How does the price of PCB board work out?

[Hackett]

Hello everyone,
The price of PCB is a very confusing thing for many purchasers. A lot of people will also wonder how these prices are calculated when you order them online. Let's talk about the components of the price of PCB together.
1. PCB materials differ in price diversity
2. The difference in surface treatment technology
3. Min spacing and min hole size
4. Different thickness of copper foil causes price diversity
5. Order quantity and delivery date
6. Solder mask and silkscreen color

Any other components?

 

[FANT]

7. Place where the PCB is produced
8. Chemical processes on the connectors ( i.e. gold metalization )
9. Quality processes ( i.e. test on the nail beds )
10. Delivering (vacuum packed, single pcb packing, etc)

Mandi

 

[marce]

It always has been and always will be, to many variables... Including variables outside of the PCB designers control.
In many years of doing PCB's I have never known anyone work out a formula or way of determining a PCB price, from a purchases point of view.

 

[c_mitra]

The board costs the most and the next ones come in sequence:

1. board material (phenolic or FRP or metal core etc etc)-

2. no of sides - the work to be done is almost directly proportional to the no of layers-

3. No of holes, vias and buried vias and so on...

4. Plus all the points you have added...

 

[KlausST]

Hi,

Many PCB manufactures offer online price calculation.
See what parameters they use for calculating the price.

Klaus

 

[Kajunbee]

There are many reasons that Chinese products are cheaper aside from the quality of materials. You have to decide what's more important, quality or price. I'd be willing to bet that cheaper will win out the majority of the time.
I was thinking about this the other day. I've always complained about these cheap Chinese products and how poorly made they are. But I've come to realize that nobody twisted my arm and made me buy it.

 

[c_mitra]

There are many reasons that Chinese products are cheaper aside from the quality of materials.

The most important (I would say perhaps the only) reason is their lower labour cost- perhaps you can add their lower cost of environment processing.

This is the most important reason that top grade products (Apple, HP and several other top US companies are crowding there) are made not in the USA but in China.

You can get cheap products with cheap quality in the US too. You get what you pay for and that is the moral in my personal opinion.

 

[Kajunbee]

You are 100% correct and that is the moral epiphany that I realized. It has little to do with where it comes from but what the consumer(myself) is willing to pay. The average person would rather pay 5$ four times than 10$ once over the same period of time.

 

[marce]

Had quality from China Cr** from the UK...
PCB purchasing is and always has been a bit of a nightmare, the main factor is ensuring quality, so inspect the incoming boards and when they are not up to scratch send them back...

 

[c_mitra]

If you consider the amount (means degree) of technology that goes into (the production) a transistor or a MOSFET, you will really wonder how these simple components are sold so cheap. And I am not talking about microprocessors.

I have seen factories where gold wire were bonded to a semiconductor die using an ultrasonic probe -and wait- being done manually under a microscope.

You need to think about the amount of effort that has gone in the production of the film resist (photoresist) -in the beginning it was only potassium dichromate and polyvinayl alcohol- and then wonder how they are so cheap these days.

Consider the chemistry that goes in the making of a plated through hole on a PCB and today it is a routine affair.

Just think of a piece of marble and the final work of art- and you are trying to quantify art or technology?

I have made PCB using Radio Shack pen that used to cost about 10USD and it used to last less than...

I have tried nail polish and enamel paint; it is not the PCB that matters. The final art is the one...

 

[Kajunbee]

Another reason Chinese products are cheaper is because they haven't been playing fair. I'm sure everyone has heard the grumblings of currency manipulation.

 

[c_mitra]

I'm sure everyone has heard the grumblings of currency manipulation

That is a propaganda; the more you hear the more you doubt. Why should any country leave the affairs of their economy at the mercy of American bankers?

Why the US has not put sanctions? This is basically a domestic propaganda for domestic consumption.

International business is the backbone of all national economies; you can simply boycott Chinese goods.

The simple fact is that if you just boycott Chinese goods, your own economy will collapse; there will be empty stores all over.

(I am not Chinese national)

 

[PCB Designers]

High Aspect Ratio and Impedance controlling cost you more, when you go for special substrate to achieve specific dielectric values.