PCB House specs, what do some of these mean?

[jimosity]

So, I'm getting ready to order some PCB boards and I realized that there are a few things on the ordering page that I'm just not quite sure of.
I'm looking at ordering from PCBcart.com and what I would like to do is get several of the same circuit on one piece of material and then break them apart or cut them apart as necessary; that should help cost I would think -- plus there are times when I need two of the same PCB board in one unit.  My PCB board is 2.2in x 1.5in.   Should I do a 'panel' then?  For panel size, do I just take my board size and figure out how many I want on each panel?


So, with those questions out of the way - here are a few of the things that I'm not sure of -- can someone explain the difference between some of these options?
Material Details
   Standard Tg140c
   High Tg170C

Route Process
   Panel as V-Scoring
   Panel as Tab Route

Surface Finish
   HASL - Hot Air Solder Leveling
   Lead Free HASL - RoHS
   ENIG - Electroless Nickle/Immersion Gold - RoHS
   Immersion Silver - RoHS
   Immersion Tin - RoHS
   OSP - Organic Solderability Preservatives - RoHS
   None

Slots in Board
   No
   Yes - Non Plated Through
   Yes - Partial or All Plated Through

Also, these options are asked, but I wanted to see what the recommendations were for these sizes.   I am using through hole components, no SMD (yet)

Thickness (Finished Board):
Copper Weight (Finished):    
Min. Tracing/Spacing:    
Min. Annular Ring:    
Smallest Holes:    

What is a "Peelable" Soldermask?


I have no idea what Gold Fingers are, if someone could explain that, I'd appreciate it.  Sounds like it might be contacts on the edge of a board where it may be like a cartridge but I'm not sure.
Gold Fingers
Gold Fingers Number    
Gold Fingers Chamfer    
Slots quantity in board

[defaced]

Route Process
  Panel as V-Scoring
  Panel as Tab Route

90% sure V-Scoring will give you one big board with your design on it so you break them off.  50% sure Tab Route will also get you one big board you break apart, but it's more like tiny tabs holding the mostly cut apart boards together, but you'll have to either ask them or see if you can find pics online.  

If you just have one design, some places penalize them for you, others you have to do it.  Contact the board house you're working with to see what they want.  

Standard Tg140c - This is the material I'd use.  The 140c part of the name looks to be the temp rating.  

HASL - Hot Air Solder Leveling - standard surface finish on the pads.  This is what you want unless you need something special

Slots in Board - this is a "you tell them what your design has in it" sorta thing.  If there aren't any slots, you check no.  The questions about trace spacing and such is the same thing.  

Thickness (Finished Board):
Copper Weight (Finished):     1/16in thickness, 1oz copper is pretty standard.  You can go 1/2oz for stompboxes, but that may cost more because they won't have the material in stock.  You'll have to ask them.

I'm pretty sure gold fingers are the gold plating done to cart interface tabs (think like a PCI card on a computer, the tabs that go into the slot).  Your answer to this is probably "no".

[jimosity]

Thank you - that helps.
Does anyone care to add to this topic on any of the other things that I've mentioned?

[FiveseveN]

Dave Jones has a series on PCB Manufacturing (and a lot of other awesome stuff on his YouTube channel/blog/forum) and it also covers panelization: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VXE_dh38HjU

[defaced]

^Good recommendation.  I found that video very helpful on the whole process.  I wish I would have watched it before I had my first boards made.