Effective Ways To Cut PCBs

8/18/2018 6 Effective Ways to Cut PCB Assembly Cost Without Sacrificing Quality
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6 Effective Ways to Cut PCB

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Abiding by these rules of thumb can help shape decisions on how to

approach printed-circuit-board manufacture, with the “PCB assembler”
playing a vital role.
Dora Yang | Jun 29, 2017
      
Download this article in PDF format.
Many engineers, especially those just starting out, ask questions like “Where can I find the cheapest PCB
assembly service?” or “How can I reduce my PCB assembly cost?” To tell the truth, there’s never any
“cheapest” PCB assembly service. For those who only strive for low prices while neglecting PCB assembly
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quality, their projects may cookies to improve
likely fail your
duewebsite experience. Tocircuit
to low-quality learn about our use of cookies and
boards. ×
Although PCB assemblers are constantly trying to find ways to reduce circuit-board assembly cost to attract
more business and ultimately gain more profit, price varies from one assembler to another. We strongly
recommend you find a balance between assembly quality, customer service, and cost. The priority is to adjust
your circuit design to reduce the assembly cost, and pinpoint the right PCB Assembler with the best
overall service within your budget.
Below are six effective ways to cut PCB assembly cost with the insurance of high quality.
1. Locate a reliable, professional, and “low-cost” PCB assembler.
Almost all PCB assembly service providers declare to provide cost-effective service, but not all offer what they
claim. First and foremost, you should be fully aware of your project’s requirements and budget; then conduct
head-to-toe research on each assembler through the internet, magazines, or trade shows. A lot of time and effort
is required, but it’s worth it in the long run. When researching PCB assemblers, make sure you cover the
following aspects:
• Certificates: Certificates accurately ensure a PCB assembler’s manufacturing capabilities and management
regulations they follow. Necessary certifications include ISO9001, RoHS, UL, etc. ISO9001 is a family of
international quality-management standards and guidelines aiming to promote companies’ and
organizations’ capabilities to meet and exceed the needs and expectations of customers by efficiently and
effectively improving the quality of their products and services. Restriction of Hazardous Substances, or
RoHS, is a series of restrictive laws regarding the application of six hazardous substances in the manufacture
of electronic and electrical equipment. The UL listing service, applicable for printed-circuit boards (PCBs)
and power supplies, requires manufacturers to rigorously test their products by conforming to correct
procedures to minimize product hassles.
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• Equipment: Up-to-date equipment
how you can contributes
manage your cookie to high
settings, please efficiency
see our and
Cookie Policy. high quality
By continuing to of assembly. With the
development and increasing popularity of surface-mount technology (SMT), SMT placement equipment is
closely associated with high-precision placing of components and high manufacturing speed
closely associated with high-precision placing of components and high manufacturing speed.
• Component procurement: Based on PCBCart’s years of experience in PCB industry, we noticed too often
money and time are lost in the manufacture stage of PCBs due to the disjointed relationships between phases
of the process. To save money and time, we recommend you cooperate with PCB assemblers that offer a
components sourcing service. As a result, you can fully focus on project engineering, and let the
Assembler do what it’s good at—purchase inexpensive but excellent components and assemble them onto
your circuit boards. We’ll discuss how to judge whether a PCB assembler has competitive components-
sourcing capability later on.
Apart from those aspects, quotation rate, lead time, price, manufacturing capabilities, minimum order volume,
and others should be considered when selecting a reliable PCB assembler. Some of those aspects will be
discussed further down in the article.
It’s worth mentioning that the world’s electronic circuits are based on the U.S. dollar system, leading to few
fluctuations on expenses between countries—except for labor cost, which is distinctive from country to country.
Therefore, PCB assemblers
how youbased in the
can manage yourU.S.
cookieand Europe
settings, have
please see fewerPolicy.
our Cookie advantages onto price than those from
By continuing
populated developing countries,
use the website,such as China.
you consent to our use of cookies.
Because finding the PCB assembler that best fits your needs is such a complicated process, striving for only one
or a couple of those aspects is just unilateral. You should consider them comprehensively.
2. Optimize the schematic design of bare PCBs based on low-cost concerns.
The first step before real manufacturing is to check whether your circuit can be normally implemented—
otherwise known as a design-for-manufacturing (DFM) check. A lot of PCB assemblers provide free DFM check
