Start with a Schematic

A schematic uses symbols to designate the components and shows the components used and how they connect in the circuit and is needed to design the PCB.

PCB Design

The PCB designer uses the schematic and specifications of the components to design the PCB manually or with a computer-aided design (CAD) program like the one offered free through Advanced Circuits.

TIP: To make your PCB look professional:

• Place the components on a 0.10 grid, horizontally (x-axis) or vertically (y-axis), not on angles.
• Place the components with polarity (anodes) facing the same direction in both axes.

The same with resistor stripes.

Inserting the Components on the PCB

The components are inserted manually or by a machine called an automatic insertion machine. This procedure is called PCB electromechanical assembly.

The component wire leads are soldered in place by hand or a wave solder. Some companies bend the wire leads on the solder side of the PCB to hold the components in place before soldering.

Before the Production Run

The making of a prototyping board before the production run is not only a common but wise procedure. By doing so, any errors in the circuitry or printed circuit board design are more likely to be detected.

TIP: Prototype PCBs often lack a solder mask. Make sure the traces are wide enough to handle the amperage with a solder mask.

Advanced Circuits Can Solve Your PCB Needs

If you are looking for a one-stop shop for your PCB needs, Advanced Circuits is your PCB solution. From the design of your PCB to making your boards to assembly.

Some of the services provided are:

• PCB Design Layout software
• Free PCB file checks
• Barebones PCBs
• PCB full spec prototyping
• PCB full spec production
• PCB assembly
• PCB stencils
• 0-10 layers PCB (standard)
• 0-40 layers PCB (custom)
• No minimum order
• DOD contracts ready
• Space & flight approved PCB supplier

Advanced Circuits is your market industry expert, whether you are a student, hobbyist, or a manufacturer of defense, aerospace, or medical equipment.

Contact us today for more information or to have a live chat with an expert.

Use the Right Software

One of the best things you can do to improve the quality of your PCB design is to use quality software for the creation. Of course, some might worry that software will be expensive or difficult to use. While this is certainly a potential problem with some pieces of software, it doesn’t have to be.

Advanced Circuits offers PCB Artist, a robust piece of software that can provide you with the guidance and tools you need for your PCB design regardless of how simple or complex it might be. It offers more than is found with most other pieces of software on the market that provide similar features. One of the best features of the software is the price. It is entirely free, so you will not have to worry about paying anything when you are getting started. Whether you are a hobbyist or working for a company, you will appreciate this benefit.

While the software will have a learning curve, like any piece of software, it tends to be easy to use. Those who have any experience with PCB design should not have a problem getting started with the intuitive software. When you use PCB Artist, you can create up to 28 layers on your PCB. It features Gerber format files, has design rule and check support, and a host of other helpful features.

The software does not take up too much computing power either. You will only need to have a Pentium processor that’s at least 1.8Ghz. You will also need 512MB of RAM and 1.26 GB of storage space on your hard drive. These small requirements should be achievable by just about any computer today. However, it does need to be a Windows computer because MAC and Linux are not supported currently.

The software can help to make the PCB design process faster and easier, but it’s important to realize that this is just a tool. You still need to understand the concepts of good design.

Streamline Your Circuit Design

One of the most important aspects of PCB design is keeping things functional, often through the simplicity of design. You don’t need to jam as many components as possible onto a single board. Instead, you want to be sure that you are creating a circuit that can perform the functions that you need without being too crowded. Think about what you need the circuit to do and design for that. Streamline the board, use good, basic design principles, and build from there.

Beware of trying to do too much on a single board. There is a chance for more to go wrong. There is also the worry that too many components could cause overheating if you don’t consider how it will be cooled.

The software can make circuit design easier and have a good representation of what it will look like and how it will work. You can often see issues that would come into play even before you prototype. Additionally, you can send the design for an engineering review. Advanced Circuits offers a free engineering review. This will give you a better idea of whether your PCB design will work or not.

Always Use a Prototype

Of course, the next step should be to prototype the board. Even if you have checked it virtually and the engineering review looks good, get a prototype. This will help to ensure that it is working properly in the real world. You can see how it fares in the case you have designed. You can see if there are overheating issues, if it doesn’t always trigger properly, etc. The testing will give you a better look at the board and the areas where you might need to make some changes.

In a perfect world, you will find that the prototype works without a problem. If that’s the case, you can move on with manufacturing. However, if there’s an issue, it is better to know now, so you can go back and fix it and then test again before unleashing your PCB design into the world.

