PCB Design and Layout Services

PCB Design and Layout Services 2

PCB Design and Layout Services

According to customers’ requirements from product concept, design to production, we are committed to providing customers around the world with one-stop product development solutions, winning the trust of customers with very competitive prices and quality services.

Our comprehensive PCB design services capabilities ensure a completed understanding of your project’s technical requirements and DFM ((Design for Manufacturability). Our PCB designs conform to the IPC 2200 standard and PCB assembly to IPC-A-610 standards.

As a professional PCB and assembly manufacturer as well, we have better understanding of how to design a manufacturable, reliable and cost-effective PCB board than other suppliers. At IBE, you can enjoy one-stop PCB solution services from PCB design, PCB manufacturing to finished prototype and high-volume PCB assembly devices. Our mature engineering methodology ensures efficient, cost effective designs, done right the first time.

FROM YOUR DESIGN CONCEPT THROUGH SCHEMATIC CAPTURE

At IBE we understand the electronic design process that innovators like you go through. You have created your schematics based on the needs and requirements of the products that you are building, and our job is to make sure that your ideas are brought to life. To do this we have positioned ourselves to provide you with the highest quality engineering services. Whether the schematic you bring us is on paper, in electronic format, or even on the back of a napkin, our team is ready to deliver the following:

Schematic capture:

Our engineers will create detailed CAD schematics for your project complete with relevant CAD symbols and library development.

 

Preparation for Layout:

To synchronize with the PCB layout database, our engineers will review the schematic and prepare it with the correct layout constraints and data.

Schematic documentation:

We will finalize the schematic by formatting it for your documentation processes so that you have a trackable document complete with revision history for future changes.

Why Choose IBE

Outsourcing your electronic assembly needs is more important than ever for today’s business. Why choose IBE?

When you require timely services, value and product excellence – CONTACT IBE!

PROFESSIONAL PCB LAYOUT SERVICES

Design Rules And Constraints

Design rules and constraints

There’s a lot more to the trace width and spacing rules than just the minimal clearances for manufacturing. Many of your high-speed nets will require different rules in order to manage the signal integrity of the finished board. Our engineers understand the requirements that your design will need, and will make sure to incorporate those values into your PCB layout.

Place And Route

Place and route

If it was easy, then everyone would be laying out circuit boards. The truth is though that there are many requirements that have to be met during component placement and trace routing for optimal signal performance. Our layout engineers have years of experience designing different technology circuit boards that will be applied to your PCB designs.

Design For Assembly And Test

Design for assembly and test

While the circuit board must be laid out for the best signal performance, it also needs to be designed for error-free manufacturing. This includes precise PCB footprint creation, component spacing and orientation for assembly and solderability, and testpoint placement for verification of the board’s functionality.

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You ask, we answer

As one of the most cost-effective and high quality PCB fabricator and PCBA service provider, we are having 80+ new engineers using our services for their research work. 

During the PCB assembly service you might encounter diverse pricing from project to project. The pricing calculated through multiple factors such as:

1. amount of the Pcb assembly components

2. PCB layers

3. PCBA layers (top and bottom or just a single layer)

4. components cost

5. tests and certification

In order to ensure low cost and fast production, always ensure design quality and prototyping before mass production. the larger the quantity during the PCB assembly mass production, the lower the price of PCB assembly service will be. Another factor will be if you choose only PCB assembly or one-stop-service . We suggest to let us handle all the components purchasing, assembly and production in order to ensure lower price and higher consistency.

IBE has 17 years of accumulated knowledge of PCB assembly service. We have developed a custom MES system in order to ensure top quality at every production. IBE support prototyping and mass pcb production. We verify and test all our PCB components before PCB assembly fabrication. We use high-quality materials such as “ALPHA” Japanese solder paste. IBE ensure to package all the products well during delivery. During the Pcb assembly fabrication, our customers are able to see real-time data of the production process and status. We have an enormous facility with dozens of SMT lines that are able to tackle any project at different size and requirements . IBE source our components from trusted suppliers and manufacturers. We perform AOI and advance X-Ray tests on all the fabricated hardware. We ensure pcb assembly quality over the entire manufacturing procedure. If you are looking for quick turn PCB assembly manufacturer, IBE is here to serve you. We take your project from idea to mass production.

Yes. This practice is called partial Turn-key. You can supply some parts, and we source the rest of the parts on your behalf. We will ask for your approval for anything that is not sure at our side. In case parts crossing or substitution is needed, we will again ask for your final approval.

Yes, We have the ability to handle BGA of 0.25mm pitch with X-ray testing. For BGAs, there are two designs with via on pad and via near pad connected by shorter trace. We need to tent and fill any vias near pad of the BGAs with solder mask to ensure the soldering quality. But for vias on pad, we need to fill via with resin to make sure good soldering quality.

