Assembled Compact Control Board With Connector Bank And Shielded Areas
A compact assembled control board on a blue solder mask, with a dense component layout, several connector positions and shielded sections. Small boards concentrate every assembly difficulty into a small area.
What This Board Is
Shrinking a board does not shrink its problems. Component spacing gets tighter, shield cans have to sit flat over the parts they cover, and the connectors still need the same mechanical strength. Minimum trace and space of 0.075 mm and a minimum solder bridge of 0.10 mm are what make a layout this dense manufacturable rather than marginal.
- PCBA
- See specification
What You Get From This Build
- 0.075 mm trace and space allows dense routing in a small outline without moving to HDI
- Blue solder mask and other colours available at no change to the process
- Shield can footprints and their ground stitching designed into the bare board
- Small boards panelised in arrays so handling and cost per board both improve
Who Specifies This Board
- Wireless module and radio product manufacturers
- Portable and handheld instrument builders
- Consumer and appliance electronics OEMs
- Product teams fitting an existing circuit into a smaller enclosure
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.
A circuit that no longer fits the new enclosure
0.075 mm trace and space is the published limit on both inner and outer layers, which gives a meaningful reduction over a 6 mil design rule.
Shield cans that will not sit flat or solder reliably
Can footprints and the ground stitching under them are fixed at the layout stage, and the flat immersion gold finish is what lets the can wall wet evenly.
Small boards damaged during assembly
Boards are run in arrays with V-cut or routed tabs so they are handled as a panel, not as singles.
Solder mask slivers between fine pitch pads
Minimum solder bridge is held at 0.10 mm, which is the limit below which mask between pads stops being reliable.
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 | Compact Control PCBA With Shielded Sections |
| Legacy catalogue reference | PCBA-6 |
| 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Compact Control PCBA With Shielded Sections | Dense SMD | Shield cans | Wireless and handheld products |
| Multi Port Control PCBA With USB And Card Slot | Mainly SMD | Chassis connectors | Gateways and media devices |
| Embedded Controller PCBA With MCU And SD Card | Fine pitch SMD | Headers | Machine controllers |
What To Send With Your Enquiry
Four things that decide whether the quote comes back right the first time.
- Give the shield can part number and whether it is a one-piece can or a frame and lid.
- Mark the ground stitching pattern required under each shield on the fabrication data.
- State the array format you want, since small boards are handled as panels through assembly.
- Confirm the solder mask colour, because this board is built on blue rather than green.
Compact Control PCBA With Shielded Sections Questions
Can you build boards with a blue solder mask?
Yes. This board uses blue, and our 10 layer rigid board is also built on blue mask.
Do you fit shield cans?
Tell us the can part number and whether it is a one-piece can or a frame and lid, since the two assemble differently.
What is the smallest board you will panelise?
There is no practical lower limit. Small boards are run in arrays, and we V-cut or rout the tabs in house.
Can you do HDI with microvias?
Our published rigid capability is a through-hole process from 1 to 16 layers with a 0.20 mm minimum hole. Send your via structure and we will tell you whether it fits that envelope.
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 Motherboard With Expansion Slot And Rear Port Cluster
Assembled Power Converter With Toroidal Inductor And LED Output Board
Where This Board Is Used
The fields the legacy catalogue records for this class of board.
This Board In Context
Get Compact Control PCBA With Shielded Sections 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.