Use Advanced Circuits for Your Manufacturing Needs

Advanced Circuits is one of the largest PCB manufacturers in the country. We have decades of experience and can provide you with everything you need from start to finish. Not only do we have the free PCB Artist software you can use for the PCB design and free engineering reviews before you go into manufacturing, but we also have quality manufacturing facilities. We can be the “one-stop-shop” for all of your PCB needs.

As the third-largest manufacturer of PCBs in the United States, we provide a fast turnaround time, so you can get your boards quickly once you place your order. You will be happy to know that there is no minimum order either. This will make it easier for you to get those prototypes you’ll want to use for testing.

Advanced Circuits is not a broker. All of the work is done in-house at our facilities. This includes the manufacturing and assembly of your PCBs. We have a fantastic shipping record, we’ve been around for years (so you can be sure we aren’t going to disappear overnight), and we strive to make the entire process as easy as possible for you. Contact us to learn more and to get a quote. We are looking forward to helping you with all of your PCB design needs.

The PCBs today are more complex than they were in the past, so designers need to be sure that the design is just right before moving on to full manufacturing. If you are responsible for creating the circuit boards for the next electronic gadget, you want them to work perfectly. You can’t leave anything to chance. That is why you need to prototype them first.

Prototyping Your Circuit Board Offers Many Benefits

The prototype is the step that comes after the design. Even if you have spent a lot of time and effort working with the PCB Artist software to create what you believe to be the ideal circuit board, there could still be some issues. You might not see them, and they might even slip through a review. The only way you will know if there are problems is to check the board in the real world.

Doing this will allow you to see how it works in practice when it is in one of your devices. Whether this is for a small, personal project or it is a large project for a commercial device, prototyping is needed.

Let’s look at one of the reasons why you’ll need to be sure that you have a prototype of your circuit boards. Let’s say you have a board that you have tested virtually, and it works without a problem. However, there are a lot of components and you haven’t thought about how small and tight the housing is for your device. There is a chance that the board could get too hot and start to overheat. This is not something that you want to discover after you’ve shipped thousands of the product to your customers.

The prototyping will provide your circuit boards with the testing that is needed. It is not a step you will want to skip, or you could come to regret that decision.

One of the reasons some people do not prototype and test their board after it’s been reviewed and undergone virtual testing is time. They worry that getting a prototype and testing it in the real-world will end up wasting a lot of time. When you order through Advanced Circuits, you can receive your prototype circuit boards quickly. However, even if you didn’t, it would still be in your best interest to test a prototype because it can still help you save time and money down the road.

If you don’t prototype and you send out a board that doesn’t work properly, it’s going to come back to haunt you. It would mean you might have to replace the boards that are in circulation and that you need to rework the board before you can manufacture and ship more. This would take up a lot of time and effort. It would also mean that your customers may not instill as much trust in you as they did in the past.

Prototyping and testing ensure you aren’t surprised by anything that happens with your circuit boards. While there could still be problems depending on how the end consumer uses those boards, you can be sure that they are designed correctly before they are “out in the wild,” so to speak.

You will find that it becomes easier to ensure a great circuit board design when you work with us at Advanced Circuits. We provide the PCB Artist software for creating the design and we can provide an engineering review. This helps to reduce the risk of having circuit boards that do not work properly. However, it doesn’t mean that you wouldn’t still benefit from ordering a prototype first.

Don’t Become Complacent

Ideally, when you receive your prototype, you will find that it works flawlessly. It means that you’ve done a great job with the design and now that you’ve put it through its paces, you are ready to put it into full production. You might create several subsequent designs in a row that have perfect prototypes, too. This is great news, but it doesn’t mean that you can forego prototypes on your future designs.

Each design is its own challenge, and this means that you need to prototype them all, no matter how much experience you have. It is the best and only way to ensure that everything is working properly. Even a relatively “small” problem could hurt the reputation of your company.

What If There There is a Problem?

When you test the circuit boards, you might find that there is a problem. If there are issues, you will want to rethink the design. Figure out where the problem stems from and what you might be able to do to rework your design to get it to work properly. Remake it in the software and get another prototype to ensure that the problem is fixed. It can take some time to get everything right, but it is worth putting in the extra effort. It will ensure a better end product.

