Module in

Computer Eng’g Drafting & Design

SESSION TOPIC : PCB DESIGN PROCESS AND DESIGN ISSUES

LEARNING OBJECTIVES

At the end of the session you will:

1. Explain the PCB design process.
2. Enumerate and explain the different PCB design issues.

KEYtraps
Acid TERMS silvers
starved thermals vias acid traps silvers
solder mask thombstoning silkscreen etching

CORE CONTENT

A. Steps in PCB Design and Manufacturing

Step 1: Requirement analysis and Component selection
The first step in PCB design is to analyze the requirement and select the appropriate
components such as processor, power supply. Create a blueprint that fulfills all the
requirements.
Step 2: In-System Front end design

PCB layout is initially designed using a PCB design software. Altium Designer, Autodesk
EAGLE, KiCad EDA, OrCAD are some commercially available software used for PCB design.
The output of this design is usually in the form of a PCB schematic Gerber file. Gerber file
encodes information including copper tracking layers, drill drawing, component notation,
and other parameters.

Step 3: Photo tool Initiation

Next step is to run Design for Manufacture (DFM) check before circuit boards fabrication
starts. This is to avoid any discrepancies in design. After this, a photo film is made to image
the PCB using a laser printer/plotter. Different layers of the PCB photo film are aligned by
punching precise registration holes in each sheet of film. The film is created to help in
creating a figure of copper path.

Step 4: Printing the inner layers

The substrate, usually a composite epoxy substrate is taken, cut, cleaned and dried. Copper is
pre-bonded on both sides of the substrate. Cleanliness of the panel is the most important
factor to avoid short or open circuit errors. The copper is coated with a layer of photoresist,
which then treated with UV light to harden it. The film formed in the previous step is placed
over the copper layer and aligned using pin positions.

Later the panel is again UV treated. The dark areas on the film do not allow UV light, thus the
areas below dark areas of the film are not hardened. While the light areas that are meant for
copper wiring are hardened.

Step 5: Etching out the unwanted copper

The panel is then washed with an alkaline solution to wash away unhardened copper material.
The desired copper layer is fully protected beneath the hardened layer of photoresist.

Next, the photoresist that is over the copper layer is also removed. This, in turn, leaves only
the required copper layer intact.

Step 6: Register punching for layer alignment

The different layers are aligned and optically punched to create registration holes. This will
align the inner layers to the outer layers.

Step7: Automated optical inspection

After lamination, it is impossible to sort out errors in inner layers. Hence the panel is
subjected to automatic optical inspection before bonding up and lamination. The machine
scans the layers using a laser sensor and compares it with the original Gerber file to list out
discrepancies, if any.

Step 8: Layer up and Bond

The layers of the PCB panel are bonded together by aluminium press plate. For double and
multi later PCB further copper foils are pressed over original layers with insulating layers
placed in between and the etching process is repeated. Finally, all the layers are laminated
together to provide the final shape to the PCB panel.

Step 9: Drilling

The PCB stack is then drilled for holes. These holes are where the electronic components of
the PCB including via holes are to be placed and interconnected. Holes are drilled with a
diameter of approximately 100 to 150 microns. Precision is the key to the drilling process.
Laser locator or X-Y coordinate systems are used to achieve precision.

Step 10: Copper Deposition and Platting

This step is to cover the entire panel with a fresh layer of copper after drilling. It bonds the
panels and also covers the nonconductive materials opened up after drilling. A chemical
electrolysis setup is used for plating. The drill holes are covered with around 25 microns of
copper to ensure proper connection.

Step 11: Outer layer imaging and copper etching

Similar to step 3 a photoresist material is applied over the outer copper layer and then they
are imaged. Tin guard covering is provided over the required copper area as a protection and
the other unwanted copper is removed. PCB connections are established after this step.

Step 12: Solder Mask Application

The board is now cleaned and the solder mask is applied. Solder mask is to protect the board
from copper oxidation, damage, and corrosion. An Expoxy is applied along with a solder
mask which gives the usual green color to the board. Unwanted solder mask is removed by
exposure to UV light. Then the board is oven-baked.
Step 13: Gold or Silver surface finish

The PCB is then plated with gold, silver or lead-free HASL or hot air solder leveling finish.
This is done so that the components are able to be soldered to the pads created and to
protect the copper.

