Assembled Embedded Controller With Microcontroller Ethernet And Storage
An assembled embedded controller board carrying a high pin count microcontroller, an Ethernet jack with magnetics, a USB port, an SD card socket and several pin header banks. This is the kind of board that sits at the centre of a machine and talks to everything else in it.
What This Board Is
The board photographed is a general purpose controller: a large quad flat pack processor in the centre, memory devices alongside it, a battery-backed real time clock, an SD socket for logging and enough header banks to reach every subsystem in a machine. A board of this shape needs a flat surface finish for the fine pitch processor and careful handling for the mechanical sockets, which is why fabrication and assembly decisions belong together.
- PCBA
- See specification
What You Get From This Build
- Fine pitch processor placement on a flat gold surface rather than a solder crown
- Mechanical sockets and card cages fitted and checked as part of the same build
- Header banks kept square for mating with ribbon cables on your line
- One supplier for both the four or six layer fabrication and the assembly
Who Specifies This Board
- Machine builders developing their own controller rather than buying a module
- Data logging and telemetry product manufacturers
- Building automation and HVAC control OEMs
- Engineering teams moving a prototype controller into production
Four Failures This Build Is Designed Against
Each one is a real way this class of board goes wrong, and the tolerance or process decision that prevents it.
Fine pitch processors bridging during reflow
Minimum solder bridge on the bare board is held at 0.10 mm, and immersion gold gives the processor a flat surface to settle on.
SD and card sockets that fail mechanical testing
Sockets are mechanical parts on an electrical board. They are inspected as mechanical parts, not just as solder joints.
Ethernet magnetics placed without a clean return path
A four or six layer stack-up with a continuous ground plane is chosen at fabrication, not patched at assembly.
Boards built to a superseded bill of materials
Each build references one released BOM revision and one Gerber revision, recorded together.
Technical Specification
Product detail from the catalogue record, followed by the published process capability for the PCBA family. Anything the legacy catalogue did not record is marked TBC rather than filled in.
| Item | Technical specification |
|---|---|
| Product name | Embedded Controller PCBA With MCU And SD Card |
| Legacy catalogue reference | PCBA-2 |
| Product family | PCBA |
| Surface finish | See specification |
| Assembly technology | Surface mount, through-hole and mixed technology |
| Substrates assembled | Rigid FR4, aluminium metal core and flexible circuits |
| Bare board testing | Open and short test at 50 to 300 V before assembly |
| Component sourcing | Turnkey, consigned or mixed |
| Functional test | TBC — quoted against your test specification |
| Conformal coating | TBC — confirm the coating specification with your enquiry |
| Minimum order quantity | TBC — not recorded on the legacy catalogue |
| Lead time | TBC — confirmed per enquiry |
What The Board Is Made Of
| Material | Specification |
|---|---|
| Bare board | Rigid FR4, aluminium metal core or flexible circuit, fabricated in the same plant |
| Solder | Lead-free process, RoHS compliant |
| Components | Supplied by us on turnkey, or consigned by you |
| Stencil | Cut to the released paste layer of the same board revision |
| Packing | Packed on our own packing machines to your specification |
What Can Be Changed
- Turnkey, consigned or mixed component supply
- Rigid, aluminium or flexible substrates
- Mixed surface mount and through-hole builds
- Hand-fitted magnetics and mechanical parts
- Device programming, subject to confirmation
- Packing to your goods-in specification
How This Board Is Made
Eight stages on equipment sourced from the USA, Japan, Germany and Israel. Every stage listed runs inside our own plant.
Data and BOM review
Manufacturer part numbers checked and alternates agreed in writing before buying.
Bare board
Fabricated in the same plant and open and short tested at 50 to 300 V.
Stencil
Cut to the paste layer of the same released revision as the board.
Paste and placement
Solder paste printed, then surface mount devices placed.
Reflow
Profiled for the substrate, with flexible circuits carried flat in tooling.
Through-hole and manual
Connectors, magnetics and hand-fitted parts as separate operations with their own inspection.
Inspection
Assembled boards inspected before packing.
Packing
Packed on our own packing machines to your goods-in specification.
What Is Checked Before It Ships
- Bare board open and short tested at 50 to 300 V before any component is placed
- Stencil and board matched to the same released revision
- Post-reflow inspection before through-hole and manual operations
- Mechanical parts such as sockets and terminal blocks inspected as mechanical parts
- Functional test quoted and run against your own test specification
What The Plant Holds
- ISO 9001:2000. Quality management system certification recorded by the company. Current revision year available on request.
- ISO 14001:1996. Environmental management system certification recorded by the company.
- UL. Certification recorded by the company. File number available on request.
- RoHS and lead free. Listed in the company environmental policy alongside pollution prevention and resource reduction.
Certificate numbers, issue dates and current revision years are not published on the legacy site. Ask for copies with your enquiry and they will be sent with the quotation.
How It Compares With The Alternatives
Three boards from our own catalogue, side by side, so the trade-off is visible rather than argued.
| Assembly | Technology | Distinguishing feature | Best suited to |
|---|---|---|---|
| Embedded Controller PCBA With MCU And SD Card | Fine pitch SMD | Card socket and headers | Machine control and logging |
| Mini ITX Format Motherboard PCBA | Fine pitch SMD | Socket and slots | Embedded computing |
| Compact Control PCBA With Shielded Sections | Dense SMD | Shield cans | Small enclosure products |
What To Send With Your Enquiry
Four things that decide whether the quote comes back right the first time.
- Supply the pick and place file with the orientation reference stated, not implied.
- Give exact manufacturer part numbers for the card socket and battery holder, since footprints differ at the same nominal size.
- Mark any height restriction imposed by the enclosure lid on the assembly drawing.
- If devices are to be programmed on the line, supply the firmware image and the programming method with the order.
Embedded Controller PCBA With MCU And SD Card Questions
Which layer count suits a controller board like this?
Four layers is the usual starting point once there is a fine pitch processor and an Ethernet interface. Six and eight layer builds are available from the same plant.
Can you fit the battery and the SD socket?
Yes. Tell us the exact part numbers, since holder footprints vary between manufacturers even at the same size.
Do you programme the microcontroller before shipping?
Supply the firmware image and the programming method and we will confirm what the assembly line can support.
What surface finish do you recommend for this board?
Immersion gold. It is the finish we use on our 4, 10 and 12 layer rigid boards, and it is the right choice wherever fine pitch devices are placed.
Other Boards In The PCBA Family
Boards built on the same line, with the same tolerances, in a different configuration.
Assembled Interface Board With Serial Ethernet And Edge Connector
Assembled Motherboard With Expansion Slot And Rear Port Cluster
Assembled Power Converter With Toroidal Inductor And LED Output Board
Assembled Industrial IO Board With Relay Bank And Pluggable Terminals
Where This Board Is Used
The fields the legacy catalogue records for this class of board.
This Board In Context
Get Embedded Controller PCBA With MCU And SD Card Priced Against Your Own Files
Send Gerber RS-274X with an NC drill file, or an ODB++ package, with the layer count, thickness, copper weight, surface finish and quantity. We check it against the published capability before quoting.