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.

However, from the materials available to heat resistance, from transfer rates to size, circuit boards have evolved a great deal over time. They also continue to change as our demands do. Not sure what that change might look like as we move forward? Let’s take a few minutes to explore some of the most important current and emerging trends in circuit board design.

Medical Devices

One of the most notable trends today is the spike in demand for medical devices. These run the gamut from hospital and medical clinic equipment like ventilators to devices used by EMTs and paramedics and those designed for consumer use. Circuit board design for medical devices must meet stringent requirements in terms of safety, reliability, heat resistance, and more.

Wearable Devices

From medical devices to fitness trackers, there’s a massive shift toward wearable devices. These must contend with a broad range of stressors that other devices do not face, although mobile devices, such as smartphones, come close in some cases. These factors range from dramatically decreased footprints to how to safely discharge heat and even water resistance in some cases.

Embedded Antennas

Today’s low-profile electronics demand something more than massive mast antennas, and designers have offered up embedded antennas right in the circuit board. Of course, this requires some advanced materials and unique design considerations to ensure full functionality. They play a role in Wi-Fi enabled devices, IoT devices, and much more.

Lead-Free Designs

Another important trend is the shift away from lead-containing laminates. Lead has played a role in circuit board design for decades, but it appears to be slowly falling by the wayside. Why, though? It’s largely to do with the higher heat levels that some of today’s devices must contend with, which would reduce lead to a toxic puddle at the bottom of the device. New lead-free laminate materials are being introduced to cope with those high heat levels and maintain their structural integrity at all times (not to mention eliminating those toxic fumes).

High-Power Boards

Just as circuit board designs must contend with higher heat levels than ever before, they are also being designed for higher and higher power levels (which also affects heat, of course). Most of these boards are above 48 volts, and they can be found in a wide range of applications. Many of them harness solar power, while others are intended for use within electric vehicles. IoT devices, battery-powered devices, and those with additional components – all of these are high-power applications.

The Growing Role of IoT Devices

As touched on above, IoT devices are having a profound impact on circuit board design. One interesting trend here is that the PCB industry is expanding. In the past, it was largely focused on consumer electronics. Today, that is still the case, but there is a growing focus on serving industrial needs because this is where the vast majority of IoT devices can be found. While Alexa, Siri, Ring doorbells and the like are all being integrated into homes, the real demand is within the manufacturing and industrial sector where entire production lines are now integrating internet connectivity and being networked together.

Not only does this mean that there is an increasing demand for circuit board design and manufacturing, but that PCB designers face some unique challenges. One of those is the change in what “protection” and “security” mean. Previously, it was really all about protecting the circuit board against environmental changes. Today, though, it is becoming more about prevention against tampering.

Flex and Rigid Flex

Previously, both flex and rigid-flex boards were relatively rare in the PCB world. Today, that’s increasingly not the case. That’s due to a couple of the trends that we have already discussed. One of those is the rise of medical devices – ideally suited for flexible circuit boards. However, flex boards are also well-suited for consumer electronics, for use in a range of different sensors connected to IoT devices, and even medical implants.

On the other hand, rigid-flex boards combine the benefits of both flexible circuit board design and rigid boards. The result is a board that “plays well with others,” which makes these well-suited for use as sub-boards and for creating additional layers.

Waste Control

Waste is a growing problem. This is particularly true of e-waste. Finding ways to deal with the growing mountain of disposed-of electronics is a challenge, but one option is to use biodegradable circuit boards. Biodegradable PCBs offer some light at the end of the tunnel and a way to start greening up the industry. While workable circuit board designs using biodegradable materials are still some way off, they are coming. It will require the design of new substrates, as well as a shift away from chemical-based etching processes in many cases.

A Full-Service PCB Manufacturer

From IoT devices to wearables to future-looking technology, Advanced Circuits delivers critical capabilities. With over 30 years of experience, our team helps bring circuit board designs to life on any scale. We understand that each client’s needs are different, and we’re happy to produce everything from a single prototype to massive production runs. We work with clients in the defense industry, IoT, automotive technology, and virtually every other sector, as well.

Advanced Circuits: Your Go-to PCB Manufacturing & Assembly Resource

Whether you need end-to-end assistance, or just want to create a test board to explore your designs, we can help. With the best turnaround time in the industry; weekend turns; same day turns and more, it’s no wonder our clients keep choosing Advanced Circuits for everything from prototype PCBs to large PCBs runs. Contact us today for an instant quote or to learn more about our capabilities.