Step14:Silkscreen

The silk-screening or profiling is the process of printing all of the critical information on the
PCB, such as manufacturer id, company name component numbers, debugging points. This
stands useful while service and repair.

Step 15: Electrical test

Electrical test is done using probe testers. Open and short circuit tests are performed.
Electrical tests ensure functional reliability. Durability testing are also performed after
functional test.

Step 16: V-Scoring

The actual PCB is cut out from the manufactured panel. PCB is cut out in specific sizes and
shapes based upon the customer design and as per the original Gerber file date.

V-cuts are made along the sides of the board which permits the board to easily pop out from
the panel.

Step 17: Final inspection and packing

PCB is subjected to final visual inspection and quality inspection. Test reports are provided for
customer verification. Vacuum sealed or airbag/air pocket packaging is done to prevent any
physical damage to the boards.

B. COMMON PCB DESIGN ISSUES

1. Starved thermals
Starved thermals occur when the thermal relief traces connected to a pad are not properly
connected to the associated copper plane. Quite often, the spacing between vias will pass a
basic design rule check, but the attached thermal relief traces will be interrupted and the
effected vias will be inappropriately isolated from their assigned copper pours. This issue is
most commonly seen when multiple vias are placed in proximity to each other.
2. Acid traps

When two traces are joined at a highly acute angle it is possible that the etching solution
used to remove copper from the blank board will get "trapped" at these junctions. This trap is
commonly referred to as an acid trap. Acid traps can cause traces to become disconnected
from their assigned nets and leave these traces open circuited. The issue of Acid traps has been
reduced in recent years by fabricators switching to the use of photo activated etching
solutions. So, while it is still a good idea to make sure that your traces do not meet acute
angles, the issue is less of a worry than it had been in the past.

3. Silvers

If very small portions of a copper pour are only connected to larger portions of the same
copper pour through a narrow trace, it is possible for them to break off during fabrication,
"float" to other parts of the board and cause unintended shorts. The problems presented by
silvers have been reduced in recent years by fabricators switching to the use of photo
activated etching solutions. So while silvers are still to be avoided in designs, they are not as
predominate of an issue as in the past.

4. Insufficient annular ring

Vias are made by drilling through pads on either side of a board and plating the walls of these
holes to connect the two sides of the board. If the pad size called out in the design is too
small, the via may fail due to the drill hole taking up too large of a portion of the pads.
Minimum annular ring size is commonly part of the DRC process. This issue is mentioned
here because of the not uncommon occurrence of missed drill hits in prototyping boards.

5. Via in Pads

Occasionally it may be convenient to design via to be positioned within a PCB pad. However,
via in pads can cause issues when the time comes for the board to be assembled. Via will draw
solder away from the pad and cause the component associated with the pad to be improperly
mounted.

The image below shows difference between via in pad PCB and normal PCB.

6. Copper too close to board edge

Normally caught during design rule checks, placing copper layers too close to the edge of a
board can cause those layers to short together when the board is cut to size during the
fabrication process. While this sort of error should be caught using DRC features typically
available in PCB design software, a PCB fabricator that does a DFM check will also catch this
issue.

7. Missing solder mask between pads

In very tightly spaced, small pin pitch devices, it is quite common for there to be no solder
mask between pins due to standard design settings. The omission of said solder mask can lead
to solder bridges forming more easily when the fine pin pitched component is attached to
the PCB during assembly.
. The image below shows our high precise solder mask between 0.4 pitch QFN pads.

8. Tombstoning

When small passive surface mount components are soldered to a PCB assembly using a reflow
process, it is common for them to lift up on one end and "tomb stone". Tombstoning can
greatly affect PCB yields and quickly drive up production costs. The source of tombstoning
can be incorrect landing patters and imbalanced thermal relief to the pads of the device.
Tombstoning can be effectively mitigated by the use of DFM checks.

Below image is a tombstoning sample and its schematic.

 IN-TEXT ACTIVITY

• Video discussion
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_RBDELs5lN4 -PCB design & manufacturing
• Additional Lecture
-to be uploaded to mrooms

SELF ASSESSMENT

Pls. answer the quiz posted at the mrooms.

REFERENCES

https://www.tronicszone.com/blog/steps-pcb-design-manufacturing/
https://www.pcbcart.com/article/content/commonly-seen-PCB-design-issues.html