The Basic Printed Circuit Board Layout

23 Oct The Basic Printed Circuit Board Layout

Printed Circuit Boards or PCBs are important elements of almost every electronic and electrical appliance. PCBs connect various components with each other using circuits and copper traces. However, there are various factors that need to be kept in mind while designing PCBs like the size, material used, layers required, connectivity aspects, etc. Just like these, there are many other mechanical and electrical constraints that need to be taken into consideration when laying out a PCB for the desired fit and function.

With appliances becoming smaller, PCBs are required to be smaller too; and smaller means more complex. This small size and complexity makes designing and debugging more complex and difficult, which makes PCBs costly. This is why it is important that you have a design-for-test strategy that is designed by a team of designers and engineers collaborated together. A professional PCB assembly manufacturer from India can be helpful here. When you have such professionals partnered with you, you don’t have to worry about the most common pitfalls, like those mentioned below.

• The cover on the PCB is meant to protect the copper from corrosion. But, if an edge piece is trimmed to close, the cover is removed, thus exposing the copper layer, leading to insufficient copper-to-edge clearance. There must be enough space between the edge of the copper and the edge of the board to reduce risks of shorts during depanelization.
• Any acute angles can trap acid which compromises the connection and makes the circuit defective. Thus, you need to be very sure that there are no acute angles in the design.
• The copper-coated holes within the PCB are present to allow current to flow from one side of the board to the other. But, when these holes have imperfections, catch an air bubble, are contaminated, or don’t have proper copper deposition, plating voids can occur, thus making the flow of current ineffective. These issues can be avoided by cleaning the material after drilling the holes.
• During the etching process, if something goes wrong, it may cause slivers, which can have seriously negative results on the PCB’s function. This could occur when there are strips of very thing copper or solder mask detaching before dissolving and contaminating the chemical bath; or by cutting an area of the board very deep or very thin. This issue can be avoided by designing sections with minimum widths.

Apart from all the above mentioned pitfalls, there are many other things that you also need to consider is you wish that your circuit performs optimally. This includes proper stackup design, good grounding, electromagnetic interference, and shielding of sensitive traces from noisy signals.

To ensure all of the above, you need a specialist company who has specialized technicians who utilize the best practices in laying out the PCB. They should be capable of identifying errors and design issues and correct them well in advance so that clients can make the best use of their PCBs. One such PCB assembly manufacturer in India is Miracle Aerospace who have professionals working in the team with the knowledge about the latest design software and incredible experience of manufacturing a wide range of PCBs.