Preventing PCB Defects

Created: January 8, 2018
Updated: March 20, 2020

|

Preventing PCB Defects

One of the most important things you can do to make sure your PCB project goes off without a hitch is to be proactive from the moment of conception. As with many things, educating yourself on the technical aspects of the most common defects and how to prevent them will serve you well for your entire PCB designing career. Knowing what to look out for will be a major asset in ensuring that your board will be the dependable, quality product you had in mind.

Join us as we explore topics related to wearable electronics, click the PDF above to read in your browser, or read individual articles including:

Related Resources

3D Measuring in Altium Designer

3D Measuring in Altium Designer The Altium Designer PCB editor gives designers the ability to display their board in glorious 3D measuring. With the help of Microsoft DirectX, the PCB editor allows the complete visualization of printed circuit boards, completely loaded with all of their components. You can then view the loaded board, zoom in, rotate it, and thoroughly examine it in full, three-dimensional detail. You can view it from any angle or position that you choose, or Read Article

Implementing Complex Pad Shapes

Implementing Complex Pad Shapes Component pads are not always simply round or rectangular shapes. Analog, high-power, or RF components often require geometrically complex or irregular shaped pads. This paper details an easy and eﬃcient solution for when a user is confronted with having to quickly implement complex pad shapes that must meet the manufacturer’s layout requirements without resulting in DRC violations or manufacturing errors. INTRODUCTION Most component package Read Article

Streamlining the Altium Designer User Experience

Streamlining the Altium Designer User Experience Learn how to streamline your Altium Designer experience with shortcut keys, pcb workflow automation, and a customizable workspace. Modern CAD tools employ an ever growing collection of features and functionality. One of the leaders in this area is Altium Designer, which provides users with a single, unified package that includes Schematic capture, PCB layout, Native 3D PCB, Signal Integrity, SPICE simulation, Embedded Software development, and Read Article

Storage Manager File Safety Guaranteed

Storage Manager File Safety Guaranteed Learn how the ECAD storage manager in Altium Designer can help you to recover previous versions of a PCB design project and easily access all of your electronics design projects. How many times has this happened to you? You’re working on a project, when all of a sudden, you make some significant modification to it accidentally, and then save it, losing your previous work. In this document, we present a feature called Storage Manager a method that Read Article

Re-using Circuits with Snippets Shaves Design Time

Re-using Circuits with Snippets Shaves Design Time Learn how to make reuse of circuits with snippets in Altium Designer to save time on your design process. Often, a commonly used circuit, such as a power supply that has met UL or EMI certification, may appear in many designs. Or, a circuit such as an output buffer, might be reproduced several times on one PDB. The design can be accelerated by grabbing those circuit layouts and re-using them, both on a single board design in the case of the Read Article

Navigating the Perils of Design Review

Navigating the Perils of Design Review Design reviews cause shivers to run up the spine of even the most seasoned engineer. No matter how much time, eﬀort, and checking has been invested, there is still a fear that something might have been overlooked. This paper will touch on some simple filtering and highlight techniques to help visually isolate critical components and nets...all in an eﬀort to make your next design review just a little less stressful. INTRODUCTION Ensuring PCB Read Article

Area Sensitive Part Of The Board

Area Sensitive Part Of The Board It’s that phase of the project when you’re about to hand over a development released product to production. From the development perspective, everything, from designs, parts, models, BOMs, and documentation, are all in their release state. It’s a time that calls for a true celebration after weeks of sleepless nights to finish the design on time and within budget. Then you get the flash back with few what-if questions; did sourcing get the new Read Article

Reverse Engineering Project Libraries

Reverse Engineering Project Libraries Outsourcing has become the de-facto solution for companies seeking to cut costs and increase their profit margins. Rather than consuming their own resources on a particular task, companies farm it out to other firms that specializes in that particular area, leaving them to focus on what they do best. New product design often gets contracted out to separate design firms. If that’s you — your company outsources PCB design or your company is a PCB Read Article

Confidently Capture All Design Details in the Design Document

Confidently Capture All Design Details in PCB Design Documentation The design document must capture all aspects of the design of a system. This includes the specification, design intent, design process and traceability back to the specification. Only then can the designer be confident that all relevant design information has been captured in one place. This paper is meant to be a guideline to prompt you to consider how to capture design details beyond the fabrication and assembly drawings. INTRODUCTION One of Read Article

Implementing Touch Sensors

Implementing Touch Sensors Learn how to design a reliable alternative to traditional mechanical switches with capacitive touch sensor technology in Altium Designer. Capacitive touch sensor technology offers an inexpensive and highly reliable alternative to the traditional mechanical switches that are used in electronics control interfaces. Manually creating or resizing a touch sensor’s complex vendor/technology- specific patterns can be both difficult and time-consuming Read Article

Back to Home

Take advantage of the world's
most trusted PCB design system.

One interface. One data
model. Endless possibilities.

Effortlessly collaborate with
mechanical designers.

The world's most trusted
PCB design platform

Best in class interactive
routing

View License Options