PCB Manufacturing
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16+ Years Experience in PCB Manufacturing
- 1-40 layers, Rigid, Flex and Rigid-Flex
- Impedance Control, Back drill, Heavy Copper 20 oz
- FR4, High Speed, High Frequency, Metcal core, Ceramic, PTFE
- Blind & Buried Vias, Micro Vias, Any-Layer HDI
- VIPPO, Conductive & Non-Conductive via plugging
- Backplane, Embedded Devices, IC Substrate
Our PCB Manufacturing Capabilities
PCB Types:
- Rigid PCB
- Flexible PCB
- Rigid flexible PCB
- Blind viasion, buried vias, staggered vias, stacked vias
- i+N+i structure HDI, Any-Layer HDI
- Via In Pad, including VIPPO
- Vias plugged by solder mask, epoxy, copper, etc.
- Backplane, back drill
- Aluminum base PCB
- Copper base PCB
- RF Microwave
- High frequency
- High speed
- Impedance Control
- Extreme Copper up to 20 oz
- PCBs with IC Substrate
Material Types:
| Other Capabilities | |
|---|---|
| Layers counts | 1-40 layers, can be more layers by the requirement |
| Board thickness | 0.13-7.5mm |
| Max. board dimensions | 20*59 inch |
| Max aspect ratio | 16:1 |
| Solder mask color | green, black, blue, red, white (normally), other colors by requirement) |
| Silkscreen color | white, black, yellow(normally), other colors by requirement) |
| Outline method | CNC Routing, v-cut, and punching |
| Surface finish | HAL, ENIG, immersion tin/silver, ENEPIG, gold finer, gold plating, selective hybrid |
Why Choose Viasion for PCB Service?
About Viasion – a reliable PCB manufacturer providing one-stop PCB solutions
Founded in 2007, Viasion is a reliable PCB manufacturer providing one-stop PCB solutions in China. Our company insists on doing business honestly and provides sincere service to our customers. Consequently, our business scope covers the world and our company has gained the recognition and trust of 1000+ customers. Viasion is committed to developing itself into an efficient and influential PCB manufacturer.
Premium Quality
We always believe that the quality of our products is the key for our company to gain customers' trust. In our work, we insist on strictly controlling each process, pay attention to details, and devote ourselves to improving the quality of our products. What’s more, our quality control system is well developed and managed. For example, the quality of raw materials, quality control during the production process, and quality control before shipment are all included. Moreover, our team (including engineers and technicians) has extensive experience in PCB manufacturing and assembly, ensuring that the goal of high-quality production is achieved.
Considerate Service
The company is dedicated to providing customers with detailed and thoughtful pre-sales consultation, patiently answering customers' concerns, and carefully paying attention to customers' needs. We also offer thoughtful after-sales service to solve after-sales problems until customers are fully satisfied. As a result of our outstanding one-stop service, our company has won the trust and praise of our customers.
Highly-regarded Reliability
Experience of more than 16 years has established highly-regarded reliability for Viasion. Sufficient experience enables us to deal with all kinds of problems and provide the best solutions for our customers. Additionally, there is advanced equipment for production and quality testing and a complete set of production line workshops in our company. It is self-evident that seeking PCB services in Viasion is a good choice.
What is PCB Manufacturing?
We all know PCB is short for printed circuit board which is the carrier of electronic components. So PCB manufacturing means the production of a printed circuit board. Frankly speaking, PCB manufacturing is a very big subject including the history of PCB, a glossary of PCB, PCB production processes and standards, classifications of PCBs, the cost of PCB fabrication, the current situation and future of PCB manufacturing…etc.
The History of PCB Manufacturing
Charles Ducas in the US created printed wire on an insulating substrate to replace wire connection, and later copper wire by electroplating was used which was the beginning of PCB manufacturing.
Austrian Paul Eisler created printed circuit boards and used them in radio devices.
Epoxy resin was used to make substrates.
The United States officially recognized the invention of the printed circuit board and used it for commercial purposes.
Motorola developed a double-sided board with the electroplated through-hole method, which was later applied to multilayer circuit boards.
V. Dahlgren invented a flexible printed circuit board, by sticking copper foil on flexible plastic material.
Hazeline in the USA started multilayer PCB production by plating through-hole.
Panasonic developed any layer drill in a multilayer DHI printed circuit board. Stacked vias are used to meet any layer connection requirement.
Toshiba developed the b2it multilayer printed circuit board.
New technologies such as rigid-flex, buried resistance, buried capacitance, and IC substrate are intervening in PCB fabrication.
Classifications of PCB Manufacturing
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PCB Manufacturing Processes—A Step-by-Step Guide
PCB manufacturing is a very complex task with many steps. Here we just briefly introduce the steps for both single/double layer and multilayer PCB fabrication.
