Professional PCB layout, pcb design, printed circuit boards

	Microtrack, Inc. Precision Artworks Since 1982 New Haven, Vermont USA
	*Consumer - Industrial - Aerospace - Medical - Military - Analog - Digital - RF - Power - Backplanes - Test*

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Quotes


*Pricing - Delivery - Cost Factors*

*Typical Prices and Delivery Schedule for PCB Layout Summer 2004*
	Low Complexity	Low Medium	Medium	Medium High	High Complexity
Board Size	4 x 4 inch	5 x 6	8 x 8	6 x 12	4 x 3
Area	16 sq inch	30	64	72	24
Layers	2	4	6	10	8
Parts	60	150	300	350	400
Part Sides	1	1	1	1	2
Pins	300	750	1500	2100	1700
Pin density	19	25	23	29	71
Trace/Space/Via	12 12 28	12 12 28	7 7 15	5 5 10	5 5 10
SMT or Thru	Thru	Mixed	SMT	SMT	SMT
General Type	low-level analog	analog & digital	high-speed	controlled impedance	max density
Price/Delivery	$360 & 5 days	$975 & 7 days	$2100 & 7 days	$3360 & 10 days	$3400 & 10 days
Call 802-877-6939 or email design@mtipcb.com
*Delivery includes all artworks, documentation drawings, checkprints, drill and other files, plus CAD database.*

Typical delivery of production artwork files includes trace layers, plane layers, component silkscreens, soldermasks, pastemasks, fabrication drawing, assembly drawings, drill files, component XY data, and CAD database. Not all these items are needed for every board, but we will include everything appropriate for your printed circuit board. Delivery consists of electronic file transfer of the production artwork files to you and/or to the selected board manufacturer, as required. We can also deliver mylar artwork films, as a special order.

Checking prints are provided to you for review of the component layout (placement), and later, of the routed design. Depending on your particular needs, we will provide checkprints in PDF format, in DXF, or HPGL. We can also ship paper prints. We require customer approval of checkprints before we deliver the production artworks.

Quotations are fixed-price. Provided you don't propose large changes to the board which increase (or decrease) our labor effort, the price remains fixed. For any change affecting price, we'll send you an amended quote before we proceed. Generally, minor last-minute changes are no problem for us.

Most board designs are fixed-scheduled for exact calendar date completion. However, if your review of the checkplots involves several levels of checking at your organization, your project could run beyond the scheduled timeslot. It's best to plan for at least a day or two for your checkplot review.

Standard Delivery is usually 1 to 2 weeks, but very complex pcb designs may run longer. Our current workload will also influence quoted delivery schedules. Call ahead.

Highly accelerated delivery (a few days) is sometimes possible, depending on our workload. However, expect a premium of from 25% to 50% higher.

Fabrication drawings and Assembly drawings are available in several formats: As HPGL files, as DXFs, PDFs, or inkjet plots on paper format sizes A through D.

