Key Considerations in Designing Custom PCBs for Specific Applications

Before starting to do anything, you have to consider a few factors to keep in mind while doing that. That’s how you decrease the chances of failing even on the first try.

If you are trying it out for the first time, designing custom PCBs might be one of the most complex things you would ever try.

But don’t worry because we are here to answer all your queries. And today, we’ve got all the key considerations that’ll make your first custom PCB a dream PCB. So, let’s dig in:

List of Key Considerations in Designing Custom PCBs

1. Terms and Conditions 

You might think that in custom design, there’s no term or condition, but you have to have them. If you are doing whole process yourself, note down points and requirements about design. Otherwise, ask your client about it.

Terms and conditions of design mat include:

• Specified information related to components
• Size of board
• layers of board
• Shape of board etc.

  2. Thickness

Determining thickness is as important as any other requirement before starting the design process. The average thickness of the board will depend on all other specifications of the board. Usually, people don’t spend time on average thickness even in custom PCBs.

It’s because there is a standardized thickness (1.58mm) that is used by most designers. Still, there’s no restriction about it and that’s the beauty of custom printed circuit boards.

3. Trace clearance

Do you know enough about conductive traces on the board? If so, there’s another thing you need to add to your memory which is ‘trace tolerance.’

Trace tolerance is just a mere distance between these two traces. It might not seem as important but the change in distance can change the whole scenario because these traces are conductive and the significance of conductance is not hidden from electronics enthusiasts.

4. Trace width 

Another thing related to traces here is ‘width.’ The thickness of traces matters a lot because the change in width means a change in the properties of traces. Thinner traces tend to have more resistance and vice versa. So, you have to choose the right thickness depending on your requirements.

5. Material to be used

You might already have this consideration in your diary because we all know how important it is to determine every single detail about the material we’ll use.

Different materials are used to get different results. As it is a project of custom PCBs, you can experiment as well but the most commonly considered or used materials are:

• Substrate material
• Via Types
• Surface Finish
• Copper thickness
• Solder mask material

  6. Schematic 

Schematic is like a diagram or layout of your draft of design. It’s always better to consider using it as it makes the process super-efficient and accurate. If you are convincing yourself to not use that saying that schematic is for those who don’t know how to do the job, you first must know that even experts prefer schematics. There’s no shame in making sure things are going as per the plan.

7. Thermal Problem

The use of heat is compulsory in the production of these PCBs. But sometimes, heat becomes our enemy as it can affect various types of components. The more advanced the custom PCB is, the more dangerous heat becomes. So, you have to do something special, particularly for complex circuits. Heat dissipation is the best prevention for any thermal issue.

After discussing all the important things that must be considered before and while designing custom PCBs, it’s time to move on to slightly less important considerations.

8. DFM

Design for manufacturability or DFM is also an important thing you have to take care of. DFM’s role is to point out any flaw in design before moving towards manufacturing process of custom PCB. Defects like inadequate annular rings and traps are easily detectable for DFM.

9. Fiducials 

Tooling holes align layers and alignment marks are termed fiducials and they are also quite significant. As it’s a custom PCB project, you can try any alignment or measurement. But if you ask any expert, you would always tell you to go with 1mm diameter solid circle.

10. Drill Hole Size

This seems to be one of the smallest things when compared with all main tasks and considerations of PCB design process. But determining wrong size can lead to bigger issues which means it’s a small thing with great impact.

It’s true that last three things aren’t as important as the previous ones but if does never mean that you can skip them.

Conclusion

So, these are all important things you need to keep in mind before jumping into designing and manufacturing process of your first PCB. If you still have any questions, ask us freely as we love to help you.

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