Single /double layer PCB manufacturing process:
- Board cutting
- Drill
- Dry film and exposure
- Copper etching
- Solder mask printing
- Components marks printing
- Surface treatment
- Outline Profiling
- E-testing
- Quality checking
- Packaging
Multilayer PCB manufacturing process:
- Inner layer board cutting
- Inner layer dry film and exposure
- Inner layer etching
- Inner layer AOI
- Black oxide
- Layup and lamination
- Board Cutting
- Drill
- Dry film and exposure
- Copper etching
- Out layer AOI
- Solder mask printing
- Components marks printing
- Surface treatment
- Outline Profiling
- E-testing
- Quality checking
- Packaging
Standards Used in PCB Manufacturing
The most widely accepted standards in PCB manufacturing are IPC standards. We know IPC is the most famous global association specializing in the research and setting up of production and acceptable standards for printed circuit boards, PCB assembly, wire harness, and any kind of electronic assembly. Here we just talk about the most commonly used standards related to circuit board manufacturing.
The commonly used standards in PCB manufacturing
| IPC Standards | |
|---|---|
| PCB Acceptance Standards | IPC-A-600, IPC-6012, IPC-6011, IPC-6013, IPC-6015, IPC-6018, IPC-9151, IPC-4761, IPC-9252, IPC-9641, IPC-9691, IPC-9121, IPC-DR-572, IPC-OI-645, IPC-1601, IPC-1601, IPC-1710, IPC-9151, IPC-9631 |
| Surface finished Standards | IPC-4552for immersion nickel/gold, IPC-4553 for immersion silver, IPC-4554 for immersion tin, IPC-4556 for OSP, and IPC-4556 for ENEPIG |
| Specification for PCB laminates | Rigid PCB material : IPC-1730, IPC-4101, IPC-4103 Flexible PCB material: IPC-4202, IPC-FC-234, IPC-4204 & IPC-4203, HDI PCB material: IPC-JPCA-4104 |
| Specification for Base Cooper foil | IPC-4562, IPC-1731, IPC-4563, IPC-CF-152 |
The Difference between IPC-A-600 and IPC-6012
We always talk about IPC Class 2 and Class 3 in our daily work. Here they refer to Class 2 and Class 3 in IPC-A-600 and IPC-6012, which are the 2 most well-known standards in circuit board manufacturing.
IPC-A-600 is the acceptability of printed board according to IPC Class 1, 2, or 3, which is used to inspect and distinguish which kinds of defects are not acceptable, both to PCB manufacturers and to customers. There are a lot of pictures to show the difference between class 1, class 2, and class 3. IPC-6012 is the performance specification for PCB manufacturers and suggests that they should work according to IPC Class 1, 2, 3, or 3/A, which is more concerned with the production process.
Although IPC-A-600 and IPC-6012 are different documents with different purposes, they have same for the definition for Class 1, 2, or 3. So we do not need to worry about the difference between them.
The main difference between IPC Class 2 and Class 3
Voids in PTH-Copper Plating
| Class 3 | Class 2 |
|---|---|
| PTH holes are plated perfectly, with no void in the PTH hole at all. |
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Voids in PTH – Finished Coating
| Class 3 | Class 2 |
|---|---|
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Etched Marking(components notation)
| Class 3 | Class 2 |
|---|---|
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Soda Strawing (the gap between the solder mask and base material)
| Class 3 | Class 2 |
|---|---|
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Conductor (copper trace) Spacing
| Class 3 | Class 2 |
|---|---|
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Out layer Annular Ring-Supported Holes
| Class 3 | Class 2 |
|---|---|
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Out layer Annular Ring – Unsupported Holes
| Class 3 | Class 2 |
|---|---|
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Surface Conductor Thickness (base and plating)
| Class 3 | Class 2 |
|---|---|
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Wicking (plating residue)
| Class 3 | Class 2 |
|---|---|
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Solder Residue
| Class 3 | Class 2 |
|---|---|
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Besides IPC Class 2 and Class 3, there is IPC Class 1 as well in circuit board manufacturing. IPC Class 1 is usually for very low-end applications. In Viasion, we always manufacture PCBs according to IPC Class 2 and Class 3.
There is a 4th-grade IPC standard in PCB manufacturing that is not so familiar to most people. It is Class 3/A. Class 3/A is a standard higher than Class 3, which is applied to extremely high-reliability products, such as military and/or space avionics. The biggest difference is that the copper plating needs to be 37um at least, since Class 3 need 25um, and Class 3/A need 12um more than Class 3.
