A few simple steps to identify the circuit board

In most people's view, regardless of the quality of the circuit board, the surface looks almost the same, but we have to identify the quality of them through the similar appearance. We only need a few simple steps of judge to analyze its durability and the corresponding function after we get a piece of PCB.

Meet the standard

Standard PCB panels generally have a wall thickness of 25 micron, which can enhance the reliability. While the perfect circuit is generally not through the welding repair and short circuit repair. Generally, manufacturers will choose the international well-known substrate rather than the unknown brand to ensure the reliability of the production process.We should ensure the high quality of the plug hole, we can reduce the risk of failure of assembly process according to the high-quality plug. It is not acceptable to have scrapped units, and not to use partial assembly to improve the efficiency.

Stick to norms

PCB generally need to meet the cleanliness requirements of the IPC specification, but when the PCB beyond the requirements, PCB cleanliness will be greatly improved. At the same time, we should pay attention to the control of the life of each surface treatment to avoid the problem of surface treatment of aging circuit board. CCL tolerances comply with IPC4101ClassB/L requirements, we should strictly control the electrical properties of dielectric thickness to reduce the expected deviation.We should also note that the definition of shape, tolerances for holes and other mechanical features. We should also pay attention to define the shape and hole and the tolerance of other mechanical characteristics to improve the quality of the product, improve the coordination, shape and function.

Whether in the assembly manufacturing process of circuit board or in actual use, the reliability of the PCB is one of our characteristics that must be identified, We should pay attention to the defects in the assembly process may finally affluence the quality of the final product  on the basis of cost control, so good PCB should have above characteristics.  Manufacturers should consider how to reduce cost effectively after ensuring these characteristics.

NOD-electronics

HDI PCB, opportunity or challenge?

With the rapid development of electronic technology, intelligent mobile phone, tablet computer and other wearable devices are toward multifunctional and functional direction. And high density interconnect PCB technology is rising, referred to as the HDI technology.The rapid development of HDI technology means that the number of layers and the components accommodated on the PCB increase in case that there is no change in size,weight and volume of PCB, which improves the electrical properties of the PCB. So HDI technology has become a mainstream direction in the development of the electronic industry.

Challenges from HDI technology

The high degree of integration of communication products makes the trend of integration of PCB design and PCB manufacturing more and more obvious. Manufacturer left less manufacturing margin with HDI veneer.This design and manufacturing constraints, which is likely to increase the complexity of the design, on the other hand, such technology would undermine the time needed for the veneer jointing. This will directly affect the time of production.In terms of PCB Assembly, high density Assembly package will cause solider bridge, shift, tomb bump and so on. The existing detection methods have some shortcomings, it's difficult to do high-density test. At the same time the device pin spacing is small, which will also increase the difficulty of repair.

Benefits from HDI technology

HDI board can significantly reduce the cost of PCB, while increasing the density of the circuit, which is more conducive to the use of advanced packaging technology to ensure that the product has better electrical properties and signal accuracy. It can both have high reliability and improve the electromagnetic interference. HDI technology is better in line with the current trend of the development of the electronics industry.

HDI production process generally requires more expensive equipment support, but many small-medium enterprises can not afford it. It will inevitably lead to the loss of some customers and lose considerable orders if these companies give up the HDI market. On the other hand, HDI technology is more profitable than ordinary circuit board.This requires manufacturers to identify their own direction in the HDI technology opportunities and challenges.

NOD-electronics

How to make the PCB quickly and well

With the development of the electronic industry, the production of electronic products is increasing, and the demand for the production of electronic products is also increasing.How to make the PCB quickly and well has become an important issue for many PCB designers.Only the rapid production of PCB with high precision, high performance and cost savings  can have a stronger competitive strength.

Rapid production of circuit boards

Mainly divided into physical methods and chemical methods. The physical method is to manually cut out unwanted copper on the board by means of cutting tools and power tools. Chemical method is to cover the blank with the CCL protective layer. The corrosion solution will remove the unnecessary copper. These layers are mainly covered by hand-painted paint method, adhesive method, film photographic method and the thermal transfer printing method.

The advantages and disadvantages of the two methods

Physical method is obviously more difficult and time-consuming, so the method is only suitable for a relatively simple circuit, and the operator's requirements are very high,so the method can not be applied to the mass production of the information age.Chemical process is relatively complex, but we can artificially control the accuracy of the final product, which is a more rapid plate-making method.But there are still some problems: the printing accuracy depends on the accuracy of printer cartridges used, the exposure plate And the development time is not easy to control, corrosion control process is difficult, photosensitive board on the environmental requirements are higher, it's difficult to control accuracy after the manual punching.

