Have you heard the name PCB? I guess you already have. The abbreviation of printed circuit board is PCB. It may be defined as the component that is made by combining several layers of insulating materials with those electrical conductors that are available. The insulator is made of dielectric materials such as the resins, plastic or ceramics. When the PCB is manufactured, the portion of the conductor that is not needed is cut off. By doing so, only the printed circuits remain that connect the electronic components.
There are thousands of designs of PCB but the most used of them all is the generic IPC-2221A and it doesn’t depend on the material. PCB boards can be single sided, double sided or multilayer and the standard design provides the perfect platform for the product for its manufacture. It sets forth the rules regarding the material requirement, conductor thickness, criteria for the surface plating, component placement, tolerance and dimensioning rules and much more. Then the designer will have the liberty to choose from a wide variety of technology that is on offer from the standard IPC-2220 series. If anyone wants to manufacture power conversion devices then he will have to go for the IPC-9592 series.
The width of conductors can vary and it should be chosen taking into account the highest temperature rise at rated current and the minimum acceptable impedance. Peak working voltage, the product application and the coating also do have a say in the spacing between two different PC traces. The width of traces is an important factor to consider and you must pay attention to create a minimum width between the traces as it is very much important. It depends on the manufacturing ability of the fabricator but in most cases that shouldn’t be any less than 2-3 mils. But the typical minimum value is considered at 6/6 mils, but that all too depends on the application of the product and the end use of the product. Depending on those factors, other standards of measurement may also apply. For instance, in order to create battery powered or mains powered technology equipment, then you should go for the IEC/UL 60950-1 instead of the traditional IPC.
You won’t find the perfect standard on proper route of PCB from the IPC and other so called standards. You will have to understand the proper effects of non- zero level of trace impedance and also the coupling signals that are transmitted from one created circuit to another circuit through various parasitic capacitances. Moreover you will need to have the basic knowledge of circuit operation. You can place different parts of control circuits automatically but in other cases such as the ground, power and di/dt circuits the whole procedure must be routed by hand.
These are the main designs and the mechanism of action of printed circuit boards. The procedure is all the same in most cases.
