12/21/2015

PCBLayoutStyleMistakesThatCanRuinYourDesign

TrendingArticles

PCBLayoutStyleMistakesThatCanRuinYour
Design
November21,2015byDavidKnight(/author/davidknight)

SloppyLayout=LotsofProblemsLater
ModernPCBlayoutsoftwareallowsengineers,designers,andhobbyiststo
quicklyandeasilydesignPCBs.Thesoftwareprovidesthefreedomtobe
creative,butsometimesthatsnotagoodthing.PCBdesignerscanmakesloppy
designmistakesthatdon'timpacttheproductfunctionality,butmayimpact
assembly,debugging,andyieldbecauseoftheconfusionthesesloppymistakes
cost.ThisarticlecoverssomeofthebasicsloppyPCBdesignstylemistakesand
howtoavoidthem.

ReferenceDesignatorUnderPads
ReferencedesignatorsplacedonacoppershowupinPCBlayoutsoftware,but
notonaphysicalPCB.Ifyourreferencedesignatorsareplacedonpadsin
layout,theyllbemissingwhenyougetyourPCB,andplacingcomponentswill
bedifficult.Inthepicturebelow,thereferencedesignatorforR1willnotbe
printedcompletelyonthePCB.The"1"willbeclipped.Thereferencedesignator
forR2isplacedcorrectly.

http://www.allaboutcircuits.com/technicalarticles/pcblayoutstylemistakesthatmakeassemblyanddebuggingdifficult/

1/9

12/21/2015

PCBLayoutStyleMistakesThatCanRuinYourDesign

ReferenceDesignatorUnderaPackage
Ifyouplaceareferencedesignatorunderacomponent,youoryourcontract
manufacturermaybeabletoplacethecomponent,butitwillbehardtofindthe
componentonthePCBifyouneedtoremoveorreplacethecomponentfor
repairordebugging.Inthepicturebelow,thereferencedesignatorforU1willbe
hiddenafterU1isplacedonthePCB.ThereferencedesignatorforU2willbe
clearlyvisibleafterU2hasbeenplaced.

http://www.allaboutcircuits.com/technicalarticles/pcblayoutstylemistakesthatmakeassemblyanddebuggingdifficult/

2/9

12/21/2015

PCBLayoutStyleMistakesThatCanRuinYourDesign

ReferenceDesignatorNotClearlyAssignedto
Components
Placereferencedesignatorsascloseasispracticaltotheircomponents.Place
thereferencedesignatorsinawaysothatitisclearwhichcomponentsthey
belongto.Notdoingthismakesithardtoplacethecorrectcomponentsinthe
correctplace.Thisisimportantforassemblyanddebug.Inthepicturebelow,it's
notclearwhichresistorisR1andwhichisR2.

ReferenceDesignatorsinSmallFont
Useafontforreferencedesignatorthatislargeenoughtoeasilyread.The
authorhashadsuccesswithfontsthatareatleast0.060talland0.050wide.
Thistipdoesn'tgetapicturebecausereferencedesignatorsofanysizecanlook
goodonalarge,highresolutionmonitor,especiallywhenyou'rezoomedin.

ComponentsCloseToEachOtherWith
AmbiguousReferenceDesignators
Componentsplacednexttoeachotherwherethereferencedesignatorsdont

http://www.allaboutcircuits.com/technicalarticles/pcblayoutstylemistakesthatmakeassemblyanddebuggingdifficult/

3/9

12/21/2015

PCBLayoutStyleMistakesThatCanRuinYourDesign

Componentsplacednexttoeachotherwherethereferencedesignatorsdont
clearlyindicatewhichcomponentsgoonwhichpadscanresultinamultitudeof
problemsincludingthewrongcomponentsbeingplacedonthewrongpadsor
componentsbeingplacedinawaythatwasntintendedthatintroducesshort
circuitsoropencircuits.Theauthorhasseenlayoutswiththismistakeas
illustratedinthepicturebelow.SomeofthePCBsmadewiththislayoutwere
assembledcorrectlywiththeresistorsplacedhorizontally.OtherPCBswere
assembledincorrectlywiththeresistorsplacedvertically.Thismisplacementof
partscausedthePCBsnottowork.Usingfootprintsthathaveoutlinesaroundthe
componentsisawaytoavoidthisproblem.

