You have chosen custom PCB for your PCB design. Instead of buying off-the-shelf electronics. But what’s next?

This decision will most likely be based on the volume of work. While the benefits of custom PCB work are greater, here are some considerations for the cost-benefit ratio of custom PCBs vs. standard PCBs.

What factors affect the cost of custom PCBs?

If you decide to outsource your custom PCBs to zbPCB. In addition to other factors besides shipping and production, your custom PCB costs will depend on:

Zhibo Microwave Circuitworks with customers to develop a scope of work based on the required specifications and quote project costs to help achieve the design requirements.

Zhibo Microwave Circuit’s experienced design team should be able to tell you where your concept may be lacking in terms of design for manufacturability.

PCB schematic design

PCB schematic design is to realize the functions required by circuit designers based on the circuit schematic.

PCB design mainly refers to layout design, which needs to consider factors such as the layout of external connections, the optimized layout of internal electronic components, the optimized layout of metal wires and vias, electromagnetic protection, and heat dissipation. Excellent PCB design can save PCB production costs and obtain good circuit performance and heat dissipation performance.

PCB Layout

As a part of hardware design, PCB layout is also a very important part; When the hardware circuit design is reasonable, it is an absolutely important index affecting the performance.

PCB prototype fabrication

PCB prototypes made by ZBPCB include:

Rogers PCB series, Arlon PCB series, Taconic PCB series, Nelco PCB series, Isola PCB (Isola 370hr, Isola fr408) and Teflon PCB, PTFE PCB, Ceramic PCB, Hydrocarbon PCB, Hybrid PCB, IC Substrate,
IC Test Board and High Speed PCB.

PCB prototype manufacturing capabilities of zbpcb:

PCB thickness: 0.10-8.0mm (1 and 2 layers) 0.15-8.0mm (multi-layer), minimum finished board size: 0.5*1.0mm, high-frequency mixed-pressure layer: 4-32 layers. For details, please click High-frequency mixed-pressure board technical capabilities.

Before delivering to production (pending customer approval), engineers will build a prototype to solve any problems in the design.

Once the bill of materials is developed from the design, the prototype is referenced. Some customers, though, already have a design and just need a contract manufacturer to assemble a prototype,
so that would be the first step.

PCB custom testing

Zhibo Microwave Circuit works with customers to test products and designs custom functional test fixtures and procedures when needed.
Depending on your project and industry, the circuit board may have to meet certain requirements, such as RoHS or IPC 6011.

Some customers may have developed their own test procedures and ask zbPCB to follow and implement their requirements throughout the testing process.
Zhibo Microwave Circuit then provides a certificate of compliance with the product.

How to make a custom PCB?

Although there are many methods for making and processing PCBs, traditional fast PCB methods can be mainly divided into two categories: physical method and chemical method:

Physical method: Use various knives and electric tools to manually carve away unnecessary copper on the PCB board.

Chemical method: Cover a blank copper-clad board with a protective layer and etch away the unnecessary copper in the corrosion solution.
This is the method currently adopted by most developers.
There are many methods for covering the protective layer, such as the most traditional hand-painting method, dry glue method,
Film photosensitive method, and the thermal transfer PCB board method developed in recent years.

Hand-painting: Use a brush or hard pen to draw the line shape on the blank copper-clad board, put it into the solution after drying, and directly etch it.

Stickers: There are various stickers on the market, which are made into strips and discs. Different stickers are combined and etched on the blank circuit board as needed.

Film photosensitization: Use a laser printer to print the PCB circuit board drawing on the film, pre-coat a layer of photosensitive material (coated copper-clad board sold on the market)
on the blank copper-clad board, expose, develop, fix, and clean it in the darkroom, and then etch it in the solution.

Thermal transfer: Print the lines directly onto a blank circuit board using a thermal transfer printer, and then place it in an etching solution for etching.

The two rapid plate-making methods have their own advantages and disadvantages:

Physical plate-making: This method is laborious and has poor precision. It can only use relatively simple lines.
The main disadvantages are that it takes a long time, the precision is difficult to control, it cannot be restored, and it has high requirements for operation. It is rarely used.