service, which you can rely on to reduce the assembly cost.
Factors influencing cost of bare PCBs are illustrated in the figure. To reduce the cost of your bare PCBs,
measures can be done to each element:
• Layer count: PCB cost increases when adding layer count—in other words, as more layers are added to one
circuit board, the greater the expense.
• Via tech: Vias, including blind vias, buried vias, or even microvias, play a key role in building
interconnections on a circuit board. Generally speaking, with more vias comes higher costs and smaller
diameters, and thus more expensive PCBs. Therefore, you should carefully arrange the number of vias to
reduce the cost of bare PCBs while guaranteeing sufficient functions.
• Size and shape: Circuit boards should be designed neatly and functionally. A PCB’s size should correspond
to the requirement of pick-and-place equipment owned by your PCB assembler. It should be accurately
designed to be able to implement all functions and account for moderate space. Panels are recommended
when necessary. However, with the improved density and complexities of modern electronics, small PCBs
can also be relatively complex. Being small doesn’t directly lead to low cost. Shape also affects the price of
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PCBs. Basically, standard shapes such as a square or rectangle lead to lower prices, while × special shapes are
typically more expensive.
• Surface finish: By preventing pads from oxidizing, the surface finish helps ensure excellent solderability
8/18/2018
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6 Effective Ways to Cut PCB Assembly Cost Without Sacrificing Quality
y
and electric performance. Different types of surface finishes (HASL, OSP, ENIG, ENEPIG, etc.) have their
advantages and disadvantages—choose the surface finish type that best fits your product’s requirements.
As a matter of fact, the cost of bare PCBs results from multiple elements, each of which could lead to slight
fluctuations in their final price. These are only some practical tips based on our years of PCB manufacturing and
assembly experience.
These key factors mustusebetheaddressed in PCB assembly, all of which can be streamlined with the right PCB
website, you consent to our use of cookies.
assembler.
3. Prepare an effective and complete BOM.
The bill of materials (BOM) is a comprehensive list of raw materials, items, assemblies and sub-assemblies,
components, etc. for product manufacturing. Some of you might think creating a BOM is much easier than
making the Gerber file. The truth is we found more mistakes tend to be made in the BOM then in Gerber files.
A complete BOM should include essential items for PCB assemblers, including part number, manufacturer
name, reference designator, quantity, description, case/package, SMT method, top/bottom, points/footprint,
and BOM level. Usually, PCB assemblers have their In-house BOM template and BOM creating guidelines,
which you can fill in accordingly and speed up the quotation procedure.
It’s highly recommended to add components replacement in your BOM. As electronics advance at an ever-more
accelerated pace, components of course get upgraded rapidly as well, with old parts getting × discarded. Though
your PCB assembler will
use inform you
the website, you about items
consent to our usethat went out of production, time will be wasted locating
of cookies.
replacements, thus delaying production. With the complete BOM and replacement provided, a PCB assembler
can provide a quote in just one or two days and start the production with your confirmation. It’s always a good
idea to look forward and be fully prepared for any kind of emergency.
4. Make components sourcing clear.
If you’re with a company of small size, it’s hard to control your budget and project schedule. Under this
circumstance, relying on a PCB assembler will make more sense. PCB assemblers are more likely to have
friendly relationships with franchised component distributors due to their long-term cooperation. They can get
your needed components from those distributors at a wholesale price, which is much lower than retail price. To
evaluate a PCB assembler that has genuine cooperation with franchised component distributors, you can ask for
its purchase invoice from distributors.
5. Adjust order volume and lead time.
Order volume is usually inversely proportional to the price of each commodity. In general, the higher your order
volume becomes, the less expensive it will be for each circuit board assembly (the same goes for PCB
manufacturing service). Take your company or organization’s situation into consideration, and know your order
volumes (high, medium, or low), then select a PCB assembly manufacturer that can cater to your order volume.
In terms of lead time, the main problem lies in its calculation. Never get confused by the attractive lead time
promised by a PCB assembler. Different PCB assemblers have different lead time calculations, so make sure you
know the following: What is the starting time? What is the day you order and day for payment? What day do
the components arrive? Overall, the basic rule on lead time is the longer your lead time, the lower the price.
6. Never neglect inspection or test.
