Far East Resources enters no exclusive representation agreements with its vendor base, they are only limited by the capabilities of those vendors they source from. By choosing to remain a "free agent" in the industry, and not being confined by one-to-one relationship with their supplier base, they can bring any and all the advantages from any supplier in any country they have offices in.

Base Laminates Available: FR4, CEM1, CEM3, FR2, FR1, FR5, Polyimide, BT Epoxy, Teflon

Technologies Available: Rigid, Rigid-Flexible, Flexible, Backplanes, Thin Core, Blind/Buried/Microvias, Impedance Control, Hybrid Circuitry

Min. Line Width/Spacing: 3/3 Mils

Aspect Ratio: 10:1

Min./Max. Layer Count: 1-42 Layers (Rigid Technology); 4-10 Layers (Rigid-Flex Technology)

Max. Board Size: 600mm x 760mm

Min. Finished Board Thickness: 3 mils (.075mm or .002")

Max. Finished Board Thickness: 7.6mm

Min. Finished Hole Tolerance: Mechanical: 8 mil (.20mm or .007"); Laser: 4 mil (.10mm or .003")

Max. Finished Copper Plating: 3 oz Cu

Surface Finishes Available: HASL, immersion gold/tin/nickel, selective gold plating, electrolytic gold plating, OSP, Carbon Ink, Peelable Soldermask, silver through hole, SN100C, Leadfree HAC

Cost Factors for PCB Sourcing

There are any number of variables that could have effect the cost of a PCB. The following parameters should be considered when designing/purchasing PCB's:

Manufacturing Concerns

• Size of production release quantities
• Number of layers
• Size of PCB
• Effective use of panelization (Effective panelization allows for no or minimal panel scrap, and takes in account the efficiencies based upon the supplier's largest allowable panel size)
• Other laminate efficiencies (This relates to how efficient the supplier's working production panel is based on the size of the board, and the scrap rate per production panel)
• Manufacturing Yield
• Manufacturing Equipment Efficiency
• Number of holes
• Number of sizes of holes
• Hole size density (Number of holes per square inch)
• Special hole requirements (blind via, buried via, tight tolerance via [6 mils and below], etc.)
• Copper Plating Tolerances
• Choice of Laminate Material
• Special Laminate Usage (Teflon, Mylar, etc.)
• Additive Plating Requirements (Entek, Corfin, OSP, Gold plating, etc.)
• Trace Width Requirements
• Line Spacing Requirements
• Special Board Features (control impedance, RF requirements, etc.)
• Special Packaging Requirements (ESD material, etc.)
• Outline Dimensioning Issues
• Capacity Restraints
• Ease of Manufacturability

Transportation Concerns

• Overall weight of shipment
• Shipment Frequency
• Final Destination (if located outside the service area of an international airport, custom facilities, etc.)
• Mode of Transportation (Whether it is ocean or air transport)

Purchasing Concerns

• Purchasing Leverage with Supplier Base
• Number of Suppliers
• Consolidating the frequency of purchase for a single commodity
• Effective planning and forecasting strategies
• Inventory control issues