We sent out our latest press release, titled “PCB Universe New Website Is First in Its Industry to Offer PCB Quotes With No Email or Registration-Sign up”

Here is an excerpt from it:

PORTLAND, OR–(Marketwire – August 26, 2010) – PCBUniverse.com site has improved the efficiency of quoting and ordering custom printed circuit boards online by allowing users to obtain a quote with no advance registration or required contact information.

[Read the entire press release here]

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We’ve launched our new Super Value PCB Prototype Service ! We offer rock bottom prices on standard 2,4,6 and 8 layer proto boards! Check it out.

Here are the specifications:

There are some restrictions:

• Board outline does not need to be square but should have fewer than 20 edges
• No Arrays, Scoring, Tab Routing or Perforated Drilling
• Only 1 part number (circuit) per order
• No Internal Routing, Slots, Cutouts or Overlapping Drills
• No Blind / Buried Vias
• No Counter Bores or Counter Sinks
• No ITAR Compliance
• No UL Markings
• Credit Card Only

Check it out and get a quick pcb prototype quote…there no email or registration required so there’s no reason to take a quick peak. You know you want to…and there’s no one who is going to follow up or try to sell you on something. Just great pricing, great service, and great boards.

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How Is A Printed Circuit Board Manufactured?

To make a custom PCB, first the electronic diagram of the required circuit is prepared using Computer Aided Design (CAD) software. After that the PCB prototype is developed using Computer Aided Manufacturing Software technology.

The common materials used for manufacturing PCBs are: FR4, FR4 High Temperature, Polyimide, GeTek, Rogers, Arlon, Nelco, Alumina, Ceramic, Bakelite, FR1, CEM1, and CEM5. The size and thickness of the board depends upon the requirements of the circuit. The substrate is coated with a layer of copper. Then, using photosensitive coating, the circuit diagram is printed on the board. The undesired copper is etched out from the board to form copper “tracks”, called traces. This process is known as Photoengraving. There are two other common methods used for developing connecting traces. PCB milling is a mechanical system where undesired copper is removed with CNC machines. Another process is Silk-Screen printing, where special ink that is etch-resistant is used to cover the areas where the copper traces have to be made.

Once the board is ready with copper traces, holes are drilled into the board to assemble leaded electrical and electronic components. For drilling, special Tungsten Carbide drill bits or laser is used. The holes made are filled with hollow rivets or coated through using an electroplating process, thus forming an electrical connection among the various layers. The next step is coating of the entire board, except holes and pads, with masking material. Materials commonly used for this purpose are: lead solder, lead free solder, OSP (Entek), deep/hard gold (electrolytic nickel gold), immersion gold (electroless nickel gold – ENIG), wire bondable gold (99.99% pure gold), immersion silver,

flash gold, immersion tin (white tin), carbon ink, and SN 100CL, an alloy of tin, copper, and nickel. The last step is screen-printing, where the legend and text are printed on the PCB.

Testing Of PCB

Before assembly of components or delivery of Printed Circuit Boards, the board should be tested to find any possible “shorts” and “opens” that could lead to a non-functioning board. A “short” indicates the existence of an undesired connection and an “open” indicates that two points that should have been connected are unconnected. All such errors should be fixed before PCB assembly. It is important to note that not all PCB Manufacturing shops test the boards before shipping; it is sometimes considered an added cost but a vital one to provide a fully functioning board before adding components.

PCB Assembly

Once the board is ready, components are assembled and added to the surface as per the circuit diagram. Some of the common assembly techniques used are surface-mount construction and through-hole construction. Sometimes, a combination of these two techniques is also used for assembly.

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Types of Printed Circuit Boards

Single Sided Board

This is the least complex of the Printed Circuit Boards, since there is only a single layer of substrate. All electrical parts and components are fixed on one side and copper traces are on the other side.

Double Sided Board

This is the most common type of board, where parts and components are attached to both sides of the substrate. In such cases, double-sided PCBs that have connecting traces on both the sides are used. Double-sided Printed Circuit Boards usually use through-hole construction for assembly of components.

Multi Layered Board

Multi layered PCB consists of several layers of substrate separated by insulation. Most common multilayer boards are:  4 layers, 6 layers, 8 layers, and 10 layers. However, the total number of layers that can be manufactured can exceed over 42 layers. These types of boards are used in extremely complex electronic circuits.

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We plan to include updates, new product launches and special twitter-only promotions. Take a moment and start following us today.

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We are targeting social media junkies who prefer to interact conversation style, rather than calling and talking on the phone. Plus, we are adding some cool videos, images and unique content that you can only find on our Facebook page.

Join us and participate in the conversation…

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We plan to use our blog to make announcements, update on new features and pages, etc. If you have topics you’d like to see or discuss, please let us know. We look forward to your input to make this blog truly relevant and the best source for printed circuit board topics and information.

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It summarizes a report from the Aberdeen group titled, “Why Printed Circuit Board Design Matters to the Executive: How PCBs Are a Strategic Asset for Cost Reduction and Faster Time-to-Market” (see link at bottom of page). The following point was particularly interesting to me, “On average, companies report that the PCB represents 31% of the overall cost of the product,” reports Michelle Boucher, research analyst in Aberdeen’s Product Innovation and Engineering practice.

This is a useful piece of information for printed circuit board manufacturers and suppliers to understand where we fit in the entire product process. And it’s an important reminder to PCB designers, engineers, buyers, etc. to understand that 1/3 of your cost comes into play when considering a shop to have your boards manufactured. This means that unless your pcb designers are “best-in-class” (per the report), you will be required to prototype your pcbs several times more to ensure that the design works.

For pcb designers, this is useful information because it reinforces that by improving the overall PCB design process, it will help to reduce overall costs . This also makes for an excellent case study to superiors on the value of designer’s expertise and why the design stage is so important to the bottom line.

I would recommend you download the research paper for yourself here:  Why Printed Circuit Board Design Matters to the Executive

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