Gerber file or ODB++ and customer specification/technical data sheet.

What is required to build a PCB?
Gerber file or ODB++ and customer specification/technical data sheet.
Where can I find PCB Connect Groups capabilities.
You can find our capabilities for Rigid, Flex Rigid, HDI and Flexible PCBs here in the following link:
What should be contained in the technical specificatios?
When you fill in the specifications in your RFQ, you should specify:
What is Tenting (Tenting Vias)? How to apply?
Tenting in PCB means covering the annular ring via a hole with a solder mask. Tented Vias are those that are completely covered with a solder mask.
Via tenting is performed to reduce the number of exposed conductive pads on a PCB.This mitigates the probability of physical damage like corrosion and shorts happening due to solder bridging.
What is the difference between “Plugging Vias” and “Tended Vias”?
Materials are different. Tented Vias use dry film solder mask, Plugging Vias use liquid solder mask or resin. Also, Plugging Vias allows partial material penetrate into the via, but Tented Vias just need to bridge over vias wherein no additional materials are in the hole.
What is the difference between CEM1, CEM3, ALU, and FR4?
FR4 is the most common material grade that used for fabricated circuit boards. ‘FR’ indicates the material is flame retardant and the ‘4’ indicates woven glass reinforced epoxy resin
CEM-1 is low-cost, flame-retardant, cellulose-paper-based laminate with only one layer of woven glass fabric.
CEM-2 has cellulose paper core and woven glass fabric surface.
CEM-3 is very similar to the most commonly used PCB material, FR-4.
What are the thermal coefficients of aluminum PCBs?
IPC 4101E define thermal conductivity level for aluminum PCB as below:
Level A ≤1.0
Level B >1.0 ≤2.0
Level C >2.0 ≤3.0
Level D >3.0 ≤5.0
Level X AABUS
What is “peelable solder mask”?
The “peelable solder mask” it’s a liquid and (also known as strippable mask or blue-mask) is applied by screen-printing, act as in-process protection and are removed after processing at the assembler.
It provides printed circuit boards with protection in soldering processes like wave soldering, selective soldering or at the PCB level a surface finish protection.
What is the difference between initial and final copper?
Initial copper means base copper which come from the laminate we buy. Final copper means the copper thickness for the finished PCB , it include base copper and plating copper.
Does PCB Connect comply with the RoHS Directive?
Yes, our factory comply with RoHS Directive.
RoHS stands for Restriction of Certain Hazardous Substances. It is an European legislation that bans six hazardous substances from manufacturing processes: cadmium (Cd), mercury (Hg), hexavalent chromium (Cr (VI)), polybrominated biphenyls (PBBs), polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) and lead (Pb).
How long is the shelf life of the boards?
PCB shelf life were defined based on PCB surface finishes, IPC define PCB shelf life as below:
HASL – 12 months
HASL lead free – 12 months
ENIG – 12months
ENEPIG – 12months
Immersion Silver – 6 months
Immersion Tin – 6 months
OSP – 6 months
What does “mouse bite” and “V-Cut”?
Mouse bite holes are designed in panel for facilitating separate PCB from frame, it is normally design in two rows.
V-cut is also called V-Scoring, it is used for mechanical pre-separation of circuit boards.
V-cut can only be performed along straight line, A V-shaped breaking line is formed in the circuit board with a precision cutting tool.
Performing V-cut is just for PCB separation become easily.
What is FR4 in PCB?
FR4 is the most popular type of material in the PCB manufacturing. FR4 material is ideal to produce one layer PCB or multilayer PCB. It suits for demands for flexible or rigid PCBs as well.
What is a multiplayer PCB?
Multilayer PCB is a printed circuit board that has more than, at least, four layers, with one or multiple conductor patterns inside the board.
What is HDI PCB?
The HDI – High Density Interconnector PCBs have a higher wiring density compared with standard PCBs.
What is a flexible PCB?
Flexible printed circuit boards are boards that uses flexible based material in your applications. They can be single or double sided up to 6 layers.
What are the mechanical and design recommendations for copper coin?
What is a copper coin and when should I use one?
A copper coin is a piece of solid copper inserted onto or into the PCB, typically under components that need cooling. It can provide up to 10× the cooling of a via farm of the same size.
What drives impedance and signal losses?
What drives impedance and signal losses?
What should I keep in mind for the stackup?
What should I keep in mind for the stackup?
What is ultra HDI and what should I consider?
