Hi. Let us split this discussion to public and private.
1) The attached jpeg did not make it to this forum. Please repost. If possible, please also post the power supply details and schematic for another set of 4 eyes to review.
2) Perhaps it is my nature of dealings with many people in my life but trust is something that must be earned. Respectively, we have been burnt but by PCB shops making claims they never met AFTER taking our money and we incurred losses during production (prototypes mostly). We have met some amazing PCB shops with shiny looking boards at past trade fairs (HK, Taiwan) but after making a purchase, need a welder to solder to or looked much worse than our nightmares. We just through the PCBs in the garbage. Lesson learned and we flame them if we see them at the fairs. We are picky but want what we pay for, nothing more. Respectively, we are confident that we are dealing with the major players in Asia for PCB shops after being gouged by local shops.
Don't get us wrong here, we love a "good deal" on our component purchases because we are in the PC industry and while we have invented many industry firsts, we can feel the fire breathing dragons trying to clone our unique designs. Some have stolen our product pictures and claim they are building for us in Asia - we build nothing in Asia but source raw materials from the region. It has been a rat race but most OEMs are loyal as they know they are working with the innovator rather than a clone shop. However, costs must remain competitive.
For prototype PCBs that are flawless,
JETPCB - that is the English name and they are an outfit out of Taiwan whom we have met many times over the past 15-20 years of our travel. Excellent quality and will not fail on specs but a bit more costly than others (actual company is All Wei PCB but they changed to the simple URL - they will ship out of Taiwan to anywhere in the world and on time to meet your deadlines; have used them for many projects over the years for our 4L and 6L FR4 designs)
http://us.jetpcb.com/
ChinaFastPrint - out of Shenzhen, CN. Have used them for many projects but after they opened their US office, the end PCB pricing went in the wrong direction. We can source locally for similar costs so why bother. However, used them for volume builds as well as prototyping PCBs for many years when Shenzhen, CN did the pricing. Not competitive in our books but you may have better luck or through a reliable broker.
Suntak PCB - a giant PCB shop in Shenzhen, CN whom we have used for at least 10 years to date for our 4L & 6L PCBs. Very reliable and feel their silk screen quality is 7/10 - we are picky but never a QC issue. Very competitive on costs but recently they did not want to deal with us directly due to "low volumes" ($1M USD per year is not enough to be a direct account). We use multiple PCB shops so cannot guarantee a locked in contract with any one supplier. Respectively, our account is now being handled by a broker who is able to take our biz with other accounts and can meet their requirements for the dollar value. It is a crazy business model but the PCB shops want to "grow" using fewer customers with higher dollar value purchases. This shop is our key supplier for prototyping and volume PCBs - all bare as we do PCB assembly here in Canada due to the nature of the builds (under NDA) and for 100% QC.
Contact Terry (whom we have used for years to date) to purchase PCBs from Suntak (at ANY volume). The service from Terry has been flawless and he replies even in the middle of his night and has done so through the CNY holidays - that is customer service!! Very sharp on the details for the PCB business.
Terry Guan | Sales Department
SHENZHEN YAXINDA TECHNOLOGY CO.LTD
Tel:+86 755-23727699 | Fax:+86 755-66831238 | Mobile:+86 13145861850
Email/Skype:
pcb023@yaxindatech.com | Website:
www.yaxindatech.com
Address: Room 318-322, Block H, Zhigu Science Park , Bao'an District, Shenzhen.
Terry is also able to build bare PCBs at his factory but we tool up through him with Suntak so that the PCB tooling cost can be used again once we go live if there are no PCB changes. However, Terry is able to supply the PCBs from his factory at a lower cost if in ROHS compliant only. Our OEM clients are Tier 1 customers who demand Halogen Free laminates which is not an issue with Suntak - many suppliers choke on such requests. On topic, be sure that the PCB shop you use applies their UL mark onto the PCB + mfr datecode. Using the UL mark, you can confirm who really built the bare PCB and also to hold them accountable for any possible defect of the PCB. It is a spec we always demand.
Another excellent shop is Kingford whom we met in HK - they do work for AMD and others and saw some gorgeous PCBs on display - have used them for many projects but more with Suntak (due to slightly lower costs and VERY quick lead times):
Daphne Tian (Ms.)
Sales Department
Mobile: +86-135-9019-1310
KINGFORD PCB ELECTRONICS CO.,LIMITED
Tel: +86-755-23287851 ext:806
Email:
kfpcb12@kingfordpcb.com
Website:
www.kingfordpcb.com
Skype:
kfpcb12@kingfordpcb.com
Your turnkey PCB & assembly partner in China
We have others but are of higher cost and use them for only the very complex PCBs (ie. buried and blind vias, etc.).
The # 1 PCB shop in China is Shennan Circuit and have used them for some complex PCBs but you have to use a broker as we are not worth to deal with them directly. Can share some names on demand for these brokers.
3) A good PCB shop can support TDR reporting without question. This is where a specialized test equipment will perform impedance checking of the highlighted traces from your PCB design to confirm that the final PCB is compliant to the spec. Your statement of that the design works at 12 Mbps but not 480 Mbps is disturbing and may very well be linked to this fault. Especially if you know that the IP is confirmed to be working on the evalkit. Perhaps you have USB stubs on the traces that are killing the higher speed operation?
4) Not an issue on Protel and believe our earlier designs were also on this tool. Altium allows us to do 3D modelling for our new roadmap of widgets that use enclosures.
5) If you are keen to find some good raw material suppliers (enclosures, PCBs, PCBA, etc.), consider to visit the upcoming Electronic fairs in April in HK. There are 2 coming up, one is the Global Sources fair held at the HK Airport Hall (April 11 - 14); then the HK Electronic Fair in Wanchai (April 13-16). They purposely hold both fairs around the same time.
https://www.globalsources.com/TRADESHOW ... RONICS.HTM
https://event.hktdc.com/fair/hkelectron ... g-Edition/
They hold the same fairs again in October (Fall edition) which is even larger but for us, our focus is electronic parts and often we find new and better suppliers for the latest designs. I am planning to visit this April fair in a few weeks. Let me know if you need any help on this if of interest.
Will ping you for the balance of the details of your design.