Electronic devices have become the most important part of our lives over the years. So the question of its importance exists no more as the engineers and designers have implemented their ideas in this vastly potential sector and we are reaping the fruits of their hard works. This is no exception in case of the PCB or printed circuit board as it has gone through lots of changes and modifications.
Bringing changes to these small devices wasn’t easy at all as the engineers found it extremely hard to cope with the unique manufacturing procedure of the PCB. The design flow of the PCB is segregated in different parts as each stage demands a unique method. Whether it may be the part selection or validation or the design, you will have to integrate them separately.
This article is about the newer trends in the arena of PCB manufacturing and the design flow and features will be discussed briefly. Newer technology that was implemented in recent time will also be discussed.
There are some common steps in PCB design flow and it continues from the designing of the product to the validation of it. There are mainly four stages in PCB design flow. Those are part research, simulation and schematic capture, board layout and the verification.
The first step is the collection of information and compilation of them in a data sheet. This is a time consuming process as one would have to collect information from various sources and compile them to breadboard a prototype so that one can understand the real mechanism of the device. The second part of the step includes the integration of the fragmented traditional PCB design flow.
Capture is an important part of the design flow as collected graphical symbols of the circuit component are placed together and connected in order to create a design topology.
After the engineer is done with the capturing procedure then he will have to simulate the design flow using the XSPICE and SPICE simulation. This is considered as the most important stage in the buildup of a modern device as it can emulate performances long before the original device has been built. It can also be tested to check on whether it needs modifying or not. So simulation will save, presumably, both money and time.
The engineer has already used the capture to build a formidable design and simulation to check on the performances of the device. Now it’s time to create a physical prototype. It is done to test the real world performance of the device in the exact format in which the device will be built. Layout is performed in CAD environment. But nowadays many newer tools are used just to place the parts automatically.
Finally, the last part of the process is the manufacturing test. This is preformed to ensure customer satisfaction. Once this is complete the devise is ready for market.
