-
- News
- Books
Featured Books
- design007 Magazine
Latest Issues
Current IssueLevel Up Your Design Skills
This month, our contributors discuss the PCB design classes available at IPC APEX EXPO 2024. As they explain, these courses cover everything from the basics of design through avoiding over-constraining high-speed boards, and so much more!
Opportunities and Challenges
In this issue, our expert contributors discuss the many opportunities and challenges in the PCB design community, and what can be done to grow the numbers of PCB designers—and design instructors.
Embedded Design Techniques
Our expert contributors provide the knowledge this month that designers need to be aware of to make intelligent, educated decisions about embedded design. Many design and manufacturing hurdles can trip up designers who are new to this technology.
- Articles
- Columns
Search Console
- Links
- Events
||| MENU - design007 Magazine
Book Review: The Printed Circuit Designer’s Guide to…Executing Complex PCBs
November 19, 2019 | Dan Beaulieu, D.B. Management GroupEstimated reading time: 3 minutes
Our world would be a better place indeed if every PCB designer and design engineer in the industry read The Printed Circuit Designer’s Guide to…Executing Complex PCBs by Scott Miller, chief operating officer of Freedom CAD Services.
This book is an absolute must-read for the designers and design engineers of today. If you don’t think this book is important and timely, all you have to do is check out the facts on the very first page:
- Only 25% of complex design projects are released on time without resource surges
- 17% of all projects are canceled
- 30% of complex projects are released on time with project surges
- Lifecycle Insights reports that a typical board project goes through 2.9 re-spins with an average cost of $44,000 per re-spin
So, now do you understand why we need a book about design guidelines for complex PCBs? I cannot think of a better person to write this book than Miller. Freedom CAD is North America’s largest independent design service company, with over 50 designers in a number of locations across the country; they see more designs annually than any other company in the market today.
If you are serious about designing complex PCBs (most designs today are far from elementary) and even more serious about doing it right the first time, then this is the book for you. Loaded with guidelines for designing cutting-edge PCBs, this book is filled with real-world examples and tips, tricks, and techniques by some of Freedom CAD’s most experienced designers.
For example, Miller provides a solid definition of a complex PCB, including the following characteristics:
- The density of component pins exceeds 110 pins per square inch
- The density of component parts exceeds an average of five pins per component
- The number of pins of any BGA exceeds 800
- The pitch of the pins of any BGA is less than 0.8 mm
- The thickness of the finished board exceeds 3.0 mm or less than 5.0 mm
- The circuits require mixed technology of digital, RF, or analog
- The board will require mixed materials for construction
- The finished board must be cost-sensitive for high-volume construction
- The board needs to be finished in less than normal process time
- The boards must have a lot of electrical constraints
Using these criteria, Miller uses three past projects (real projects) to exemplify the design of high-complexity PCBs, taking the reader through a comprehensive, step-by-step journey at what it takes to design a complex board. Miller also highlights the importance of communication; with complicated designs, PCB designers must communicate with both the customer and fabrication house. Further, Miller explains planning through the design kickoff, including an important chapter on design rules simulations and analyses (I found Chapter 5 to be the book’s “money” chapter), quality assurance and manufacturability, and post-layout processes.
Chapter 5 is very valuable because it’s where the rubber meets the road in terms of connecting the design to the fabricator. This chapter has a detailed list of what the designer has to pass on to the fabricator. I was pleased to read that Freedom CAD goes to great lengths to make sure that they deliver that ever-elusive perfect data package to the manufacturer who will be building the boards. I would urge every design manager to encourage their designers to read this chapter. In fact, I would urge every fabrication house to send the link to this book to every OEM and design bureau that they work with.
Download your free copy of The Printed Circuit Designer’s Guide to…Executing Complex PCBs today! You can also view other titles in the I-007eBook’s full library.
Dan Beaulieu is president of D.B. Management Group.
Suggested Items
iNEMI Packaging Tech Topic Series: Role of EDA in Advanced Semiconductor Packaging
04/26/2024 | iNEMIAdvanced semiconductor packaging with heterogenous integration has made on-package integration of multiple chips a crucial part of finding alternatives to transistor scaling. Historically, EDA tools for front-end and back-end design have evolved separately; however, design complexity and the increased number of die-to-die or die-to-substrate interconnections has led to the need for EDA tools that can support integration of overall design planning, implementation, and system analysis in a single cockpit.
Cadence, TSMC Collaborate on Wide-Ranging Innovations to Transform System and Semiconductor Design
04/25/2024 | Cadence Design SystemsCadence Design Systems, Inc. and TSMC have extended their longstanding collaboration by announcing a broad range of innovative technology advancements to accelerate design, including developments ranging from 3D-IC and advanced process nodes to design IP and photonics.
Ansys, TSMC Enable a Multiphysics Platform for Optics and Photonics, Addressing Needs of AI, HPC Silicon Systems
04/25/2024 | PRNewswireAnsys announced a collaboration with TSMC on multiphysics software for TSMC's Compact Universal Photonic Engines (COUPE). COUPE is a cutting-edge Silicon Photonics (SiPh) integration system and Co-Packaged Optics platform that mitigates coupling loss while significantly accelerating chip-to-chip and machine-to-machine communication.
Siemens’ Breakthrough Veloce CS Transforms Emulation and Prototyping with Three Novel Products
04/24/2024 | Siemens Digital Industries SoftwareSiemens Digital Industries Software launched the Veloce™ CS hardware-assisted verification and validation system. In a first for the EDA (Electronic Design Automation) industry, Veloce CS incorporates hardware emulation, enterprise prototyping and software prototyping and is built on two highly advanced integrated circuits (ICs) – Siemens’ new, purpose-built Crystal accelerator chip for emulation and the AMD Versal™ Premium VP1902 FPGA adaptive SoC (System-on-a-chip) for enterprise and software prototyping.
Listen Up! The Intricacies of PCB Drilling Detailed in New Podcast Episode
04/25/2024 | I-Connect007In episode 5 of the podcast series, On the Line With: Designing for Reality, Nolan Johnson and Matt Stevenson continue down the manufacturing process, this time focusing on the post-lamination drilling process for PCBs. Matt and Nolan delve into the intricacies of the PCB drilling process, highlighting the importance of hole quality, drill parameters, and design optimization to ensure smooth manufacturing. The conversation covers topics such as drill bit sizes, aspect ratios, vias, challenges in drilling, and ways to enhance efficiency in the drilling department.