Of course, there are more differences between Class 3 and Class 3/A in circuit board manufacturing. If you are interested in more details about Class 3/A, please check the details in Appendix A and Appendix B in 6012C.
The Main Factors Which Affect PCB’s Cost
PCBs are custom-made by printed circuit board manufacturers. So the cost of every PCB may be different. But we can quote the price anyhow. So what are the main factors which affect PCB’s cost? Please refer to the following details:
Base material types
This is one of the most important factors since different types of PCB materials have different price levels, and different companies that produce the same type of PCB material may also have a big price difference. Taking the example of FR4, the most common PCB material, its cost may be around 30 USD per square meter, but the cost of high-frequency material may be 10 times higher than that of FR4 material. Normal polyimide material for flexible PCB may be around 50 USD per square meter, but polyimide material from Dupont (the most advanced polyimide material manufacturer) may be 2-5 times higher. So it is very important to specify the material type and manufacturers in the specifications.
PCB dissensions
Bigger PCB dissensions mean more material is needed, so the price is more expensive. In Viasion, our engineer always tries to give you the best advice for PCB panels, to get the best usage rate in PCB manufacturing to save your cost.
PCB layer counts
More layer counts mean more material needed and more production processes in circuit board manufacturing, then the cost is higher. So please use lower layer counts if possible.
Copper thickness
The thicker the copper thickness, the higher the cost. Normal copper thickness is 0.5-1oz, so there will be a price increase for copper thickness of more than 1oz.
PCB thickness
The thicker the overall PCB thickness, the higher the cost. Normal PCB overall thickness is 1.6mm, so there will be a price increase for a PCB thickness of more than 1.6mm. Yet the cost for ultra-thin (such as 0.15mm FR4 PCB) rigid PCB is more expensive than normal 1.6mm PCB because the ultra-thin rigid PB is very difficult to produce.
Layup structure
It is better to use a normal structure in multilayer PCBs since a special layup structure may lead to extra costs in circuit board manufacturing. For example, some engineers design extremely thick dielectrics which need to be achieved by piling several prepregs together. Extra prepreg means extra cost, and sometimes we even need to add an unclad FR4 material in it, which will increase a lot of costs.
Blind/Buried vias
Blind and buried vias mean production processes are much more complicated than normal PTH vias, and more advanced equipment is required as well. So the price is much more expensive than normal PCBs with only PTH holes.
Surface finishes
Different surface finishes have different costs. The cheapest ones are HAL and OSP, and ENIG. The immersion silver, tin, and ENEPIG are more expensive. But the most expensive one is hard gold plating with a gold thickness of around 0.1-3um. It is not hard to understand since it is “real gold” which is plated on the PCB.
Special technology or requirement
Special technology such as countersink holes, back drills, and impedance may also affect the price, so it is better to send us Gerber for a few quotes.
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Your Trusted Partner for PCB Fabrication. 1-40 Layers Rigid, Flex, Rigid-Flex, HDI, Blind & Buried Vias PCBs.
How to Choose A Premium Quality PCB Manufacturer?
Everyone knows ISO9001 is a quality management standard. If the factory was certified by ISO9001, it means the management of the factory is in a good situation, such as staff train, equipment acquaintance, material control, supplier audit and control, production plan and control, quality control, etc. So factories certified by ISO9001 will save us time in traveling and auditing somehow.
UL means Underwriter Laboratories in the US. It is a safety standard first used in the US, but now it is widely accepted all over the world. And UL is a must for many printed circuit boards.
Here in Viasion, we are ISO9001:2015 certified, and also UL listed with our UL file No. E358677.
To be a long-term and win-win partner, both suppliers and customers should be suitable to each other in order scale and industry. In Viasion, we focus on one-stop small to medium PCB fabrication and assembly. Our order quantity can be 1 piece prototype to a few thousand. So we always welcome small orders. Most of our customers come from industry, power, and control, safety, communications, medical industry, testing, etc.
We have been supplying printed circuit boards to our customers since 2007, and we are very honored that a lot of customers trust and work with us for more than 10 years. In our 16 years of business, our goal is always the same: supplying small to medium PCBs to customers worldwide with the best quality and competitive price. In Viasion, “Quality Comes First” is not just a slogan. Instead, it is in the heart of every staff. We always focus on long-term partner parts, rather than one-time profit.
The Current Situation in PCB Manufacturing
Main countries/areas for PCB manufacturing
From 2015 to 2021, the global top 100 PCB PCB manufacturers are located in Asian companies, such as the Chinese mainland, Taiwan, China, Japan, and South Korea. The overall revenue of these countries takes around 93% of the total revenue in the global PCB industry.
In 2021, the detailed figures are Chinese Taiwan: 35%, China mainland: 28%, Japan: 18%, and South Korea: 12 % and the rest of 7% are produced in other countries.