Excessive parts do exist because we will ask for some percentage of overage for consigned/kitted orders, or we will buy more for the same purpose for those Turn-key orders. You can either ask us to ship back to you these unused parts together with the loaded boards, or keep them in our shelf for your next order. All up to you.

PCB assembly process is the process of taking a printed circuit board and assembling components on it. The PCB either be assembled on the top layer or both top and bottom layers.The components need to be purchased, tested, and finally fabricated and assembled on top of the PCB board. IBE offers all the PCB assembly services. one-stop-service for the PCB assembly process include manufacturing, production, testing, purchasing, packaging. During the PCB assembly process, whenever you choose a one-stop-service solution or a single PCBA service, IBE will ensure top quality and consistency over all the products manufactured during the PCB assembly service.

We’re Providing the Best Electronics Manufacturing & Design Services

From design through manufacturing, see which of our services can be a benefit to you.

Our Hot Line:

+86 18938933970

Mail Us:

service@pcbaaa.com

One Stop Solution Beyond PCB PCBA Manufacturing
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When most people think about the circuit board design of a daily consumer electronic device, many common words come up related to hardware components and even the Printed Circuit Board (PCB) term. For people with technical background in Electronics, a PCBs is seen as a complex puzzle of components and intertwined routes that make a device comply with its end purpose. In this article we will make a dive of PCB design and understand the concept as a whole and the benefits of having a good manufacturing partner for it.

What is PCB and its types?

In simple terms, a PCB is a board or layer made of non-conductive substrate-based material and that can contain many copper circuits immerse in the inside or surface of that board. The main types of PCBs include:

Rigid PCB : Made of a hard material, most commonly FR-4 and can have multiple layers depending on the desired stack up and the circuit board design. Currently, it is possible to make a PCB board design with up to one hundred layers!

Flexible PCB : Commonly fabricated with polyamide, these circuit boards are on a flexible substrate and can help with space constraints.

Flex-rigid PCB : Consider this type as a combination of the types described above. In this type of circuit board design, both properties are used in order to connect different rigid boards with the use of the flex boards.

3D PCB : These boards are on the state-of-art of PCB design. Also known ad 3D-MID, the PCB Layout is done over a mechanical part or component with a special substrate. This fuses both the circuit board design with the mechanical part design.

What is PCB design and layout?

The whole concept of PCB design is about materializing a PCB and creating it in the real world based with the proper dimensions and rules it entails. With the aid of the proper tools, a common PCB Layout software provides the proper PCB component placement and the routes to be made within the PCB in order to connect and display all the necessary parts for your circuit board design.

What are the basics of PCB design?

The field of PCB Design encompasses various topics, but in essence, it consists of two main parts: PCB schematics and PCB Layout, which will be described in detail below.

Basically, the PCB Design entails the use and placement of the right components and connecting them adequately and as per their specifications in order to produce the necessary files that enable their manufacturing.

What is schematic design in PCB design?

We can consider the schematic design as a first stage of PCB Board design after proper prototyping and testing of the overall circuits and hardware components. 

A schematic is basically a sketch and representation of the connections between components through nets. The PCB Layout depend heavily on the way the schematic is created. It can consist of multiple sheets and can be interconnected depending on the PCB Design tool that is used for the circuit board design. Also, important notes regarding the way the circuit is implemented are placed in these files.

What is PCB routing? What does it do?

After a schematic was generated, it is compiled by the PCB design tool, which creates a database with the components and their connections on the PCB layout.

From there, the routing of the components has to be done either manually or with the aid of an automated routing tool, which is included on most of the PCB Board Design suites. It is important to follow the rules and compliance for the circuit board design in order to have a compliant PCB.

How can we design PCB?

There are many software tools and suites for PCB Board Design, which include different plugins that aid in the creation and compilation of both the schematic and PCB Layout. However, the PCB designer has to take into account some factors for a successful design.

Before creating a schematic, it is important to consider the values, signals and limitations that the PCB will have (e.g., impedance, capacitance…). After this, the proper components have to be selected, sometimes they are different from the testing components used on a wired prototype, more of this will be described on the next part.

After the component selection and parameter calculation, a schematic will be created. For the PCB Layout, it is important to define a proper layer stack-up, which is crucial on high-speed and multilayer PCB design. Then, the routing and component placement will need to be done according to the project related design rules taking into account constraints that are set due to its manufacturability (e.g., minimum via or trace sizes, component spacing…).

Once the PCB design is compliant with the rules and desired connections, the proper manufacturing files (commonly known as Gerber files) have to be generated and provided to a manufacturer. These steps may be repeated according to feedback and PCB Board design versions.

