The main factors that affect the price of a PCB board
The price of PCB is something that many buyers have been confused about. Many people wonder how these prices are calculated when placing orders. Let’s talk about some factors that make up the PCB price.
- PCB uses different materials to cause price differences
Take ordinary double-sided panels as an example. Currently, the main types of sheets are FR4 (Shengyi, Jiantao, Guoji, three prices from top to bottom). The board thickness ranges from 0.2mm to 3.0mm, and the copper thickness ranges from 0.5oz to 3oz. Different, PCB has caused a huge price difference in these sheet materials; in terms of solder mask ink, there is also a certain price difference between ordinary thermosetting oil and photosensitive green oil.
- Price differences caused by different PCB surface processes
Common ones include: OSP (anti-oxidation), lead-sprayed tin, lead-free tin-sprayed, gold plating, immersion gold, and some complex processes, etc.; the earlier the production process, the more expensive it becomes.
- Price differences caused by different PCB design standards
There are 800 holes on both PCBs. The hole diameter of one board is greater than 0.2mm and the hole diameter of the other board is less than 0.2mm, which will also cause different drilling costs. If two PCBs are otherwise identical but have different line widths and line spacings, one is greater than 4mil and the other is less than 4mil, this will also result in different production costs. There are also additional charges for designs with different process processes from ordinary ones, such as key boards, carbon printing oil, half holes, buried blind holes, and holes in the plate.
- Different thicknesses of PCB copper foil cause price differences
Commonly used copper and platinum thicknesses are: 18um (1/2oz), 35um (1oz), 70um (2oz), 105um (3oz), 140um (4oz), etc. The thicker the copper foil, the more expensive it will be.
5.Customer’s quality acceptance standards
Commonly used ones are: IPC2, IPC3, enterprise standards, military standards, etc. The higher the required standards, the higher the price.
- Mold fee and test stand
1) Mold fee: For prototypes and small batches, generally board factories use drilling and milling shapes, so there will be no additional milling fee. When doing mass production, mold punching is required, which improves efficiency and reduces production costs. Down, a set of molds costs about 800.
2) Testing fee: Samples generally use flying probe testing, which is now generally free of charge from board manufacturers; in batches, test racks are required to improve efficiency. When efficiency is improved, production costs will also decrease. The general quotation of test racks is around 1,200.
- Different payment methods will also cause price differences.
Payment methods with shorter arrival time, such as cash payment, will have lower prices.
- Order volume/delivery time
1) Single quantity: The smaller the quantity, the more expensive the price will be, because even if it is 1PCS, the board factory still has to prepare engineering materials and film, and every process is indispensable.
2) Delivery time: Short production time for the factory will also increase production costs.
3) The production data provided to the PCB factory must be complete (GERBER data, number of board layers, board material, board thickness, surface treatment process, ink color, character color and some special requirements must be written clearly)
From the above discussion, we can see that the diversity of PCB processing prices is determined by many inevitable factors.