Do not make the mistake of skipping the prototyping phase. When you work with Advanced Circuits, we can provide you with a board quickly, so you can test it before going into production We have a lot of experience in this field and are one of the largest PCB companies in the United States. We know and understand what it takes to create excellent boards that can work in even the most trying conditions. In addition to software and a review, we utilize quality materials. You will love our prices and our quick turnaround time. You can get in touch with us today to learn more.

Use Software to Design the Circuit Boards

Modern software has helped to make it easier to design printed circuit boards. It has cut down on the amount of time it takes, not to mention the number of errors that would need to be fixed. Software, such as Advanced Circuits’ PCB Artist, will make it nice and easy to create just the board you need. The software will let you create your circuit boards virtually. You can add and remove components as needed and test them in the software to get a better sense of how they would work.

This is a nice benefit for designers. It allows for the creation of a range of interesting and new designs far faster than it would be with a breadboard. It’s possible to find problems and errors in the board even before it goes into prototyping. It becomes possible to save time and money, which is helpful for anyone whether working as a hobbyist or creating circuit boards for the latest and greatest electronic gadget.

If you want to have the best possible design for your circuit board, our PCB Artist software is an ideal solution. Even better, you will not have to pay anything for the software. It is available at no cost to those who need to use it. You can use it to create the files for your circuit boards, and then have them sent to us to be manufactured. We even provide a review of the files to ensure they are ready to be made. This cuts down on potential errors even further.

The software we offer is intuitive and easy to use. If you have any experience putting together circuits, even minimal experience, you should not have any trouble with it.

Always Use Good Design Protocols

One of the issues that some designers come to find when they are creating circuit boards is crowding. Boards today have the potential to do quite a bit. However, there is often the temptation — especially with new designers — to put too many components onto the PCB. While it might seem like a good idea to make the best use of space, too many components could be a problem. Typically, these problems will arise during the testing phase. Therefore, you will want to be sure that you do plenty of testing.

A better option is to think simpler. Consider what the circuit board needs to do and make sure it can do that with as few components as possible. It might mean needing an additional board or even redesigning the device. Still, finding the cleanest design possible tends to be the best option. It can reduce problems later.

Also, consider how the components are mounted on the board, along with your trace angles. It’s a good practice to use 45-degree trace angles. This can help to reduce the amount of overcrowding that you might have otherwise.

One of the main problems that can come from overcrowding a board is overheating. If there are too many components on the board trying to do too much, there is a good chance it will overheat. Even with the fans that might be in the device already, there is still a chance that it could overheat. It’s best to use the right design principles and protocols in the first place rather than trying to add more fans to keep things cool with your circuit boards.

Check Your Prototype

Once you believe that you have a great design, you will want to order a prototype. You should test this prototype (or several of them) in real-world situations with your device. See how they work in practice, not just in theory. This will give you a chance to see if there are any issues that weren’t discovered during design. It’s better to realize that you have a problem with overheating on your prototype before you order 5,000 units from the manufacturer.

If you notice there are issues, it’s time to head back to the drawing board and make some changes. However, don’t jump the gun and think that those changes were all you needed. It’s best to err on the side of caution and to continue with another prototype round. Test it again and put it through all of its paces to ensure it will work properly no matter what you put it through.

Choose a Quality Manufacturer

Ideally, you will have chosen a great company to make your prototypes that can also manufacture all of the circuit boards you need. This will be a better solution than trying to find two different companies. Fortunately, Advanced Circuits can provide you with what you need. You will be able to use the free software and take advantage of the engineering review. You can order some prototypes to see how it all works, and then you can place your main order.

You will be happy to know that we have some of the best and fastest service in this field. You can often get your orders within days of placing them. We strive to make it as easy as possible for you to get high-quality circuit boards quickly and easily, and at prices that you can afford. We work hard to ensure that you get the best possible service no matter the size of your order. To stress this, we don’t have an order minimum. Order as many or as few as you need. Get in touch to learn more.

Node Location Is Critical

Perhaps the most important tip on our list is this – make important nodes as accessible as possible. This is particularly relevant to troubleshooting why your design is not working. If your important nodes aren’t accessible, your testing is going to hit a wall. Whether you’re going with loop-style nodes or something else, make sure they’re easy to access.

Component Spacing Matters a Lot

Today’s circuit boards support far more components than ever before. That’s great from an end-user standpoint. The more components on a board, the more functionality it supports, and the more users can do with the device. However, what is an advantage for end users can be a challenge for designers.

