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Printed Circuit Board

Overview
What is a PCB?
Why use a PCB?
How do I make a PCB?

Printed Circuit Board

Circuit connects components through board

Made of alternating layers of conducting and
insulating materials
2 LAYER STACKUP

4 LAYER STACKUP

Why PCB?
Features
Surprisingly Affordable
Highly reliable
Compact

Drawbacks
Requires more layout than other board types
Higher initial cost than wire wrap or point-topoint construction

PCB Design Steps

Schematic
Capture
Place
Components

Iteration

Route Traces
Generate
Gerbers

Fab !

EDA Software
PCB design software package
Design the circuit (Orcad Capture)
Place the components (PCB editor)
Route the wires (PCB editor)

Examples:
CADENCE ALLEGRO
MENTRO GRAPHICS PADS

Schematic Capture

Pin in/outs
Components
Interconnections
Easily Readable
High-Level Block
Diagram

Placement of Components
Rats Nest

Placement of Components
Place big components first- e.g. microcontroller
Place components in separate functional groups
Put a ground plane under all components

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Signal Routing Component Placement

Surface mount
Top and bottom planes
Minimal routing area

Through-hole mounted
All components on same side
Reduces routing area on all planes

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Manufacturing Files
Gerber Files
Industry standard file format to describe circuits
Generated by PCB design software
Contains all necessary info to manufacture a
circuit board (Traces, Pads, Silkscreen, etc.)

Drill Files
Describes the location and size of holes
Zipped with Gerber files and sent to manufacturer

Basic Circuit Components

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Basic Circuit Components

Resistors
Capacitors
Diode
Inductors

Resistance

All materials have a resistance that is dependent on crosssectional area, material type and temperature.
A resistor dissipates power in the form of heat

Resistor Color Code

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Capacitors
It is a device that stores electric charge
Consists of two conductors seperated
by an insulator

Types

Ceramic disk

Monolithic
ceramic

Radial aluminum
electrolytic

Mylar

Solid tantalum,
polarized

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How Capacitor works Water

Analogy

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Applications

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Diodes

Adiodeisasimpleelectricaldevicethatallowsthe
flowofcurrentonlyinonedirection

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Diode Types

RECTIFIER

ZENER

LED

PHOTODIODE

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Applications

RECTIFIER

ZENERASVOLTAGEREGULATOR

REVERSECURRENT
PROTECTION

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Inductor
Generally - coil of conducting wire
Usually wrapped around a solid core. If
no core is used, then the inductor is said
to have an air core.

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How inductor works Water wheel

Analogy

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Applications

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Discussion? Questions?