Introduction to PCB

Design Manufacturing
 What is PCB
• Printed Circuit Board
• Electronic Board that connects circuit components
• PCB populated with electronic components is a printed
circuit assembly (PCA)
• PCBs are rugged, inexpensive, and can be highly reliable
• Mass manufacturing
• Professional
 Materials of PCB
• Conducting layers are typically made of thin copper foil.
• The board is typically coated with a solder mask that is
green in color. Other colors that are normally available
are blue and red.
• Unwanted copper is removed from the substrate
after etching leaving only the desired copper
traces or pathways
 Parts of a PCB
• Components
• Pads
• Traces
• Vias
• Top Metal Layer
• Bottom Metal Layer
 Components

• Components are the actual devices used in the circuit.

• This includes input/output connections.
• I/O ports, including power supply connections, are
also important in the PCB design.
 Pads

• Location that components connect to.

• You will solder components to the pads on the PCB.
• Pads will connect to traces.
• Pads have an inner diameter and outer diameter.
 Traces
• Traces connect pads together.
• Traces are essentially the wiring of the PCB.
• Equivalent to wire for conducting signals
• Traces sometimes connect to vias.
• High current traces should be wide.
• Signal traces usually narrower than power or ground
traces
 Vias
• Pad with a plated hole connecting traces from one
layer of board to other layers.
• Attempt to minimize via use in your PCBs.
• Some component leads can be used as vias.
 Top Metal Layer
• Most of the components
reside on the top layer
• Fewer traces on the top layer
• Components are soldered to
the pads on the top layer of
PCB
• Higher circuit densities
 Bottom Metal Layer
• Few components on this layer.
• Many traces on this layer.
• Most soldering done on this layer.
 Jumpers
• Often, many signal wires need to exist in too small of
a space and must overlap.
• Running traces on different PCB layers is an option.
• Multilayer PCBs are often expensive.
• Solution: use jumpers
 Solder Mask
• Protect copper traces on outer layers from corrosion
• Areas that shouldn't be soldered may be covered with
polymer resist solder mask coating
• Designed to keep solder only in certain areas
• Prevents solder form binding between conductors and
thereby creating short circuits
 Silkscreen
• Printing on the solder mask to designate component
locations
• Readable information about component part numbers
and placement.
• Helpful in assembling, testing and servicing the circuit
board.
 Multilayer PCBs
• More then a top and bottom layer.
• Typically there will be a power plane, ground plane,
top layer, and bottom layer.
• Sometimes signal layers are added as needed.
• Sometimes RF planes made of more expensive
materials are added.
Parts of a PCB
The assembly consists the following parts.
• Components – Actual devices in the board.
PCB components can be categorized as active and passive.
Active components include:
• Diode – Allows current to flow in one direction.
• Transistor – Amplifies and switches electrical
power and electronic signals.
• Integrated Circuits (ICs) – Responsible for several
signal processing functions.
Passive components include:
• Capacitor – Stores and discharge electricity.
• Resistor – Limits the power of electrical current.
• Inductor – Responsible for creating magnetic field.
Parts of a PCB
• Pads – Location where components connect/solder
to.
• Traces – Connect pads together.
• Vias – Responsible for making electrical connection
between the layers of PCB.
• Top metal layer – The layer where most of the
components are assembled. Fewer traces in this
top metal layer.
• Bottom metal layer – Fewer components in bottom
layer and many traces.
Package Types
• PCB components can be mounted onto the board in
two ways.
• Surface Mount – PCB components are mounted
directly onto the board.
• Through-Hole – Components with leads are
inserted through mounting holes, hence the name
through hole.
PCB Material Options
When it come to manufacturing PCBs, there are several material options available.
1. Substrate Material
 Epoxy imprinted fiberglass
 Polyester (PET)
 Polyimide
2. Conductor Materiel
 Electro-deposited copper foil
 Rolled copper foil
3. Adhesives
 Polyimide Adhesives
 Polyester Adhesives
 Acrylic Adhesives
 Epoxies
4. Protective Coating
 Polyimide Adhesives
 Cover Lays - Polyester or polyimide is combined with a suitable adhesive.
 Cover Coat - A thin coating of liquid acrylated epoxy and acrylated polyurethane.
PCB Material Options

Substrate Conductor
Material Materiel

Protective
Adhesives
Coating
 Physical Design Issues

• Component Size
• Heat Dissipation
• Input and Output
• Mounting Points
 Component Size

• Make sure components will actually fit.

• This especially applies for circuits that require high
component densities.
• Some components come in multiple sizes. SMT vs
Through Hole
• Sometimes you can get tall and narrow caps or short
and wide capacitors.
 Heat Dissipation-Heat
Sinks
• Heat sink dissipates heat off the component
• Doesn’t remove the heat just moves it
• Some components may get hot. Make sure you get a large
enough heat sink.
• Data sheets specify the size of the heat sink
• A short circuit may result when two devices share the same
heat sink
 Mounting Points

• The PCB needs to be mechanically secured to

something.
• Could be the chassis-consist of metal frame on which
the circuit boards and other electronic components
are mounted.
• Could be another PCB/socket on PCB.
• Could be attachments to a heatsink.
 Parasitics