Simply put, the more components you add to a board, the more cramped they become within the design. And, make no mistake, component spacing matters a lot. Why is that? You’ll find several reasons. One of those is that without the appropriate amount of spacing, you lack room for wire routing. Another challenge is that those components create heat, and the closer they’re packed, the more heat builds up in the board. In some cases, that might be enough to compromise the board material itself, particularly if you’re using something like FR-4 rather than a material designed to handle high levels of heat.

Speaking of Heat…

Heat will always be a problem, but it is not insurmountable. One quick tip to help you get around high-heat-related issues is to add extra copper around surface mount components. This creates additional surface area and helps dissipate more heat, faster, effectively turning a portion of the PCB design into a heatsink.

Shrink Your Components

Struggling with an unrouteable board? Use smaller components. By going with a smaller footprint, you leave more room for copper traces to pass each component. Proper spacing is easier to maintain with smaller components, too, helping you avoid overcrowding the board and the other problems that go hand in hand with stacking components too close to one another.

What should you do? While quad flat package components might be your first option, you might want to consider going with ball grid array components, instead. Of course, there is a trade-off here – smaller components make repair work more challenging.

Play Tetris

Does the following situation sound familiar? You’re staring at your PCB design, struggling to fit each component in and route traces between them. No matter where you put them, you’re left with problems, particularly if the board is smaller.

The answer? Play a game of Tetris with your components. Rotate them and find the best arrangement that allows you to route traces directly between them while maximizing the use of space across the entire board. This can take some time and effort, but it’s well worth the minimal investment you’ll make.

Pay Attention to Arrangement

Sometimes, rotating your components is simply not enough. When that happens, it’s important to come at the situation with a bit of strategy in terms of component arrangement. How, though?

• Cascaded Components: Cascaded components play a vital role in many PCB design options. However, they can be challenging to arrange correctly. Keep them near one another, and make sure that they are in sequence on the board. That will immediately remove the challenge of trying to route traces all across the board to connect cascaded components located in different areas.

• Consolidate: Why use multiple smaller resistors when a single higher resistance one will work better? Consolidating your design ensures that there’s more room for components and traces, as resistors will take up less of your available space.

• Cascade from the Edge: When laying out your PCB design, identify any component that must be attached via an edge connector. Locate those components as close to the connector as you can. The rest of the chain should cascade away from that point, grouped into functional blocks near one another and in sequence.

Go Denserdesign software

If you are struggling with PCB design, chances are good that the space required for traces, vias, and clearance is a problem. You can get around that by going denser. With HDI, you can create very dense boards with very dense traces, clearances, and vias that still deliver performance. However, you do need to consider controlled impedance routing, differential pairs, and check creepage, clearance, and width when it comes to high-current and high-voltage design.

Watch the Noise

Signal noise can be problematic when it comes to some traces. However, placing high-frequency signal carrying traces too close together can couple those signals, ratcheting up the noise and possibly creating problems with traces where no noise is desired. Make sure that you keep noisy traces away from analog traces to avoid this problem.

A Helping Hand

As you can see, there are many considerations to make when it comes to PCB design. If you’re struggling to get it right, we can help. At Advanced Circuits, we have decades of experience working with clients ranging from individuals to Fortune 500 companies and helping them bring their PCB designs to life. From our groundbreaking design software to our production capabilities, we have a solution no matter what your needs might be. Contact us today to schedule your consultation or to learn more about our capabilities and services.

When working with circuit design and creating printed circuit boards, many best practices can prevent having to continually alter and change the boards. Some of them are common knowledge while others might teach you something new that you can incorporate into your next PCBs. We want to focus on tips that will make a huge difference in your creation process and let you speed up your work.

Consider Orientation, Space, and Accessibility

One of the best tips we can offer you with circuit design is that all the components that you add to a board should be given a bit of space between each other. It might seem satisfying to place every part right next to another, but you also need room for wires to spread out. Keep in mind that components with fewer pins will need less space. Having extra space can also help with auto-routing since soldering will be simpler.

You also need to think about the orientation of parts when you place them. In general, the best tip here is that components should have the same orientation as each other. There’s a good reason for this practice. In most cases, the parts have a standard pin number system where pin one is found in the left upper corner. When orientation is the same between parts, it will prevent later mistakes in soldering and inspections.

Accessibility is also crucial, especially for nodes that are the most important in your build. Even when you have a great design and have gone through prototyping with products from a company like Advanced Circuits, you might do testing and see something isn’t working the way it should be. You’ll want to measure the signal in the PCB during the circuit design process. Be aware when designing the PCB about what points will be most important to troubleshoot and make them accessible. If this isn’t possible, make sure a test point is connected to them.