You must be wondering the relationship between cost reduction and inspection or test. In general, inspection or
test implementation increases cost. However, under the theme of the mission explained at the beginning of this
article, the aim is to reduce cost without diminishing the quality of products.
Inspection or test has played a crucial role in contributing to the high quality of products by illuminating issues
or mistakes in advance. However, some PCB assemblers provide such service, while not offered by others. It’s
more convenient and efficient to have products inspected or tested in their manufactured house. Under such
conditions, a PCB assembler usually provides lower cost on inspection compared with those only dealing with
inspection. Furthermore, your products needn’t suffer from being delivered everywhere.
If your PCB assembler provides inspection service at the end of production line, you should provide your test jig
so that their test can be implemented according to your specification. Ordinary inspection methods range from
visual inspection to automated optical inspection (AOI) to automated X-ray inspection (AXI).
use the
For large volume orders, it’swebsite, you consent
necessary to our use
to carry outofFirst
cookies.Article Inspection on the first several products prior to
real volume assembly It exposes issues such as component orientation and polarity and enables modification
real volume assembly. It exposes issues such as component orientation and polarity, and enables modification
to be made in time. Time permitting, you can even ask your assembler to deliver sample products so that you
can have it run in real circumstances.
One more rule: Stick to one PCB assembler as your partner. If you’re doing business with a PCB assembler for
more than five years, then you can probably depend on them based on smooth cooperation, mutual credit, and
trust established through that time. However, if you’re having a tough time with your PCB assembler of late, or
your business is suffering some type of cost crisis, then it’s time to make some changes.
Rigorously conforming to the rules of thumb discussed in this article can help shape your decision and
ultimately select your new PCB assembler. And you’ll surely cut some cost without sacrificing quality.
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APR 19, 2016
New Security Vulnerability Casts Shadow Over Intel
James Morra | Aug 17, 2018
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Intel has been scarred use
by the
another major security glitch that takes advantage of the same technology behind the
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Meltdown and Spectre vulnerabilities. The new set of vulnerabilities, labeled Foreshadow, allows passwords and
other confidential information to be swiped from memory caches in Intel’s microprocessors.
On Tuesday, the Santa Clara, California-based company said it had released microcode to protect potentially
vulnerable devices in personal computers and data centers. The company said that the changes, coupled with
new updates for operating systems and hypervisor software made available on Tuesday, would protect most
customers.
“We are not aware of reports that any of these methods have been used in real-world exploits, but this further
underscores the need for everyone to adhere to security best practices,” said Leslie Culbertson, Intel’s head of
product security, in a statement. “This includes keeping systems up-to-date and taking steps to prevent
malware.”
Foreshadow, like Meltdown and Spectre, is possible because of speculative execution, which is used in high-
performance chips to boost software speeds. It involves loading computing instructions ahead of knowing
whether they are required. The hardware cheats, snooping into the small pool of memory within each processor
and making guesses on what happens next. The new vulnerability targets the L1 cache inside Intel processors.
Guessing correctly means a running start for the processor, while guessing incorrectly leads to the information
being thrown out. With Foreshadow, code trespassing inside the processor can fool the operating system into
loading passwords, encryption keys and other secrets stashed in memory before the cache is emptied. Then the
software can steal them.
“Once systems are updated,
how you we expectyour
can manage the risksettings,
cookie to consumer and
please see our enterprise
Cookie users running
Policy. By continuing to non-virtualized
operating systems willuse
bethe
low,” said
website, youCulbertson, adding
consent to our use that the software lessens the threat to the majority of
of cookies.
servers installed in data centers and most personal computers. “In these cases, we haven’t seen any meaningful
performance impact,” she said.
Intel said that customers should take additional precautions against another version of the vulnerability that
could bypass the protections in servers running applications on virtual machines in the cloud. That includes
turning down multithreading in some cases, which could put the squeeze on performance. "For these specific
cases, performance or resource utilization on some specific workloads may be affected and varies accordingly,"
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MRAM Makes a MoveWeinto the toEmbedded