Chemical plate-making: The process is relatively complex, but the precision is controllable. It is the most widely used rapid plate-making method, but there are still many problems.

1. The printing accuracy depends on the accuracy of the printer cartridge used.
The lines printed by a printer with poor performance are uneven, and it is easy to cause line breakage, adhesion, etc.during corrosion.

2. The exposure and development time of the photosensitive plate is not easy to control.
The optimal exposure time of each batch of plates will be different, and repeated experiments are required to master it.

3. The corrosion process is difficult to control: it is impossible for the circuit board factory to equip a single board with professional control equipment for mass production.
The temperature, concentration, and acidity and alkalinity of the corrosion liquid have a great influence on the corrosion quality.
If you want to make a good circuit board, you must have rich experience, otherwise the material will be scrapped.

4. The photosensitive plate is highly environmentally friendly and must be stored in full black and low temperature conditions. Exposure must also be carried out in darkroom conditions.

5. Silver salts (photosensitive materials) and copper salts (corrosion products) are both toxic, and caution should be exercised during corrosion. If it is stained on people or clothes,
It is difficult to clean. Due to environmental protection reasons, it is also difficult to handle the waste liquid after corrosion.

6. The etched finished board must be processed manually, but the accuracy of the manually punched board is difficult to control.

Therefore, it is concluded that the traditional physical board making method is labor-intensive and time-consuming, with low precision,
While the chemical rapid board making method has controllable precision,
But the process is complicated and not environmentally friendly. Neither the physical method nor the chemical method requires high operating skills,
So neither is a good way to help engineers achieve “fast” board making.

Now electronic products are getting smaller and smaller, and PCB boards are getting more and more sophisticated.
The tolerance of the original board making printer method can no longer meet the requirements. ZBPCB is a professional board making manufacturer.
Products include board making, keyboard PCB making, LED PCB board making, and board assembly. Give customers cheap board making.
If you need to buy board making, please contact ZBPCB to give you the best board making.

Custom PCBA manufacturing

Zhibo Microwave Circuit sets up a dedicated engineering team for custom PCBA manufacturing and works closely with your team before production begins.
Prior to manufacturing, a “Design for PCB Manufacturing” and new product launch meeting is held to review all processes.

Then off the lineOutsourcing custom PCBs not only allows you to test to more stringent standards,
But also gives you the opportunity to create a board that matches your design, rather than matching your design to a pre-made board.

The trend in electronics is that customers want custom products that are tailored to their individual needs.
This can be achieved through fully customized products or semi-custom products that are built from scratch, which add or change features and components on mass-produced items.
An example of a semi-custom product is a digital camera that can be modified with new hardware or software.
To support this new functionality, device manufacturers need to be flexible in the design and manufacturing process, especially in custom PCBs.
While offering a customized version of a product may require longer production time, custom PCBs can also increase competitiveness and bring in more business.

When your customers or clients ask for a custom product or change to your existing product, your team needs to ensure you can deliver.
Custom PCBs that can be designed with uses and additions can help you reduce production costs without sacrificing the customization options that are popular with your audience.
Using the largest component library when designing your PCB can integrate new levels of functionality and options for your products and applications.

Who Needs Custom PCBs?

If you don’t have the design and engineering capabilities in-house, a full-service electronic contract manufacturer (ZBPCB) can put its engineering staff to work in production.
Custom PCBs can also help further development to test at the board level and test chassis built-in features as needed.

If you already have a custom design, zbPCB can use its manufacturing and assembly skills.
Zhibo Microwave Circuit uses a variety of test methods to test PCBs and components and complies with industry standards.

Are Custom PCBs Right for You?

In short, your need for custom PCBs will depend on the budget and complexity of your project, as well as your commitment to quality.

To determine if your product volume is worth the cost of custom PCBs, work with zbPCB,
Which can provide an in-depth benefit comparison and custom PCB cost calculation for your review.