PCB layout engineer every day on the board thousands of alignments, a variety of packages, repeat the work of pulling the line, perhaps many people will feel is very boring and boring work content. Seemingly software operation porters, in fact, designers in the process to make trade-offs between various design rules, taking into account the performance, cost, process and other aspects, but also to note that the board layout is reasonable and neat, and does not look so simple, requires more wisdom. Good work habits will benefit you greatly, making your design more reasonable, easier to produce and better performance. Here’s a list of six good habits that will benefit you.
(A) Details determine success or failure
PCB design is a meticulous work, the need is to be careful and patient. Beginning to do the design of the newcomer often make mistakes is some of the details of the error. Device pins are wrong, the wrong device package, the pin order is drawn backwards, and so on, some can be solved by flying lines, some may let a board directly into the scrap. When drawing the package more than once, before the board to print out the package and the actual device than a look, more than once to check is not OCD, just so that these easy to make low-level mistakes to avoid. Otherwise, the design of a good-looking board, covered with flying lines, it is far from excellent.
(B) learn to set the rules
In fact, now not only advanced PCB design software needs to set the wiring rules, some easy-to-use PCB tools can also set the rules. After all, the human brain is not a machine, it is inevitable that there will be negligence and mistakes. So set some easy to ignore the problem to the rules inside, so that the computer to help us check, try to avoid making some low-level mistakes. In addition, the perfect rules can be set up to better regulate the work behind. As the saying goes, the more complex the scale of the board, the more prominent the importance of rule setting. Now many EDA tools have automatic wiring function, if the rules are set in sufficient detail, let the tool itself to help you to design, you drink a cup of coffee on the side, is not a more pleasant thing?
(C) the more you consider for others, the less work you do
When working on PCB design, try to take more into account the needs of the end user. For example, if the design is a development board, then the PCB design should consider placing more silkscreen information, so that it will be more convenient when using, without having to go back and forth to find the schematic or find the designer support. If the design is a mass-production products, then more consideration should be given to the problems that will be encountered on the production line, the same type of device as far as possible in the same direction, whether the device spacing is appropriate, the width of the process edge of the board, and so on. The earlier these issues are considered, the less they will affect the design of the later, and can reduce the workload of the later support and the number of changes to the board. Seems to start the design with increased time, in fact, is to reduce their subsequent workload. In the case of the board space signal allows, try to place more test points to improve the testability of the board, so that the same in the subsequent debugging phase can save more time and give more ideas to find the problem.
(iv) draw a good schematic
Many engineers feel that layout work is more important, the schematic diagram is to generate a netlist to facilitate the PCB to do the check with. In fact, the role of the schematic diagram in the subsequent circuit debugging process will be greater. Whether it is to find the problem or to communicate with colleagues, or schematic diagrams are more intuitive and convenient. In addition, get into the habit of labeling in the schematic diagram, the parts of the circuit in the layout of the time to note the problems marked on the schematic diagram, for themselves or to others is a good reminder. Hierarchical schematic diagrams, the different functions of different modules of the circuit into different pages, so that both reading the diagram or later reuse can significantly reduce the workload. Using a proven design is always less risky than designing a new circuit. Every time you see all the circuits put on a drawing, a dense piece of devices, your head can be a big circle.
(E) Good circuit layout
Eager engineers draw schematic diagrams, the netlist into the PCB after the impatience to put the device and start pulling wires. In fact, a good PCB layout allows you to pull the line behind the work becomes easier and make your PCB work better. Each board will have a signal path, PCB layout should also try to follow this signal path, so that the signal on the board can be transmitted smoothly, people do not like to walk the maze, the signal is the same. If the schematic is designed in accordance with the module, the PCB can also be the same. According to the different functional modules can be divided into several areas of the board. Separate analog and digital, separate power signals, separate heat-generating devices and susceptible devices, larger devices not too close to the edge of the board, pay attention to the shielding of RF signals and so on …… spend one more minute to optimize the layout of the PCB, you can save more time when pulling wires.