How to select components? What should be avoided?

One of the factors to define success for a product is its feasibility. The PCB Design has to take into account several factors for its feasibility and one is component selection. Please refer to the following tips on selecting the right components for your PCB Design.

Pricing and availability

In the current environment and conditions, time-to-market is crucial and a board manufacturability depends on the current component supply chain. When choosing a component, depending on the expected quality, pricing and lead times became a pinnacle of PCB Board design. For example, there could be two resistors from different manufacturers with similar specifications, but one of them could not be available in a very long period of time, or could be cheaper.

Component Replaceability

Try to choose a readily available component, and, in the case that it is not available, replace it with a part that has similar specifications that work in your current design. This may apply for many basic semiconductor and passive and electromechanical components (PEMCO). Try to design your PCB Layout so that it can contain different microcontroller or ASIC options (modularity) so that if a component is out of stock, you can be able to replace with another part.

Size and qualifications

While some designs will include mechanical constraints due to the end device’s size and spacing, other devices will be targeted for the Automotive or Industrial market segments. Your components must comply to the certifications the end devices are for (e.g., AEQ-100 for Automotive). Regarding component size, please look at the next point.

How to determine package size?

The size of a component package is determined by different physical specifications, such as dissipating power or resistance and capacitance capacity. For your PCB design, you might come across in a situation in which you can choose two resistors from different size code (a 0603 and a 1206). For this hypothetical case, your PCB design does not require the resistors to have high power dissipation values, hence the use of the smaller size would seem logical.

If you are not familiar with package sizes or their dimensions, it is important to read the component’s datasheet, where you can find the mechanical constraints, size (and code if applicable) and even some PCB layout recommendations. For SMT components such resistors, capacitors or even diodes there is a code as stated above, which can define its size in millimeters or inches (e.g., 0603 is a six by three-millimeter component). Do check what units the component code is in order to avoid using a wrong footprint on your PCB design.

Why do PCB boards need to design test points?

As your PCB Design becomes bigger such as in single board computers or complex power supplies, the probability of failure in the routing, component placement or lack of design considerations is higher. In this case, how is it possible to verify where the problem is and its solution?

A test point is an aid for the designers to verify that a specific voltage or current is present at a specific part of the PCB Board design. In essence, it makes it easier for verification and quality assurance purposes.

Additionally, these test points can be used for firmware programming of the control devices in the board.

What is BOM and Gerber in circuit board design?

A Bill of Materials (BOM) and Gerber files are a set of documents that need to be provided to your PCB manufacturer. A BOM contains all of the component’s characteristics and units that need to be placed withing the PCB, it is important to have each component properly labeled in order to make them identifiable by your manufacturer.

The Gerber files are a set of documents that contain the necessary code instructions for each of the PCB Design layers to be fed in the fabrication machines. There is also a set of drill files for the CNC machines that create the vias and THT pads.

Describe the stack-up preparation in pcb board design

In any multilayer PCB Design, important factors such as impedance (noise) become a key for proper signal integrity. Therefore, the calculation and specification of the proper layer thickness is mandatory on this kind of circuit board design.

There are different software tools that allow the proper calculations for impedance and other factors that will help us determine the appropriate stack-up. The following principles allow a good PCB stack-up preparation:

Proper board signal and grounding
Impedance calculation
Mechanical feasibility

What are the details of a good PCB fabrication drawing and board assembly drawing?

A good PCB Design will be an easy to read and implement design. In other words, the schematic drawings must be well explained and categorized (it might not be a good idea to put all of the components on just one page if the circuit has hundred of components). Some of the following points mark a good drawing:

A Block diagram is provided for the main board
Components categorized by PCB sections (Power, Control, Connections…)
All the components are properly identified and notes of special configurations are included
In a similar manner, a good PCB fabrication drawing must contain:

Clear and properly identified component sections
Clearly identified networks and special connections
Ensure the board connections and vias follow the compliance rules

Components are placed according to the design’s grid with reasonable coordinates
The design rules are met and detailed where it is needed
Consider the feedback obtained from Design For Fabrication (DFF) analysis tools
Following these guidelines can help to achieve a good PCB Design.

How to choose a good PCB manufacturer?

When you bring your PCB Design to a manufacturer you must consider a good service partner for your product. Among the most important factors for choosing your PCB manufacturer are:

Reliable: Meeting deadlines and aggressive for time-to-market
Compliant: Meets all the qualifications that your design requires
Cost-efficient: Allows you to have good pricing options according to volumes and has a plan for mass manufacturing (stocking)
Quality: Provides a PCB of quality, with all the related treatments and base materials
Added value: Provides added options to make your production smart and adapts to your vision