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Welcome to the PCB Designer's Reference Tour

The Printed Circuit Board Designer's Reference was written for the beginner designer, new to the craft. It provides an insight to nearly every aspect of the PCB, from conception through design, from Manufacturing to Assembly.

Below are excerpts of each chapter and the index for each chapter

Introduction

Printed Circuit Board Designer’s Reference was written to provide a guideline of

the entire PCB design/creation process, with reference material, software, forms,

and other tools.

There are few books for the basic designer, and fabricators have limited

published standards. A difficult decision about writing this book was publishing

new, unreleased information that has few studies associated with it or little documentation

supporting the values. History has shown that common practice and

experience can suffice for undocumented information. Many designers and leaders

in the industry feel that information shouldn’t be provided without documentation.

Most standards have not come from reading literature but from experience,

common knowledge, and discussions.

PCB design is based on an ever-changing technology that requires constant

updating and documentation. The values noted in this book are not supported by

the Institute for Interconnecting and Packaging Electronic Circuits (IPC). These

values are an average of fabricator’s requirements and design requirements and

are a cross section of personal values and those of hundreds of other designers.

These values may change based on requirements, applications, changes in technology,

and personal/company standards.

How this book is organized

An attempt was made to provide clear information concerning values, where they

came from, and how to adjust them. Therefore, this book features the following:

Easy-to-use tools for everyday calculations

Easy-to-understand tables

Quick reference charts

A full checklist, beginning with the development and ending with final inspection

Definitions, explanations, and graphics to clearly explain the numbers, values, and

results

As technology grows, standards and values will change; thus it is permissible to

mark this book with newer relative values. The software is designed to grow with

the technology and to provide the designer with a life-long design tool.

Chapter 1 Introduction to PCB/PWB

This chapter serves as an introduction to printed circuit boards (PCBs). It provides

the basic understanding of a PCB and details the materials, objects, and forms that

a PCB requires. Information gathering and design constraints are also detailed.

This ensures a well-rounded understanding of all components required.

Basic understanding of the materials and terminology of a PCB is critical in

clearly conveying requirements and intent. Later chapters will cover these objects

in more detail.

Chapter 2 Design for Manufacturing (DFM)

This chapter will address the fabrication process of the PCB and the requirements

of the manufacturer. Manufacturers are separated by their limitations or constraints

into categories known as "technologies." These categories are determined

primarily by cost. As the level of technology increases, so does the cost. These

technology categories help designers control cost by limiting their designs.

This chapter explains the differences in the technologies, defines the limits,

and details the step-by-step process, specifically of the conventional process and

how the designer should write fabrication notes (instructions) for each process.

Each process is explained so the designer will understand the basics of how

the process works and thus be able to make an educated change to notes when

necessary.

Chapter 3 Design for Assembly

Originally, all PCBs were assembled by hand using only a solder iron. As technology

progresses, components get smaller and more difficult to assemble by

hand and the amount of components that may fit on a single board increases.

Thus the need for auto assembly was developed.

Each assembly process and aspect will be explained in both the manual assembly

fashion as well as auto assembly. Soldering techniques are covered in

ANSI/J-STD-001.

This chapter deals with the actual assembly process. Considerations for

spacing and placement are covered in Chapter 5, "Designing a PCB." This chapter

was placed before the design chapter because it is important to understand the

constraints of manufacturing and assembly in order to make intelligent, informed

design decisions.

Chapter 4 Schematics and the Netlist

This chapter deals with the layout of a schematic and the intelligence behind a

schematic, or the Netlist, and attributes. A netlist can be one or all of the following:

a point-to-point list, a list contained within the program, or a text document,

such as P1-Pin1 to P2-Pin3. An attribute is a description or characteristic. This

may be a value, description, or title. With schematic and PC boards an attribute

refers to a value attached to a component, design, net, or any item in the design.

Additionally, symbols and standards for components as well as component creation

will be covered in this chapter.

Chapter 5 Designing a PCB

The information in the previous chapters set the stage for what you are about to

learn here, where the board is actually designed. This chapter details the materials,

thickness, and manufacturer capabilities and combines that with the design

requirements, including available area and mounting styles, and utilizes the accompanying

Designer’s Checklist, providing a complete resource for board design.

This chapter was written to instruct the design process, including basic

design philosophies, routing methods, and stack-up styles, while supporting the

embedded Designer’s Checklist.

Note

The Designer’s Checklist is a comprehensive detail of the design process

that may be used with every design and customized per the design’s specific

application. This checklist provides a proven structure while creating consistency

from design to design. The complete Designer’s Checklist is provided

both in Word format and as a PDF file on the CD, and in the book’s

introduction.

Chapter 6 Libraries Component Data sheets

This chapter will explain physical components, their relation to data sheets, their relation

to PCB design software, and how they are represented by software. Such components

are kept in the program’s library so they can be placed and connected, allowing

the designer to create intelligence behind a design. This chapter will help the designer

• Select, understand, and create component standards.

• Understand what a symbol is.

• Understand a pattern or footprint.

• Combine a symbol with a pattern.

• Read and understand a data sheet.

Chapter 7 Board Completion and Inspection

When boards are received from a manufacturer, an inspection should be done on

all of the boards, including production copies. Prototype, or first-run, boards

should be thoroughly inspected and the production copies should have at least a

cursory inspection.

The manufacturer should have a quality inspection process in place to verify

the final board in addition to an inspection at the completion of each process, but

it is up to the purchaser to verify that the boards have been built to specification.

There are some aspects that cannot be verified, such as the board material and the

internal properties, but many other aspects can and should be verified.

Summary

	Determining the Type of Assembly Drawing required
	Determining the Assembly/Service requirements of the board
	Views
	Merging the Silkscreen
	Assembly Drawing Checklist
	Assembly drawing final note