-
- December 5, 2022
- PCB knowledge
- (0)
- 06 mins
The ultimate approach to PCB wiring
PCB wiring is time-consuming as it not only determines electronic components’ location on board but also makes an extensive network of interconnecting wires among them to communicate with other components so that PCB becomes fully operational. In crux, it is a procedure of making pathways for signals to travel inside the PCB.
What is PCB wiring?
PCB wiring refers to creating a network of wires while designing a PCB, this stage comes after achieving the schematics diagram of the required circuit in software. It requires a highly technical approach and is a very complicated process.
What is the usage of PCB wiring ?
PCB wire is one of the main components to fabricate functional PCBs. The main use of PCB wire is to provide a pathway to make signal travel between different points in PCB from one electronic component to another, to have an optimal functional electronic device. If any of the wires are connected wrong or broken, then PCB as a whole malfunction and become difficult to deal with . So, it is important to do PCB wiring correctly and attentively.
What are the common methods of PCB wiring?
Generally, two methods are used in PCB wiring as
- X-Y Wiring: This method requires at least two wiring layers, allowing one direction to
single wire in one layer and vice versa i-e along the x-axis in one layer and along the y- axis on the second layer. Generally, this method is used in wiring crowded PCB, as while wiring if one wire intersects another wire then this method allows to move to other layers to avoid that intersection while choosing the minimum possible route available to wire.
- Maze Wiring: Most of the time, this method eliminates the need for vias to change to other
layers of PCB by allowing the complete routing of the net in a single layer. Mostly in this method, instead of shifting to other layers, the wires take a longer path to take a roundabout which results in a longer wire route. This method is well suited if the wiring of buses is to be done in such a way that all wires must have to go side by side on the PCB layer like in motherboards of PCs.
What are the PCB wiring rules?
Following are some rules for PCB wiring but it is not limited to these rules:
- Just don’t rely on Auto-router, do manual wiring of PCB by keeping all basic tips in mind.
- Keep the width of power and ground wires broader for better management of power.
- Select the right grid spacing which is suitable for components and also for PCB wiring.
- Keep as shortest and direct wiring path as possible.
- First know the required width for wire, which doesn’t affect signal integrity and also doesn’t allows crosstalks.
- For proper power distribution, it is recommended to use as much power layer and ground layer as possible.
- Similar and interconnected components must be grouped together with specified testing points.
- It is recommended to do DRC (Design rule Check) to identify any error.
- Just avoid sharp-angled-turn in wiring as it narrower the wire at the turn and may affect signal integrity.
Keep power and ground wires away from oscillators in PCB
What are the wiring principles for PCB doubled board?
There is not a single principle specified to follow while wiring PCB in a double layer, but its good practice to use the X-Y wiring method, to avoid getting stuck in PCB wiring, which means on one layer only horizontal wires are preferred to be placed and if there is need to place vertical wire then layer of PCB must have to be changed to where all wires are in the vertical direction.
This technique not only helps the designer to complete the whole PCB wiring but also makes PCB looks presentable.
What are the precautions for PCB wiring?
Following are some precautionary measures to be kept in mind while wiring the PCB
- Make sure to use capacitors by wiring length and crystals with IC to avoid electrical signal degradation.
- Just remember that don’t place a ground plan or sensitive signal pattern under the crystal circuit as this act can cause noise in the circuit.
- It is important to have a controlled impedance wire to avoid cross-talking and improve signal credibility
- Just keep the ground field away from the component side in order to prevent the decrement in the negative resistance
- Ground field must be placed on the layer furthest away from the component side. To avoid negative resistance drops, ground patterns should not be utilized in oscillation circuits, and other signal lines should not be used in this part either.
- Try to make a shorter and direct connection while PCB wiring.
What is PCB wire?
Small lines making network-like structures in PCB are known as PCB wire. The main purpose of any PCB wire is to carry an electronic signal between different points in PCB. All electronic components on PCB are interconnected with the help of these wires. These PCB wires are necessary to PCB to perform the desired operation properly, the whole electronic device malfunctions if the wire is not connected to the point where it is meant to.What type of wire is used for PCB?
PCB wires are meant to transmit electronic signals among different components on PCB thus it is important to make PCB wires from highly conductive and stable materials like copper, aluminum, or gold. Generally, copper is used in PCB wires as this metal is cheaper than aluminum and gold and also highly conductive to electronic signals which means, wires made up of this metal are capable of transmitting electronic signals without losing their credibility and strength.
How to solder wire to PCB?
Soldering is the process in which external wire is attached to PCB to make PCB communicate with the outer world. There is the basic procedure to be followed to solder any wire to PCB
- Just clean the pad on PCB and peal the coating of wire to have a copper conductive core
- Tin both pads and wire conductors by melting soldering wire and heating up pad and wire conductor one after other with the help of soldering iron.
- Insert tin-end of wire through pad-hole on PCB and then melt more soldering wire on a pad which on cooling make solder joint and become hardened.
- Cut the extra wire with the help of a wire cutter.
PCB wire is one of the main components to fabricate functional PCBs. The main use of PCB wire is to provide a pathway to make signal travel between different points in PCB from one electronic component to another, to have an optimal functional electronic device.
- Two methods are used in PCB wiring as
X-Y Wiring: This method requires at least two wiring layers, allowing one direction to single wire in one layer and vice versa i-e along the x-axis in one layer and along the y- axis on the second layer. - Maze Wiring:Most of the time, this method eliminates the need for vias to change to other layers of PCB by allowing the complete routing of the net in a single layer.
There is not a single principle specified to follow while wiring PCB in a double layer, but its good practice to use the X-Y wiring method.
Conclusion
As PCBs are necessary for any electronic device similarly, PCB wires are very important in PCB assembly and fabrication, and knowing wire material and width is as important as to calculating the PCB current. As wire width also has an impact on wire resistance, like wider wire offers lesser resistance and vice versa. So, having extensive knowledge of PCB wire allows designers to design a perfect circuit with better traits.
