HDI Rigid Flex PCB Fabrication Cost Calculator

Printed circuit boards are required in all forms of devices. They've been around for decades, and manufacturers are still working on making them smaller and more efficient. PCBs come at a variety of pricing points due to their complexity and the components that go into their production. An HDI Rigid Flex PCB manufacturer can give you a clearer idea of your cost.

How Much Does an HDI Rigid-Flex PCB Manufacturer Cost?

HDI PCBs naturally cost more than a standard PCB, particularly if you require Type IV, V, or VI stack-ups in your circuit. There are a few factors that can affect how much your overall fabrication and design process will cost. For example, boards that require higher frequencies need to be made of gold, silver, or other higher-grade materials.

If you require a PCB to be made for a high-tech device, you’ll require more layers. Circuits with more than one layer or with components on either side are costlier. Since PCBs require numerous components, there are multiple layers stacked on top of each other. As components take up more space, the board needs to be larger, and thus, more time and money are needed to manufacture these kinds of PCBs.

PCBs also feature holes, which can raise manufacturing costs. Precision drilling is required for these holes, particularly when the motherboards are thick or compacted. Moreover, skilled experts are needed to manufacture your boards, and often they need to use automated machinery for the process. The cost of generating a PCB is influenced by labor expenses, and no one wants untrained workers to create these critical components for complicated electrical gadgets.

The type of technology the HDI Rigid Flex PCB manufacturer uses is also a factor. For example, surface-mount technology costs less than through-hole technology. In general, you can expect a standard PCB to cost $10 to $50 per board. However, the actual price can only be determined by the fabricator themselves. It can vary with the components, type of material, and size of your PCB.

How Can You Calculate the Cost of Rigid flex PCB Fabrication?

PCB Fab Houses establish prices based on a variety of criteria; hence, there is no standard method for calculating PCB fabrication costs. Each HDI Rigid Flex PCB manufacturer can have its own formula to calculate the total cost.

Furthermore, the payback is already included in the PCB manufacturing cost you determined using their respective online PCB Price Calculators. This is one of the reasons why different fabricators can quote the same HDI PCB manufacturing order differently.

When you approach an HDI Rigid Flex PCB manufacturer, make sure whether they make high-quality boards at a reasonable price. Sharing as much detail about your product as possible will help your manufacturer give you a realistic and more accurate quote.

How To Make HDI Rigid flex PCB Manufacturing More Economical

The first stage in constructing a printed circuit board is to determine the most cost-effective materials that meet the application's requirements. Material data sheets and pricing lists provide fundamental information, but they don't tell you how much it would cost to construct the board with one material over another.

Datasheets frequently indicate two materials with virtually comparable properties, but one can be more or less difficult to handle than the other, particularly with HDI technology. When consulting with an expert about your prototype, you should ask them to help you identify materials that would give the optimum result while balancing price, performance, and manufacturability based on your design.

Tailoring your PCB design to fit your needs can help reduce the cost. The number of layers directly affects how much your PCB is going to cost. Hence, keeping the layers to a minimum will lower the cost. This makes it easier for boards to bond to each other and give a better manufacturing yield rate. Consequently, material costs are reduced when a higher quality product is made without requiring additional materials.

Flexible laminates cost more than rigid laminates, so a circuit with more flexible circuitry can increase the overall price. Similarly, although the demand for high-speed design is appealing, there are certain drawbacks. Controlled impedance needs should be confined to the tested levels desired in production panels. This reduces the cost of producing large coupons for both sections with many pieces removed from your circuit, which can soon add up.

Another way you can drive down your overall cost is by ordering in bulk. The cost of manufacturing decreases with a higher volume. So, ordering more units can end up saving you more money than if you were to order a single unit.

Final Words

With the portable communications industry expanding rapidly, flex PCB fabrication is becoming recognized as a popular design strategy for both advanced component surface mounting requirements as well as sophisticated, three-dimensional product construction. As more complex designs become more expensive, it is important to have tips to reduce the cost wherever possible.

At Hemeixin, we can help you design and manufacture multilayer rigid-flex PCBs as well as flexible PCBs and HDIs for a variety of high-reliability purposes or applications. You can get in touch with our HDI Rigid Flex PCB manufacturer to get a clearer idea of which design suits your desired application. For an instant online quote for your project, you can use our HDI Rigid Flex PCB Fabrication Cost Calculator.