The Printed circuit boards (PCB) market is thriving. Being indispensable products for the electronics industry, PCBs are catalysts of growth in the industrial manufacturing sector.
With more electronics products entering the market, the demand for PCB is always high. The companies involved in PCB are in a race to satisfy varied requirements.
Generally, the PCB manufacturer will be playing a volume game for economies of scale. There are thousands of companies involved in high scale production of PCBs. But all of them cannot be called as manufacturing prime quality products.
There is high competition in domestic, as well as global markets. Positively, it presents an opportunity for manufacturers to establish themselves with better quality standards to grab more customers.
As a product, PCB is exposed to high thermal loads and can endure long-term operating temperature. So the use of most appropriate material that can withstand high temperature is number one factor in deciding a supplier or manufacturer.
There may be other specifications — 3/3 space/trace, gold plating, thin dielectrics, impedance control, micro via, etc. So, all these mean higher-technology designs and more attention to quality.
Many high-end industries seek high TG PCB. Basically, TG (Glass transition) is the value in determining the temperature at which a resin matrix converts itself from a glassy, brittle condition to a soft elastic one.
There will be an upper TG value at which the resin decomposes and delamination takes place. When TG is over 170°C, it is called high TG material. In choosing a PCB firm it is critical that an informed choice and decision is made. They must be capable of performing conventional assembly of mixed technology for double sided configuration and electronic components have to be on standard rigid, hybrid ceramic or flexible circuit substrates.
Other particulars include conductive materials suiting requirements in both automated and manual equipment to assemble low volume PCB.
What is important is ensuring that the processes are in place. If a board has BGAs, the supplier must make sure they have BGA assembly and rework capability and include X-ray to verify the assembly is good.
For large volumes, check whether they have sophisticated pick and place equipment. Also, the resources are n place to make paste stencils and blank PCBs while testing the boards for the desired parameters and output.
For prototyping pre-check all errors in layout and remove mistakes in the BOM as parts not matching the footprints on the board will turn out to be a risk.
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