Engineering

PCB Engineering Solutions

MCL routinely works with end customers in a consulting capacity to ensure the board specs are a best fit for the end application and within budget. We are PCB experts and this is one way that we differentiate ourselves from brokers in this industry. We know PCBs and are passionate about working with our customers to impact their competitiveness, time to market, R&D on new products or more.

MCL offers the following PCB engineering solutions and areas of expertise to meet your needs and quality expectations:

Design Rule Check (DRC)

MCL understands the importance of being proactive in quality controls to ensure that no issues arise during fabrication. Our reliable Design Rule Check verifies trace and space, open or shorted nets, aspect ratio and more parameters of your design. The goal of a design rule check is to reduce any potential errors in the production process by catching these errors in the design phase.  In the event MCL flags a potential issue that will impact manufacturability, our Customer Concierge will immediately notify the customer and present alternative cost-effective solutions.

Printed Circuit Board Design for Manufacturability (DFM)

An optimal PCB design is what you will come to expect from MCL, and that is what you will always get, with respect to all crucial factors: cost, safety, compliance, time-to-market, reliability and customer satisfaction.

Design for Manufacturability or DFM analyzes the layout of the properties of the board including drill holes, annular rings, trace width and spacing, hole registrations, solder mask, and silkscreen checks.

At MCL, we offer PCB engineering solutions that promote optimization of every phase of the manufacturing cycle, from fabrication and assembly to testing, delivery and service.

Get Pricing and Lead Time

Cost Consulting

Overall product costs can vary widely based on a number of factors, including materials and lead times. With printed circuit boards just being one component of those overall costs, MCL recognizes that companies have to be very conscientious of the price of each element that goes into the the build of their end product.

Many of MCL’s customers look to cut costs without sacrificing function and reliability. Our technical team can work with customers to discuss material selection, removal or addition of layers, drill sizes, trace and space, and panel optimization to help to keep project costs on target.

Surface Finish Consulting

There are numerous options for printed circuit board surface finishes such as ENIG, HASL (Tin-lead or Lead-free), Immersion Silver, ENEPIG and more. Whether your product is required to be RoHS compliant, use wire bonding, if it’s high-speed, if it has fine-pitch parts, or other special requirements, the correct surface finish will help to facilitate the assembly process. Using the correct surface finish is vital to the end application and an area in which MCL has a lot of experience in working with customers.

Stackup Design

Stackup design consists of the copper layers, cores, and pre-preg of the PCB. Stackup design considerations are important to take into consideration regarding cost, impedance, and ensuring the PCB isn’t subject to bow and twist occurring. MCL assists our customers with helping design the optimal stackup for their application. For impedance concerns, MCL can generate a stackup for the customer along with the impedance models so this can be inputted into their design software.

Laminate and Raw Material Considerations

Choosing the optimal laminate is important for the product the PCB will go into. Certain applications like high-speed RF/microwave products require specific materials to be used, such as Rogers. If the product is going to experience harsh environments, such as very high or low temperatures, you may need to use a polyamide or ceramic material. Most applications are well suited for an FR-4 based laminate. Please consider if your PCB needs to be RoHS compliant, it will experience higher temperatures during the assembly process, therefore, MCL recommends a higher Tg material than 140 Celsius. MCL’s team is ready to discuss laminate and raw material selection with you.

Panelization Design

Optimizing panelization is a key element in printed circuit board manufacturing and one that MCL takes very seriously. Our PCB engineering services meet the requirements of anything from rectangular, v-scored printed circuit boards to more complex routed and retained panels. MCL understands the importance of ensuring an efficient panel for assembly use by including the proper rails, fiducials, and tooling holes to the perimeter of the panel. Our panelization solutions allow high-volume board production while still making allowances for any customization or separation you need.

DXF to Gerber Conversion

Gerber files are now the standard PCB design format. Mechanical CAD software-generated DXF documents are inefficient and time-consuming. Gerber files are more flexible, make it easier to avoid errors and lead to faster production. Our services include quick and easy DXF and DWG to Gerber conversions to simplify your design process and get your PCBs to you faster. If you only have DXF files, they will need to be converted to Gerbers. MCL has an efficient process to complete this as time-to-market is an important consideration for many customers,

Controlled Impedance Modeling

If the product has impedance control requirements, whether it be single-ended, differential pairs, coplanar waveguide, etc. MCL will assist our customers with stackup guidance, creation or verification of the stackup.  Not all PCB solutions require controlled impedance, but for those that do, MCL offers support for controlled impedance modeling.

Impedance-controlled PCBs also go through our PCB design solutions so that we can ensure that signal reflections are prioritized over insertion less often because in this range the reflections are of the utmost importance for overall signal integrity.

Remember that trace impedance is uncontrolled impedance, so we don’t worry about that.