Top 10 PCB manufacturers in the world
| Company Name | Revenue (Billion USD) | Country |
|---|---|---|
| ZDT | 4.45 | Chinese Taiwan |
| Unimicron | 2.98 | Chinese Taiwan |
| DSBJ | 2.72 | Chinese mainland |
| Nippon Mektron | 2.64 | Japan |
| TTM | 2.10 | USA |
| Compeq | 2.05 | Chinese Taiwan |
| Tripod | 1.89 | Chinese Taiwan |
| Shennan Circuits | 1.68 | China Mainland |
| Ibiden | 1.56 | Japan |
| HannStar | 1.55 | Chinese Taiwan |
Top 10 PCB manufacturers in China’s mainland
| Company Name | Revenue (Billion USD) |
|---|---|
| DSBJ | 2.72 |
| Shennan Circuits | 1.68 |
| KBPCB | 1.37 |
| Kinwang Electronics | 1.02 |
| Victory Giant | 0.81 |
| AKM+Meadville | 0.76 |
| Suntak | 0.63 |
| Shenzhen Fastprint | 0.59 |
| SYE | 0.53 |
| Wuzhou Electronics | 0.43 |
Main applications of PCB manufacturing
PCBs are used in almost every aspect of electronics. But the main applications are the communication industry, computer industry, automotive electronics, and consumer electronics.
Besides, accompanied by the envelopment of new technology, PCB production in 5G, the internet of things, cloud storage, robotics, etc. will develop rapidly.
Future of PCB Manufacturing
We all know that PCB is a carrier of electronic components, to combine electronic parts and achieve electronic functions. So PCB manufacturing is very important and unable to be replaced. Accompanying the expansion of 5G network construction, AI(artificial intelligence), wearable electronics, big data, new energy cars, industry 4.0, IoT(Internet of things), etc., there will be significant growth in the PCB fabrication industry.
PCB fabrication increased by 20% percent in 2021 and reached an $80 billion annual turnover globally. We expect there will be a 5% increase at least from 2022 to 2026, then the annual turnover will exceed $80 billion in 2026.
At the same time, it should be noted that with the development of high-tech electronic products, the growth of high-tech circuit boards will be faster, such as rigid-flex PCBs, HDI PCBs, IC substrate PCBs, etc. This requires the printed circuit board manufacturers to invest in more equipment and capital.
Main Glossary for PCB Manufacturing
Basic glossary about PCB
| Word | Description |
|---|---|
| PCB | The full name of PCB is printed circuit board, which is used to connect and combine all the electronic components, to achieve the electronic function of an electronic product. There are some other names for PCB, such as printed wiring board, circuit board, printed circuit, electronic PCB, PCB bare board, PCB board, electronic board, etc. |
| Layer | The layer is the copper layer, which is the copper wire layer used to connect the electronic components. Layer count can be as low as 1 layer, and as high as more than 100 layers. But most PCBs are between 1 layer to 10 layers. |
| Dielectric | Copper trace should be placed on electrically insulating material, to avoid short between 2 copper layers. We call the electrically insulating material dielectric. There should be a dielectric layer between every copper layer, and the thickness is normally between 0.1mm to 1mm. But for high-density micro via PCBs, the dielectric can be as less as 0.05mm. |
| Trace/conductor | There is a trace/conductor in each copper layer. The trace/conductor is used to connect the electronic parts and meet electronic functions. It is the most important element in PCB production. |
| Drill | It is the hole on the PCB. Normally the hole is round, but can also be a rectangle or other shapes. There are plating drills and non-plated drills. And the drill size is around 0.1-6.5mm normally. The tolerance is normally +/-0.05mm for NPTH, and +/-0.05mm for PTH. But for press-fit PTH holes, the tolerance is always +/-0.05mm, then we should pay special attention to PCB production. |
| PTH | PTH is short for plated through a hole. It is the hole that is drilled from the top layer to the bottom layer and then plated with copper. PTH is always used to connect the top layer of copper to the bottom layer of copper, or the inner layer of copper if it is a multilayer PCB. PTH holes are also used to plug and solder PTH components in the PCB assembly process. |
| NPTH | NPTH is short for non-plated through a hole. It is the hole that is drilled from the top layer to the bottom layer, without plated copper compared with the PTH hole. NPTH has no electronic function. It is usually used to mount a screw in the hole to fasten the PCBs on a box build PCB assembly. |
| Vias | Vias are another kind of PTH. They have an electronic function, but they are not used for assembling components in them. So the size of vias is normally small, around 0.2-0.5mm. Except plated through vias, there are also blind vias and buried vias, stacked and staggered vias in HDI PCB production. |
| Pad | The pad is a copper pad that is used to assemble SMT components. These pads are not covered by a solder mask. There are pads in the inner layer as well. |
| Out layer | Out layers are the layers on the surface of a PCB. Normally they are the top layer and bottom layers. For single-layer PCBs, there is only one out layer. |
| Inner layer | The copper layers are buried inside the PCB. Normally we can not see these layers by eye. There are no inner layers on double-sided PCB. 4 layer PCB has two inner layers, and 6-layer PCB has four inner layers. |