They should get quality work with a quick turnaround time while having someone they can talk to who helps ensure they stay competitive against other companies. However, knowing what they need from the PCBs for their circuit designs doesn’t always mean it’s easy to immediately find the right company to step into their corner. We’ll share a few tips to make that process easier.

Know the Right Questions That Should Be Asked

When a person chooses someone to create their PCBs, it’s essential to ask them questions to be sure they can handle their needs. Sometimes the answers to the questions can be found on company websites and reviews. Other times individuals might need to contact the company on their own and ask the questions that are important to them. Having answers will provide peace of mind that they’re choosing the right company for their needs.

How Much Experience Does the Company Have?

Experience is important for any product or service that someone chooses to pay for, whether that’s a car repair or PCBs to fit their circuit designs. When it comes to printed circuit boards, a manufacturer’s experience is essential to ensure customers get boards that are right for their needs. Knowing how much experience a company has will give insight into how many resources they have and what amount of knowledge is available. It also shows competence if a PCB company has been in business for a long time. That means they have adapted to the times and continuously put out great products.

What Certifications Does the Company Have?

This is another question that can speak to how qualified a company is with PCBs for a person’s circuit design. Certifications typically require a third party to verify that the company complies with certain standards or requirements. For example, IPC creates standards with regards to PCBs and industries related to electronics manufacturing. Any company someone decides to work with should be capable of meeting the standard required by their products and industry. This includes broad regulations as well as those that apply only to their industry. The best choice is a company that has experience working with other people in the same industry.

How Does the Company Stand Out?

This might seem like a broad question that could have any number of answers, but it can help people narrow down the right business to help with their product. This is especially the case when they have a few options for companies that offer all the services and products that they need. This question can be as simple as asking what makes the business different from others or can delve into what value-added services are provided. For example, Advanced Circuits can help with their circuit designs by providing free PCB design and file check software which will save customers money and time.

Important Considerations When Choosing a PCB Company

The reality is that there are tons of companies that provide PCBs and many of them also have services to assemble and create circuit boards that match specific needs. This can make it a challenge to choose between them since some companies may appear to be quite similar. However, there are a few things people can look at early in the search to get a grasp on which company may best fit their needs.

Types of Products Provided

The first thing for people to check is what products are offered by a company to be sure they even provide what is needed. If the company specializes in the needed products, that’s even better. Once they know the products exist, they can find out more about the pricing and quality of the products.

For instance, what kind of PCBs are available? These can range from rigid to flexible and rigid-flex. They might be metal core, aluminum backed, or hybrid board. People can ask about which substrates are used in the board. They can also look into the quality and consider the prices and how they stack up to the competitors. All of these things can help with the decision.

Services Available

In addition to products, people should consider services that they might need. If the company offers everything they need, they won’t have to go between businesses to get their product ready. Some of the services that should be considered are:

• Prototyping – Ability to create prototype PCBs before moving into production so customers can reduce costs and timeframe through thorough testing.

• Layout and Design Services – These can speed up their production by offering a complete design or providing software to make someone’s own designs.

• File Review – File reviews can help by ensuring a design is free of errors and that the company has all of the needed components to start creating its PCBs.

• SMT Prototype Stencils – Stencils are laser cut and made of stainless steel foil to ensure the solder is placed in the right areas of the PCB. The stencil helps with accurate circuit designs.

Other services that can be helpful include DXF to Gerber conversion, panelization, and PCB design for manufacturing services.

Accessible Capabilities

It’s also important to be sure the company is capable of offering what is needed for a customer’s PCBs. This includes everything from being capable of handling the size of their order to having a certain lead time and offering the right layers on a PCB. Other things to consider are the surface finish options available, the via options, specs and tolerances, and other things that they prioritize with their circuit designs. It might take some time to get answers to all these things, but once someone does, they will know whether a company is right for them.

Advanced Circuits is the third-largest manufacturer of printed circuit boards in the United States and offers excellent customer service and reliability. The company also offers a variety of services to customers like free PCB layout software (PCB Artist) and a free PCB file check. Those who want a streamlined PCB company in their corner can get in touch with us to learn more.

