PCB Design & DFM

Designing reliable, manufacturable printed circuit boards.

Guides

• PCB Design Software (EDA Tools) — comparison, pricing, free student licenses, learning curve.
• Design by Circuit Block — classify a board into blocks (MCU, power, power electronics, high-speed, analog) and design each by its own rules.
• Signal & Power Integrity — the cross-cutting physics: signal integrity, return paths, EMI/EMC, impedance/stackup, copper pours & thermal.
• Components & Parts — resistors (with use cases), capacitors, inductors/ferrites, diodes/TVS, MOSFETs.
• Applied Circuits & Practices — pull-ups, TVS/ESD, power arbiter, buck/boost/flyback, USB-PD, PoE, and DDR/HDMI/PCIe layout.
• Common Mistakes & Risks — decoupling, crosstalk, differential pairs, DFM/manufacturing pitfalls.
• From Design to Delivery — DRC, output files, ordering options, shipping & customs (JLCPCB case study).
• Reference Designs & Sources — learn from open boards (Antmicro, Raspberry Pi, BeagleBoard…).

Topics

• Schematic capture: symbols, nets, design reuse
• Layout: placement, routing, power/ground planes, signal integrity
• Power: LDO, buck/boost, decoupling
• DFM: design rules, stackup, fabrication & assembly constraints
• Bring-up: first power-on, debugging hardware

Tools

• Software: see PCB Design Software (EDA Tools) — comparison, pricing, free student licenses and learning curve. KiCad is preferred (free, powerful).
• Bench tools: multimeter, oscilloscope, bench supply — see Lab Equipment Guide.

DFM checklist (short)

• Design rules match the fab's capabilities
• Proper decoupling on every IC
• Clear silkscreen, fiducials, and test points
• Reviewed BOM and footprints before ordering