Purchasing PCB frequently encountered problems:

We do not know well about the China PCB market, there are many suppliers; Too much information, and too difficult to compare?

How do evaluate whether a PCB Factory is good or bad, and what are the evaluation criteria?

Why there are so many prices for PCB?

Can the delivery date be guaranteed? How guarantee product quality?

About my views:

If you want to choose a good board factory, you can’t just look at the price.

The production of PCB is a complex process. From the purchase of raw materials to the manufacturing process, and then to the quality inspection, each step of the process should be standardized and up to standard, and the circuit board produced can be “reliable”. At present, there are countless PCB factories in the market. It is suggested that users should polish their eyes in the selection process and select manufacturers on the basis of a certain understanding of PCB circuit boards to prevent being deceived.

After reading the following four steps, I will teach you to choose a good circuit board supplier!

1.Check PCB factory qualification

Qualification is an indispensable “brand certificate” in the circuit board industry. It is not only a stumbling block for the circuit board factory, but also a pass for the circuit board factory.

Good plate factories are more strict in quality control, so they will also apply for a number of qualification certificates to improve the brand image. Applying for qualification certificate is a very troublesome and complex thing. Just applying for it has blocked many small outsourcing factories.

Before purchasing, we must ask what qualifications the circuit board factory has and whether the products meet the PCB quality standards!

PCB quality standard:

1. The copper skin is not easy to fall off under high temperature environment;
2. The line thickness, line spacing and line width of the line meet the design requirements to prevent heating, short circuit and open circuit of the line;
3. PCB circuit board has no additional electromagnetic radiation;
4. In the process of PCB proofing, high temperature, high humidity and other special environments will be taken into account;
5. Copper surface is not easy to be oxidized, and the service life of an oxidized circuit board will be greatly shortened.
6. Reasonable deformation errors are now installed mechanically. The hole position of the circuit board and the deformation error the of circuit design should be within the allowable range.

• Iso9001:2015 international quality management system certification
• UL certification
• ROHS certification for lead-free tin spraying
• Lead free tin spraying reach certification
• ROHS certification
• Reach certification
• OSP ROHS certification
• OSP reach certification

2. Look at the raw material supply system

Novice procurement should pay attention to the raw material procurement of the factory, such as plate, ink, copper ball, etc.

Among them, the plate is the most important. The difference of the plate determines the performance of the circuit board. The worse the quality of the plate, the cheaper the price. Board material is the main raw material of PCB, accounting for about 60% of the cost of PCB. It is also the largest raw material for small factories to steal the cost. Compared with the standard A-level board, the price difference of dozens of yuan per square meter is generated, and the price difference of batch orders can reach thousands.

How to judge the quality of PCB board can refer to the following judgment methods.

“Three elements of gold” of plate (taking plate thickness of 1.6 as the standard):

There are 8 sheets of sheet glass cloth, which will seriously affect the cost, performance and application of the sheet; Plate manufacturers with less than 6 sheets of cloth recommend that it can only be used as a similar simple toy board;

If the feeding rate is lower than 30%, it will seriously affect the cost and performance of the plate and the use of the plate;

It must be flame retardant, otherwise it will seriously affect the cost of plates and the safety of electronic products;

3.Look at the PCB manufacturing process

The development of the Internet makes international procurement more convenient. The purchasing department can spend less time to fully understand the process capacity and factory situation of the plate factory.

When purchasing, you can refer to the process of a board factory in terms of the number of board layers and special process capabilities, such as copper thickness, line width, aperture, impedance grade, size, etc. The more complex the board factory is, the more reliable it is.

4.Look at the price and delivery date

PCB procurement is often more sensitive to price. Experienced purchasers will consider from multiple dimensions, such as delivery date, testing and so on. In case of urgent projects, the board is not received for a long time. It’s big to think about it.

When purchasing, you should pay special attention to that only self-supporting factories dare to promise delivery time and ensure on-time delivery, because your order will be tracked by the person in charge of self-supporting factories throughout the process.

In terms of price, purchasing can choose the same parameters to compare the price difference of each plate factory, but it should be noted that you are likely to miss the price difference caused by the important factor of plate, so you should pay special attention to this point when comparing prices.

In terms of delivery time, of course, the faster the better. When purchasing, you should pay attention to asking PCB manufacturers and logistics companies how to compensate for the losses caused by overdue delivery.

Conclusion

The above four points are the experience of more than 20 years. I hope they will be helpful to you who are about to purchase PCB. Parker, who knows China’s PCB market very well, is willing to help you know more about China’s PCB market.