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A printed circuit board, or PCB, is used to mechanically support and electrically connect electronic components. An Austrian
scientist, Dr Paul Eisler, is credited with making the first operational printed wiring board in 1943, where the printed circuits
replaced the bulky wiring in a vacuum tube radio.
The PCB is designed and formed as a stack of layers. In the early days of printed circuit board (PCB) manufacturing, the
board was simply an insulating core layer, clad with a thin layer of copper on one or both sides. Wiring was formed in the
copper layer(s) as conductive traces, by etching away (removing) unwanted copper.
CONTENTS
PCB Layer Stackup
Technology and
Terminology
A Single Design with
Multiple Layer Stacks
A simple, single-sided PC B. Note how the circuit tracks that are on the bottom layer are visible through the board.
Fast forward to today, where almost all PCB designs have multiple copper layers. Two to ten copper layers are common, but
it is possible to fabricate a board with over thirty copper layers. These copper layers are defined in the design environment
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as part of the layer stack, along with the insulation material that separates them.
To design a single printed circuit board it is only necessary to define a single layer stack, which defines the entire board
area in the vertical direction, or Z plane. However, technological innovation and refinements in the processing technology
has led to a number of revolutionary concepts in PCB fabrication, including the ability to design and manufacture flexible
PCBs. By joining rigid sections of PCB together via flexible sections, complex, hybrid PCBs can be designed, that can be
folded to fit into unusually shaped enclosures.
and Function
Assigning a Net to a Plane
Layer
RELATED VIDEOS
Rigid sections of PC B connected via flexible sections of PC B, an innovative concept that supports the design of creative and compact electronic
products.
Since it is fabricated as a single entity, a rigid-flex PCB must be designed as a single entity. To do this, the designer must be
able to define multiple PCB layer stacks, and assign different layer stacks to different parts of the rigid-flex design.
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An excellent reference for building a good understanding of the materials and techniques of both the design and the fabrication of
printed circuits is Right First Time - a Practical Handbook on High Speed PCB and System Design, by Lee Ritchley. A free PDF version can be
downloaded from http://www.thehighspeeddesignbook.com/.
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This board has had 3 layer stacks defined, 2 Rigid stacks and 1 Flex stack.
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Layer stack management is performed in the Layer Stack Manager dialog. The default single stack for a new board is shown.
The dialog has two modes. In its Simple mode, the dialog provides the features and functionality needed to manage the layers in the stack for a traditional rigid
PCB. For rigid-flex PCBs, you need to be able to create and manage multiple stacks. This is performed by entering the dialog's Advanced mode - by clicking the
Advanced button at the bottom-left of the dialog.
C ontrols for adding and managing stacks are made available by entering the dialog's Advanced mode, which displays the lower Stack region of the dialog.
In this mode, the dialog is visually and functionally divided into two key regions:
Stack region (the lower region) providing controls to add, delete and re-order layer stacks.
Layer region (the upper region) providing controls to manage the layers available to the defined stacks (add, remove, enable/disable, and re-order layers,
as well as defining layer properties).
The stack currently selected in the lower region of the dialog has its name highlighted with a grey background, and this stack is displayed
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A board with a total of 3 stacks defined, 2 rigid stacks and 1 flex stack.
As you click on the cell associated with a particular layer in the layer region of the Layer Stack Manager, that layer will be highlighted in
the graphical display of the currently selected stack (to the left), and also across all defined stacks that use that layer, in the stack region of
the dialog.
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and Redo
The Layer Stack Manager includes an option at the top right of the dialog for selecting the Style of layer technology to be used on this
board. The available options include: Layer Pairs, Internal Layer Pairs, Build-up or Custom. Note that this option does not affect the final
design of the layer stackup, it is simply used to help select the appropriate type of dielectric layer to add and the location in the stack
where it is added, when you run an Add Layer command. In all modes other than Custom, whenever a signal layer is added, a dielectric
layer will also be added. The type and location of dielectric added depends on: the current number of layers used, and the current Style
setting. Note that once a second layer Stack has been added, the Style is automatically set to Custom. In Custom mode, new layers are
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added one-by-one.
Material
Signal
Copper
Thickness
mm or
mils
Properties to
Define
Thickness
Comments
Copper layer used to define signal routing, carries
the electrical signals and circuit supply current.
Typically annealed foil and electro-deposited.
Solid copper layer used to distribute power and
Internal Plane
Copper
mm or
mils
Thickness
Type
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Overlay
(function),
Material,
mm or
mils
Thickness
and
Dielectric
Constant
(Dk).
Type
Solder
Mask/Coverlay
mm or
mils
(function),
Material,
Thickness
and
Dielectric
Constant
(Dk).
Paste Mask
placement.
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To assign a net to a plane layer, make the plane layer the active layer then double-click to open the Split Plane dialog, where the net is assigned.
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Defined from selected objects - typically done from an outline on a mechanical layer. Use this option if an outline has been imported from another design
tool. Switch to 2D Layout Mode (View 2D Layout Mode) then use the command in the Design Board Shape sub-menu.
Defined from a 3D body - use this option if the blank board has been imported as a STEP model from an MCAD tool into an Altium Designer 3D Body Object
(Place 3D Body). Switch to 3D Layout Mode (View 3D Layout Mode) then use the command in the Design Board Shape sub-menu to select the board
shape.
The main View menu has a cluster of PCB editor working modes with easy to remember shortcuts, allowing you to quickly switch between
Board Planning Mode (1), 2D Layout Mode (2), and 3D Layout Mode (3). The editor menus will populate with relevant commands for each of
the respective modes. So if you're used to finding your favorite board shape command on the Design menu and can't see it anymore,
make sure you're in the right mode!
The Managed Stack defines the board structure in the vertical, of Z plane. In the horizontal, or X Y plane, the region that the stack extends
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over is defined by the cavity definition built into that embedded component.
The image below shows the layer stack dialog for a rigid-flex design that includes embedded components. By analyzing the Managed Stacks it is possible to
work out which layers the components are embedded on.
Note that:
The stack selector down the bottom of the dialog is set to Show All Stacks, displaying the two managed stacks, Stack0 and Stack2. Note that the stack
selector setting is not persistent, when the dialog is reopened it defaults to Show User Stacks.
The upper-most layer in Stack2 is Mid-Layer 1, there are no other layers above this layer. This indicates that the upper layers are removed by the cutout
(cavity definition) in the component embedded on Mid-Layer 1.
The upper-most layer in Stack0 is Mid-Layer 2, there are no other layers above this layer. This indicates that the upper layers are removed by the cutout
(cavity definition) in the component embedded on Mid-Layer 2.
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The Layer Stack Manager set to Show All Stacks revealing two Managed Stacks, Stack0 and Stack1.
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The Layer Stack Table is used to provide detail documentation of all layers used in the design, note the map included below the table.
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Select the stack then click the Drill Pairs button to define the drill pairs for that stack.
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4 Drill Tables have been placed, one for each of the drill pairs defined in this rigid-flex design. A title has been added to each to identify the layer pair.
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