Advanced Circuits also offers in-house PCB assembly service for quickturn prototype quantities, making turnkey HDI PCB assembly an easy and seamless process.  Our printed circuit board assembly service is North America’s leading one-stop solution for PCB and assembly under one roof supporting Ball Grid Arrays (BGA) as small as .35mm pitch (all BGAs are x-ray inspected), fine pitch components as small as 15 mil pitch, and passive components as small as 0201 with design review.  We can provide low-cost first article builds and have no minimum order requirements.

Advanced Technology for HDI PCB Fabrication

You can rely on Advanced Circuits state-of-the-art equipment and experience in cutting-edge precision work for your most rigorous HDI PCB requirements.  We can achieve the highest quality with in-house laser drill capabilities that include precise depth control.  Laser direct imaging (LDI) capabilities ensure exacting registration and all multilayer inner cores receive a thorough check using Automated Optical Inspection (AOI) units for excellent defect detection of the finest features.  Our advanced circuit board manufacturing capabilities include:

• Buried Chip Resistors
• Blind and Buried Vias
• Stacked Microvias
• Laser Drilled Microvias
• Up to 40 layers
• Laser Direct Imaging (LDI)
• .00275″ Trace/Space
• Down to .3mm Pitch
• Air Pockets between layers
• Via-in-Pad
• Multilayer RF Designs
• Cavity Boards
• Advanced PCB Laminate/Material Options

For a complete list of PCB fabrication capabilities, click here.

Advanced Circuits HDI PCB Specifications

AURORA, CO – Advanced Circuits, North America’s 3^rd largest printed circuit board fabricator, announced today that it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire certain assets from Micom Circuits of New Brighton, MN.   With over 50 years of excellence in technical advances, Micom Circuits has earned acclaim from some of America’s largest technology companies.  With this agreement, Advanced Circuits, an industry innovator for many years in the commercial PCB area, further strengthens its position in the complex medical and high-reliability, military/aerospace marketplace.

This agreement along with acquisitions in recent years solidifies Advanced Circuits investment in the U.S. economy with its commitment to 100% U.S. based manufacturing.  Advanced Circuits will secure the employment of all Micom Circuits’ personnel, including experienced engineers and technical experts.  Micom Circuits customers will gain access to many of the exclusive services offered by Advanced Circuits including convenient in-house small quantity/quick-turn PCB assembly, free PCB design tools (PCB Artist™ and FreeDFM™) as well as expedited on-time shipping options for prototype and higher volume production.

About Advanced Circuits

Since 1989, Advanced Circuits has been the leading printed circuit board manufacturer specializing in both Prototype and Production quantities and is ranked in sales volume among the top 3 PCB fabricators in North America.   Offering true one-stop convenience and assured quality with in-house fabrication and small quantity/quick-turn assembly services, Advanced Circuits offers PCB solutions that range from the simplest of designs to the most rigorous requirements of the high-reliability medical, commercial, and military/aerospace marketplace.   Advanced Circuits is MIL-PRF-31032, MIL-PRF-55110, AS9100, ISO 9001 Certified, IPC 6012 3/3A, IPC 6018 Class 3 Qualified, and ITAR Registered as well as being DOD Contracts Ready.  The company is well known for its expedited turn time capabilities including Same Day and Weekend Turns and its industry best on-time shipping record.  An innovator in PCB services, Advanced Circuits offers Free Design for Manufacturability checks at www.FreeDFM.com and Free downloads for its popular PCB layout software “PCB Artist™” at www.pcbartist.com.    For more information, visit www.4pcb.com or call 800-979-4PCB (4722).

CONTACT
Roman Perez
Marketing Coordinator
P: 1.800.979.4722 x.1662 | E: roman@4pcb.com

Advanced Circuits has become North America’s leading one-stop-solution for PCB fabrication and Quick Turn, Small Quantity PCB Assembly. Providing advanced capabilities for high reliability and powerful PCB performance to meet the most demanding requirements and specifications. Advanced Circuits is a flight & space approved supplier, ITAR registered, and DoD contracts ready; offering up to 40 Layer Boards, Cavity Boards, Microvias (HDI), Heavy Copper, Blind & Buried Vias, Via-in-Pad, Oversized Boards, & more. Whether you need a small quantity prototype and custom PCBs or full production run, you will receive the same high quality craftsmanship on every PCB order.
For more info, visit www.4pcb.com or contact1-800-979-4722