Hawassa University, Institute of Technology School of

Electrical and Computer Engineering

Embedded Systems (ECEg-5702)

Printed Circuit Board (PCB)

By Muluneh H. 13/01/2021 1
Outline

• Why Printed Circuit Board (PCB)

• Evolution of PCBs
• Classification of PCB
• Manufacturing of PCB
• PCB Design process flow
• Standards on PCB
• CAD Tools
• PCB Fabrication

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Electrical and Computer Engineering 13/01/2021 2
Why Printed Circuit Board (PCB)

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Electrical and Computer Engineering 13/01/2021 3
Why PCB Boards Instead Of Interconnection
Wiring Methods?
• A printed circuit board (PCB) mechanically supports and
electrically connects electronic components using conductive
tracks, pads and other features etched from copper
sheets laminated onto a non-conductive substrate.
• The size of the component assembly is reduced with a
corresponding decrease in weight.
• Component wiring and assembly can be mechanized
(automated).
• Quantity production can be achieved at lower unit cost.
• Circuit characteristics can be maintained without
introducing parasitic capacitances.

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Electrical and Computer Engineering 13/01/2021 4
PCB
• Printed Circuit Boards :
 mechanically support components
provides electrical conduction paths between circuits
• Advantage of PCB
PCBs ensure a high level of repeatability and offer
uniformity of electrical characteristics from assembly to
assembly.
The location of the parts is fixed, which simplifies
identification and maintenance of electronic equipment and
systems.
 Inspection time is reduced because printed circuitry reduces
the probability of error.
 Printed wiring personnel require minimal technical skills
and training.

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Electrical and Computer Engineering 13/01/2021 5
Evolution of PCBs
• Before printed circuits became the common component used in
electronics, point to point construction was used.
• In 1904, Frank Sprague had the idea of eliminating point-to-point
wiring.
• In 1925, Charles Ducas used stencils to form the conductors on
the surface of an insulation material and applied a conductive
paste in the lines desired.

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Electrical and Computer Engineering 13/01/2021 6
Evolution of PCBs
• In 1926, Cesar Pasolini had the idea
of additive way of making electrical
connections (using solder).
• In 1935, Paul Eisler proposed copper
clad insulation material in sheet
form for use as the base material in
circuit board manufacture.

• During 1953–55, Motorola introduced the copper metal plating process to

provide interconnection between two sides of a board.
• In the 1970s, PCB were firmly entrenched in all branches of electronics, which
later culminated in the personal computer industry.

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Classification of PCB
• Single-sided Printed Circuit Boards
• Double-sided Printed Circuit Boards
• Multi-layer Printed Circuit Boards
• Flexible Printed Circuit Boards

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Electrical and Computer Engineering 13/01/2021 8
Single-Sided Printed Circuit Boards

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Electrical and Computer Engineering 13/01/2021 9
Single-sided Printed Circuit Boards
• In Single-sided PCB, wires are available only on one side of the
insulating substrate. The side which contains the circuit pattern is
called the ‘solder side’ whereas the other side is called the
‘component side’.
• These types of boards are mostly used in case of simple circuitry
and where the manufacturing costs are to be kept at a minimum.
• Normally, components are used to jump over conductor tracks, but
if this is not possible, jumper wires are used.

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Electrical and Computer Engineering 13/01/2021 10
Double-sided Printed Circuit Boards
• Double-sided printed circuit boards have wiring patterns on both
sides of the insulating material.
• Obviously, the component density and the conductor lines are
higher than the single-sided boards.

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Electrical and Computer Engineering 13/01/2021 11
Double-sided Printed Circuit Boards

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Electrical and Computer Engineering 13/01/2021 12
Plated and no plated through hole
• Two types of double-sided boards are commonly used, which are:
Double-sided board with plated through-hole connection: has
circuitry on both sides of the insulating substrate, which are
connected by metalizing the wall of a hole in the substrate that
intersects the circuitry on both sides.
Double-sided board without plated through hole connection: is
only an extension of a single-sided board. In this case, contacts are
made by soldering the component leads on both sides of the board.

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Double-sided Printed Circuit Boards

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Electrical and Computer Engineering 13/01/2021 14
Multi-layer Boards

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Electrical and Computer Engineering 13/01/2021 15
Multi-layer Boards
• Multi-layer boards use more than two printed circuit boards with
a thin layer of material placed between each layer, thus making a
sandwich assembly.
• The printed circuit on the top board is similar to a conventional
printed circuit board assembly.
• The electrical circuit is completed by interconnecting the different
layers with plated through-holes, placed transverse to the board
at appropriate places.
• Multi-layer boards have three or more circuit layers, while some
boards have even as many as 50 layers.
• Multi-layer boards facilitated a reduction in the weight and
volume of the interconnections suitable with the size and weight of
the components it interconnects.

