Design for manufacturing (DFM) guidelines resolves potential issues that can occur during the manufacturing and assembly of circuit boards. DFM for flex and rigid-flex PCBs with SMT involves selecting application-specific circuit construction types, laminates, coating...
Design for manufacturability (DFM) for HDI PCBs refers to designing layouts that reduce the errors associated with fabrication and assembly. Before fabrication, the manufacturer will run a set of checks on the board files (Gerbers or ODB++) to confirm that these files...
Once a circuit board designer prepares the design, the next step is to find a manufacturer to transform it into a finished product. To get the board manufactured, an estimate or a PCB quote needs to be placed. The main intention is to fabricate and assemble a board...
Cost optimization is one of the major objectives when designing a PCB. To achieve that, every designer should know the major cost drivers of a circuit board. The primary cost drivers of flex PCBs include board materials, layer count, efficient panel utilization, type...
PCB outgassing or offgassing is a defect that occurs when air is trapped inside a circuit board during production. The trapped air creates voids or blowholes, which might damage the board's performance. Choosing a low outgassing rate material and vacuum pre-baking are...
Black pad has long been a problem for ENIG surface finishes. What are the best ways to work around it?
A fab drawing is one of the different file types that convey the manufacturing details of a printed circuit board. The better the fabrication drawing, the easier the board manufacturing process. Hence, it is advisable for a designer to know about the information to be...
FR4 is the most common grade dielectric material that is used in the fabrication of circuit boards. This material is incorporated in single-sided, double-sided, and multi-layered boards. Here are a few qualities of FR4 materials that make them popular: Wide range of...
Laser drilling creates precise holes on a PCB to establish connections between different layers. The sleek gadgets that we all are acquainted with consist of HDI boards that incorporate laser drills. Laser drilling techniques ensure accuracy even when dealing with the...