From data to delivery

Your data becomes manufacturing instructions. The stack-up is built, impedance is modelled against it, and the panel is laid out. This is also where the DFM findings are raised — before anything is committed to tooling.

Laminate and prepreg are drawn from approved stock against this order. The material named in the specification is the material issued — this is the point at which a substitution would happen, and where it is prevented.

Dry film is laminated, exposed and developed; the unwanted copper is etched away and the film stripped. Track and gap are decided here, and so is whether the copper weight you specified was compatible with the structures you drew.

Every inner layer is scanned against the digital image and anomalies are reviewed by an inspector. A fault caught here costs one layer; the same fault found after lamination costs the whole panel.

Inner layers are stacked with prepreg and copper foil, then pressed under heat and pressure until the resin cures. Symmetry matters here more than anywhere: an asymmetric build comes out of the press warped and does not recover.

X-ray locates the inner layer targets, then the panel is drilled. Registration decides the annular ring — this is the stage that turns a marginal ring in the data into a broken connection on the board.

The hole walls are cleaned of drilling residue, made conductive, and copper is deposited through the barrel and across the panel. Barrel thickness is set here and it is what decides whether the via survives thermal cycling.

The outer copper pattern is imaged, plated to final thickness, and the unwanted copper etched away. After this the conductor pattern is fixed; nothing downstream changes it.

Vias are plugged or filled as specified, then the mask is printed, exposed, developed and cured, and the legend printed on top. Dam width and coverage are decided here, and they are the two most common assembly complaints.

ENIG, immersion tin, lead-free HASL, OSP or hard gold, applied to the exposed copper. Layer thicknesses are measured rather than assumed — a thin gold or nickel layer is invisible and fails months later at assembly.

The panel is routed or scored to the delivery format. Routing holds ± 0.1 mm; scoring is wider than that, which is why copper-to-edge distance matters more on a scored edge.

Every board gets a full electrical test, then visual and automated inspection against the acceptance class, then a final evaluation against the specification before it is wrapped, desiccated and shipped.