So it is obvious that the chemical method is superior to other methods. In contrast, it is more time saving and labor saving, and can control the accuracy better. But these two methods can only achieve a certain degree of the requirements of PCB rapid manufacturing.But it can't achieve the high speed and high accuracy of the PCB. So we need to be on the road in PCB manufacturing to continue to explore and discover a more appropriate approach.

NOD-electronics

How can PCB board repair save you money in a crisis?

A PCB assembly company may produce a variety of circuit board failure. You may have to spend a lot of money to design your board, and you can not give it up so you can only repair it. Of course, this also takes some money, so how to save more money from it, then we have to narrate from three aspects.

PCB Board Repair Scenarios

Repair

This is the most common reason you might need to utilize such services: a part which was working has failed, and you don't know why. Luckily, electronics experts can analyze both the original schematics and the resulting board to discover the underlying problem. Often, it's something as simple as a single broken bit of circuit wiring or a single failed component that can be fixed for far less than it would cost to recreate the board.

Rework

Sometimes, it's the initial design that's flawed. A capacitor cannot handle the charge it needs, or a particular computer chip proves to be incompatible with the board. In this case, PCB board repair services can take a look at the original design specs, compare them to the finished product, and uncover which component(s) are causing the issue.
From there, it's a relatively simple matter to find suitable replacements which can meet your original specifications.

Modification

Or, perhaps your PCB works, but just not quite up to par. Perhaps it fails to meet a necessary requirement, such as FCC feedback shielding standards. If this is the problem, much as with rework efforts, your PCB repair service can take the working design and improve on it so it meets your needs.

What To Look For In PCB Board Repair Services

When you're looking for a repair service, there are a few important matters to consider.

Standards and Certifications. There are numerous global standards agencies, such as the IPC Association, that maintain industry-specific standards for electronics work. Of these, the IPC-7711 / 7721 standard is the most important, relating directly to electronics repair and rework. While certification is not a guaranteeof quality work, it can give you a lot of assurance when you deal with a company that's certified in your area of need.

Supply chain expertise. A repair service that cannot guarantee quality components won't be able to guarantee their repairs will hold. Pick a firm which specializes in supply chain management, so you can know your PCB will be repaired using nothing but genuine components and materials.

Testimonials and case studies. The proof is in the pudding, as they say. If you're in doubt about a repair service, ask them for referrals or case studies demonstrating their expertise. After all, there's no surer sign of good work than a happy customer.

If you have a mission-critical PCB that isn't working as it should, don't toss it out and incur huge losses in trying to replace it. Simply hire a PCB board repair service to make the necessary adjustments at a much lower price.

PCB Prototype Assembly Shows How To Improve Quality

Before ordering a high volume of PCBs for your next new design, it is always good to first assemble a prototype or order a low volume batch that all can be tested for any errors. PCB prototype assembly can help exactly with such testing to make sure you aren't out thousands of dollars should anything go wrong during the final production phase, and the assembly doesn't have to cost you even more money by being in-house. All of it can be outsourced to an assembly company easily.But, what exactly are the other benefits of a PCB prototype besides the financial budgeting? There are several and most of them have been outlined below.

1. Design Changes

Prototypes have a huge benefit of being a tangible product that can show you how your product is going to look in its final stage. If the design or layout isn't something that seems like it is going to be the most efficient, both for your company and your clients, then you can take the time to make any final design changes. And with a low volume assembly of prototypes, or just one altogether, you aren't spending hundreds of dollars on simple changes for an improvement on your PCB assembly.

2. Troubleshooting

Worst case scenario is that you put in a high volume order, take all of that time and money to have everything assembled, and then realize after the fact everything has been shipped out to you ready to be sent off to clients that the PCBs aren't working up to spec. Sure, they went through testing, but sometimes a little error can still slip through. With a prototype, the PCB can undergo very rigorous testing to make sure that it is going to work and won't fail early in its life span.

3. Quality Assurance

A PCB prototype assembly not only helps with design and troubleshooting, but, it also helps to ensure what kind of components are working and which ones might need to be updated or replaced. PCBs are constantly changing with the advances of technology and sometimes certain components are outdated, and a prototype is there to help what can work to keep your PCBs efficient and only the highest quality available.

4. New Products

Of course you will want to create a prototype before implementing a brand new product for your clients. Whether you need a low volume batch of orders or a PCB prototype assembly done quickly, new products need to be tested and revised with any changes before going on to the final stage of assembly--and even then, more testing will occur on the assembly side.

