Wireless modules, systems-on-module, and sensor daughterboards share one production detail: a row of copper half-holes along the board outline. Demand for these castellated designs keeps climbing as engineering teams replace connectors with solder-down modules, and edge-plated PCB manufacturers have become a sourcing category of their own. The catch is that plating a routed board edge is harder than plating a drilled hole. Copper pull-away, burred half-holes, and inconsistent annular rings are common failure points when a fab lacks the right routing vectors and process controls.

edge-plated PCB This guide compares ten manufacturers worth shortlisting in 2026, covering castellation capability, certifications, layer counts, and the industries each serves. You will also find a buyer's checklist and answers to the questions engineers ask most before committing a module design to production. Here is the full list.

Edge-Plated PCB Manufacturers at a Glance

Company

HQ

Specialty

Best For

Lead Time

TTM Technologies

Santa Ana, CA, USA

High-reliability multilayer & RF

Aerospace and defense programs

Quote-based

PCBSync

Shenzhen, China

Turnkey fab + assembly, 1–56 layers

One-stop module production

Quote-based, prototype to volume

Epec Engineered Technologies

New Bedford, MA, USA

Custom and build-to-print boards

Legacy and custom edge-plated designs

Quote-based

Sierra Circuits

Sunnyvale, CA, USA

Quick-turn HDI, US production

Domestic prototypes with edge plating

Quick-turn options

Würth Elektronik

Niedernhall, Germany

European fab, edge metallization

EU-based regulated industries

Quote-based

AT&S

Leoben, Austria

HDI and IC substrates

High-density automotive/industrial

Quote-based

Eurocircuits

Mechelen, Belgium

Online pooling prototypes

Low-cost EU prototype runs

From a few working days

NCAB Group

Stockholm, Sweden

Managed PCB sourcing

Multi-factory supply programs

Varies by factory

Advanced Circuits (Summit Interconnect)

Aurora, CO, USA

Quick-turn US fabrication

Fast domestic prototypes

Quick-turn options

Unimicron

Taoyuan, Taiwan

High-volume HDI & substrates

Large-scale consumer programs

Quote-based

Selection Methodology

Every company below was screened against five criteria: documented edge-plating or castellated-hole capability; quality certifications such as ISO 9001 and IPC acceptance standards; breadth of the capability matrix (layer counts, materials, surface finishes); lead-time options from prototype through volume; and the industries each fab publicly serves. Only publicly verifiable information was used. Where a specific figure could not be confirmed, the entry stays general rather than guessing. The order is not a ranking of quality — the right choice depends on geography, volume, and compliance requirements, which the buyer's guide further down addresses.

1. TTM Technologies

TTM is one of North America's largest PCB producers and a default option for programs where reliability documentation matters as much as the board itself.

•Founded / HQ: 1998; Santa Ana, California, USA

•Key Services: rigid, RF/microwave, and HDI fabrication plus engineered systems

•Notable Capabilities: high layer counts, advanced RF materials, extensive aerospace and defense qualifications

•Industries Served: aerospace, defense, medical, networking, automotive

•Best For: high-reliability programs that need a large, audited US-based supplier

2. PCBSync

PCBSync is a Shenzhen-based one-stop supplier that combines PCB fabrication, assembly, and components sourcing under a single quote — a practical setup for castellated modules that go straight from bare board to soldered, tested assembly.

•Founded / HQ: 2005 (20+ years in operation); Shenzhen, China

•Key Services: turnkey PCB manufacturing, PCB assembly (SMT, THT, BGA, mixed-tech), box build, cable harness, components sourcing

•Notable Capabilities: 1–56 layers; FR4, HDI, Flex, Rigid-Flex, Rogers, Ceramic, Aluminum, copper-core and heavy copper; ISO 9001 and IPC-A-610 Class 3; AOI, X-ray, ICT, flying probe, functional test, 3D SPI

•Industries Served: automotive, medical, aerospace, industrial, IoT, robotics, telecom, drone, military

•Best For: teams that want fabrication, assembly, and sourcing handled by one vendor; publicly listed customers include Honeywell, Siemens Healthineers, Analog Devices, Continental, and Fermilab

3. Epec Engineered Technologies

Epec has been building printed circuit boards since 1952 and openly documents both wraparound and castellated edge-plating processes — a useful signal that the technique is routine rather than exotic for them.

