Printed circuit board design can be extremely complicated and mistakes made in this stage of the electronic design process can be costly. Advanced Circuits is your PCB manufacturing partner that can help at each step of the printed circuit board fabrication process, including as early as the design stage. We provide free circuit board design tools like FreeDFM to check your PCB design files for possible manufacturability issues prior to placing your order. Advanced Circuits also offers an easy to use and powerful PCB Design Software, PCB Artist with professional-grade design features and in-app quoting an ordering.
While there countless things that could go wrong during the PCB design process, below we list 4 costly mistakes to watch out for. For more information about how our FreeDFM software can help you identify manufacturability issues in your design, click here.
Check Your PCB Design for Landing Pattern Errors
Printed circuit board landing patterns include libraries of electric mechanisms which use a schematic symbol. There will be no issue if the design is followed through thoroughly. However, if the libraries are not followed correctly, the schematic symbol must be manually drawn. It is very easy to make a mistake when manually drawing a landing pattern and this situation should be avoided if possible.
Avoid Creating Circuit Board Designs with High-Current Traces That Are Too Narrow
It is imperative for high current traces to be wide enough for proper flow. If a trace mandatorily must be capable of handling a current greater than several hundred milliamps; the minimum width typically will not suffice in this situation. Measure the appropriate width for each printed circuit board design before production.
A trace width calculator may assist in preventing mistakes on the correct width for your printed circuit board.
Too Long High-Speed Traces in Your PCB Design
High-speed signals must only follow the quickest, leveled paths available. Too long of high-speed traces may cause the PCB to not function properly.
Check Your PCB Design for Optimal Wireless Antenna Layout
The layout of the antenna is crucial to proper wireless functionality. This part of the printed circuit board design process arguably bears the most risk for mistakes. The antenna and transceiver must be equaled in order for maximum power transfer.