Assembled Motherboard With Expansion Slot And Rear Port Cluster
An assembled motherboard in a small form factor, with a memory slot, an expansion slot, a processor socket, a rear port cluster and a standard power header. Computing boards combine high layer counts, tight impedance control and a great many mechanical parts on one panel.
What This Board Is
A motherboard is the hardest thing on this catalogue to build well. The memory and expansion buses need controlled impedance, the socket has to be coplanar, the rear cluster has to line up with a chassis aperture, and the electrolytic capacitors have to survive a reflow profile set by the processor socket. Our published rigid capability covers 1 to 16 layers with a minimum trace and space of 0.075 mm, which is the envelope boards of this type sit inside.
- PCBA
- See specification
What You Get From This Build
- Layer counts to 16 available for boards that need dedicated memory bus reference planes
- Rear port cluster alignment controlled by an outline tolerance of ±0.10 mm
- Sockets and slots placed and inspected as precision mechanical parts
- Immersion gold keeps socket and slot contacts flat and free of oxide
Who Specifies This Board
- Embedded computing and industrial PC manufacturers
- Kiosk, signage and point of sale hardware builders
- Single board computer developers moving from a reference design to their own layout
- Systems integrators specifying a board to fit an existing chassis
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.
Memory buses that fail at speed
Controlled impedance is designed into the stack-up before fabrication. Send the target values with the Gerber set rather than after the first article.
Rear ports that miss the aperture
Outline dimension tolerance of ±0.10 mm and hole position of ±0.05 mm are held on the bare board so the cluster lands where the chassis expects it.
Processor sockets that do not seat evenly
Panel warpage is held at 0.75% or better, which is what a socket needs to sit flat.
Tall capacitors fouling the chassis lid
Give the height restriction with the layout and it is checked at the placement stage, not at final assembly.
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 | Mini ITX Format Motherboard PCBA |
| Legacy catalogue reference | PCBA-3 |
| 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mini ITX Format Motherboard PCBA | High layer count | Socket and expansion slot | Industrial PC and kiosk |
| Embedded Controller PCBA With MCU And SD Card | Four to six layers | Headers and card socket | Machine controllers |
| Multi Port Control PCBA With USB And Card Slot | Mainly SMD | USB and card slot | Gateways and media devices |
What To Send With Your Enquiry
Four things that decide whether the quote comes back right the first time.
- Send the impedance profile for the memory and expansion buses with the stack-up, before tooling.
- Give the chassis drawing showing the rear aperture, so the port cluster position can be verified.
- State the maximum component height allowed above the board on each side.
- Confirm whether the socket, heatsink and fan are fitted here or shipped separately.
Mini ITX Format Motherboard PCBA Questions
How many layers can you build for a computing board?
Our published rigid capacity table covers 1 to 16 layers.
Can you hold controlled impedance on memory buses?
Send the impedance profile with the stack-up and we will confirm it against available laminate thicknesses before tooling.
What is your maximum panel size?
450 x 660 mm, which is 18 x 26 inches, on the rigid line.
Do you supply boards with the heatsink and fan fitted?
Tell us the mechanical assembly you need. Mechanical parts are quoted separately from the electrical build.
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 Embedded Controller With Microcontroller Ethernet And Storage
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
Background Reading
Most quote delays are caused by missing information rather than by difficult boards. This is the list of what we need, w...
Who buys the components changes the price, the lead time and where the risk sits. Neither model is better in general. Th...
Get Mini ITX Format Motherboard PCBA 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.