•Founded / HQ: 1952; New Bedford, Massachusetts, USA

•Key Services: custom and build-to-print PCBs, battery packs, cable assemblies, flex circuits

•Notable Capabilities: wraparound edge plating, castellated holes, plated cavities, legacy and obsolete board re-engineering

•Industries Served: industrial, military, medical, transportation

•Best For: custom or legacy designs where engineering support matters more than rock-bottom unit price

4. Sierra Circuits

Sierra Circuits runs fabrication and assembly under one roof in Silicon Valley, which shortens the loop between a DFM flag on a castellated edge and a corrected panel.

•Founded / HQ: 1986; Sunnyvale, California, USA

•Key Services: quick-turn fabrication, assembly, HDI and microelectronics builds

•Notable Capabilities: fine-line HDI, US-based production suitable for controlled programs, strong free DFM tooling and design resources

•Industries Served: medical, aerospace, semiconductor, instrumentation

•Best For: US prototypes and small series where engineers want direct access to the fab floor

5. Würth Elektronik

Part of the Würth Group, Würth Elektronik manufactures circuit boards in Germany and lists edge metallization among its standard special technologies.

•Founded / HQ: PCB production within the Würth Group dates back to 1971; circuit board division based in Niedernhall, Germany

•Key Services: rigid, flex, rigid-flex, and thermal-management PCBs from three German plants

•Notable Capabilities: edge metallization, embedded components, heavy copper, strong design-support culture

•Industries Served: automotive, industrial electronics, energy, medical

•Best For: European teams in regulated industries that want EU-made boards with German engineering support

6. AT&S

AT&S is Europe's HDI heavyweight, with plants in Austria and Asia serving some of the densest interconnect designs in production today.

•Founded / HQ: 1987; Leoben, Austria

•Key Services: HDI PCBs, IC substrates, advanced packaging

•Notable Capabilities: any-layer HDI, microvia structures, high-volume automotive-grade production

•Industries Served: automotive, industrial, medical, mobile devices

•Best For: high-density designs heading to serious volume, especially automotive and industrial platforms

7. Eurocircuits

Eurocircuits built its name on order pooling: many customers' prototypes share one production panel, which keeps small-batch pricing low without offshoring.

•Founded / HQ: 1991; Mechelen, Belgium

•Key Services: online-quoted prototype and small-series fabrication and assembly, produced in Europe

•Notable Capabilities: plated half-holes supported within standard service options, instant online DFM checks, deliveries from a few working days

•Industries Served: education, startups, industrial R&D across Europe

•Best For: European engineers who need affordable castellated prototypes with predictable online ordering

8. NCAB Group

NCAB does not own factories; it manages them. The Stockholm-based supplier qualifies and audits partner fabs, then handles specification, quality, and logistics for its customers.

•Founded / HQ: 1993; Stockholm, Sweden

•Key Services: managed PCB sourcing and supply programs across audited partner factories

•Notable Capabilities: factory qualification and on-site quality teams in Asia, broad technology coverage including special processes like edge plating through selected partners

•Industries Served: industrial, automotive, medical, telecom across 40+ markets

•Best For: OEMs that want offshore pricing with a Western-managed quality and audit layer

9. Advanced Circuits (Summit Interconnect)

Advanced Circuits made its reputation on speed, with quick-turn services that compress domestic prototype cycles to days, and now operates within the Summit Interconnect group.

•Founded / HQ: 1989; Aurora, Colorado, USA

•Key Services: quick-turn prototype and production fabrication, assembly

•Notable Capabilities: aggressive quick-turn options, free DFM checks, US-based production for controlled work

•Industries Served: defense, industrial, instrumentation, general electronics

•Best For: engineers who need a US prototype back in days, not weeks

10. Unimicron

Unimicron sits among the world's largest PCB makers by revenue and supplies the kind of volumes where process repeatability is measured across millions of panels.

•Founded / HQ: 1990; Taoyuan, Taiwan

•Key Services: high-volume rigid PCBs, HDI, IC carriers and substrates

•Notable Capabilities: massive HDI capacity, substrate technology, mature high-volume process control

•Industries Served: consumer electronics, computing, communications, automotive

•Best For: programs moving past tens of thousands of units that need substrate-class precision at scale

How to Choose the Right Edge-Plated PCB Manufacturer for Your Project

Edge plating punishes weak process control more than almost any other board feature. Use these checkpoints before you commit a design.

