PCB Design

Rex Joseph
Department of Electrical and Electronics
Engineering
Outline
Course Objectives

Course Outcomes

Course Content

Evaluation
Outline
Course Objectives
Understand the packaging process
Materials
Footprints
SMD
Through Hole
Constraints
Electrical
Thermal
Mechanical
Optimisation
CAD tools
Terminology
Hands ON design
Outline
Course Outcomes
Competent PCB designer
Layout
Meet constraints
Art
Working Prototype board
Mechanical reduction process
The Printed Circuit Board
Facility
Reduction Process

Remember: Mechanical reduction – use copper fill

Not a bad idea in Chemical reduction too
Facility
Vias (Chemical)
Facility
Reflow Soldering
Facility
Reflow Soldering
Facility
EDA Tool - KiCad
Course Contents
PCB Advantages, Components of PCB
Electronic Components, Microprocessors and Microcontrollers,
IC’s, Surface Mount Devices (SMD),
Classification of PCB, Single, Double, Multilayer and Flexible
Boards, Manufacturing of PCB, PCB Standards
EDA software and design flow.
Schematic Diagram, General, Mechanical and Electrical Design
Considerations,
Placing and Mounting of Components, Conductor Spacing
Routing Guidelines, Heat Sinks and Package Density, Net List,
Creating Components for Library, Footprints, Tracks, Pads, Vias,
Power Plane, Grounding
Design Automation, Design Rule Checking, Exporting Drill and
Gerber Files, Drills, Footprints and Libraries,
Course Contents
Adding and Editing Pins, Copper Clad Laminates, Materials of
Copper Clad Laminates, Properties of Laminates (Electrical and
Physical), Types of Laminates,
Film Master Preparation, Image Transfer, Photo Printing, Screen
Printing, Plating Techniques Etching Techniques, Mechanical
Machining Operations,
Lead Cutting and Soldering Techniques, Testing and Quality
Controls
Electrical characteristics, Design of PCBs for power and control
electronics, digital circuits,
EMI and EMC issues, Environmental Concerns in PCB Industry.
Current trends
References
References
Online resources - example
Perspective
Perspective

PROBLEM STATEMENT:
Design a credit card sized counter device (images attached below for
reference) that can keep a count on the occupancy of an indoor venue.
The device is ideally mounted at the entrance of the room.

The device has two push buttons indicated in Green and Red . It has a
2digit 7 segment display to indicate the count.
• The simple solution helps inform guests about the occupancy and
they can choose not to enter if the occupancy is near or above the
spatial capacity of the venue.
• You’re tasked with designing the electronics for this device
wherein you have to design a single 2-layered PCB that hosts all
the electronic components needed.
Perspective
Perspective
Perspective

IMPLEMENTATION:
1. Select a microcontroller of your choice that can do the
job of reading from two push buttons and interfacing a 7
segment LED display.

2. Assume the device is powered from an adaptor that can

supply either 3.3V DC or 5V DC based on the power
requirement of your design.

3. The choice for the components (switches, display,

microcontroller, any passive components, DC jack for power
input etc.) is left for you to decide.
Perspective

4. You can refer to the drawing for the PCB attached for
dimensions. Positions of certain position-critical
components are indicated on the drawing.
You may place the other components as per your discretion.

5. The design data output should include a detailed

schematic, Bill of Materials (indicating value, footprint, part
number, manufacturer, etc of every component selected)
and gerber output for the PCB design.

6. Schematic and PCB layout can be designed on KiCAD,

Eagle or any equivalent e-CAD
Perspective

“Since we knew PCB design, we were asked to make the

board and conduct EMI testing while the others were asked
to learn PCB design.
We used Altium Designer, but knowing the flow and proper
design is more important. Using another CAD software is
easy”
ISRO
Perspective

“They ask us to give only the circuit diagram.

They do the entire PCB design. We are charged eight
thousand rupees or so, depending on the board”

This for the prototype! And if there are mistakes?

Perspective

“There was a lot of oscillations. Probably it the tuning of the

controller”

“It works fine now. This time I used the reference PCB layout.
It was ground bounce”
The Printed Circuit Board
A printed circuit board or PCB, is a plate or board used for
placing the different elements of an electrical circuit that
contains the electrical interconnections between them.

The simplest printed circuit boards are the ones that contains
copper tracks or interconnects only on one of its surfaces.
Single layer PCB.

The most common PCB's manufactured today are the ones

that contain 2 layers, that is, interconnects in both surfaces of
the board.

However, depending on the physical complexity of the design

( PCB layout ), the boards can be manufactured of 8 or more
layers.
The Printed Circuit Board
The Printed Circuit Board
The Printed Circuit Board
Finished copper thickness on the printed circuit board is an
important aspect of PCB design.

The thickness along with the width of the trace is the

determining factor in the amount of current (amps) the
circuit can carry.

The thickness and again the width of the copper trace is also
used in impedance (ohms) calculations of high speed and RF
circuitry.