ReferenceDesignatorsWithRandom
Orientation
ReferencedesignatorsonaPCBshouldfaceoneoratmosttwodirections.
Randomlyorientedreferencedesignatorsmakesassemblyanddebugmore
difficultascomponentsaremoredifficulttofind.Thecomponentsontheleft
havereferencedesignatorsplacedappropriately.Thecomponentsontheright
havereferencedesignatorswithdifferentorientations,whichisbad.

http://www.allaboutcircuits.com/technicalarticles/pcblayoutstylemistakesthatmakeassemblyanddebuggingdifficult/

4/9

12/21/2015

PCBLayoutStyleMistakesThatCanRuinYourDesign

NotLabelingPin1onIntegratedCircuits
Integratedcircuitsshouldhaveaclearindicator,likeadotorastar,nexttopin1
tomakesuretheICisinstalledproperly.ImproperlyinstalledICswilllikelybe
damagedordestroyed.Debuggingwillbeeasierifthepin1indicatorisnot
buriedunderneaththeICwhentheICisonthePCB.Inthepicturebelow,U1will
bedifficulttoplacecorrectly.Notethatthatthepinnumbersyouseeinthe
picturewon'tbeonthePCB.U2willbeplacedcorrectlybecausepin1isclearly
marked(thesquarepin).

http://www.allaboutcircuits.com/technicalarticles/pcblayoutstylemistakesthatmakeassemblyanddebuggingdifficult/

5/9

12/21/2015

PCBLayoutStyleMistakesThatCanRuinYourDesign

NotLabelingPolarityforPolarizedComponents
SometwoterminalcomponentslikeLEDsandelectrolyticcapacitorsare
polarized.Installingpolarizedcomponentsincorrectlycancausecircuit
malfunctionorcomponentdestruction.LEDsprovidelightonlywhen
installedproperly.Ifinstalledbackward,LEDswillnotconduct,andmayevenbe
damagedbyvoltagebreakdown.Electrolyticcapacitorsexplodeifreverse
biased.Usefootprintsthatindicatepolarity.Polaritymarkersshouldnotbeburied
underthecomponent.Inthepicturebelow,C1'spackageisnotgoodbecause
thepolaritymarkerwillbecoveredupbythecomponent.C2'spackageisgood
becausethepolaritymarkerwillbevisiblewhenthecapacitorisonthePCB.

PlacingComponentsTooCloselyTogether
Placingcomponentstoocloselytogethercancauseissueslikesolderbridges.If
componentsaretooclose,theymaybedifficulttoprobewithanoscilloscopeor
multimeter,astheprobemayshortmultiplecomponentstogether.Placing
componentstoocloselytogethercanalsomakereplacingcomponentsdifficult.
ThisisbestseenonaPCB,ascomponentspacingmaylookokonalarge
monitor.

http://www.allaboutcircuits.com/technicalarticles/pcblayoutstylemistakesthatmakeassemblyanddebuggingdifficult/

6/9

12/21/2015

PCBLayoutStyleMistakesThatCanRuinYourDesign

NotUsingThermalRelief
Usethermalreliefoncomponentpinstomakesolderingeasier.Youmaybe
temptedtonotusethermalrelieftoreduceelectricalandthermalresistance,but
notusingthermalreliefcanmakesolderingverydifficult,especiallywhena
componentpadisconnectedtoalargetraceorcopperfill.Largetracesand
copperfillsactasheatsinksthatcanmakeheatingthepadforsolderingdifficult
ifproperlythermalreliefisnotused.Inthepicturebelow,thereisnothermal
reliefonthesourcepinofQ1.ThisMOSFETmaybehardtosolderand
desolder.ThesourcepinofQ2isthermallyrelieved.ThisMOSFETwillbeeasy
tosolderanddesolder.PCBdesignerscanchangetheamountofthermalrelief
tocontrolelectricalandthermalresistanceoftheconnection.Forexample,a
PCBdesignercouldlaytracesovertheQ2sourcepintoincreasetheamountof
copperconnectingthesourcetothegroundnode.

