Have you ever designed a PCB and sent it out for quotation, only to receive a series of no-quotes or deviation requests from potential suppliers? If so, then you may be interested to find out why this happens and how to minimize the likelihood that it will happen again in the future. Good circuit board design practices are essential, of course, but it is also helpful to understand your suppliers’ capabilities so that you can anticipate which features might make your high-tech PCB more difficult to build. In this webinar as we discuss some of the key requirements you should know about your PCB suppliers’ capabilities to ensure your high-tech PCB is manufactured properly in a timely manner. For more information on our printed circuit board solutions visit http://www.epectec.com/pcb/.

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Match Your High-Tech PCB Design to
Your Supplier’s Capabilities
07.25.2019

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Agenda
 Understand Best Design Practices
 Learn Supplier Production Capabilities
 Optimize Designs For Manufacturing
 Choke Points: Physical Limitations of Plant and Equipment
 Materials: What Is In Stock, What Is Readily Available?
 Beyond The Rules: When It’s Time To Talk
 Communicating Early For Success

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Understand Best Design Practices

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Design Practices
 A basic PCB may not be difficult
to design, but a highly complex
one requires considerable skill.
 Familiarity with best practices is
critical for success.
 Still, even a highly experienced
designer may encounter an
unfamiliar situation from time to
time.

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Resources
 In addition to industry guidelines
and component manufacturer
recommendations, design
software developers usually host
engineer-to-engineer discussion
boards.
 These are often excellent real-
world resources for solving
complex design issues as they
arise.

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Learn Supplier Production Capabilities

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Choosing An Appropriate Fabricator
 When you finish your highly
complex PCB design, it is time
to build.
 If your design is considerably
more complicated than usual,
then your current supplier may
not be up to the task.
 In that case, you will need to do
some research in order to find a
suitable supplier.

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Basic Supplier Capabilities
 A good first step is to learn the general
capabilities of several potential
sources.
 This will help you to understand
whether they can handle highly
complex work.
 Manufacturers typically state their
capabilities on their company web site.

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Standard Versus Advanced Design Rules
 Notice the two columns of rules in
the SPECIFICATIONS table. One is
for Standard production, the other
for Advanced.
 Standard means work that can run
with minimal supervision and basic
processing.
 Advanced means work that needs
extra oversight, and more complex
processing.
* Source: https://www.epectec.com/guides/

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Advanced Capabilities
 Beyond design rules, there
should also be mention of more
advanced processing options on
offer.
 Look for features such as laser
drilling, high layer count, fine
trace and space rules, etc.
These indicate a high-tech
supplier.

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Advanced Manufacturing Processes
 Via-In-Pad
 HDI (blind & buried vias with
multiple lamination cycles)
 Non-standard base materials
 Hybrid material multilayers
 Back drilling
 Castellated edge plated holes
 Impedance control
 Laser drilling & cavity formation
 Embedded components

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Optimize Designs For Manufacturing

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Contact A Supplier
 Once you have identified a
potentially good match, make
contact.
 Discuss your high-tech design.
Emphasize features that may be
particularly challenging.
 Send a file set, if you have one.
 If all goes well, you can consider
placing an order.

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Default Settings: Standard Capabilities
 Having spoken to the supplier, it
makes sense to create designs that
match.
 Set your PCB CAD rules to match
the fabricator’s STANDARD design
rules.
 This will ensure that any low
complexity quick turn prototype will
arrive on time, without needless
friction.
* Source: https://www.epectec.com/guides/

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High Tech Settings: Setting Advanced Rules
 High tech designs, however, will
require that you also create a set of
ADVANCED design rules.
 When you design to the advanced
rules, you can expect your higher
tech board to process smoothly.
 Be aware that high tech processing
may still require more time than
standard processing.
* Source: https://www.epectec.com/guides/

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Choke Points: Physical Limitations of Plant and
Equipment

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Ask For Details
 Even a highly-capable supplier
may need extra time to
complete all the high-end
processes you need.
 Ask them to explain which
processes create delays. Find
out whether they may be able
to offer alternative solutions.

