General Industry Topics EE

By: Ben Berrey

Good Topics to Cover for Future EEs
• Board Layout
• Panelized Layout
• PCB Stencil Design
• Component and Interconnect Selection
• Post Assembly Inspection
• Root Cause Analysis (RCA)
• Required outputs to a CM (contract manufacturer)
• Electro Static Discharge (ESD)
IPC Standards
Commonly Referenced as:
“J-Standards”
“J-STD”
“IPC-A-610”
“IPC-A-620”

• Industry grade standards for assembly, and required by most suppliers

to build to. Accredited by ANSI
• Gives inspection criteria, and possible RCA (Root Cause Analysis)
indicators
Make important nodes accessible
• It will eventually happen that you are trying to figure out why something is not working and you
want to measure a signal inside your PCB. Before designing the PCB, you should think which
points will be important to troubleshoot your circuit and, in case they are not easily accessible,
add a test point somewhere connected to them. There are various forms of test points, but the
ones that form a loop are great for test probes with hooks.
Give space between components
• It is tempting to pack the components as close as possible, only to realize that there is no room
for the routing of wires. Give some space between components so that wires can spread. The
more pins the component has, the more space it will need. Spacing will not only facilitate auto-
routing as it will make soldering easier. If using BGAs, try not to put components on underside of
the board, for solder inspection using Xray
Silkscreen and Orientation
• Place components with the same orientation
• Components generally have a standard pin numbering, with pin #1 in
the upper-left corner. If all components are oriented equally, you will
not make mistakes when soldering or when inspecting a component.
 Diode Silkscreen
• No true industry standard, and can lead to mix-ups
• A stripe indicates the cathode on a diode.
• Dots can mean multiple things, anode or cathode,
therefor not suggested, a variety of styles are
shown. If using a dot, please include a assembly
documentation to define the marking.
IC Package Styles
Many IC’s come in different package types, and
configurations. Each come with their own footprint, and
landing for the PCB. These are typically industry
standards, or defined by the manufacturer, and supply a
file for your CAD system.

Most boards utilize surface mount components, that can

be placed by PNP machinery. This is faster, and typically
more cost effective over thru-hole components that are
typically hand soldered, or wave soldered.

Print the layout to see if components' sizes match

After laying out all the components, print out the layout. If
available, place each component on top of the layout paper to
see if they match. Sometimes datasheets may have errors.
PCB Solder Paste
Each board layout will have its own stencil, and typically
depending on the size, has top and bottom side on the
same stencil. Each has a component pad has a specific
aperture opening for solder paste to be deposited.
These will need to be properly sized, and located to get
the correct volume of solder placed on the pad. These
are typically cut with a laser, or chemically eteched. The
PCB panels will need fiducials (indicator marks) to
properly orient the board to the stencil
 Automated Optical Inspection (AOI)
AOI is a process that uses a machine and computer to
optically inspect for component placement, orientation,
and solder grade. It also can be used in line during paste
placement to inspect the solder deposition on the board
before component placement.

It is suggested to confirm that your CM is using AOI on

your assembly, in prototypes, it can be skipped by the
CM, just confirm with them what inspections have taken
place on the assembly.

Also, having your CM document any rework on the

board can prove helpful. Lets say a component was 180
deg out, and before reheating, they would need your
approval before putting the board through another heat
cycle, or other possible damage during the rework.
Required files for CM PCB Assembly
• 1. Gerber files (RS-274-X or RS-274-D format) of - Inner and outer
layers - Solder paste layers
• 2. Parts placement file (.CAD for Allegro; .ASC for Pads), or at bare
minimum x,y, rotation, component, reference locator.
• 3. Assembly diagram. Optional: 1. ODB++ file
Design Guidelines
• Some companies, and CMs have design guidelines to work under,
research these, and follow them to your best of your abilities. This
will reduce, cost, failures, and time typically.
• A very good example is shown here, with good suggestions similar to
this document:
http://irtfweb.ifa.hawaii.edu/~ao/Electronic/Peter_dump/Electronics/
System/Text/PCBCADGuidelines.pdf
 SMT Resistors
Properly sized resistors for the board size, try to utilize
larger components if the overall board size and density
can handle the larger package size. 0201s or even
smaller are very hard to place, and get consistent
results, these are typically used in very small assemblies Common SMT lifting
like your smartphone. Move to larger sizes for better
repairability, especially in alpha and beta stages of
development, changing out values of resistors in the lab
will be much easier.

Discrete Resistor
Sizing
Ball Grid Array Packages
BGAs are quite common now on boards. They
have high pin counts that are under the
component and cannot be inspected visually,
other than for placement, and orientation.

BGA solder Bridging

(Under XRAY)
Trace and Layers
• Exchange wiring directions between layers
• Draw vertical traces on one side and horizontal traces on the other.
This facilitates wiring of lines that have to cross over the others. For
multiple layers, alternate between directions.
• Select the width of lines depending on current
• Larger width reduces resistance, which in turn reduces the heat caused
by dissipation. The width of the lines should be sized according to the
estimated current that flows through them. You can use
this online calculator to calculate their width. Therefore, power lines
should be wider because all the current is supplied by these wires.
Electro Static Discharge (ESD)
• Being mindful of ESD is crucial, ICs are easily damaged by ESD, and
can happen at any step, from component level, to shipping,
manufacturing, and at the board level. Also Ground yourself and the
workspace, and take the proper steps to handle components and
boards safely.
• Test that your grounded
Panelized Layout
This board to the right shows a panelized
layout of 4x, to be able to increase the
volume throughput during production. The
router-ed out sections have mousebites, Router-ed with
and are cut out after placement using a mouse-bites
hook knife or CNC router. Other options
include V-score, which cannot have any
interconnects or components on the edge
of the board. Also note this panel has 4x
fiducials, and it is suggested to use 3x
fiducials, to remove the chance of the panel
being pasted and placed 180deg out. The
outside perimeter is for storing the panels
once populated on storage racks vertically,
with separation between panels. Vscore
Mixed-signal circuits

• Keep digital and analog grounds separate

• As for the case of power circuits, you should keep the digital and analog grounds separate.
The reason is the same: voltage and current spikes from digital circuits can generate
interference (noise) in the analog circuits, affecting their performance. If you tie them
together in the PCB, do it in a point near the end of the supply path (most notably near the
PCB ground connection). Although there are other points of view to this problem, this is the
most accepted.
• Protect analog grounds from noise
• Any interference in the analog ground has the same effect as it would be in the signal lines
(all that matters is the differential voltage between any point and ground). You want a large
ground plane to reduce its resistance, but that also makes it more susceptible to capacitive
coupling to lines routed above or beneath it. To that end, analog ground should only have
analog lines crossing it and the same for digital. That reduces the capacitive coupling
between analog and digital circuits
Image References
• http://www.dynamixtechnology.com/trainassem.htm
• https://www.protectiveindustrialpolymers.com/esd-control-flooring/esd-flooring-work-need/
• https://www.rocket-pcb.com/overview-of-ipc-standard-directory-pcb-fabrication
• https://www.xjtag.com/free-trial/bga-testing-soldering-defects/
• https://www.mokotechnology.com/bga-pcb-soldering/
• http://ascenten.net/tech-notes/x-ray-inspection-of-a-bga/

• http://www.onmyphd.com/?p=pcb.design