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Your Guide to PCB Design Basics & Steps

DON KAUFMAN

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Your time is valuable, which is why you want to design your printed circuit board correctly
from the start. In our comprehensive guide, we cover everything you need to know,
including PCB design basics and steps, materials and composition, best practices, and
more so that you’re prepared to design the best possible printed circuit board.

PCB Design Basics

Step by Step PCB Design Guide

PCB Design Best Practices

PCB Composition & Materials

PCB Layout Capabilities

PCB and Flex Design Basics

A printed circuit board (PCB) is a flat plate or base of insulating materials that contains a
pattern of conducting material and components, and some projects can be quite complex.
But all PCBs have to start somewhere — and that’s with design.

Why are PCB design basics so important? Multiple extensive revisions can seriously delay
the completion of your project — costing you time and money. It’s important to work with
engineering experts from the beginning so that you can design for manufacturability and
ensure a final, cost-effective product that works efficiently and effectively.

Step-by-Step PCB Design Guide

From the initial drawings to the final files, here are the 9 steps toward designing a printed
circuit board:

1. Understand the electrical parameters.

Before starting a PCB design, you should know and understand the electrical parameters
of the system, including:
Current maximums
Voltages
Signal types
Capacitance limitations
Impedance characteristics
Shielding considerations
Type and location of circuit components and connectors
Detailed net wire listing and schematic

2. Creating the schematic.

One of the first steps is always creating a schematic, which refers to the design at the
electrical level of the board’s purpose and function. At this point, it’s not yet a mechanical
representation.

3. Use a schematic capture tool to create your PCB layout.

The right PCB provider will work with principal engineers to develop a schematic with a
software platform such as Mentor PADS®, Allegro, or Altium, which shows you exactly how
your board will operate and where the components will be placed. After you create your
schematic, the mechanical engineer will load the design and determine how it will fit in the
intended device.

4. Design your PCB stackup.

This is important to consider early on in the PCB design stage due to impedance, which
refers to how much and how quickly electricity can travel down a trace. The stackup plays
a role in how the mechanical engineer can design and fit the PCB into the device.

5. Define design rules and requirements.

This step is largely dictated by standards and acceptability criteria from the IPC, which is
the industry association for PCB and electronics manufacturing. These standards tell you
everything you need to know regarding PCB manufacturing. An important tip: Find a PCB
layout provider who is extremely familiar with IPC standards; this can help you avoid major
revisions and project delays.

6. Place your components.

In many cases, the customer and PCB provider will discuss design and layout guidelines
when it comes to the placement of components. For example, there may be standards
indicating that certain components cannot be placed near others because they create
electrical noise in the circuit. The PCB provider will have data sheets on every component
(in most cases these are connectors), which will then be placed in the mechanical layout
and sent to the customer for approval.

7. Insert drill holes.

This step is driven by the components and a connection. About half of the flex circuits on
the market are double-sided, which means they have connection to the drill hole on the
bottom layer.

8. Route the traces.

After you’ve placed the components and drill holes, you’re ready to route the traces, which
means connecting segments of the path.

9. Add labels and identifiers.

Now is the time to add any labels, identifiers, markings, or reference designators to the
layout. Reference designators are helpful in showing where specific components will go on
the board.

10. Generate design/layout files.

This is the final step in the layout process. These files contain all the information pertaining
to your printed circuit board, and once they have been generated, your PCB is now ready
for fabrication and manufacturing and assembly.

PCB Design Best Practices

It’s important to communicate with the PCB or flex application engineer during the
beginning of any PCB design job and discuss everything you need or require for your
project. Open and constant communication with your PCB provider ensures that you’re
both on the same page, which can reduce the need for multiple extensive revisions.

While it is rare that a printed circuit board is 100% perfectly designed on the first try,
communication will help ensure that your PCB is properly designed from the start and that
any revisions are not major ones that will derail your project and timeline.

When you submit a design, you also need to have the right board size, trace width,
materials, component placement, and tolerances. Plus, in the case of flex,  you’ll need to
determine whether the design is static, partly flexible, or dynamic.

It’s also important to consider the environment in which the product has to function. Is the
printed circuit board or flex circuit designed for a non-extreme environment, such as your
cell phone, or the highest of extremes, such as an explosion?

You’ll likely have questions about the PCB design and layout process, which means it’s best
to find a reputable PCB provider with extensive engineering experience who can answer
your questions and ensure a smooth project from start to finish.
PCB Composition & Materials
A copper-clad substrate or polyimide-based film is often used for flex circuits, and FR4 (or
an FR4 stiffener) is used for rigid-flex. FR4 allows you to build up the layers as the
technology content is created.

A solder mask is also used, which is a technique where everything on the circuit board is
coated with an epoxy-based LPI or cover coat for flex, except the contacts to be soldered,
the gold-plated terminals of any card-edge connectors, and fiducial marks.

PCBs also include a legend application, which are the decals and reference designators in
epoxy ink on a board. The name refers to the method of application in which the ink is
automatically applied similar to ink jet printers

PCB Layout Capabilities

Cirexx can configure digital, analog, mixed signal technology, controlled impedance,
matched length pairs DDR, RF layout, and high speed signals up to 100+ GHz for all of the
following PCB structures:
Flex circuits
Rigid-flex circuits
Rigid circuits
Hybrid circuits
BGA/micro BGA
Blind vias
Buried vias
Surface mount/thru-hole/chip (die)
High-Density Interconnect (HDI)

Contact Us
Are you looking for help with your next PCB design? Contact us today to learn more about
our capabilities or to consult with one of our engineering experts on your next project.
 WRITTEN BY
DON KAUFMAN
Business Development Manager

Don Kaufman is our Business Development Manager and

has been with Cirexx International since 2006. He has over
33 years of sales and technical experience in the printed
circuit board industry, which provides intrinsic value to
customers. Don has extensive knowledge regarding
integrated circuits, materials, specialty laminates, chemicals
and equipment. He also prides himself on staying current
with the very latest techniques and procedures in PCB
Layout and manufacturing.

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 Founded in 1980, Cirexx International, Inc. is an electronic solutions company offering
PCB Layout, Fabrication, Assembly, Testing & Validation of high-reliability Flex, Rigid-Flex,
RF/Microwave, HDI and Rigid Circuit Boards. Recognized as a time-technology leader,
Cirexx offers a genuine Quick Turn service and provides a “one-stop-shop” and all in-
house solution with 100% USA manufacturing.

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© 2023 Cirexx International All Rights Reserved.

Cirexx Layout Services consist of Gerber File creation, including modeling and development of PWB mechanical features and signal
performance, and the generation of associated engineering drawings for fabrication and/or manufacturing. These services can be certified
to IPC or MIL specifications, but are not a part of the company’s ISO/AS Certification.