Check Component Sizes, Exchange Wiring Directions, and Select Line Widths

When you have an idea of how you want to lay out your components during circuit design, one option is to print out the layout. You can then take the parts and place them on top of the page to make sure they match. In some cases, this can save a ton of time since datasheets aren’t always 100% accurate. Another option is to use the free circuit board design software by Advanced Circuits to ensure your build is exactly the way it should be.

Assuming you are making a circuit with several layers, it’s best to swap the wiring directions as you go between the layers. For instance, one side of the layer might have horizontal traces while the other side uses vertical traces. This is an important tip since it helps facilitate the wiring or lines that need to pass over others. Alternate direction when using several layers for the best results.

PCB width will vary based on your project. A larger width is going to reduce the level of resistance, which means that it will also create less heat. It’s important to choose the width of lines you are sizing based on how much current is expected to flow through them. Several online calculators can help with this process. As you might guess, power lines should have more width than other lines since they will carry a larger amount of current.

Special Considerations for Power Circuits

When creating a power circuit, the number one tip is to ensure your power and control grounds remain separate. Large current spikes and high voltage can create interference in the control circuits, which aren’t designed to handle as much current and voltage. This is the main reason that the control ground and the power ground should be kept apart in any power supply stage. If they need to be tied together, it should be toward the end of the supply path.

For those who need circuits with several layers, it’s best to place the control ground somewhere in the middle layer during circuit design. The power traces can be placed on the top layers, while the bottom layer can handle the control traces. There’s a genuine reason to lay out your circuit in this manner. The middle layer will have a large ground path that helps prevent interference from the power circuits for better protection.

While this applies to any type of PCB, it is most important when designing and creating a power circuit. You want to ensure the width of the wire for the power supply is sized based on how much current will go through it. The reason this is essential is that a wire that is too small can generate additional heat and damage or destroy the wires.

Let Professionals Handle the Hard Work

Whether you are creating a prototype or the final PCB for a circuit design on a product you want to offer, there are many things that can go wrong. That’s precisely why working with professionals can be a great idea. Companies like Advanced Circuits have decades of experience and understand the ins and outs of PCBs. The company can manufacture PCBs of all sizes and levels of complexity to make your life a little easier.

As we mentioned earlier, Advanced Circuits provides software to design PCBs. They also have a FreeDFM file check, PCB Artist software, and more. The company has been leading the PCB industry for more than 25 years and has high-quality standards using the most innovative technology. Whether you need a small number of PCBs or tons of them for a major project, we can offer you a solution that meets your needs.

Use Quality Software for the Design

Using PCB Artist or similar software will help to make the design process much easier. It will be easier to keep track of all of the different elements and components that you need for the design. The software makes it possible to see the design in a new light and to quickly make changes, rename elements, and test to see whether it will work. While the software won’t do all of the work for you, it will help to make the process smoother and faster.

Double Check Spacing

Many designers like the idea of making their circuits as small as possible. It will help to reduce space, but it’s not always the best solution. You still need to be sure that you have enough space between the components that it will be possible to solder and assemble the board. Quality software will often make it easier for you to virtually see where the components will be. Add enough space to work on the board if needed, but still keep it relatively small. SMT helps make it possible to reduce the size without the need to cram all of the components tightly together.

No Right Angle Traces

Another tip to keep in mind for your circuit designs is to beware of how you are placing traces. If they are placed at 90-degrees or right angles, it will often be hard for designers to ensure they are uniformly wide. Instead, it tends to be a better option to use 45-degree angles. These are a better width, and you’ll find that they won’t overcrowd the circuit design.

Make the Loops Small

Loops in your circuit design should always be as small as possible. This is particularly true when it comes to high-frequency loops. When you have smaller loops, it means that you have lower resistance and inductance. When you place the groups over a ground plan, it will help to reduce the inductance even more.

Smaller loops work well to reduce voltage spikes, prevent noise from being coupled into the circuit, and reduce signals that could cause problems with the overall design.

Placing Decoupling Capacitors

Another thing to keep in mind with circuit designs is where you’re placing decoupling capacitors. Typically, they should be as close to the power and ground pins of integrated circuits as possible. Doing this will help to improve the efficiency of the decoupling capacitor. When they are placed too far away, there’s a chance that it will add stray inductance.