Ultra HDI is defined by IPC as a PCB with attributes beyond IPC-2226 A producibility level C, where one or more layers have lines or spaces below 50 µm. PCB Connect classifies factories along this ladder because of different production technologies and equipment needs.
Any semi-flex construction tips?
How do i estimate the minimum bend length?
G = (π × R × A₂ ÷ 180) + 4 mm
G = minimum bend length
R = basic inner bend radius
A₂ = bending angle in degrees
4 mm = empirical safety compensation
What is a semi-flex PCB and when should I use one?
Semi-flex is effectively a standard multilayer PCB built with specific FR4, depth-controlled so the thinner area provides a flexing section.
Use for flex-to-install static applications or applications with a very limited / controlled number of bends. Dynamic use or multiple flexing increases the risk of cracks in FR4/copper.
What should I know when designing a flex/rigid-flex PCB?
Why are flexible PCBs in growing demand?
Demand is rising across all segments, with especially strong demand from medical, defence and industrial markets — driven by space, weight and mechanical routing constraints.
What are the HDI design recommendations?
What defines an HDI PCB?
IPC-2226 defines HDI as a PCB with higher wiring density per unit area than conventional circuit boards.
What are they key design recommendations for multilayer PCBs?
What is a multilayer PCB?
A Multilayer PCB is built with three or more conductive copper layers. The inner layers are processed in pairs on a core and then bonded together using prepreg as the insulating layer.
Both sides of the board can be used to mount components, and vias provide the electrical connections between the different layers.
What should I consider for high-power designs?
High-power circuits have voltage or current an order of magnitude higher than low-power circuits. A high-power circuit is a system, not a single component — it must be designed with consideration for the circuit board, electronic devices, thermal management and power supply together.
Designers must ensure the circuit operates at the proper voltage and current and has sufficient cooling and safety provisions.
What are the key factors for designing a medical PCB?
What are the key principles of IEC 61508?
The three fundamental principles:
IEC 61508 underpins further railway standards such as CENELEC.
Which standards govern railway PCB design?
The common European standard is UNE-EN 50124-1. Because of the high reliability required, IEC 61508 — an international standard for functional safety of electrical/electronic/programmable electronic systems — is also fundamental.
What design material considerations apply to aerospace?
What quality standards apply to aerospace PCBs?
Suppliers for aerospace must meet AS9100, which imposes additional measures on top of ISO 9000 international quality requirements — an extra layer of protection for everyone involved.
What makes PCBs for EV chargers different?
EV charging is a high-power application — significantly greater voltage/current than low-power circuits. Designers must ensure the circuit works within proper voltage and current parameters while incorporating adequate cooling and safety.
High-power PCBs typically follow one of two approaches: layout design (arrangement of components on the PCB) or reference design (layouts built around specific references). The layout must be carefully crafted to accommodate high-power components and minimise noise.
Component placement is a key technique for reducing thermal resistance when high-power components are on the PCB.
How do I design PCBs for shock vibration?
Design in more mounting holes — more mounting points means more stability and more places for dampening devices.
Stackup matters: for extreme shock or vibration, the prepreg needs enough resin content to withstand flex and stress on connection points. Consider prepregs with over 50% resin content, and more than two sheets for additional bonding strength. But don’t overdo it — too much prepreg harms layer-to-layer registration, so three sheets is a sensible upper bound unless your supplier says otherwise.
If you need more thickness but can’t add more prepreg, use unclad cores. They are already cured and don’t add resin to the press cycle, so registration is preserved.
What should I review before production? (Design Checklist)
What are the 13 most common PCB design mistakes?
What design guidelines does PCB Connect publish?
Design guidelines are available for:
What are the main cost drivers?
Cost drivers fall into two categories. Hard cost drivers relate to the physical PCB itself — their impact on cost and sustainability is tangible. Soft cost drivers are less visible; unaddressed, they lead to engineering delays, lost time and mis-specified demands that drive cost up or fail to deliver quality/reliability.
Does PCB design affect PCB cost?
Yes — significantly. Size, batch quantity, material choice, layer count and specifications/tolerances all influence price. 80–90% of the cost is built into the product during the early design stages, and many cost drivers also impact sustainability. Early decisions matter doubly.
When should I involve PCB Connect in the design process?
As early as possible. Getting it right at the design stage can make all the difference between a PCB that meets expectations and one that doesn’t — and that’s not always about being faulty. Acceptance or rejection criteria depend on the standards used to evaluate them.
PCB Connect views design support not only as defining what’s needed, but also as what we do with your design from receipt of data through to the finished product.