The PCB Stack-Up The PCB stack-up is highly important because it depicts how many layers a PCB will need. Since PCBs tend to vary in price, according to the amount of layers and complexity, knowing how many layers a PCB is going to need ahead of time will allow designers to be aware of how much their PCB is going to cost them.

The Needed Via Types

Vias are necessary in some cases because they enable components and layers to exchange interconnections. Vias come in a handful of formats, their most popular types being: through, buried, blind, and micro. Since incorporating vias into a PCB can make the design very complicated, a lot of people refrain from using them. In fact, designs with few or no vias are considered to be the best designs.

The Rules of Designs

There are many different rules that can be applied to the design of PCB’s. However, there are some rules that will prevent the PCB from working should they not be followed. How to place components, crosstalk budgets, layer allocations, and whether or not the via aspect ratios are correct are only a few of the rules that one must live by in order to create functional PCB’s.

Breakout Strategy

Before being able to verify the signal and power integrity of the design, the PCB creator needs to be certain that his model can breakout and route its signals onto the high-pin-count device.

The Integrity of the Signal

In order to design a good PCB, its creator must take the rise and fall signal times, track lengths, and characteristic impedances into consideration. Doing so, as well as some other tests, will ensure that the PCB is going to work properly. Afterwards, signal-integrity and simulations will be performed on the PCB’s pre-layout and post-layout.

The power Integrity

In order to power up high-performance devices such as the modern FPGA’s and ASIC’s, it is required to supply them with a large amount of current at small intervals of voltage. Also, it is important to ensure that the DC and AC are performing their required power distribution is fundamental.

There is a lot to know about printed circuit boards. In fact there is so much to know that only a few people can consider themselves to be experts on the matter of PCB design. Thankfully, there are many computer softwares that can help direct its users. However, people tend to make mistakes while designing PCB’s, no matter how closely they followed the program’s instructions.

Due to the complexity of PCB’s, many people tend to trust engineers or professionals to design them the perfect PCB. While this might be more expensive, some people are willing to pay the price instead to struggling with the design on their own.