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*Which Factors Influence PCB Layout and Manufacturing Costs?*
Parameter	Effect on PCB layout cost	Effect on board manufacturing cost
Board size	Layout cost does not necessarily correlate with overall board size. A large, sparsely populated circuit board may be less costly to design than a small dense board. Board size is still important, but mainly for its effect on layout density. Because layout costs decrease at lower layout density, an increased board area can easily result in reduced layout cost.	More material is used for larger boards, and we expect more drilled holes in a larger board. Consequently, larger board area almost always increases the cost of manufacturing printed circuit boards. Also, smaller boards allow a greater number of boards to be processed per production panel, thereby decreasing the per-board cost.
Layout density	Layout density measures how completely the components (and termination lands) cover the usable board area. For any given board area, adding more components increases the layout density. The IPC defines three levels: 70% low density, 80% average, and 90% high density.	The effect of pcb design layout density on board manufacturing cost is indirect. For a given board size, a dense layout will typically have a greater number of drilled holes. Whether for component pins or for vias, the hole count tends to lead toward higher board cost.
Part count	With certain exceptions, increasing the number of components usually increases the layout cost. Data entry, component layout, and trace routing hours all increase. Boards which contain multiple blocks of identical circuits usually require much less time and can be delivered at lower cost.	Part count does not directly impact manufacturing cost, but the tendency is to increase board cost due to greater number of holes and larger board size, both of which are important factors in board costs
Pin count / Hole count	PCB layout cost is directly influenced by the number of component pins. More pins usually means a greater number of components, more layout hours, and a larger number of connecting traces to route.	For board manufacturing, pin count doesn't mean much, (surface mount devices have pins but no holes) but hole count is very significant. In addition to the total hole count, also important are the number of different drill sizes needed. Good pcb design should minimize total hole count and minimize the number of different hole sizes.
Thru-hole vs Surface Mount	At high densities, SMT is much more flexible to work with. The smaller component sizes and standardized pitch contribute to ease of layout. Surface mount designs are generally easier to route. Generally, SMT boards require preparation of two different soldermask artworks.	Soldermask is mandatory unless board is of "pad-cap" construction (no traces on external layers). Solder stencil (paste mask) must be fabricated for boards which will be IR reflow soldered. These are added costs at board manufacture.
Layer count	Layout cost does not correlate with number of circuit layers. Although more layers does increase the pcb design complexity, sometimes adding two layers to a board may sharply decrease the trace-routing effort and layout cost. Because board manufacturing cost is influenced strongly by layer count, PCB layout design strives to accomplish the design with a minimum of circuit layers.	Manufacturing cost usually rises with increasing layer count, due to the greater number of processing steps involved. However, in some cases it is more cost effective to add layers when this will allow larger clearances and larger annular rings, which in turn increases the board's manufacturability and decreases the cost.
Silkscreen	Silkscreen artwork is standard for all layout designs. Even for boards which will not have a silkscreen, we still prepare the silkscreen layout for use in checkplots.	Silkscreen is an additional process step at board manufacture which adds to cost. Board price will usually be reduced if silkscreen is omitted.
Soldermask	Soldermask artwork is standard for all layout designs. For those few designs which do not have a soldermask, we still must prepare the artwork(s) for use in checkplots.	Soldermask is an additional process step at board manufacture which adds to cost. Board price will usually be reduced if soldermask is omitted. This is possible for boards with large clearance minimums.
Incoming Documentation (Schematics)	Incoming documentation which is incomplete or inconsistent will sometimes impact the layout quote due to the time required to straighten things out. Check your work.	--- --- ---
Outgoing Documentation Drawings	The degree of documentation appropriate to manufacturing your board may be simple or it may be complex. We can provide drawings in line with your needs. For Class 2 and Class 3 documentations, drawing costs are based on drafting time.	For complex boards, a certain level of documentation detail is mandatory in order to specify the intended product. It usually is more economical to prepare the proper drawings than to scrap improperly fabricated boards.
Netlist	The majority of layout projects start with a netlist exported from your schematic capture program. For example, Orcad Capture outputs a PADS Ascii format. We can create the netlist manually from your schematic, but there will be an added charge to cover the time.	--- --- ---
Trace, via, and clearance sizes	It is tempting to use ever-smaller traces, component pads, clearances and annular rings. Doing this can increase the amount of circuitry per unit area, which tends to make the layout task easier and faster. However, there are limits. The IPC standards clearly dictate minimum sizes for these features. Keep in mind that board manufacturability and costs can be impacted long before these minimums are reached.	In order to control costs, board manufacturers are concerned with process parameters which impact production yield. Trace size, clearances, and annular ring size can either make or break the manufacturability of a given printed circuit board. If a fabricator is forced to deliver good boards from marginal artwork, the price per board is guaranteed to be higher than it really needed to be.
What's the Bottom Line Then?	Note that the cost factors for board design and board manufacturing are often opposed to one another. Those factors which lower board layout costs (more board area, fewer and smaller parts, smaller traces and clearances, more layers) are the same factors which make board manufacturing more expensive. A good printed circuit designer is able to make informed and reasoned choices among these and other factors. When done correctly, the finished board assembly will be reliable and durable, and many costs in board fab and assembly are minimized or avoided all together.	--- --- ---

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