1. Choose the correct grid set and always use a grid spacing that matches most components. While the practicality of multigrid may seem important, if engineers could have thought more in the early stages of PCB layout design, they could have avoided spacing setup difficulties and maximized board utilization. Since many devices use multiple package sizes, engineers should use the product that is most beneficial to their design. Also, polygons are very important for copper plating on circuit boards. When performing polygon copper plating on multi-gate boards, polygon fill deviation often occurs. While it is not based on a single grid standard, it can provide service beyond the required useful life of the board.
2. Keep the path shortest and most direct. This sounds simple and common, but it should be kept in mind at every stage, even if it means changing the board layout to optimize trace length. This is especially true for analog and high-speed digital circuits, where the final part of the system is limited by impedance and parasitic effects.
3. Use the power plane to manage the distribution of power lines and ground lines as much as possible. Copper coating on power planes is a faster and easier option for most PCB design software. Sharing a large number of wires ensures the most efficient current delivery with the least impedance or voltage drop, and provides an adequate ground return. If possible, it is also possible to operate multiple power lines in the same area of the board to confirm whether the ground plane covers most of the PCB layers, which is conducive to the interaction between the operating lines on adjacent layers.
4. Combine the relevant parts with the required test points. For example, the discrete components required for an OPAMP operational amplifier are placed close to the device so that the bypass capacitors and resistors can fit with it, helping to optimize the wiring length mentioned in rule 2 and making testing and fault detection easier.
5. Duplicate the desired circuit board several times on another larger circuit board for PCB assembly. Choosing the size that best fits a manufacturer's equipment can help reduce prototyping and manufacturing costs. First, lay out the boards on the panels, contact the board manufacturer for preferred size specifications for each panel, then modify the design specifications and try to repeat the design multiple times within those panel sizes.
6. Integrate component values. As a designer, you will select some discrete components that have high or low component values but are equally efficient. By integrating within a small range of standard values, the bill of materials can be simplified and costs can be reduced. If you have a range of PCB products based on the value of your preferred equipment, it will be easier for you to make the right inventory management decisions in the long run.
7. Perform as many Design Rule Checks (DRCs) as possible. Although it only takes a short time to run the DRC function on the PCB software, in a more complex design environment, as long as the check is always performed during the design process, it can save a lot of time, which is a good habit worth maintaining. Every routing decision is critical, and performing DRC can prompt you to choose the most important route at any time.
8. Flexible use of screen printing. Screen printing can be used to mark a variety of useful information for future use by the board manufacturer, service or test engineer, installer, or equipment debugger. Not only should functional and test point labels be clearly marked, but component/component and connector orientation should be marked as much as possible, even if these annotations are printed on the underside of components used on the board (after board assembly). The full application of screen printing technology on the upper and lower surfaces of the circuit board can reduce repetitive work and simplify the production process.
9. Decoupling capacitors are required. Don't try to optimize the design by avoiding power line decoupling and following the limits in the component datasheet. Capacitors are cheap and durable. You can spend as much time assembling the capacitors as you want. In the meantime, follow rule 6 and use standard value ranges to keep your inventory tidy.
10. Generate PCB manufacturing parameters and verify them before submitting for production. While most board manufacturers are happy to download and verify them directly for you, you'd better output the Gerber files first and check that they are as expected with a free reader to avoid misunderstandings. Through personal verification, you will even find some careless mistakes to avoid losses caused by finishing the production according to the wrong parameters.
While circuit designs are being shared more and more widely, the sharing rules described above remain a feature of printed circuit board design. As long as these basic rules are clear, even if you are a novice, you will easily master PCB design.