On board antennas and impedance matching

The Printed Circuit Board – Bare Board
0.5 oz copper (~17.5µm thick or 0.7 mils) —on internal layers,
also the standard starting copper weight for external layers
for PCBs with the 1 oz finished copper weight

1 oz copper (~35µm thick or 1.4 mils) — on internal layers,

also the standard starting copper weight for external layers
for PCBs with the 2 oz finished copper weight
Most PCBs are constructed with 1 oz copper thickness

2 oz copper (70µm thick or 2.8 mils) — on internal layers,

also the standard starting copper weight for external layers
for PCBs with the 3 oz finished copper weight

Ounce per square feet!!

The Printed Circuit Board
The Printed Circuit Board
The Printed Circuit Board
The Printed Circuit Board – Bare Board
PCB Substrate Materials
PCB substrate materials must be made of substances that do
not conduct electric currents,

Materials that serve as effective substrates include fiberglass,

Teflon, ceramics and certain polymers.

The most popular substrate today is probably FR-4. FR-4 is a

fiberglass-epoxy laminate that is affordable, a good electrical
insulator and is more flame-resistant than fiberglass-only
boards.
The Printed Circuit Board – Bare Board
FR-2: FR-2 is probably the lowest grade of substrate although
it is flame-resistant, as indicated by the FR designation.
Cheaper consumer electronics tend to make use of printed
circuit boards with FR-2 substrates.

FR-4: One of the most common PCB substrates, this is a

woven fiberglass substrate containing a flame-resistant
material.
However, it is stronger than FR-2 and is less likely to crack or
break, which is why it is used in higher-end products.

To drill holes in or machine fiberglass, PCB manufacturers use

tungsten carbide tools due to the nature of the material.
The Printed Circuit Board – Bare Board
RF: RF, or radio-frequency substrates, are for printed circuit
boards for applications with high-power radio frequencies.
This substrate material consists of low dielectric plastics.

FLEX: While FR boards and other substrate types tend to be

very rigid, some applications may require the use of flexible
circuit boards. These flex circuits use thin, flexible plastics or
films as substrates.

METAL: When the application involves power electronics,

good thermal conductivity is a requirement.
This means a low-thermal resistivity substrate like ceramic, or
a metal that can handle the high electrical currents
The Printed Circuit Board – Bare Board
IC Footprints – Through Hole
IC Footprints – Surface Mount
IC Packaging
Passive SMD
Resistors Through Hole
Resistors MELF
Sometimes surface mount resistors are also used as MELF packages
(Metal Electrode Leadless Face).

The main advantage of using MELF instead of standard SMD packages is

the lower thermal coefficient and better stability.

The TCR of thin film MELF resistors is often between 25-50 ppm/K while
standard thick film SMD resistors often have a TCR of > 200 ppm/K. This
is possible due to the cylindrical construction of MELF resistors.

Because of their round shape a special suction cup and more vacuum is
required in pick and place machines however.
There are three common MELF package sizes: MicroMELF, MiniMELF and
MELF
Resistors MELF
Capacitors
And
Power devices on board/off board

MOVs

GDTs

Transformers and inductors

Potentiometers……….
And
Connectors
Current carrying capacity
Mechanical strength/locking
Mounting holes
And non circuit components (don’t forget)!!
Pad dimensions - footprint
Pad dimensions - footprint
Pad dimensions - footprint
Soldering (temperature – time)
KiCad
KiCad is a free software suite for electronic design
automation (EDA).

It facilitates the design of schematics for electronic

circuits and their conversion to PCB designs.

KiCad features an integrated environment for schematic

capture and PCB layout design.

Tools exist within the package to create a bill of materials,

artwork, Gerber files, and 3D views of the PCB and its
components.
KiCad
KiCad uses an integrated environment for all of the stages of
the design process: Schematic capture, PCB layout, Gerber
file generation/visualization, and library editing.

A cross-platform program, written in C++ with wxWidgets to

run on FreeBSD, Linux, Microsoft Windows and Mac OS X.

Many component libraries are available, and users can add

custom components on a per-project basis or installed for use
in any project.

There are also tools to help with importing components from

other EDA applications, for instance EAGLE
KiCad
The KiCad suite has five main parts:

•KiCad – the project manager.

•Eeschema – the schematic capture editor.

•Pcbnew – the PCB layout program. It also has a 3D view.

•GerbView – the Gerber viewer.

•Bitmap2Component – tool to convert images to footprints

for PCB artwork.

• Simulation - Netlist
KiCad
Eeschema
Eeschema has features including hierarchical schematic sheets,
custom symbol creation, and an ERC (electrical rules check).

Schematic symbols in Eeschema are very loosely coupled to

footprints in Pcbnew to encourage reuse of footprints and
symbols

(e.g. a single 0805 footprint can be used for capacitors,

resistors, inductors, etc.).
KiCad
Pcbnew

Internally Pcbnew supports up to 32 copper layers and 32

technical layers.

Dimensions are stored with nanometer precision in signed 32-

bit integers making the theoretical maximal PCB dimension
231 nm, or approximately 2.14 meters.

KiCad has a built-in autorouter for basic, single connections.

FreeRouting[10] can be used to externally autoroute boards.
Toporouter, has been adapted for use with KiCad as well.

A DRC (design rules check) is available to check for common

logical errors
EDA Tools
EDA Tools
THANK YOU
Rex Joseph
Department of Electrical
and Electronics Engineering

rexjoseph@pes.edu

+91 80 6666 3333 Extn 515