5. Testing Assemblies

If you're in the market of looking for a new PCB assembly manufacturers company, then one of the best ways to do so is requesting an PCB prototype assembly job to be done according to your design and specs. You can test out how well they listen to your requests, how much they are going to cost, and then assess the quality of the PCB prototype to see just how well they can fit with your business.

All in all, PCB prototype assembly is a very important part of the entire assembling process to make sure that you save money, have the most efficient components, and maintain a very reliable professional relationship with your assembly company.

PCB Design

NOD Electronics can help you to transit concept or brain image into product as long as you send us PCB designrequirements. We can offer PCB design and layout services. In order to shorten your timeline, we comply with strict standards to handle PCB design phases, such as from requirement draft, alpha & beta review to volume production. In this case, your PCB design tasks go smoothly under our project management team.

Nowadays, engineers usually use Electronic Design Automation (EDA) software to complete PCB design. Although there are functional softwares such as Protel, Power PCB which can directly convert schematic diagram to layouts and call components in standard dimension from CAD library, we should analyze and adjust timely according to different assembly density, engineering, equipments and special components.

In many cases of startup companies, the design for manufacturability (DFM) was usually ignored or not emphasized, which caused a lot of defects and project delay during PCB manufacturing and PCB assembly phases, because EMS supplier could not resolve problem due to original PCB design.

DFM is the most effective method of ensuring PCB design quality, which matches the project requirements and global abilities of electronics manufacturing to lower down the cost, enhance volume production and expedite time-to-market. DFM starts product design phase, focusing on manufacturability and test plan, creating a close connection with design and manufacturing and realizing an one-time success from design to manufacturing. DFM is featured in short development period, low cost, high quality and popular with current enterprises.

PCB Manufacturing

PCB Experts offer inexpensive PCBs for quantities as little as 1 piece to as high as 5,000 pieces. In addition, our PCB designers look over every design for potential mistakes. This service can’t be found at most PCB fabrication houses. Also, we follow very strict PCB manufacturing workflow to ensure the high quality delivery. NOD Electronics customers come from a large variety of industries and business segments, such as semiconductor, enterprise computing, networking and telecommunications, wireless markets, medical and biological, industrial and embedded systems, network storage, automotive electronics, digital toys, laboratory instruments, etc. That is why you can rely on our PCB manufacturing andPCB assembly services. As herein, we place PART of our customer cases for your reference. We can do than you imagine. In general, our global customers have following impressions of our services: quick response, reasonable price level, top customer perspective, quality commitment.

NOD Electronics invested over 10 million USD for factory facilities, including PCB and PCBA equipments (Acid Copper Through-hole Plating, CNC Drilling, PCB Etching Machine, PCB Milling Machine, Surface Mount Machine, Reflow Oven, Automated Optical Inspection (AOI), Wave Soldering) and a scientific system of management, through which your PCB and PCB assembly requirements can be fulfilled in high quality and accordance of international standards.

We choose A+ grade copperplate to ensure stable performance (general FR-4) of PCB fabrication. During the manufacturing process, automatic copper plating lines and high-speed drilling machines (brand:TMAX) to make accuracy and fast delivery guaranteed. All printed circuit board will be detected by advanced automatic flying probe machines (or test frame ) at subsequent stages to make sure each PCB is OK from inner circuits to outside shape. With the initial stage of PCB design, timing is always very crucial. Our quick-turn for PCB assembly prototyping, ECO (Engineering change orders) and BGA reballing/rework services brings your lead time with the highest regard, no matter order volume (as little as one piece). Our 20 hours PCB sample express service has already been a life saver for huge many product design teams facing strict deadlines. Our engineer will follow strict and refined pcba workflow to perform the process of pcb manufacturing and pcb assembly. Our PCBA boards are widely served for customers of a variety of industries, such as automobile, medical & health, system card, and consumer electronics. Generally, we fulfill standards of ISO quality management and IPC-A-610E throughout phases of incoming materials, screen printing, smt, aoi, ipqc, dip and PCBA test. In general, your PCB prototype can be well served by us. Since we receive your product drafted solution, all subsequent process will be controlled by our strict PDCA management workflow. Our dedicated engineers will communicate timely with you and resolve any problem. Moreover, our global manufacturing capabilities can reduce your cost beyond expectations and without any hassle. We will be your best PCB manufacturer and PCB assembly partner.

PCB Manufacturing Machines

We invested over 10 million USD on PCB equipments including electroplate lines, drilling machines, flying probe, text screener etc. All of these are for offering you capability of monthly 15,000 square meters PCB manufacturing, which is applicable for small-medium-large business orders.

Once you have completed PCB manufacturing course, now it’s time to prepare incoming materials according to BOM list and start up the PCB assembly phase or check back the PCB design. Also for more details, you can review more our services.