Hello everyone, I've got another update on the FCDEV3B front. The people from pcbcart finally got back to me with the price quotes for making our boards with either selective OSP/ENIG finish or ENIG throughout as discussed before, and the price is about the same either way, between $2400 and $2500 USD. This price is definitely affordable, i.e., the funds from the generous 2016-12-23 donation are sufficient to cover it, thus I can pay for the order and get the ball rolling as soon as I decide between the two surface finish choices.
The one issue with using ENIG finish throughout is that the solder joints are made with nickel rather than with copper, and the current flowing through these joints has to pass through the nickel layer in between the copper below and the SnPb above. The nickel-phosphorus layer that forms in the ENIG process has a lower conductivity (higher resistivity) than copper or SnPb, and it is often stated that the resulting higher resistance is bad for high frequency signals, which may be an issue for our 1 GHz and 2 GHz RF. Hence I will need to seek some more expert advice before I make the final decision. M~ _______________________________________________ Community mailing list [email protected] https://www.freecalypso.org/mailman/listinfo/community
