A printed circuit board is one of the most significant, biggest, and most important devices in electronic products, its performance sometimes directly determines the success or failure of the merchandise. Each PCB is different, such a large amount of their features and PCB board prices are different. Therefore, the China PCB manufacturer price is additionally different. It’s designed to attach different components using electronic soldering or mechanical connections. The worth of a printed circuit board depends on its dimensions, the number of layers, the kind and thickness of the fabric, the strategy of processing the workpiece, and other characteristics.
Normal Cost of PCB Manufacturing
In general, the price of a PCB is between $10 – $50 per board. The particular price is calculated by the upper or lower based on board, size, and kind of fabric. Sometimes, the price of smaller boards like calculators, tabs, smartphones, or other complicated devices will be more thanks to way over labor work.
Affecting Factors of Printed Circuit Board Cost
Here are some factors that can affect the cost of printed circuit boards.
1. PCB Material
The common PCB board material is usually FR4, Aluminum, Rogers, FPC/Rigid-Flex, the thickness of the board from 0.2mm to 4.8mm; additionally, the solder mask using the foremost common solder mask or the photosensitive green solder mask also encompasses a certain impact on the worth. The PCB material is different, and the PCB board cost is additionally different. Some substrate and laminate PCB materials are different, and if high performance is needed, your materials cost will be costlier than others. These during a PCB board will cause an enormous difference in the PCB board price and PCB assembly cost.
2. The Dimension of the PCB
Different sizes of PCB boards cause different PCB board prices that’s to mention, the larger material needed to create a PCB, the dearer it’ll be. On the contrary, it’ll low-cost PCB assembly.
3. The Number of PCB Layers
The number of printed circuit board layers directly affects the printed circuit board cost. The more layers, the costlier. Most high-speed PCBs are generally multilayer layers. PCB layers are different, and PCB cost and PCB assembly cost also will show a discrepancy.
4. Surface Treatment
The differences between the surface treatment process will affect the PCB board price and PCB assembly price.
- Common surface finish: HASL with lead, HASL lead-free, Immersion gold (ENIG), OSP, Hard gold, Immersion silver (Ag), ENEPIG, and a few combinations process, etc., the above differences in each process have a great influence on the value, like ENIG process is dearer than HASL with lead.
5. Via(hole) Process and Quantity
Different types of structures of holes have different PCB board cost. Such as, the worth of through-hole vias is below back drilling, the rear drilling price is under the blind/ buried vias, the worth of the tiny size hole is above the big one, and so on. The more vias on the PCB board, the dearer it’ll be. On the contrary, there’ll be low-cost PCB assembly,
6. PCB Complexity
PCB Complexity means fabrication difficulty, a PCB with 0.3mm holes and fewer than 0.2mm holes, then the 2 specifications of the opening will form different drilling costs. If the holes are smaller than 0.15mm, like 0.1mm, then laser drilling is required, which is costlier than mechanical drilling. And the min track/spacing also influences the value, as an example, normally many PCB manufacturer’s standard track width is 4mil, and also the customer requires it to be 2.5mil. During this case, the worth will definitely be much higher. Moreover, some board isn’t a traditional process, like a half hole, buried blind hole, Via in pad/ Via stuffed with resin, carbon mask, impedance control, and edge Plating and then on, this sort of design also increase the price.
7. Copper thickness
Common copper thickness: 1/2oz, 1OZ, 2OZ, 3OZ, 4OZ, etc., the upper thickness of the copper, the dearer the board is.
8. Quality standards
The commonly used quality acceptance standards for patrons are IPC2, IPC3, a military standard so on. The upper standards, the dearer the board is going to be.
9. Speed
If you need printed circuit board rapid prototyping and manufacturing to satisfy your deadlines, some PCB factories can provide expedited service for fabrication (like our JHYPCB, we will provide expedited 12H,24H, and 48H manufacturing service), then the PCB assembly cost is going to be different.
10. Quantity
The more quantity of PCB, the cheaper it’ll be. That’s why the unit price of PCB prototype cost is usually on top of the production because more quantity will share the engineering cost and labor cost than on.
11. Testing method and cost
PCB board is required to use the flying probe test in the PCB prototype process. When production the test frame is required to check, it’s faster but costlier. And the cost is different if you decide on the complete inspection or sampling inspection.
How to Save the PCB Assembly Cost?
1. Standard Size of PCB
The smaller the dimensions, the lower the PCB board price. A part of the PCB size has formed a minimum standard, and also the standard size of the PCB board can effectively reduce the value.
2. Using SMT Parts
Using SMT parts, more components are placed on the PCB board, and using SMT assembly is less expensive than using plug-in parts (DIP).
3. The Number of Layers of Printed Circuit Board
The more layers, the upper the value, the PCB with fewer layers will usually increase the dimensions requirements, so under the premise of ensuring that the scale of PCB meets the requests, the suitable fewer layers of PCB board can effectively reduce the value.
4. Drilling
The more holes within the design, the length needed during the PCB fabrication, and the fewer holes on the PCB, the longer and more money you’ll be able to save.
5. Blind Hole
Generally, the blind hole is costlier than the through-hole, which needs higher technical costs. Therefore, when the through-hole is on the market instead, the through-hole is selected to reduce the price effectively.