| Copper thickness | It refers to the thickness of the copper trace. Normally the copper trace is 0.5 to 2.0mm, and most of them are 1oz. Different copper thicknesses are designed to meet different requirements. Normal 0.5-1oz copper is used to transmit signals, and heavy copper of more than 2oz is always used for high-power PCBs. But extremely heavy copper can be up to 20oz to meet extremely high currency requirements. A lot of experience and techniques are needed in extremely heavy copper PCB manufacturing. |
| PCB thickness | It refers to the overall thickness of the printed circuit board. The PCB thickness may vary from 0.1mm to 10mm, but most PCBs have a thickness of 1.6mm. The tolerance of PCB thickness is normally +/-10% if the overall thickness is less than 1.6mm, otherwise, the tolerance should be less than 0.2mm. In some cases, the PCB thickness is quite critical because of the tight casing structure. |
| Solder mask | Solder mask is the material used to cover the copper trace to avoid oxidation. The color of the solder mask is green on most PCBs, but the color can be different, such as white, black, yellow, red, green, purple, etc. LED PCBs are always white for good reflection purposes. |
| Silkscreen/component notation | Silkscreen is the work printed on the PCBs. We also call it components notation which is usually used to help the PCB assembly company get the components properly assembled. But also it is helpful for users to identify each component. The color is always white normally. But there are also other colors, such as black, yellow, green, etc. |
| Surface finish /surface treatment | It is also called surface treatment. When PCBs are almost finished, some pads are free of solder masks, which are used to assemble electronic components on them. But bare copper will be oxidative in a few days. So we need to use some elements to cover the pads at the same time. Nowadays, the most widely used surface finish is HAL (hot-level tin) and immersion gold. But a few others are also popular, such as OSP, immersion, silver, immersion tin, gold plating, ENEPIG, etc. |
| Tooling hole | The tooling hole is the hole used to fix the PCB on the PCB fabrication equipment. Tooling holes are normally added by the PCB manufacturer on the rail of the waste frame, rather than in the circuit board to avoid effects on the PCB. |
| Routing | It also means profiling. In PCB factories, the engineer always puts several PCBs in a panel(with the size of 18*24” normally) which is suitable for production equipment. When the PCBs are finished, we use a routing bit to cut off the single PCBs. The main advantage of routing is that the edge of the outline is very smooth. This is the most widely used method in PCB production. |
| Punching | Punching is another method used to cut the finished panels into single pieces. A very heavy punching machine and punching mold are needed in circuit board manufacturing. The punching cost for every single PCB is cheaper than routing and the speed is very quick. But the problem is: punching stress may damage copper trace, so punching is only for single layer PCB, CEM1 PCBs, not suitable for multilayer or high technology PCB. |
| V-cut | V-cut is called v-grove. For some rectangle PCBs, the engineer puts several PCBs together and uses the v-grove to cut half of the base material. The PCB assembly contract manufacturer can break off the panel and get a single PCB after assembly. |
About base material
| Word | Description |
|---|---|
| Copper-clad laminate (also called CCL) | It is the base PCB material we use in PCB manufacturing. Normally it is base dielectric covered by 1 side or 2 sides of copper. We call it FR4 CCL if the material is FR4, and polyimide CCL if the material is polyimide. The CCL will be supplied to PCB manufacturers in different dimensions according to the characteristic of different materials. For example, FR4 and aluminum material are always supplied as36*48 big sheets, flexible CCL are always supplied in a roll with a width of 250mm. |
| Metal-based material | The metal-clad base material is different from copper-clad laminate. The structure of a copper-clad laminate is copper sheet - dielectric - copper sheet. But metal-clad are different. We take 1 copper layer aluminum base material as an example. The bottom layer is the aluminum base; the middle layer is thermal conductivity dielectric; the top layer is the copper sheet. |
| Core material | The core material is the base material used in multilayer fabrication. It contains a base dielectric and 2 copper sheets on the top and bottom sides. For 4 layers, the structure is top layer--dielectric---middle layer 1--core material--middle layer 2--dielectric--bottom layer. |
| Prepreg | Prepreg is the dielectric used in multilayer lamination. Normally 1 to 3 piles of prepreg should be used between 2 copper layers in circuit board manufacturing, since there may be sliding problems if more than 3 piles of prepreg are used. Usually there are 4 kinds of thickness in normal PCB production:106(0.095mm), 1080(0.085mm), 2116(0.115mm), 7628(0.185mm). |
