Valley Services Electronics

It is crucial to take basic steps to ensure design integrity before converting the schematic to a PCB layout.

The physical design of a printed circuit board, or “layout” as it is colloquially known, typically has a set pattern of steps that designers must use. And while some of these steps are narrowly focused on an individual layout, such as tool usage or each corporation’s design workflow, some basic global steps must be followed. Here we’ll detail those basic steps in an easy-to-follow PCB layout guide that can help those unfamiliar understand the circuit board design process better.

Design teams need to ensure that their library data is up-to-date and ready to avoid costly and time-consuming delays. Let’s look at some good CAD library management practices and ideas to guarantee that your PCB libraries won’t let you down.

Industrial circuit boards are typically used in applications that require high power levels to drive motors or other heavy-duty equipment. Because of these power requirements, the layout rules and constraints are different than what would be used to layout a low-power IoT device. Here we’ll look at some of the differences with this type of circuit board layout technology and what designers need to understand about industrial PCB design rules.

Thankfully, most people do understand the importance of PCBs and their uses, but very few understand the design and manufacturing processes required to build them. To help, we have put together a PCB flow chart that describes the design and assembly processes and how the two interact with each other. For clarity, we have omitted the fabrication process—other than to note the procurement of raw PCB fabs; otherwise, the following should help to simplify the overall process.

This component availability problem can be traced back to several reasons. In some cases, it is due to inadequate planning, while others are due to CAD library management issues that designers need to understand better. Here we will examine these potential problem areas and some good PCB design BOM inventory management practices.