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Potential Bottlenecks
 Some higher-end processes
such as via-in pad, sequential
lamination, castellated hole
processing, and multiple surface
finishes add time because they
are process-intensive. Added
steps equal added time.
 Basic steps such as drilling and
routing cycles with small tools
can slow an order as well.

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Outsourced Processes
 Understand that some process
steps may be done outside of
your supplier’s facility.
 These are usually limited to
processes which have very high
investment costs, and which
may not be used every day.
 It is common to outsource laser
processing and some surface
finishing (particularly ENEPIG).

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Throughput
 When you are ready to move
forward with your high-tech PCB
order, discuss delivery.
 Can your new supplier offer a
quick turnaround?
 If you are using any non-
standard laminates or other
materials, these may not be in
stock, and may add to delivery
time. Find out what is stocked.

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Materials: What Is In Stock, What Is Readily
Available?

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Material Inventory - Standard
 Ask the fabricator what laminate
products they have on hand.
 Most carry a good selection of
common FR4 core thicknesses
and prepreg sheets to cover
everyday work.
 Usually a single manufacturer’s
materials will predominate.

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Material Inventory - Non-Standard
 In addition to FR4, there will
usually be a small selection of
other common types, such as
Rogers 4000 or polyimide.
 Certain fabricators who cater to
the high frequency PCB
segment may carry a wider
variety of unusual materials, but
in relatively small quantities.

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Materials Inventory - For Quick Turn
 Whenever practical, match your
design to what is known to be
on hand.
 This approach will enable
production to begin
immediately, with no delays
waiting for material to arrive.
 It will also keep cost down.

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Beyond The Rules: When It’s Time To Talk

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Pushing The Limits
 If you find that you are having
trouble completing a higher
technology layout, even with the
advanced rules, seek input from
the fabricator.
 There may be a simpler solution
that will make the order less
difficult to manufacture. While
it’s sometimes OK to push the
limits on one or two items, doing
so should be a last resort.

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You Cannot Always Have Everything
 Understand that some
capabilities are conditional.
 For example, a supplier may be
able to produce 0.003” wide
circuits, 0.003” diameter
microvias, and fine pitch SMT
components, but not on 4-ounce
copper.
 Ask early: Your fabricator can
steer you clear of such conflicts.

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Communicating Early For Success

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DFM Check
 Consider submitting files for a
Design For Manufacturability
(DFM) review before ordering.
 Even if you have designed to
meet the supplier’s capabilities,
a DFM review may spot items
you have overlooked.
 DFM may also help to resolve
conflicts between your files and
your specifications.

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Summary
 Not every fabricator has high
end capabilities for complex
designs.
 Find one that does; develop a
working relationship.
 Design to their capabilities to
reduce time and scrap on high-
complexity PCBs.
 Both parties will benefit.

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Our Products
Battery Packs Flex & Rigid-Flex PCBs Cable Assemblies Printed Circuit Boards
RF Products User Interfaces Flexible Heaters EC Fans & Motors

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 Features Included
– One Pricing Model vs. Several
Confusing Options
– No Tooling & Test NRE
Charges on All Orders
– Design Rule Checks on ALL
Orders
– UL Marking and Date Codes on
ALL Products
 Available Capabilities
– Up to 16 Layers
– 170 Tg and 180 Tg Laminates
– More Than 3 Surface Finish
Options
– 3 oz Heavy Copper and Above
– Delivery in As Little As 1 Day
www.epectec.com/instantpcbquote/

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 Advanced Capabilities
– Via in Pad
– Blind & Buried Vias
– Plated Slots
– Plated Edges
– Counterbore
– Countersink
– Controlled Dielectric
– Controlled Impedance
www.epectec.com/instantpcbquote/

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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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