KnowPCBManufacturer,Contract
Manufacturer,andYourLimitations
HaveagoodsetofdesignrulesthatyourPCBmanufacturercanmeet.
KnowifyouoryourCMcanhandledifficultpackageslikeballgridarray.Ifyou
aredoingyourownsoldering,packageswithlegsthatstickouttothesideofan
ICpackageareeasiesttosolder,especiallyifthepitchisnttoosmall(lessthan
0.100).
http://www.allaboutcircuits.com/technicalarticles/pcblayoutstylemistakesthatmakeassemblyanddebuggingdifficult/

7/9

12/21/2015

PCBLayoutStyleMistakesThatCanRuinYourDesign

Conclusion
ThisarticlehascoveredsomeofthePCBlayoutstyleissuesthatcancause
problemswithassemblyanddebugging.Remembertocarefullyplacereference
designators,usegoodfootprintswithpolarityandpin1marks,usethermalrelief,
anddesigningwithmanufacturinglimitationsinmind.Followingthesegood
designpracticeswillmakeassemblyeasier,improveyields,andmakeforeasier
debugging.Thesebenefitsallsavetimeandmoneyandpromotepeaceofmind.

Tags:
PCB(/SEARCH?Q=PCB)

PCBLAYOUT(/SEARCH?Q=PCBLAYOUT)

DESIGNFORMANUFACTURE(/SEARCH?Q=DESIGNFORMANUFACTURE)

(https://www.facebook.com/sharer/sharer.php?
u=http://www.allaboutcircuits.com/technicalarticles/pcblayoutstylemistakes
thatmakeassemblyanddebuggingdifficult)
(https://twitter.com/share?url=http://www.allaboutcircuits.com/technical
articles/pcblayoutstylemistakesthatmakeassemblyanddebugging
difficult&via=allaboutcircuit)
(https://plus.google.com/share?
url=http://www.allaboutcircuits.com/technicalarticles/pcblayoutstylemistakes
thatmakeassemblyanddebuggingdifficult)
(https://www.linkedin.com/shareArticle?
mini=true&url=http://www.allaboutcircuits.com/technicalarticles/pcblayout

WHOWEARE

stylemistakesthatmakeassemblyanddebuggingdifficult)

RecommendedArticles

(/)

PICAXEProgrammingBasicsPart1
http://www.allaboutcircuits.com/technicalarticles/pcblayoutstylemistakesthatmakeassemblyanddebuggingdifficult/

8/9

12/21/2015

PCBLayoutStyleMistakesThatCanRuinYourDesign

(/technicalarticles/picaxeprogrammingbasicspart
Moreaboutus
(/contactus/)
1/)

(/technica
CONTENT
CATEGORIES
l
articles/pi TheI2CBus:HardwareImplementationDetails
News(/news/)
caxe
Latest(/latest/)
(/technicalarticles/thei2cbushardware
program
Projects(/projects/)
Arduino(/latest/arduino/)
implementationdetails/)
ming
TechnicalArticles(/technicalarticles/)
Power(/latest/power/)
basics
(/technica
part1/)
Textbook(/textbook/)
Embedded(/latest/embedded/)
l
ElectronicsDesignonLinux IoT(/latest/iot/)
articles/th
Downloads(/downloads/)
ei2c
(/technicalarticles/electronicsdesignonlinux/)
VideoLectures(/videolectures/)
Sensors(/latest/sensors/)
bus
hardware
Worksheets(/worksheets/)
DigitalICs(/latest/digitalics/)
Forum(//forum.allaboutcircuits.com/)
Test&Measurement(/latest/testand
(/technica
implemen
l
tation
measurement/)
articles/el
details/) TheEFM8SeriesfromSiliconLaboratories:A
ectronics PowerfulNewEmbeddedDevelopmentPlatform
design
CONNECTWITHUS
onlinux/) (/technicalarticles/theefm8seriesfromsilicon
laboratoriesapowerfulnewembeddeddevelopme/)
(/technica
Facebook
YouTube
l
FivePlacestoFindPartInfoOnline
(https://www.facebook.com/allaboutcircuits)
(https://www.youtube.com/c/AllAboutCircuitsVideo)
articles/th
eefm8
Twitter(https://twitter.com/AllAboutCircuit)
LinkedIn
(/technicalarticles/fiveplacestofindpartinfoonline/)
series
ContactUs(/contactus/)
(https://www.linkedin.com/company/allaboutcircuits)
from
silicon
WriteForUs(/writeforus/)
(/technica
laboratori
l
esa
articles/fiv
powerful

eplaces
SIGNUP
new
tofind
embedde
partinfo
d
online/)
Enteryouremailaddress
Register
developm
1Comment
Login(/login/)
e/)

Comments

Pleaseloginbeforeyoucancomment.

EETechMedia,LLC(http://eetech.com/).Allrightsreserved

http://www.allaboutcircuits.com/technicalarticles/pcblayoutstylemistakesthatmakeassemblyanddebuggingdifficult/

9/9