Printed Circuit Boards

prev: format conversion -- next: PWB layers

Stock (copper clad board)

• Cutting PCB Stock
• layers of a PWB (PCB)

Design

• CAD The design of PCB circuits with CAD software.
• Holes Tips for drilling, plating or otherwise connecting two or more layers together and installing through-hole components
• Traces Sizing and routing traces.
• Layers has tips for finding how many layers you need, and what to put on each layer (micro ball-grid arrays ...)
• Reference designators (PCB reference designators)
• "avoiding noises"@

Production

• Drill Holes and connect layers Tips for drilling, plating or otherwise connecting two or more layers together and installing through-hole components.
• Etch Covers all issues related to applying an echant resist layer (via Toner Transfer, Direct InkJet Resist Print, Hybrid Ink/Toner, photoresist etc...) and immursing the result in an echant that removes the unwanted copper.
• Mill Production of PCBs by milling away unwanted copper in a CNC machine.
• Fab houses (aka Board House) Commercial production of PCBs.
• Direct printing of conductive traces
• "Manhattan" style construction

Assembly

• Surface Mount
• Soldering with a Solder Pot
• Solder Resist
• Wiring

See:

• Electronic Construction - Tips, Tricks, Gens, Traps, and Snares
• Microchip Technologies Schematic Symbols and PCB Footprints EDA Library

FREE PCBs! Enter the PICList design contest to win a free PCB from olimex.com!

bibliography for layout editor:

(see also the more general bibliography for schematic editor )

If you're using a PWB layout editor, you might want to look at these items: "Design for Manufacturing"

• PCB Trace Width Calculator by Brad Suppanz fit to IPC-D-275
  http://www.geocities.com/CapeCanaveral/Lab/9643/TraceWidth.htm
• IPC-D-275D Design standard for rigid Printed Boards and rigid Printed Board Assemblies
  http://www.ipc.org
• Murrietta Circuits Design Layout Standards
  http://www.murrietta.com/mc-ls.htm
• _High-Speed Digital Design : A Handbook of Black Magic_ by Dr. Howard Johnson, and Martin Graham. http://www1.fatbrain.com/asp/bookinfo/bookinfo.asp?theisbn=0133957241 "I suggest this book to anyone that is designing high speed digital boards. In fact, his book is refered to by the PCISIG group many times. PCISIG has very specific requirements for the design of PCI cards. ... Tons of good downloadable formulae for Mathcad on his site too." -- recc. Wamnet "my first choice ... H. Johnson's archived newsletters [ on http://www.sigcon.com/ ] are better than his book in some ways (real life examples vs more text book approach)." -- recc. Greg Erker on 2000-07-14
• _Digital Design for Interference Specifications_ (2nd Edition) by David Terrell and R. Kenneth Keenan. "A close second choice" -- recc. Greg Erker on 2000-07-14
• _EMC and the Printed Circuit Board_ by Mark I. Montrose. "my third choice" -- recc. Greg Erker on 2000-07-14
  _EMC at Component and PCB Level_ BUY.com
• _High Speed PCB Design_ by Lee W. Ritchey and James C. Blankenhorn. "better than nothing" -- recc. Greg Erker on 2000-07-14
• _Surface-Mount Technology for PC Boards_ by James K. Hollomon, Jr. (1995)
• _Printed Circuit Board Basics_ by Michael Flatt ``has some interesting info, although it's very manufacturing-oriented.'' --"Dwight Harm" on 2001-04-07
• _Pcb Design for Real-World Emi Control_  A current university textbook

[Any other must-have, highly recommended books ?]

general PWB design news and mailing lists

• For general PWB design questions, check out the mailing lists available at http://www.ipc.org/html/forum.htm .
• Consider joining the mailing list dedicated to the specific tools you are using. If you use Protel, joing the Protel mailing list app/protel_about.htm#news .
• Wikibooks: Practical Electronics: PCB Layout

[FIXME: point to other mailing list and Usenet newsgroups: ... PIClist with the [EE] topic, comp.arch.embedded, ... ]

advice on learning PCB design

[FIXME: merge with bibliography ?] [FIXME: split into seperate CAD-independent FAQ ?]

consider joining a pwb design mailing list .