Identify Heat Generating Areas

With many circuit designs, certain areas will produce a lot of heat. When a circuit has to handle a large amount of heat, there is the potential for that heat to damage the PCB. One of the easiest ways to help dissipate the heat is by adding heat sinks or coolers. This can help to keep the board cooler.

Additionally, when designing the board, it’s a good idea to move any of the crucial PCB elements away from heat sources. Keep in mind that the circuit might not be the only part of the device that’s generating heat. Consider where the circuit will be placed in the device and be sure that it’s not going to be too close to other heat-generating locations.

Remember the Importance of Prototyping

You might start your design by making a prototyping board or breadboard. This can be a good way to start, but even after you’ve completed your initial design, you need to make sure it will work in the real world. By using software like PCB Artist, mentioned above, and then getting an engineering file review, you’ll have a better idea of the viability of your circuit design.

However, you can’t — or at least you shouldn’t — start production quite yet. Instead, you’ll want to place a small order of PCBs that you can use as practical prototypes. These are boards that you can use on your devices to see how well they work in the real world. Sometimes, you’ll find that all of your work has paid off and it works well. Other times, you might notice some things that you can change to make the PCB even better.

Perhaps you can find a way to make the circuit design more effective and have less latency, for example. Maybe you find that you need to add a different component to meet the actual needs the device will face when it’s in use by one of your customers.

You might have to rework your circuit design, or you might find that it’s already in good shape. Once you feel it’s as good as it can be, you can then talk with Advanced Circuits about production.

These are just some of the ways to help improve your circuit designs. The more you learn about designing circuits, the easier it will become to create better and better PCBs.

Why Choose Advanced Circuits?

What makes us a good choice for your PCBs? We have a lot of experience in the field and are the third-largest PCB manufacturer in the country. Advanced Circuits prides itself on being able to meet the needs of customers and exceed their expectations. Whether you need only a small number of PCBs or you need to have thousands of them, we can help. We have a large facility that can provide for all your manufacturing needs, large or small.

We have a fast turnaround time, so you can get the PCBs you need in a matter of days. Whether you are looking to go into production or you just want some workable prototypes that you can test, it’s easy to get what you need with Advanced Circuits.

Benefits of Today’s PCBs

As mentioned, printed circuit boards today are compact. Even though they are smaller, they can have a larger number of components on them. This means that not only is it possible to make technology smaller, but it’s also possible to improve it. They can be extremely complex, allowing for far more functionality in a smaller space.

Printed circuit boards also tend to be far more reliable than they were in the past. This is because of the way they are created and because they don’t require leads to connect the various components. Instead, they can be soldered right onto the board. This means no broken leads, better overall reliability, and PCBs that don’t suffer from the same types of problems they did in the past.

Another nice benefit is that the PCBs today tend to be affordable. It is possible to create high-quality boards that will last, for less than you could in the past, even though they are more reliable and have better functionality.

Using PCBs allows you to create the types of electronic devices you need no matter how simple or complex they might be. The size of the boards and components means that it is often possible to shrink the size and the weight of the device, which can drive down your costs even further.

Create the Best

If you are creating a printed circuit board design, for your own needs or your company, you naturally want to create the best. The board needs to do exactly what you need it to do, and it needs to be as efficient as possible. In the past, when creating a PCB, the design work started in the mind and then moved on to breadboard testing before creating the board. Today, the work still starts with an idea, but the means used to take that idea and move to production is a bit different. Fortunately, it is also far more efficient. Let’s look at how it’s done.

Figure Out What the Board Needs to Do

The first thing you will have to do is consider what the board’s functions will be. What type of device will the board be used to control? What do the device and the board need to be capable of delivering? Knowing what the board needs to do and how it will function in the machine will help you get a better idea of how to design it. Once you have your idea firmly in place, you can move on with the design.

Use Software to Make the Process Faster and Easier

Today, the best and simplest way to create a PCB is by using software for the design. Of course, you need to be sure you are choosing only the best software for the job. There are many options on the market, but that does not mean that they will all do a good job. It’s also true that some of the pieces of software can cost thousands of dollars.

Instead of using expensive software, or software that doesn’t have all the features you need, you will want to check out our PCB Artist software, instead. This is fully-featured software that features more than half a million parts and up to 28 layers. The software is intuitive and easy to use, so most people will not have any trouble getting started and creating their PCBs.

Of course, one of the best features of the software is the price. When you choose to use PCB Artist, you won’t have to pay anything. We provide this software entirely free because we want to make sure that you are getting the best possible tool to create your PCBs. This will help to make your work easier, and it will ensure you are happy with the results when we manufacture those boards for you.