| Film adhesive | It is used to glue the cover layer on the flexible PCB or glue several cores together in multilayer flexible circuit board manufacturing. And the adhesive material could be polyester, acrylic, modified epoxy, or butyral phenolic. |
| The cover layer (cover lay) | It is the layer glued on the top or bottom side of a flexible PCB or flexible part of a rigid-flex PCB, to cover and protect the parts without a copper pad in PCB manufacturing. It is the same function as a solder mask for rigid PCB. But the main difference is that the cover layer is flexible. The cover layer for flexible PCB is always made of polyimide material. |
| Stiffener material | Stiffeners are always adhered to on the bottom of flexible PCB to make a certain part to be rigid, earlier for PCB assembly, or better to be used in the final product. The material can be FR4, CEM3, metal, etc. In most cases, the stiffener material is FR4, since it is cost-effective. |
| FR4 | FR4 is the most commonly used PCB substrate because of its excellent performance in electrical resistance, mechanical stability, thermal properties, and other parameters. FR4 material meets the UL 94V-0 standard. It is widely used in consumer electronics, computer, and peripheral equipment, server, and storage, telecommunication, industrial and control, automotive, etc. |
| PI (polyimide) | PI is short for polyimide. It refers to polyimide woven glass fabric copper-clad laminates which are always used for flexible PCBs. The main characteristic is PI material can be bent one time or thousands of times. So it is commonly used for flexible PCB and rigid-flex PCB. |
| Ceramic material | Ceramic material means PCB materials made of ceramic or reinforced ceramic, or ceramic hybrid material, which is normally used for high-frequency PCBs. |
| PTFE | PTFE material is also called Teflon material. It has good chemical stability, corrosion resistance, and high and low-temperature resistance, with extremely high TG such as TG250 or above. Arlon 85N and ARLON 33N are all PTFE materials. |
About technology
| Word | Description |
|---|---|
| Countersink | Countersink holes are usually used to fit the screw head on the printed circuit board. These kinds of drills are done 2 times. The first drill is a tough hole and the drill is a large hole with controlled depth. |
| Peelable mask | It is a kind of material printed on the PCB bare board, to avoid solder on these pads/holes during the PCB assembly process since these pads/holes need to be free of solder masks or need to be soldered later. |
| Carbon ink | Carbon ink is always printed on the pads with push button pads since this conductive ink has good conductivity and is also durable. Sometimes certain impedance value is needed in carbon ink printing, and the customer should notify the printed circuit board manufacturers in advance. |
| Gold connectors | We also call them gold fingers which always need to be plated with thick gold around 0.254um to 1.27um. It is usually used as the edge connector to plug the PCB into a socket. |
| Blind via | Blind via is the via from the top or bottom layer to the inner layers. Blind vias can be done by mechanical or laser. We take a 6-layer PCB as an example. Blind vias can be located in: layers 1-2, 1-3, 1-4, 1-5, 6-5, 6-4, 6-3, and 6-2. |
| Buried via | Buried via is the via buried between top or bottom layers, so we cannot see buried vias by eye. Buried vias can be done by mechanical or laser as well. If we take a 6-layer PCB as an example, buried vias can be located in: layers 2-5, 2-4, 2-3, 3-5,3-4, and 4-5. |
| HDI | HDI is short for high-density interconnection. It develops from the blind or buried vias. Normally HDI PCBs have very fine lines (less than 0.1mm) and blind/buried vias. Laser-drilled micro vias are also very common in HDI PCBs. HDI is a more advanced technology in PCB production. |
| Stacked via | For HDI PCBs, one via is sitting exactly on top of another via, to achieve electronic connection purposes. For example, if the via between layers 1-2 is sitting exactly on the via between layers 2-3, then the copper trace/pad on layer 1 can connect with the copper trace/pad on layer 3. Stacked vias are very common in HDI PCBs. |
| Staggered via | Staggered vias are very similar to stacked vias. They are also used to connect the copper layers which are not adjacent to each other. The difference is that staggered vias are not sitting exactly on top of other vias. |
| Any layer inner via hole (alivh) | It means there are vias between every 2 layers. Of course, we are talking about multilayer PCBs. Any layer is the ultimate type of blind/buried vias. We take an 8-layer PCB as an example. There are vias from layers 1-2, layers 2-3, layers 3-4, layers 4-5, layers 5-6, layers 6-7, layers 7-8, and then any of 2 layers can be connected by stacked vias or staggered vias. |
| Back drill | A back drill is a special type of controlled depth drill used in multilayer PCBs. The purpose is to remove the extra part of PTH copper to get better signal integrity. We take a 10-layer PCB as an example. If we need to make a back drill from layer 10 to layer 8, then we need to drill from layer 10 and stop between the dielectric between layer 8 to layer 7. The dielectric should be thick enough to avoid damage to layer 7. |