• "The Printed Circuit Design Resource" http://home.fda.net/bbrooks/pca/pca.htm

  From: Brooks Bill
  Sent: Wednesday, August 02, 2000 11:10 AM
  Subject: RE: [PROTEL EDA USERS]: Advice on Learning PCB Design
  

  Andy... I am trying to put together a website to address this very issue... It's still under construction but you may find some of what you are looking for under 'education' in the Navigation menu on the left side of the page. Here's the link - http://home.fda.net/bbrooks/pca/pca.htm

  I will be adding more to it as time goes on... make sure to check back often.

  Bill Brooks
  Senior PCB Designer 
  Zoneworx, Inc.
  40925 County Center Drive, STE 200
  Temecula, CA 92591
   http://www.zoneworx.com
  Tel: (909) 296-1226 x 1037
  Co-Director / Education Officer / Webmaster
  for the San Diego Chapter of the IPC Designers Council
  http://www.ipc.org/SanDiego/
  

• http://www.pcbstandards.com/ ``Dedicated to the free exchange of data in a constantly evolving environment.''. Has lots of footprint libraries. (Sometimes footprints are called ``decals'' or ``land patterns''). Lists ``the wind river standards'' for component footprints. Also has tools for calculating stripline trace impedance, current handling trace widths, checklists used in the design process, ``Clutter Control'', and online discussion forums.
• Copper Connection http://www.copperconnection.org/ "you might find this useful" -- Melvin Hart Burk Jr., PASCO scientific http://www.pasco.com "Mary Snugden [at Copper Connection] is an excellent instructor, funny too!)" -- Brad Velander Norsat International Inc. www.norsat.com
• The PCB Design conferences "not the best for newbies ... [but] ... a lot of information from the sum total of your seminars at the conference. ... a cheap alternative to taking many individual courses offered at differing times in differing locales. The number one benefit I have found at the conference is the acquaintances that you can make with designers near and far ... you also get to make contacts with tool suppliers, fabricators and design bureaus." -- Brad Velander Norsat International Inc. www.norsat.com
• SMT+ http://www.smtplus.com/ "I would also recommend highly "SMT+" " -- Brad Velander Norsat International Inc. www.norsat.com

  ---

A few general PWB design tips (general design):

• If you have multiple ``ground'' nets, (e.g. GND, AGND, DGND, EGND, CGND, SGND, etc.), please consider merging them into one solid unsplit ground plane /techref/noises.htm#unsplit_ground . If you still want multiple ground nets, consider this idea:

  Dave Lewis suggests on 2001-05-23 06:10:46 PM

  Net Names on all Power Symbols

  Use the "little arrow thingy" power object, enter the net name as required, and then place it upside down. Viola! It looks like a little ground symbol with the net name displayed. My printouts are legible and I really like being able to see the assigned net name for the ground. I have since given up on using all those other cute symbols (ie. the ones that don't display the net name) mostly because they can be assigned to ANY net so you really don't know for sure at a glance. For bias nets I like the bar do-dad. - Dave Lewis

  See "avoiding noises"@.

• Oztronics Tip of the Month http://joj.home.texas.net/tipofmth.html
• PWB design tips www.ultracad.com
• Brad Velander on 2001-04-17 mentioned that http://www.merix.com/main_res.html has some info on gold plating and DFM.
• The Printed Circuit Design Resource Guide by Bill Brooks http://home.fda.net/bbrooks/pca/pca.htm

V Scoring (moved to Cutting PCB Stock)

See also:

• http://retromaster.wordpress.com/pcb-making/ Brilliant system for making PCBs including vias made from short lengths of copper wire pressed to form them into the holes and connect to the traces at the top and bottom.
• Maximum connection options in the minimum board space +
• http://www.thinktink.com/stack/volumes/voli/store/catalog.htm They have an interesting conductive ink

Archive:

• List post "45 vs 90 degree pcb traces." Avoid 90s when wave soldering or in RF. Otherwise, no worries.
• List post "SMD Toaster Solder (again) - First Results" Using a toaster oven with custom power controller for SMD reflow soldering +

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