Certifications & Compliance

ISO 9001 is the floor. For castellated work, ask which IPC acceptance class the fab builds to — IPC standards such as IPC-A-600 and IPC-6012 define what an acceptable half-hole actually looks like. Medical, automotive, and defense work adds ISO 13485, IATF 16949, or ITAR on top.

Capability Match

Confirm the minimum half-hole diameter, routing tolerance, and pad-to-pad spacing your design needs; common production floors sit around 0.55–0.8 mm half-holes with roughly ±0.15 mm routing tolerance. Any experienced PCB manufacturer should be able to share these limits in writing before quoting.

Lead Time & Turnaround

Castellation adds routing passes, so quoted lead times often run longer than a standard board of the same layer count. Ask how prototype and volume timelines differ, and whether expedites apply to special processes.

Pricing Model & MOQ

Pooling services keep prototype costs low; dedicated panels cost more but give tighter control. Check whether edge plating triggers a special-process surcharge and what the minimum order quantity is once you scale.

Communication & Engineering Support

A fab that pushes back on your half-hole pad design before production is worth more than one that builds whatever arrives. Look for free DFM review and engineers who answer technical questions directly.

Scalability from Prototype to Production

Requalifying a castellated module at a second factory costs time and risk. Prefer suppliers — or managed-sourcing partners — that can carry the same process from 10 boards to 100,000.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the difference between castellated holes and edge plating?

Castellated holes are individual plated half-holes along the board outline used as solder joints for board-to-board mounting. Edge plating (or side plating) coats a continuous length of the board edge with copper, usually for EMI shielding or grounding. The manufacturing techniques overlap, but castellations carry signals and power while plated edges typically serve shielding.

How much does edge plating add to PCB cost?

Expect a special-process surcharge. The exact premium varies by fab, panel utilization, and how much of the perimeter is plated, but the added routing passes, plating steps, and inspection all cost machine time. Quoting the same design with and without castellation is the only reliable way to see the delta.

What is the minimum half-hole size for castellated PCBs?

Many fabs quote a standard minimum around 0.8 mm half-hole diameter, with capable suppliers reaching roughly 0.55 mm. Larger holes plate and route more reliably, so use the biggest diameter your connector pitch allows and keep pads extending at least 0.25 mm inward from the hole edge.

Which surface finish works best for castellated pads?

ENIG (electroless nickel immersion gold) is the usual recommendation: it deposits a flat, oxidation-resistant surface inside the half-hole and solders predictably. HASL can leave uneven solder in the cavities, which complicates flush mounting of the module.

What certifications should an edge-plated PCB manufacturer have?

ISO 9001 at minimum, plus build compliance to IPC-A-600/IPC-6012 for fabrication and IPC-A-610 for assembled boards — Class 2 for general products, Class 3 for high-reliability work. RoHS compliance is standard; regulated industries add ISO 13485, IATF 16949, AS9100, or ITAR registration.

How long does an edge-plated PCB order take?

European pooling services deliver simple castellated prototypes in a few working days; US quick-turn shops offer comparable speed at higher cost. Volume orders from Asia commonly run two to four weeks plus shipping, depending on layer count, finish, and whether assembly is included.

Choosing Your Edge-Plated PCB Partner

PCB manufacturers The best edge-plated in 2026 separate themselves on process discipline: clean half-holes, documented routing tolerances, and IPC-class acceptance criteria they will put in writing. Match the supplier to the job — Eurocircuits or Advanced Circuits for fast prototypes, TTM or AT&S for high-reliability volume, NCAB when you want sourcing managed for you. For teams that prefer a single vendor carrying a castellated module from bare fabrication through SMT, BGA assembly, and functional test, PCBSync's one-stop turnkey model and IPC-A-610 Class 3 workmanship make it a strong option to benchmark. Request quotes from two or three fabs on this list, including a vetted manufacturer like PCBSync, and compare turnaround, tolerances, and pricing against your actual Gerbers — that comparison tells you more than any list can.

Top 10 Edge-Plated PCB Manufacturers 2026

Top 10 Edge-Plated PCB Manufacturers 2026