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Multi-layer Boards

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Hawassa University, Institute of Technology School of
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PCB Stack-up

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Electrical and Computer Engineering 13/01/2021 19
Flexible Printed Circuit Boards
• Flexible boards use flexible substrate material like polyester or
polyamide.
• The base material, which is usually very thin, is in the range of
0.1 mm thickness.
• Laminates used in flexible boards are available with copper on
one or both sides in rolls.
• Rigid-flex boards, which constitute a combination of rigid and
flexible boards usually bonded together, are structures that
have flexible parts connecting the rigid boards, which usually
support components.

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Electrical and Computer Engineering 13/01/2021 20
Flexible boards

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Electrical and Computer Engineering 13/01/2021 21
Manufacturing of PCB
• A variety of processes are currently used for manufacturing printed
circuit boards.
• However, most of the processes have identical or similar basic steps.
• The most popular process is the ‘print and etch’ method, which is a
purely subtractive method.
• In this process, the base material used is copper clad laminate to which
all the electronic components are soldered, with one or more layers of
etched metal tracks making the connection.
• The etching process involves achieving a conductive pattern formed on
one or both sides of the laminate.
• Four specific phases of the PCB manufacturing process need to be
understood. These are
PCB Design,
PCB Fabrication,
Assembly and
Test.
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1. PCB Design Process Flow
• Choose the right components for the project
• Choose the packaging of the components
• Design the schematic diagram
• Design the board layout
• Create the manufacturing machines files

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Choose The Electronic Components
• What type of microcontroller to use for your project?
• What type of clock generator to use?
• What type of power source to use?
• What type of sensors will be used for gathering of information?
• What will be output devices (motors, displays)?
• Will you need some kind of memory excluding internal
microcontroller memory?
• Can all required components be found without problems?

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 Choose the packaging of the components
• Components can be found in different kind of packages.
Packages can be divided between
Through-hole mounting technology (THT) and
 Surface mount technology (SMT).
• THT component are inserted through the holes presented in the
printed circuit board, while SMT components are directly attached
and soldered to the PCB.
• The SMT components and their package are particularly suitable for
automatic assembly.
• The advantages of SMT are to reduce board size and increase
reliability.

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Electrical and Computer Engineering 13/01/2021 25
Choose The Packaging of The Components

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SMT Components
• SMT components are built with different types of lead styles

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Electrical and Computer Engineering 13/01/2021 27
IC packaging
• The following are the most common chip packages.
1. DIP…(Dual Inline Package)

• Pitch (distance b/n pins) = 2.54mm(0.1”), width = 0.3”, 0.6” & 0.9”
• Old style, mostly used in prototyping and development boards.
2. SOP (Small Outline Package)
Variants:
• SOIC (Small Outline IC “Gull Wing”)
pitch =1.27mm
• SSOP (Shrink Small Outline Package)
Pitch = 0.4mm – 0.8mm
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IC packaging
3. TSOP…(Thin Small Outline Package)
Variant:
TSSOP (Thin Shrink Small Outline Package)

4. QFP (Quad Flat Pack)

• pitch 0.4 - 1mm
Variant:
TQFP (Thin Quad Flat Pack)

5. PLCC (Plastic Leaded Chip Carrier)

• Similar to the QFP, but leads bent into the package.
•Usually used with a socket.

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Electrical and Computer Engineering 13/01/2021 29
IC packaging
6. QFN…(Quad flat with No leads)
• Contact pads are directly connected to
the silicon substrate
• This is high performance chip-scale packaging

7. PGA (Pin Grid Array)

• pins are directly connected to the silicon
substrate.
• High density, high performance packaging
• Usually used with a ZIF socket

9. BGA (Ball Grid Array)

• Similar to the PGA with balls instead of pins
• Low profile, slim and sleek look
• Chip-scale package
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Design The Schematic Diagram
• The schematic diagram represents the electronic components and
connections in the most readable form.
• The schematic diagram is developed taking into consideration the
specifications of components, interaction between components
(especially timing and loading), and arrangement of connector pin-
outs.
• The schematic diagram often starts on paper and finishes in
computer-aided design (CAD) tool.
• The schematic diagram references each part on the printed circuit
board with a label (e.g. IC4) and pin numbers for each connection.
• A good schematic diagram also includes all the essential
information required to understand the circuit operation, and has
descriptive net and connector labels, including all the parts on the
printed circuit board.
• In short, the schematic diagram, is the main reference document
for design.