| Via-in-pad | It is the via exactly on the pad. Because of limitations to the dimension of the PCBs, the PCB designer had to design the via in the pad, which is very normal for high-density PCBs (HDI PCBs). Vias-in-pad always need to be plugged with epoxy or metal, and then over-plated. Otherwise, there will be a potential risk of bad PCB assembly. |
| RF microwave | RF microwave means radio frequency microwave. Here frequency means the frequency of radio waves, also the alternating current carrying radio signals. Normally we regard it as radio frequency if the frequency is around 5kHz to 300 GHz, and microwave means the electromagnetic wave with a wavelength between infrared ray and radio wave. Normally we regard it as microwave if the wavelength is around 1 meter to 1mm. |
| Via plug | It means the vias (always small size PTH) are plugged by a certain material, such as solder mask ink, epoxy, copper, silver paste, etc. Normal vias can be plugged by solder mask ink, but via in pad always need to be plugged by epoxy or copper and over-plated. Via plug is also very important for PCB production. |
| Heavy copper | Heavy copper means very thick copper. Most PCBs are produced from 1oz (35um) copper. But some PCBs need extremely thick copper to withstand high currency. The maximum copper thickness we can do in Viasion is 20oz (700um). |
| Impedance | Impedance means the effect of the reactance and resistance when the signal is passing through a PCB trace. The most usually controlled impedance for PCBs is single-ended impedance and differential impedance. The impedance volume is related to the material Er, copper thickness, and dielectric thickness. In PCB fabrication, a coupon is always needed on each production panel to test the real impedance value. The impedance tolerance is +/-10% normally but may be as low as +-/5% for high-frequency PCBs. Impedance control is very critical for RF and microwave PCB fabrication. |
| Flexible | Being flexible means being bendable. Unlike rigid material, flexible material can be bent a few times or thousands of times. Flexible materials are always used on electronic products which need lightweight or moving parts, such as cellphones, earphones, laptops, cameras, etc. Flexible PCB production is developing quickly because of the development of wearable electronics. |
| Rigid flexible | It means both rigid parts and flexible parts are combined into one product. The main advantage of rigid-flex PCB is that we can achieve both high component density requirements and movable requirements on one PCB. Rigid-flex PCBs are always used in high-tech equipment, such as medical parts, industry, aviation, military products, etc. Rigid flexible PCB production is a very high-tech area in PCB manufacturing. |
| Backplane | A backplane means a motherboard that can carry daughterboards by sockets. Back planes are usually made with high speed and high TG FR4 material, with high layer counts of 24 layers or more, and the PCB dimensions are usually very large. A lot of IC chips will be mounted on the backplane PCB, including main processors and memory devices. Press fit technology is usually used in backplane PCB assembly to get better signal integrity. So the cost for a backplane PCB is very expensive. Of course, quality is extremely important in backplane PCB fabrication. |
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Frequently Asked Questions
Will the products I receive be manufactured to any approved standards?
Definitely “Yes”. The products will be manufactured under the appliance of IPC-A-600 Class 2 and 3 standards, customers’ standards, ISO9001:2015, and RoHS standards.
What information do I need to give you to get a quote?
The following information is required for getting a PCB quote.
PCB files or Gerber files
The thickness of the board
The layers of the printed circuit boards
The color of the solder mask
The color of the silkscreen
Requirements for surface finish
Whether vias are covered with solder mask
The thickness of copper foil
The number of the printed circuit boards
Other special requirements
What is the best way to contact you and send inquiries?
Whenever you want to contact us and send inquiries, you can send emails or make phone calls to our sales representatives. Their contact information is listed on our official website: https://viasion.com/contact-us/. Welcome to contact us!
What if I have a problem?
If you have a problem, by sending emails or making phone calls, you can contact our sales staff who will serve you cordially. We are looking forward to serving you.
What is IPC Class-III and why would I need it?
IPC Class-III means the standards for PCB products with continuous performance and on-demand performance. IPC Class-III is required for electronics that need more reliability, such as automotive, military, marine aerospace, etc. Without IPC Class-III, these products can’t become highly reliable.
Can I cancel my order?
Yes, it should be noted that cancellation of orders before production is free of charge. However, if the customer cancels the order after our company has already started production of the product, the customer will be liable under the terms and conditions.
