installed in PCB facilities than any other finish. Immersion silver has a controlled thickness of 5-12 micro inches and a shelf life of at least 12 months. Silver is compatible with most assembly processes, is cost advantageous, and with its increased popularity, is becoming more commonly available.
HASL (Hot Air Solder Leveling)
The 63/37 tin lead solder has been the industry-standard since the inception of the original circuit board. If lead-free is not a concern, HASL is a very cost effective, reliable surface finish utilized in the manufacturing of lower technology PCBs. The HASL process can add stress to high layer circuit boards which can cause long-term reliability issues. This added stress, along with uneven solder height on dense SMT or BGA pads, are good reasons to replace HASL. Inevitably, tighter design criteria, advancing technologies, and/or environmental legislation will force the replacement of HASL. There are lead free alloys which can replace the conventional 63Sn / 37Pb solder in this process, but there are still capability limitations that exist within this process.
Immersion Gold (ENIG)
The ENIG finish has historically been the best fine pitch (flat) surface and lead-free option world-wide. Benefits to this surface finish are; long-term experience/knowledge of the product and excellent shelf life. The typical Nickel thickness is 75 micro inches and 3-5 micro inches of gold. Disadvantages include; limited availability, higher cost and this being the only surface finish that requires a two-part process. Also, if the process is not controlled, quality issues such as "Black Pad" may occur.
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Carbon Ink
The term "Carbon Ink" is used to describe a suspension of conductive particles in a resin base. Carbon Ink may be applied to a PWB by a silk-screen process to produce conductors of a specific resistance or contacts for use with a conductive elastomer.
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Gold Fingers
We can plate your edge connectors with Gold. (Approx. Ni / Min. 30 Au). The input here needs to be the distance between the outside edges of the outermost tabs.
With your gold selection, a standard 30-degree bevel will be added to your edge connector. We can also bevel at 15 or 45 degrees upon request. For multi-layer boards please insure adequate back set for the bevels. Please mention this in the special instructions when placing your order.
Due to the nature of gold tipping and unique board designs, we require the design review on all orders with gold fingers. Also note that pricing adjustments might be made based upon review of your files. We will notify you immediately if this is the case.
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Scoring
This is another method of leaving the individual circuits in a mother panel format. Scoring machines tend to either work by edge or pin location. Ours is the latter and uses a pair of pins for its registration.
A V shaped groove is cut top and bottom which then allows the circuits to be broken out of there panel. A small amount of the outer edges of the boards is removed in the process, which would include any fine track running along the edge.
Another point of warning is that the flexing during the breaking of the panel can lead to failures with surface mount components. This process is not recommended for that type of board unless you use one of the special machines to break the boards out without stress.
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Electrical Test
(1-sided / 2-sided)
Testing is used primarily to test for opens and shorts. We recommend it for all surface mount boards and Multi-layers. The quoted price is accurate up to 1000 test points for a one-sided test fixture, and up to 600 points for a double-sided surface mount test fixture. If the number of test points exceeds these numbers, then additional costs may incur and you will be notified of the new test fixture cost.
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Lead Free
Thank you for your interest in RoHS compliant boards. Since this is a new process we want to make sure our customers review all of the necessary information before placing their order.
When placing a lead free order, simply choose the "Silver RoHS" option for plate finish. Also, please review the information below before ordering your lead free boards
Lead Free Material
We use High Tg, High Td, and Low CTE laminate which complies with all RoHS requirements and can withstand several heat cycles. Review our material comparison for more details on lead free materials.
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Delivery Details
By describing how many boards you need and when you need them shipped will allow us to give you a better way to deliver you the most accurate quote we can.
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