Nowadays, knowledge of circuit boards may be the next important thing to safety practices. Most of the great things happen within or are affected by printed circuit boards. Hence, students and workers in electronics must wrap their heads around this topic quickly before they can begin their discovery of more complex matters in the realm of engineering.
Printed circuit boards, or PCBs in short, are the backbone of modern devices that we know of today. Before their creation, we have tangles of wires connecting each circuit. With this zombie tech, our engineers from the past had to do daily fixing and dealing with frequent short-circuits, not to mention the safety issues that come with larger, high-voltage tech.
When traditional PCBs came along, the electronics industry took a huge leap and is now operating based on larger and more ambitious demands. This led to the birth of more advanced PCBs that allow the production of more compact and energy-efficient devices.
Printed circuit boards underwent an evolution to meet certain requirements and make futuristic ideas happen. They became smaller through the years and are now far from the plain and simple flatboard they once were.
Single-layer PCBs are simple PCBs with one copper conductive that connects to other components during PCB assembly. With the absence of complexity, they are used in the bulk production of cheaper items in the market. Double-layer PCBs, on the other hand, have two copper conductives at the top and bottom of the board. They are more flexible than single-layer PCBs and are fairly cheap.
Multi-layer PCBs have more intricate structures. However, they make a great choice for devices that require heat dissipation due to high-amounts of electrical processes going on. They are found in HVAC applications, smartphones, industrial controls, and more. Flexible PCB types make use of bendable and twistable plastic material to fit into limited spaces. They are found in laptops, cameras, and automobiles.
Knowing these different types will help you understand what kind of PCB design you'll work on. Upon discovering the need for a PCB, you'll have to take a series of PCB layout design steps to ensure success in this project.
The first stage is the concept. Think of the functions the PCB needs to perform and the temperature range. Also, don't discount the environmental concerns that you will need to address, especially when mass-producing the PCB.
Creating a schematic diagram is the next step in the layout design process. It's where you must detail every crucial piece of info that ensures electronic components work appropriately. You also need to add every part's name, price tags, ratings, and manufacturer part numbers.
This is also where you'll be creating your bill of materials (BOM). There may be changes to the details of the PCB design, so you must keep these two files updated when they happen.
In this step, you will draw a diagram with the final dimensions of the PCB. Take note of the areas designated for each block to keep your traces short.
This step will determine the placements of each component on the board. To do this effectively, the PCB designer must begin with marking places for connectors, then power circuits, and lastly, precision circuits.
This stage may be short, but it has a very important goal, which is to determine routing and routing priorities. It's the last step to do before moving forward with testing.
A series of tests must be conducted against the design to ensure that they work safely and appropriately before mass production. Several prototypes will be created for testing, and result findings will recommend adjustments to the design if necessary.
The fourth step, which is component placement, will help determine where you will place each element on the board, and they must be done in order. Begin with connectors, power circuits, then precision circuits. Next, we move on to determining routing priorities, which is the first-pass routing phase—the last step before conducting a series of tests.
