This document discusses cost-effective planning and design techniques for high-tech printed circuit boards (PCBs). It emphasizes identifying critical features, avoiding unnecessary complexity, and efficient material utilization to minimize production costs while maintaining performance requirements. The content includes practical guidelines and considerations for designers, from beginners to professionals, to control expenses and improve reliability in PCB manufacturing.

1. Manufacturing That Eliminates Risk & Improves Reliability
 Planning Your High-Tech PCB Design for
the Lowest Possible Cost
06.28.2018

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Introduction
 In a perfect world, a high-tech PCB design could
incorporate every desirable feature and function;
cost would never enter the conversation.
 The real world, however, is very different.
Products are often designed to meet a price
target, or a development budget.
 This Webinar will provide some guidelines for
keeping your costs as low as possible, while still
meeting your critical performance requirements.

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Agenda
 Complexity adds cost.
 Decide which features are critical.
 Avoid needless complexity.
 Examples: Reduce the impact of specific cost
adders.
 Don’t overlook good material utilization.
 Conclusion: You’re not helpless.

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Complexity Adds Cost
 Cost control is important for all
types of PCBs.
 As boards become more complex,
they naturally cost more.
 State of the art PCB designs often
require more expensive materials
and more complicated
manufacturing techniques.

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Identify What’s Critical
 The point is not to discourage highly complex designs.
– You need what you need.
– Some adders are unavoidable.
 If possible, though, choose less
costly approaches to both critical
and non-critical aspects of your
design.

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Identify What’s Critical (continued)
 Decide which costly features are essential for function.
– Try reduce their cost impact.
 To do this, you need to first understand which items will always add
cost.

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Some Adders Can’t Be Avoided
 High frequency materials, when required, run 7x or more the price of FR4.
 State-of-the-art components, particularly BGAs, require high-density circuitry,
plus costly sequential lamination and laser via formation.

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Some Adders Can’t Be Avoided (continued)
 Multiple surface finishes or edge plating complicate processing.
 Heavier copper weights require more time and materials.

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Reducing An Unavoidable Cost Adder
 When you must use expensive
options, sometimes you can limit
their impact.
 Example:
– The cost adder at right is the 8-oz
internal copper.
– Consider reducing the copper
weight and utilizing redundant plane
layers of lighter copper. The added
layers will reduce plating time,
handling, and material costs.

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Learn To Identify The Avoidable
 Today there are many people designing PCBs, from
hobbyists to students to professionals.
 Designers who work on PCB layouts every day
usually understand when they may be pushing into
difficult or costly territory.
 Others with less experience may decide on a
feature for its apparent utility, without fully grasping
the cost impact on the bare PCB.

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First Learn What’s Normal
 It is important for less experienced
designers to gather as much
knowledge as possible.
 This will enable them to get a feel
for standard layout and
manufacturing guidelines.
 Sources include books, Internet
searches, and discussions with
experienced professionals.
 Epec’s Blog is a good resource
which includes many relevant posts.
– blog.epectec.com

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Adder: High Speed Material
 High speed, low loss materials are
very costly, but often necessary to
meet critical signal requirements.
 They must often be special-ordered,
and minimum quantity pricing can
add further to price.
 Consider using FR4 at non-critical
layer positions to save cost.
 6 layer example: 30x cost vs 12x
cost.

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Adder: HDI / Blind Drilling /Sequential Lamination
 HDI processing adds many steps.
 There is often no way around it for
tight designs, especially those with
BGAs.
 Be sure that it is actually necessary.
 If your PCB is not dense, you can
usually eliminate some or all extra
drilling and lamination.

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Adder: Via-In-Pad, Castellation
 Features like Via-in-Pad processing
and castellations (edge plated
holes) require careful handling, and
significant extra processing.
 If you don’t need to recover your
drilled pads for soldering later,
consider using just a plug without a
plating cap.

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Adder: High Density
 High circuit density is a challenge.
 Below .004”/.004” geometries, many
things can go wrong in production.
 Tight geometries are achievable,
but cost more because there is
greater likelihood of some level of
scrap.
 Depending on what is driving the
density, consider reducing it by
adding layers.

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Adder: Cores With Unlike Copper Foils
 A variety of FR4 multilayer cores are
usually available in inventory.
 Sometimes, however, they must be
special ordered. This usually happens
when different ounce weights are
required on the two sides.
 Try to use plane layers with the same
copper weight as the signals. These will
be in-stock, at standard cost, and will be
available for immediate use.

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The Importance Of Material Utilization
 Good material utilization is often the
most important factor affecting the
price of your PCB.
 A fraction of an inch increase in
your outline dimension may force
your fabricator to run fewer parts
per sheet.
 Programs such as KwikFit can be
helpful for estimating panel usage.

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Small Change, Large Impact
 A poor fit is the gift that keeps
giving.
– It costs you money at every stage.
 A 7.95 x 10.95 outline will fit 4-up
per 18 x 24 panel, while another
measuring 8.10 x 11.10 will only fit
2-up.
 Sometimes this can be mitigated by
the use of smaller sheet stock, but
in many cases the sheet stays the
same. Either way, it’s costing you
more.

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Why Is Utilization So Critical?
 Running fewer PCBs per panel
increases the cost of materials, and
the time spent handling your board
– at every production stage.
 Particularly with high-frequency or
exotic materials your material cost
will skyrocket.

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Bad Utilization = Extra Processing
 Imaging:
– Wastes film
 Drilling, Routing:
– Loading and unloading table between
cycles.
 Plating:
– Increased handling, wasted metal,
reduced tank throughput.
 Heavy Copper:
– Same issues as Plating. Also affects
Imaging.
* Handling is doubled at all stages.

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Project Planning: Choose An Efficient Size
 As part of project planning, be sure
that you understand your
assembler’s panel preferences.
Whenever possible, size your PCB
to match.
 Epec’s material utilization document
lists good-yielding sizes, and
explains how fabricators use some
of the space. You can use this as a
reference.

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The Takeaway: You’re Not Helpless
 High-end features add to the cost of your
board, but you still have some control.
 Learn to prioritize those you actually need
over those that might be nice to have.
 Find less costly ways to achieve your
design requirements without breaking the
bank at every turn.
 Ask questions.

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Our Products
Custom Battery Packs Flex & Rigid-Flex PCB’s High Reliability SMART HMIs
RF Product Solutions Cable Assemblies Printed Circuit Boards

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Q&A
 Questions?
– Enter any questions you may have
in the Control Panel
– If we don’t have time to get to it, we
will reply via email

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Thank You
Check out our website at www.epectec.com.
For more information email sales@epectec.com.
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