The software also has a way to check the board to ensure there are not any issues. Additionally, we will provide you with a free engineer check and review. This helps to cut down on any potential issues that could otherwise arise with the board.

You Need to Test the Boards Before Mass Production

Of course, even when you have a board that you are certain will work just the way you need, it is still a good idea to get a prototype. Ordering one or several of the prototypes is a good way to ensure the board works well when it is used in the real world. You can test it out in the electronic device to ensure that there are no issues with overheating and that it functions as it should.

If there are issues, you can correct them and then choose another prototype. Once you are satisfied with how it works, you will feel more comfortable placing your full order.

Always Choose a Manufacturer with Quality Materials and Facilities

When buying PCBs, you must learn more about the company that will be doing the manufacturing. You want to be sure that they have the knowledge and experience to provide you with what you need. You also need to know that they are using only the best quality materials in the PCBs.

Advanced Circuits understands your concern. We’ve been in business for a long time, and we aren’t going anywhere. We have state-of-the-art facilities that are used for manufacturing the PCBs you need. We always use the best quality materials possible, and we strive to get your boards to you as soon as possible. We have a fast turnaround time that you won’t find with other companies. Put your trust in Advanced Circuits and see what we can do for you.

You need to take your time to think about just what you need the board to do and the components that will be required. You also need to consider the benefits of having a prototyping board that you can use before you move on to manufacturing on a large scale. Even if you only plan to have a relatively small run of boards, using a prototyping board to ensure that everything is just right is essential.

Let’s look at some of the biggest benefits that a prototyping board can provide.

What Makes Using a Prototyping Board a Good Solution?

No matter how long you might have been designing PCBs, you know that there is always the risk of making a mistake during the design process. This is truer today than it was in the past because the PCBs have become so complex in recent years. Mistakes can do more than just be an embarrassing moment for a designer. They can cost a company a substantial amount of money. They can cause delays in manufacturing, damage to the electronics they are meant for, and more.

Prototyping boards is a way to reduce the risk of making these types of mistakes, whether they are large or small errors. Prototyping the board is made easier when you utilize quality software, such as PCB Artist from Advanced Circuits. This software is free and has a full range of features to make creating the board as simple as possible. There is a large component library, and it allows the designers to tweak the design until it is as perfect as it can be. They can then send it to Advanced Circuits for a free review from the engineers to see if there are any hidden issues.

Once they are satisfied that the board will work properly, they can then move on and order one or more physical boards. There is no minimum order through Advanced Circuits. This means that you can get just one or a handful of boards to test in real-life situations with the electronics. You can see if there might be hidden issues or if there are problems with overheating, speed, etc. After you are sure the board works well, you can move on from the prototyping board and order as many as you need.

While this might seem like it adds some steps to the process, consider the alternative. If you believe that you have a good board and order 4,000 PCBs for the electronic devices you plan to ship, what happens when they don’t work? What if they cause overheating issues? Your customers would be irate, naturally. Prototyping and testing help to reduce these types of expensive problems.

When you order through Advanced Circuits, you will also find that we have a very fast turnaround time. Whether you are placing a large order, or you just need one board, they can be delivered to you quickly. It’s the best solution. You will reduce issues and you could even reduce the manufacturing costs.

Why Choose Advanced Circuits?

We understand that you want to make sure that your boards are working properly and that you receive them quickly. Advanced Circuits is one of the top manufacturers in the country and we have a very fast turnaround time, regardless of how many boards you might be ordering. If you only want to order a couple of your initial boards as prototypes, so you can see how they work in practice, you can. You could even order just a single board if you would like, as there is no minimum.

Additionally, we utilize high-quality materials. You can rest easy knowing that only the best quality components will be going into the boards you design.

We Make It Easier with Great Software

Most circuit board designers today know that it is best to use software that can help to design the printed circuit board rather than trying to use a breadboard. However, that software can be hit or miss. Sometimes, it can be extremely expensive.

Fortunately, we have a solution that’s available for you, as mentioned. Best of all, you won’t have to pay anything for the fully-featured software. Our software, PCB Artist, has features that you won’t find even with some of the expensive options.

We have a large library that you can use for designing the prototype. It features more than half a million parts. With the software, you can create up to 28 layers, which should be more than enough for most designs. It utilizes Gerber format files, and it is easy for you to check your work to make sure the board is working properly.