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The schematic diagram

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Electrical and Computer Engineering 13/01/2021 32
 Design The Board Layout
• The board layout (also known as artwork) defines the final physical
form of the circuit and labeling details are finalized as the layout is
completed.
• When the board layout is complete, the track layout information is
provided on self-adhesive type crepe material tape stuck on a plastic
sheet such as polyester.
• The components and connections in the artwork are derived from the
schematic diagram, and physically placed and routed by the designer
to get the best results in term of board size and its manufacturability.
• The board layout is usually enlarged two to four times during the
implementation to improve accuracy.
• The artwork is then reduced to the final size, and a print made
depending on the requirement of the manufacturer.

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The board layout

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Create the manufacturing machines files:
RS-274-D standard Gerber
• Gerber files is a file format used by PCB manufacturing machines to
build electrical connections.
• Gerber files contain information for drilling the circuit board.
• These files are directly generated by the CAD software, and then are
sent to the manufacturer which load them into his systems to
prepare data for each step of the PCB production process.
• Gerber file viewers are on-line available to check its correctly
(GerbView, GCPreveu).

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Electrical and Computer Engineering 13/01/2021 35
Standards on Printed Circuit Boards
• The design, fabrication, assembly and testing of PCB constitute
a complex activity in which several players are involved.
• For this purpose, it is essential to standardize various aspects of PCB
technology, so that there is a universal agreement for producing
quality circuit boards.
• According to the International Organization for Standardization
(ISO), prominent organizations are engaged in such activities:
Institute for Interconnecting and Packaging Electronic Circuits (IPC)
American National Standards Institute (ANSI)
International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC)
Department of Defense, USA (DoD)
DIN German Standards
Indian Printed Circuit Association (IPCA)

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CAD Tool
• Altium Designer
• CADENCE OrCAD Capture
• SOLIDWORK PCB
• Eagle PCB
• Proteus…etc.

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Electrical and Computer Engineering 13/01/2021 37
Project Design: PC Based Temperature
Measurement
• Design USB device powered by the USB port of the computer that
acquire data from a temperature and humidity sensor and transmit
the temperature values to a PC using the USB port. Use only SMD
packages and discrete components were necessary (with package
0603).
• Points to do:
Choose the microcontroller that fits the requirements
Design a detailed block diagram of the device
Write a draft of the firmware of the microcontroller
Using Proteus, design the schematic diagram of the device
Provide a Bill Of Material file
Using Proteus, design the board layout of the device
• Use the components data sheet provide by the instructor. Attached
documentation
Silicon Lab Microcontroller data-sheet
SHT 11 sensor data-sheet

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Electrical and Computer Engineering 13/01/2021 38
Choose the microcontroller that fits the
requirements
Requirements for choosing the microcontroller:
USB powered 5V
SMD Package
Transmission of the data to the computer using USB controller
The sensor has a digital interface Digital input

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Design a detailed block diagram of the
device

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Write a draft of the firmware of the
microcontroller
#include <libreries.h>
int T,H;
void initialize(void) */function for the configuration of the microcontroller (clock, type of
input and output,...)/*
void read_sensor(void); */function for the reading of the data from sensor/*
void send_USB(void); */function for the transmission of the data via USB/*
void wait_s(int); */function for the waiting of x seconds/*
void main(void)
{
initialize();
while(1)
{
read_sensor();
send_USB();
wait_s(60);
}
}
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Using OrCAD, design the schematic diagram
of the device

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Provide a Bill Of Material file

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Using OrCAD, design the board layout of
the device

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Electrical and Computer Engineering 13/01/2021 44
Project Design: Ultra Low Power
Temperature and Humidity Sensor
• Design a microcontroller based system which senses the
temperature and humidity parameter of the atmosphere and
display it on LCD screen in human readable form.
• Points to do:
Choose the microcontroller that fits the requirements
Design a detailed block diagram of the device
Write a draft of the firmware of the microcontroller
Using Proteus, design the schematic diagram of the device
Provide a Bill Of Material file
Using Proteus, design the board layout of the device

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Project Design: Street Light Sensor
• Design a microcontroller based system which senses the amount
of light intensity and turn on the light accordingly.
• Points to do:
Choose the microcontroller that fits the requirements
Design a detailed block diagram of the device
Write a draft of the firmware of the microcontroller
Using Proteus, design the schematic diagram of the device
Provide a Bill Of Material file
Using Proteus, design the board layout of the device