What are my payment options?
You can use the following payment methods at Viaison.
Wire transfer to our bank.
PayPal (Viasion’s Paypal account: Viasion@viasion.com )
Payoneer
How do I count the lead time?
The lead time is counted from the date of order placement.
Which type of PCB boards do you manufacture?
As mentioned before, we can manufacture different types of PCB including:
Rigid PCB
Flexible PCB
Rigid flexible PCB
Blind viasion, buried vias, staggered vias, stacked vias
i+N+i structure HDI, Any-Layer HDI
Via in Pad, including VIPPO
Vias plugged by solder mask, epoxy, copper, etc.
Backplane, back drill
Aluminum base PCB
Copper base PCB
RF Microwave
High frequency
High speed
Impedance Control
Extreme Copper up to 20 oz
PCBs with IC Substrate
Where are your printed circuit boards manufactured?
Viasion Technology is a PCB & PCBA manufacturer in Shenzhen, China. Shenzhen is an influential international city and a leading center of science and technology innovation. Shenzhen has an excellent modern industrial cluster, an efficient innovative manufacturing system, and a manufacturing base with very wide coverage. Taking the city’s distinct regional advantages into consideration, our company chooses to be located here to provide products and services for our customers around the world.
What countries do you serve?
We are committed to serving customers around the world. At present, our customers mainly come from Europe, the United States, Canada, Australia, and other regions.
What if I don’t have computer files for my design?
Generally speaking, the files sent by our customers are crucial to our production. But in some special cases where the customer does not have computer files of the design, we have a solution. It is suggested that the customer can send the original printed circuit board to our company, we copy the board and then carry out the fabrication.
What is my board size limit?
In Viasion, the maximum board dimension is 21×59 inches.
What is your testing policy?
In Viasion, we will carry out reliability tests and inspections for PCBs by the following means.
Electrical Test
Automated Optical Inspection
Visual Defects Inspection
Dimensional Inspection
Solderability Test
Thermal Test
Tape Test
Peel Test
Impedance Test
Ionic Contamination Test
Inspection according to IPC-A-600 Class 2 and IPC Class 3
What quality certifications do you possess?
Viasion passed the evaluation of the quality certifications listed below.
ISO 9001:2015
ISO 13485:2016
ISO 14001:2015
UL E358677
IPC-A-600 Class 2 and 3
How do I track my order?
If you have any concerns about your order, please communicate with our sales staff. They will give you timely feedback on the status of your order. In addition, after shipping the products, our sales staff will send you the tracking number so that you can check the logistics information of your products.
Do you have a minimum order quantity (MOQ) for PCB production?
There is no minimum order quantity for PCB production in Viasion. By the way, Viasion focuses on low-volume to medium volume PCBA service. Yet prototype PCB and mass production services are also offered.
Do you provide a warranty?
Yes, a warranty is included in our service. The specific quality guarantee is determined by the terms and conditions.
Do you provide free PCB samples?
We can consider providing free samples after an agreement has been reached on all aspects. For specific details, please contact our sales representatives. They will keep you informed of certain terms and conditions.
How can I get a quick quote?
Please contact our sales to get a quick quote by sending emails. Their contact information (phone number&email address) is listed on our official website: https://viasion.com/contact-us/. Generally, the customer can get the quote in no more than one day. The quickest quote for PCB may just take one hour. By the way, it may take 1 to 3 days to get the quote for PCBA. Welcome to ask us for a quote!
Why need to add break-away tabs?
The PCB break-away is mainly used to assist the PCBA assembly production. Nowadays, SMT production lines are very highly automated, and PCBs are transported by conveyor belts and chains. The main purpose of the break-away is to facilitate the transport of PCBs by conveyor belts and chains.
In addition, there are other roles for the PCB break-away.
Tooling holes can be placed on the PCB break-away. They are capable of locating the printed circuit boards during the ICT or FVT testing to prevent the needle bed from being out of alignment with test points.
The existence of the PCB break-away can facilitate the sensors of the SMT production line to detect the location of the printed circuit boards, ensuring that the machine only mounts components on just a piece of the board at a time.
The fiducial marks of the single-sided PCB can be placed in the PCB break-away because the limited space within the single-sided PCB is not enough to place too many fiducial marks.
How do you maintain the budget for PCB fabrication and manufacturing services?
It is vital to take the following approaches to maintain the budget for PCB fabrication and manufacturing services in Viasion.
1) Control the purchase cost of raw materials
2) Reduce the consumption of material and energy; increase productivity
3)Improve utilization of the manufacturing facilities, shorten the production cycle and reduce inventory
4)Eliminate waste
Waste in the process
Waste from inventory
Waste caused by manufacturing defective products
