How to Choose PCB Material

A well PCB design is the important step on PCB board production, but PCB material is the key bridge to make a good PCB board.

How to choose PCB material is very important.

When Choosing PCB board meterial, it must meet the needs of the design and production and cost to achieve a balance between the point.

Design requirements include electrical and mechanism of these two parts. Usually in the design of very high speed PCB board (more than GHz frequency) this material issue will be more important.

For example, now commonly used FR-4 material, the frequency of a few GHz when the dielectric loss (loss dielectric) will have a great impact on the signal attenuation, may not be applicable.

On the electrical, we should pay attention to the dielectric constant (constant dielectric) and dielectric loss in the design of the frequency is applicable.

The Exclusive Knowledge of PCB Circuit Board

Specialize in, no matter what industry has its own set of professional knowledge, PCB circuit board is no exception, today we have invited to professional and technical teacher to tell a story about some PCB board professional term, will be used in the circuit board and technical personnel as below:

Material for the production of circuit boards are usually XPC, FR1, FR2, cem1, cem3 and fr4.xpc, paper core, no 94-vo fire mark;

FR1 PCB, the paper core phenolic resin copper-clad plate (not plating, tin spraying, high temperature 105 degrees Celsius);

FR2, the paper core phenolic resin copper-clad plate (not] electroplating tin spraying, high temperature 130 degrees Celsius);

Cem1, the paper core epoxy resin copper clad glass plate (glass fiber);

Cem3, paper core epoxy resin coated glass fiber board (the whole glass fiber) is generally used for the production of a single panel;

FR4 PCB, epoxy resin copper clad glass cloth (whole glass fiber) is generally used for production of double-sided and multilayer board;

Plating: tin spraying is hot air leveling;

Line: silk screen is printed on the customer requirements, the general is white;

Master above the professional and technical knowledge of the circuit board, to lay the foundation for our future.

The new iPhone circuit board will be introduced to replace the class board technology HDI

According to Taiwan media reports, Apple may be iPhone substantial revision cycle extended from the current 2 years to 3 years, rumors 2017 launched a substantial revision of the models may make major changes in appearance, the OLED display screen, may also through high performance motor to realize complex tactile vibration.

The extension of the revision cycle will have a significant impact on suppliers in Japan, Taiwan and other parts of Asia, as these companies are highly dependent on iPhone.

Wu Jian, chairman of Taiwan PCB manufacturers Huatong revealed that have large customers 2017 the annual new phones will change the class loading plate "technology, for suppliers bring new challenges, is thought to be referring to the apple.

Market had been rumors, apple is seeking can replace the existing HDI (high density circuit board) of the class loading plate "technology, in order to adapt to the smartphone adoption of SIP (system level package) trend. With the SIP is equipped with components of the increase in the number of over limit load of HDI, Apple hopes to further introduce" class load board material application.

Wu Jian says frankly, the global smart phone market size each year about 20 billion branch, is close to saturation, the future will not appear too big change, also won't have significant growth. In order to meet the needs of customers Huatong has begun to layout the load board production line, have the confidence to grasp the business opportunities.

Further Reading: Types of PCB Boards

How to survive for PCB supplier

Currently, with the fierce competition in PCB industry in China, it is gradully getting harder and harder for pcb suppliers to survive. So how to stand out in this condition?As a pcb supplier, you must know clearly what will affect a purchaser’s decision, such as shipping, operational type, price, lead time, facilities in factory, certifications and so on.

Shipping: most of the clients prefer to choose coastal suppliers s, which are more convenient and economic for shipping, that’s why there are so many trading companies and factories in shenzhen and NingBo. Besides, to cooperate with a good shipping agent is also a necessity.

Operational type: as we all konw, for trading company, they will charge extra commission based on exw factory price for their service, so it is not cost-effective to choose trading company. So for many factories with their own trading team will have advantage in price when face to a same vendor.

Price: it is always the main factor that will affect a purchaser’s decision, so your quotation must be reasonable and 100% right, otherwise you may lose a potential and valuable customer. Besides, if your customer is doubted about your quotation, you should be confident in your price and don’t be too easy to compromise. However if they doubted for 2 or more times, you should have a double check if there’s any wrong in your quotation.

Facility: I am now working in Wonderful PCB(HK) Limited, and we have many clients from all over the world come to our factory to have a visit, many of them are glad to give us orders in spot, why? The scale, the tidy environment, and professional equipment impressed them.

Certification: for some customers, they have few chance to come to China to have a visit of the factory, so they can only evaluate by certifications, among all the certifications, UL is always the most important one. What’s UL? It is the abbreviation of Underwriter Laboratories Inc., which is the most authoritative institute in America and also a non-governmental institution for safety test and authentication in the world. The UL serial number marked in HDI PCB represents that this type of PCB has been accredited with UL certification in America. Normally, the test for PCB is about flame retardancy test and it can be classified into different levels(105 degree,130degree etc.), but the UL certification won’t be distributed, but you can search it in UL website and confirm by UL number.

Above all, as a pcb supplier, if you konw all the factors clearly and try to improve youeself in these aspects, you will be the best one sooner or later.

Printed Circuit Board (PCB) Manufacturing Quality Management

We go through strict test in our manufacturing processes for a quality control. For new orders, we initially check layout by using an automated testing machine to ensure the layout does not have any problems on routing, placement, or any other layout problems. We compare the layout and the net list to PCB design limitations and the rules. Limitations have been determined for routing widths and clearances. So we must make sure there are no overlapping, untraced connecting pins, incorrect layer placements. If any error, we immediately contact the customer to solve out and confirmation. We must ensure the PCB is capable of being manufactured.

Flying Probe Test

For small quantity, we provide the Flying Probe Test. It does not need test fixtures. Using the Flying Probe test, we ensure PCB has no short or open circuits, as well as verify that the PCB nets correspond to the design. The Flying Probe test possesses few limitations on access. It can test PCBs with almost an unlimited amount of nets. In general, the Flying Probe test will catch errors. For example, the failure rate of the PCBs is generally less than one percent.

Fixture Test

Fixture Test has many small and spring loaded pogo pins that are inserted into holes on an epoxy phenolic glass cloth laminated sheet. These are lined up with tooling pins. These pins connect with the PCB test points. Every one of the pogo pins will connect to the device of the PCB that is going to be tested. Upon initiating the device-under-test via the fixture test, many separate test points will be connected for testing. This test ensures there are no shorted or opened circuits, and will also ensure the PCB nets correspond with the design nets. This test generally maintains the PCB failure rate to less than one-tenth of one percent.

Automated Optical Inspections

Automated optical inspections (AOI) provide an internal quality check of the inside layers of PCBs with multiple layers. This type of inspection performs a vision scan of the PCB surface using scanners so the entire area of the HDI PCB can be checked. The primary advantage of AOI is that it is highly reliable and accurate and a more sophisticated type of testing than visual inspection testing. For a basic board inspection, AOI can test for the following failures:


Line width out of rules specifications
Spacing errors outside of rules specifications.
Excessive amount of Cu.
Missing pads when they are required
Shorted circuit paths
Traces or pads that were partially or fully severed.
Holes that are broken out, which is usually caused by a hole that has been drilled beyond its target pad.