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Electrical and Computer Engineering 13/01/2021 46
Project Design:
• Design a device powered by a 3,3V battery that measures
temperature (in a range from -40°C to 100°C) using an external
sensor and transmits the temperature values to a PC using the
RS232 communication system (do not use flow control – 3 wires
connection). Temperature values in °C are required to be
transmitted to the PC, using ASCII characters. No specific
requirements about the resolution of the devices are desired,
however at least an half of the maximum input dynamic of the
microcontroller should be used (use the power supply as a voltage
reference). Use only SMD packages (with gull-wing pins) and
passive components where necessary. It is required to use a
microcontroller with at least 16kB of flash memory.
• Uses the components provided to you by the instructor

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Electrical and Computer Engineering 13/01/2021 47
Project Design:
• Points to do:
- Choose a microcontroller that fits the requirements and explain the
reasons of the choice
- Design a detailed and completed block diagram of the device
- Design a conditioning circuit for the temperature sensor
- Write a draft or a flow chart of the firmware of the microcontroller
- Using Proteus, design the schematic diagram of the device
- Provide a Bill Of Material file
- Using Proteus, design the board layout of the device
• Attached documentations
- Silicon Lab Microcontroller C8051F31x data-sheet
- Silicon Lab Microcontroller C8051F32x data-sheet
- Silicon Lab Microcontroller C8051F33x data-sheet
- Operational amplifier OPA341 data-sheet
- Temperature sensor TC1046 data-sheet
- RS-232 transceiver MAX3222 data-sheet

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2. Printed Circuit Board Fabrication
• The general approach is to start with a sheet of copper attached to
an insulator and then remove copper leaving only your desired
interconnect pattern.
• subtractive method : it is the most common technique.
• 7 seven steps for Printed Circuit Board Construction(fabrication)
The CORE
Patterning
Vias(Drilling)
Pattern Plating
Solder Mask
Surface Finish
Silk Screening

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PCB: Core
• the base element to a PCB is called the “CORE”
• this typically consists of two sheets of thin copper laminated (or glued) to an
insulating material.

• the insulator is commonly called the “Substrate” or the “Laminate”

• this construction is also called a “Copper Clad” insulator
• COREs come in large sheets which are typically ~18” x 24” (but can be
as large as 24” x 48”)

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PCB: Core

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Core Insulators

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PCB Patterning
• There are two common techniques to remove material
from the core to leave only the desired conduction path.
Photoengraving/Photolithography
Milling Bit

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Patterning: Photoengraving/Photolithography
• A photomask is created by printing a design pattern onto translucent
material.
• The CORE is then covered in a photosensitive material (photosensitive
dry film, or photoresist )
• When the photo sensitive material is exposed to light, its properties
change.

• The CORE is exposed to a light source through the phot mask

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Photomask
• We create our design in CAD tool(i.e OrCAD) which generate
files to create photomask.

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Electrical and Computer Engineering 13/01/2021 55
Photoengraving/Photolithography
• The CORE is exposed to a light source through the phot mask

• A solution is then applied that develops photosensitive material making soluble

• An etching solution is then applied to the CORE which removes the soluble
photosensitive material in addition to the copper foil beneath it.
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Etching Process
• Etching is the process of chemically removing the unwanted copper from a plated board.
• You must put a mask or resist on the portions of the copper that you want to remain after
the etch.
• These portions that remain on the board are the traces that carry electrical current
between devices.
• Copper is removed using Ferric Chloride

• Photoresist PCB laminates

 To transfer the image
on the artwork film to
the board you must use
board treated with a
special Photo Copying
Paint (Photoresist).

• This etching step removes any copper on the CORE that was exposed to light
through the photomask, thus transferring the pattern.
• Once the remaining photosensitive material is stripped using a cleaning solution,
the CORE is left with a pattern of copper identical to the pattern on the Photomask
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Patterning: Milling
• another subtractive technique is to use a milling bit (similar to a
router or drill bit) to mechanically remove copper from the CORE
leaving only the desired pattern.

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 VIAs(Drilling)
• A Via is a structure that electrically connects two different layers of copper
in a PCB.
• The first step is creating a via is to drill a hole where the contact will be
made.
• This can be done using:
A mechanical process(i.e., regular drill bit). This is currently the most
common approach or
A laser (for very small hole)

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Vias(Electroless Plating)
• The next step in creating a via is to deposit Copper into the holes in
order to Plate the inner diameter of the via with a conducting
material.
• PCB via platting is accomplished by an Electroless Plating Process in
which a series of chemical reactions are performed to transfer
copper atoms from a Sacrificial Copper Source to the barrels of the
via holes.

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Vias
• The end result is structured that connect different layer of PCB.
• The “Via” is also called a “Plated Through Hole”

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Pattern Platting

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Solder Mask

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Surface Finish

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Silk screening

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