Building An Efficient PCB Layout - Miracle Electronics

It is always wise to build PCB prototypes  before the entire batch, no matter how big or small the volume of PCBs in a single lot. That’s because a PCB prototype will bring into focus how the PCB will exactly look like and how it will perform. Any faults detected in the prototype can be dealt with before manufacturing a complete batch, so as to avoid an entire lot of PCBs from being made useless, or requiring fixes.

But, the success of failure of a prototype highly depends upon how the PCB has been designed in the first place. Even before the prototyping phase, comes a phase where the designers design a PCB depending upon the requirements and configurations, and plan a layout, on which the engineers work to build a prototype. Any neglections or misinterpretations in the PCB layout can lead to wrongly built or erroneous PCB builds; which is something you certainly don’t want to encounter.

To be able to come up with an efficient PCB layout with no confusions or misunderstandings, there are certain points that need to be considered well; some of them being mentioned below.

Copper traces

It is the copper track that connects two points within the PCB. But, this conductive path can also have resistance. Generally, designers use the length, width, and thickness to control the resistance of the trace, and form the different levels of thickness of a PCB. But, it is always better to use a PCB trace width calculator to determine the optimal thickness for your project. Also, it should be kept in mind that traces on the external layers will cool off better and quicker, while heat from the internal layers are required to travel through the layers of copper, before being conducted. This is the reason why single layered PCBs are most preferred in simpler applications  where they can be effectively used.

Distance between copper traces and fills

There must be enough room between the copper traces and fills to prevent any shock hazards. Solder marks aren’t always reliable conductors, which is why a good amount of distance between the two is judicious.

Distance between noise and analog traces

Placing both noise traces and analog traces together will certainly double the signals on the traces, which further leads to interference and short-circuiting. Thus, it is always wise to keep both these high frequency traces away from one another.

Placement of decoupling capacitors

Decoupling capacitors must be placed as near as possible to the power and ground pins of integrated circuits to increase efficiency. Capacitors placed farther away will have a reduced inductance ability.

Loop size

Loops within a PCB design should always be kept as small as possible. That’s because smaller loops have lower inductance and resistance. In addition, a PCB with high loops reduces the amount of high frequency voltage spikes.

With all these tips followed, one can come up with a reliable and efficient PCB layout. If you are in search of one such layout that can help you get the best possible PCB for your application, you can get in touch with Miracle Electronics, where you’ll not only get talented designers working to come up with the most efficient PCB layout, but also expert engineers to help you build a reliable PCB assembly from India. You can rely on Miracle Electronics for all kinds of high volume, medium sized, or even low volume projects, no matter what your industry and application.