High frequency circuits

• Series Inductance
• Shunt Capacitance
• Inductive Coupling
• Capacitive Coupling
 Series Inductance
• Not an issue for low frequency circuits(<10 Mhz)
• The inductance of a trace may be signifigant.
• For power connections, a shunt capacitor is added to
counter the series inductance of a long trace.
• A capacitor has a low AC impedance A 100nF capacitor
is often used along with a larger capacitor. 100 nF
ceramics have very low impedance at higher
frequencies.
 Shunt Capacitance
• Result of wide wires over a ground plane.
• Limits speed of circuits, including digital circuits
• Typically insignificant for low performance circuits.
• To minimize place a capacitor from voltage to ground
 Inductive Coupling
• Transfer of energy from one circuit component to
another through shared magnetic field
• Change in current flow through one device induces
current flow in other device
• Current flow in one trace induces current in another
trace
• Minimize the long parallel runs of traces
• Run traces perpendicular to each other
 Capacitive Coupling
• Transfer of energy in electrical n/w due to capacitance
between circuit nodes
• Minimizing long traces on adjacent layers will reduce
capacitive coupling
• Ground planes are run between the signals that might
affect each other.
 Pre-work
• Thoroughly simulate your circuit-make sure the
circuit worked in simulations
• Thoroughly test the prototype-make sure the circuit
worked on the bread board
• Have all the data sheets handy for every
components
• Play around with the placement of the components
 Simulations
• Important to simulate the circuits before building them
• Allow margin for component tolerances
• Avoid using precise components. e.g a PWM controller
that requires exact 10 V DC to work and will fail if there
is 10.01V
• High performance circuits or SMT devices require PCBs
and should be simulated extensively first.
Manufacturing/
Assembly Steps
Following are the step involved in PCB manufacturing.
• PCB Manufacturing Steps
Following are the steps involved in PCB fabrication.
1. Base Material Preparation – Clean the laminate, containing copper foil.
2. Cutting the Base Material – Post the cleaning process, cut the laminate to required
specifications.
3. Apply Adhesive on the Laminate - Choose between epoxy or acrylic adhesives to get the job
done.
4. Generate Circuit Pattern –Desired circuit patterns can be generated by screen printing or
photo imaging.
5. Etch the Circuit Pattern – Etch the copper laminate containing the circuit pattern.
6. Drilling – Drill holes, pads, and vias by using high speed drilling tools.
7. Through-Hole Plating – Deposit the holes with copper and must be chemically plated.
8. Apply Cover lay – Protect the top and bottom side of the board by applying suitable cover lay.
9. Cutting Flex - Cut individual flex from the production panel.
Manufacturing/
Assembly Steps
11. Cleaning – Clean flux residues that are left behind
during the manufacturing process. Use water solution or
active cleaning agents to get the job done.
12. Testing – This Includes Automated Optical Inspection
(AOI), flying probe test, functional test, and burn-in test.
13. Rework – Rework may be done on the PCB in case of:
14. Component missing
15. Component replacement
16. Trace or pad repair
17. Cuts and Jumps
PCB FLOW
 LIBRARY CREATION OF COMPONENTS IN
ORCAD
● We have to create each and every component in library.
 PCB DESIGNING PROCESS
Step by step:
● Schematic design: It is a circuit diagram. It uses agreed
symbols to represent components and show how they
area electrically connected.
ENTERING PCB FOOTPRINT FILE & CREATE
NETLIST
 ROUTING & LENGTH MATCHING
● In electronic design, wire routing, commonly called
simply routing, is a step in the design of printed circuit
board and integrated circuit.
 GERBER FILE
● The gerber format is an open ASCII vector format for 2D
binary image. It is used to describe the printed circuit board
images: copper layer solder mask.
 POST FABRICATION
● The gerber format is loaded to different machine (Re-flow
Soldering/Wave Soldering Machine) to fabricate the final
physical PCB board.
 Ten Rules for Components Placement on PCB Design

1. Start placement of big/main/critical components( this could be MCU,DSP,FPGA,DDR,

clock devices) and then place support component like resistors, capacitors around
them.
2. Use 50 or 100mm as component grid to place these big components ( QFP, BGA,
SOP, SOIC, or through hole connectors). Use 25mm as component gird for these SMT
resistors/capacitors or other small passive components.
3. Isolate the analog, digital and power supply section.
4. Clock driver/synchronizer should be located close to clock oscillator.
5. Arrange components in rows and columns, and oriented uniformly for ease of
installation, inspection and rework. When possible, all polarized components such as
tantrum capacitor and diodes in the same direction. Polarity of these components
should be indicated on the silkscreen.
6. Keep at least 40mmspace between components and 100mm space from component
to board edge. Locate connectors on one edge or one corner of the board.
7. Try to place all components on the top side only. If not possible, only these low
profile, small size and low thermal dissipation component (like SMD passive parts) can
be on bottom side.
8. Place decoupling capacitors close as much as possible to VCC pin on active
components.
9. Keep at least 200mm clearance from transformer to electrolytic capacitor.
10. Locate indication LEDs, test points, switches, jumpers and adjustable components
for easy access.
One more rule, it’s always good to double check analog, high frequency, RF, high
voltage, high profile, heavy or high heat components before starting trace routing.
 Introduction to Design Rules

● There are four types of design rules:

- Electrical Constraints: Performance characteristics
- Physical Constraints: Line (Trace) width, via selection, and
layer restriction
- Spacing Constraints: Clearances between lines,pads,
vias,and copper
- Same Net Spacing constraints: Clearances between lines
pads vias, and copper areas (shape) on the same net.
 Steps in PCB design
1. Film Generation 2. Shear Raw Material

3. Drill Holes Industry standard

0.059" thick, copper
clad, two sides
 Steps in PCB design
4. Electrolus copper 5. Apply Image

Apply copper in hole barrels Apply Photosensitive Material to

develop selected areas from
panel
Steps in PCB Design
6. Strip and Etch 7. Solder Mask

• Remove dryfilm, then

etch exposed copper Apply solder mask area to
entire board with the exception
• Tin protects the copper
of solder pads
circuitry from being
etched
Steps in PCB Design
8. Solder Coat 9. Silkscreen

Apply solder to pads Apply white letter marking

using screen printing
process