Factors Affecting the Price of PCB Custom Circuit Boards

Factors Affecting the Price of PCB Custom Circuit Boards

Presumably, many PCB purchasers are at a loss for the ever-changing PCB prices, even PCB purchasers with many years of experience may not understand the whole story. There are many factors affecting the price of PCB circuit boards. Due to factors such as PCB board materials, production processes, different difficulties, customer needs, regions, payment methods, and manufacturers, the cost of PCB circuit board manufacturing processes is different.

First, the different materials selected by the PCB circuit board cause the price diversity

Let’s talk about double-sided boards. Sheet materials generally include FR-4, CEM-3, etc. The thickness of the board varies from 0.6mm to 3.0mm, and the thickness of copper varies from ?Oz to 3Oz. These sheets cause a huge cost gap. In terms of solder resist ink, there is also a certain price difference between ordinary thermosetting oil and photosensitive green oil, so the difference in materials has caused price diversity.

Second, the different production processes used by PCBs cause price diversity

Different production processes will result in different costs. For example, gold-plated boards and tin-sprayed boards, gong (milling) boards and beer (punching) boards for making shapes, silk screen lines and dry film lines, etc. will all form different costs, resulting in price diversity.

Third, the price diversity caused by the different difficulty of PCB itself

Even if the material is the same and the process is the same, the difficulty of the PCB itself will cause different costs. For example, there are 1000 holes on both circuit boards, and the hole diameter of one board is greater than 0.6mm and the hole diameter of the other board is less than 0.6mm, which will form different drilling costs; if the two circuit boards are the same, but the line width and line spacing Different, one type is larger than 0.2mm, and the other type is smaller than 0.2mm, which will also cause different production costs, because the scrap rate of difficult boards is higher, and the inevitable cost will increase, resulting in price diversity.

Fourth, different customer requirements will also result in different prices

The level of customer requirements will directly affect the finished product rate of the board factory. For example, according to IPC-A-600E, class1 requires a 98% pass rate, but according to class3 requirements, it may only have a 90% pass rate, resulting in different costs for the board factory. , leading to fluctuations in product prices.

Fifth, price diversity caused by different PCB manufacturers

Even for the same product, different manufacturers will have different costs due to different process equipment and technical levels. Nowadays, many manufacturers like to produce gold-plated plates because the process is simple and the cost is low. However, some manufacturers produce gold-plated plates. As a result, the cost has increased, so they prefer to produce tin plate, so their quotation for tin plate is lower than that of gold plated plate.

Sixth, the price difference caused by different payment methods

At present, PCB board factories generally adjust PCB prices according to different payment methods, ranging from 5% to 10%, which also causes price differences.

Seventh, regional differences cause price diversity

At present, in terms of geographical location in China, the price is increasing from south to north, and there are certain differences in prices in different regions, so different regions also cause price diversity. How to calculate PCB quotation!

1. Plate cost (different plate costs are different)

2. Drilling cost (the number of holes and the size of the hole affect the drilling cost)

3. Process cost (different process requirements of the board lead to different process difficulty, so that the price will also be different)

4. Artificial water and electricity plus management costs (this cost depends on the cost control of each factory)

How to calculate PCB quotation?

1. Plate cost (different plate costs are different)

2. Drilling cost (the number of holes and the size of the hole affect the drilling cost)

3. Process cost (different process requirements of the board lead to different process difficulty, so that the price will also be different)

4. Artificial water and electricity plus management costs

These are the basic components. As for the prices of raw materials, they have basically stabilized now, and there is little possibility of price increases.

As far as the plate is concerned: the price is mainly affected by the following points:

1. Sheet material: FR-4, our common double-sided and multi-layer sheets, its price is also related to the thickness of the sheet and the thickness of copper and platinum in the middle of the sheet, while FR-I and CEM-1 are our common single sheets The material, and the price of this material is also very different from the above double-sided and multi-layer boards.

2. It is the thickness of the plate, its common thickness is: 0.4, 0.6, 0.8, 1.0, 1.2, 1.5, 1.6, 2.0, and the price difference between the thickness of our conventional plates is not very big.

3. The thickness of copper and platinum will affect the price. The thickness of copper and platinum is generally divided into: 18um (2/1oz), 35um (1oz), 55um (1.5oz), 70um (2oz), etc.

4. The suppliers of raw materials are common and commonly used by everyone: Shengyi/Jiantao/International and so on.

Process cost:

1. It depends on the circuit on the PCB. If the line is dense and thin (under 4/4mm), the price will be calculated separately.

2. There is also a BGA on the board, so the cost will increase relatively, and in some places, how much is the BGA.

3. It depends on the surface treatment process. Our common ones are: lead-tin spray (hot air leveling), OSP (environmental protection board), spray pure tin, tin, silver, gold, etc., of course, the surface process is different. Prices will also vary.

4. It also depends on the process standard; what we commonly use is: IPC2 level, but some customers have higher requirements, (such as Japanese capital) our common ones are: IPC2, IPC3, enterprise standard, military standard, etc. Of course, the higher the standard , the price will be higher.

Every PCB sold in the PCB industry is customized by the customer. Therefore, the quotation of the PCB board needs to be costed first, and at the same time, it is necessary to refer to the automatic layout calculation of the PCB computer, and make a calculation based on the material utilization rate of the layout on the standard size copper clad board. Comprehensive quotation.

?The cost calculation of the PCB industry is the most special and complicated among all industries. From material cutting, pressing, forming, to FQC, packaging, and finished storage, it needs to be based on the material cost, labor cost, and manufacturing cost invested in each process. Perform step-by-step accounting, and then accumulate costs in batches based on the order product number. And different types of products have different standard rates for their processes. For some products such as blind-buried hole boards, immersion gold boards, and pressed copper seat boards, due to the particularity of the process or all materials, some special calculation methods must be used for this. Similarly, the size of the drill bit used in the drilling process will also affect the cost of the product, which directly affects the calculation and evaluation of WIP cost and scrap cost.

In addition, PCB buyers should pay attention to one point. When choosing a PCB board manufacturer, they should not choose only from the price point of view, but should compare the strength of the PCB manufacturer, the approximate product quotation, and service items, etc.