use cookies Space
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Magnetoresistive RAM, already supported by major silicon foundries, is

looking to expand its niche into the embedded space with embedded
MRAM.
William Wong | Aug 16, 2018
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MRAM is a non-volatile memory (NVM) that competes with other NVM technologies like flash, Intel’s Optane,
FRAM, and RRAM (Fig. 1). Each has its strengths and weaknesses, with flash being the dominant player across
the board. Though MRAM continues to scale well, its capacity is still much lower than NAND flash, which
makes up the bulk of high-density storage used in SSDs.
1. Embedded MRAM (eMRAM) is competitive now and could replace technologies like NOR flash in the future.
(Courtesy of Coughlin Associates and Objective Analysis)
There are many myths about MRAM. What’s interesting is the possibility of it replacing significant portions of
SRAM, especially in embedded applications where SRAM is used for code storage. Texas Instruments (TI) uses
FRAM for code and data storage in its 16-bit MSP430 microcontrollers. However, FRAM doesn’t scale as well as
MRAM when it comes to finer geometries, although it’s ideal for the space it’s being used in.
Embedded RAM (eMRAM) has advantages like fast read/write times and high endurance (Fig. 2). It’s also
much more interesting to chip developers given MRAM’s support by major silicon foundries. This allows
eMRAM to be incorporated into new chip designs with minimal cost overhead.
2. eMRAM has advantages such as fast read/write speeds and high endurance. (Courtesy of Intuitive
Cognition Consulting)
MRAM support isn’t trivial. It requires deposition of 20 unique molecular layers to create the magnetic
tunneling junction (MTJ). These need to be maintained during the etching part of the chip creation process
(Fig. 3).
3. MRAM requires deposition of 20 molecular layers (top). Silicon foundries can handle this task as well as the
etching (bottom) without compromising the structure. (Courtesy of Intuitive Cognition Consulting)
Developers also have tradeoffs in terms of bitcell size and architecture (Fig. 4). The 1T-1MJT cell (left) is the
smallest and fastest, but it has the lowest data-retention characteristic. The read process can have reliability
issues and the sense amp is more difficult to design that the alternatives. The 1T-1MJT Plus cell is 30% larger
than the 1T-1NJT, but it has good read performance with a slower write. It also features better data retention.
The 2T-2MJT cell provides the best data retention—with a bigger footprint. Its sense amp is easy to design;
writes can be tricky, though.
4. The 1T-1MJT cell (left) is website,
use the the smallest and
you consent fastest,
to our but it has the lowest data-retention characteristic. The 1T-
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1MJT Plus cell (middle), which is 30% larger, has a slower write but better data retention. The 2T-2MJT cell
(right) provides the best data retention but with a bigger footprint.
Incorporating eMRAM in place of embedded flash is relatively easy these days (Fig. 5). The eMRAM bitcell is
smaller, but it requires more error code correction (ECC) for high reliability. MRAM doesn’t require the high-
voltage support needed for flash writes. MRAM will wind up using larger sense amps that require highly
accurate voltage references. In addition, MRAM designs will typically use a wider bus for better performance.
5. eMRAM compares well with embedded flash. Though MRAM requires more ECC for high reliability, it
doesn’t require the high-voltage
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The MRAM Developer Day event preceded this year’s Flash Memory Summit. One vendor at that MRAM event
was Numem, which is delivering IP for low-power MRAM cores targeting the eMRAM space. They work with all
of the major silicon foundries. Numem was displaying MRAM chips built at some of these foundries.
MRAM is already being used in many applications, particularly NVM caches for storage such as SAS/SATA
RAID controllers, where it eliminates the need for supercaps or battery backup for DRAM that is replaced by the
MRAM.
Everspin Technologies’ MRAM technology is also used in IBM’s latest 19-TB FlashCore Module (FCM). The
NVMe SSD uses 64-layer TLC NAND for the main storage and MRAM for the cache. This reduces the number of
capacitors within the drive that would otherwise be needed if DRAM or SRAM was used instead of MRAM. The
drive also has compression and security options, including FIPS 140 certification.
The MRAM cache niche will be augmented by future SoCs employing eMRAM. Expect most new eMRAM SoC
designs to be kept quiet as the advantages of using eMRAM can give a significant competitive edge to many
applications.
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8/18/2018 6 Effective Ways to Cut PCB Assembly Cost Without Sacrificing Quality

TECHNOLOGIES > EMBEDDED REVOLUTION

6 Effective Ways to Cut PCB

Abiding by these rules of thumb can help shape decisions on how to

Dora Yang | Jun 29, 2017

Download this article in PDF format.

1. Locate a reliable, professional, and “low-cost” PCB assembler.

2. Optimize the schematic design of bare PCBs based on low-cost concerns.

3. Prepare an effective and complete BOM.

4. Make components sourcing clear.

5. Adjust order volume and lead time.

6. Never neglect inspection or test.

The Engineer’s Guide To High-Quality PCB Design Addour

TECHNOLOGIES > EMBEDDED REVOLUTION

New Security Vulnerability Casts Shadow Over Intel

James Morra | Aug 17, 2018

other confidential information to be swiped from memory caches in Intel’s microprocessors.

TAGS: INDUSTRIAL AUTOMATION

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Email address United States SIGN UP ▸

TECHNOLOGIES > EMBEDDED REVOLUTION

MRAM Makes a MoveWeinto the toEmbedded

Magnetoresistive RAM, already supported by major silicon foundries, is

William Wong | Aug 16, 2018

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© 2018 Informa USA, Inc., All Rights Reserved

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