It is an easy-to-use piece of software that can change the way you work, and it can even speed up the process. If you don’t have a powerful computer, you don’t have to worry. Even a relatively modest computer should not have any trouble running the software, and you only need half a gig of RAM. Most people who have even a passing familiarity with this type of software will be up and running in no time.

Prototyping Boards Make Your Life Easier

Ultimately, you want to prototype your boards to make the process as simple as possible. Advanced Circuits can help you with each step along the way. You have the idea, and then you can design it with our software. Our engineers can check the design and you can move forward with the manufacturing once you are certain the board is what you need. Whether you need to order a large number of the boards, or you only need a few for a special project you are doing, we make it nice and easy. Get in touch with us today to see what we can do for you.

Always Test Your Circuit Design

One of the problems that cause delays and added costs to many companies is not ensuring that their boards are the best they can be before they go into the manufacturing phase. Even the most talented people can make small mistakes on their circuit design, which can cause a host of problems.

Rather than ordering a large number of these PCBs, it makes far more sense to take a step back and ensure that the design is correct first. Prototype the board and get a sample of the board to test out. This will let you know not only whether it works, but whether there might be some small design changes and tweaks that you could make to improve it further.

Do you have enough space between the components? Are you getting too much delay? Does the board become too hot? Look for the various ways that you can make some changes and improvements to your design, and then create another prototype, or at least have it checked by a third-party engineer, such as one of the specialists at Advanced Circuits. Doing this ensures that you have the best possible design. Only then should you move ahead with production.

Use Software to Make Circuit Design Easier

The world has changed, and technology has improved in many ways thanks to PCBs. With these changes, it means that the boards and circuit design is becoming more complex. The simple breadboards that were used for prototypes in the past may not be able to handle what you need in terms of your prototype circuit design. Instead, you will want to make sure that you are using software that will help to make the process of designing faster, easier, and more accurate.

If you are worried about the cost of this type of software, it’s understandable. Some of the software options that people use cost thousands of dollars. However, that’s not the case with our software, PCB Artist. We don’t charge anything to use the software, and it will work on computers that have a Pentium processor faster than 1.8 GHz and that have 512MB of RAM. The installation will take up 1.26GB on the hard drive, but most computers will have plenty of space to spare.

Just because our software is free doesn’t mean that it is lacking in power and features. We have a fully-featured program that has elements that you won’t even find with the expensive software options. Why do we offer the software for free? It’s simple. We want you to create high-quality boards that are ready to go. We want to make the process as simple as possible for you because it also helps us.

The software features hundreds of thousands of parts in the library. It’s easy and intuitive to use, and it can help to reduce the amount of time that it takes to go from an idea to a completed prototype and then to the manufacturing phase. Check out the software to see how much easier it will be to improve your circuit design.

Double-Check the Board

You believe that you have created the perfect board. Using software and prototyping as we suggested, that might be the case. However, you still don’t want to rush to the manufacturing process quite yet. Take some time to test the board in a real-world setting to see how it performs. You might find that you need to make just a few more small changes to improve the quality and efficiency of the board. While the board might work “just fine”, you should strive to ensure it is the best possible quality. This means double-checking the board to see if there may be ways to improve its speed or heat dissipation, for example.

If there are some changes you can make, apply them to your design, and get another prototype. Test it out until you are satisfied that it is exactly what your electronics will need. After all, you do not want a workable circuit design. You want an extraordinary design. Your customers, whether they are retail consumers or the military, will be glad that you did.

The Right Manufacturer Makes a Difference

Once you are certain that the board is in perfect shape, you can move ahead with manufacturing. However, you can’t simply choose just any manufacturer for the job. You need to be sure you are working with the team that can provide the best assembly and the best materials for your boards. Always take the time to investigate the history of the company and its size. You want a company that can provide you with what you need.

Advanced Circuits provides state of the art facilities and only uses high-quality materials for the creation of the boards. You have the option of ordering as many or as few boards as you need, and we can always provide a fast turnaround time. Often, you can get boards in a matter of days, which can help to speed up your manufacturing process. We have the best PCB shipping record in the field.

We are a top-rated PCB manufacturing company that is financially stable. You won’t have to worry about Advanced Circuits cutting corners or going out of business. We strive to be as efficient as possible in all of our departments. We even have 24-hour tech support, so you can always get in touch with a specialist regarding your project. Visit our website today to receive an instant quote online. We make things as easy as possible for you, so you can be sure you have the best circuit design.