EA312 - Electronic board design

The design of a printed circuit board (PCB) is a step that should not be neglected. A poor PCB design can ruin the performance of an entire system, even if the design of the circuit and the system are of good quality.

The aim of this module is to present the main best practices to be followed when designing a PCB, in order to mitigate electromagnetic compatibility problems, ensure user safety, reduce manufacturing costs, facilitate product manufacturing and testing, and so on.

EN:

Printed circuit board design is a step that should not be overlooked. A bad PCB design can indeed ruin the performances of a whole system, even though the circuit and system designs might be excellent.

This module aims at introducing good practices to follow when designing a PCB, in order to mitigate electromagnetic compatibility issues, ensure user safety, reduce the fabrication cost, allow easy manufacturing and testing of the product, etc.

During this module, students will learn:
- what the main challenges are when designing a PCB;
- sensible approaches to partitioning the general layout of a PCB;
- how to determine the choice of layer stack for a multilayer PCB;
- how to reduce electromagnetic emissions in practice;
- how to size and route tracks correctly;
- etc.

How industrial PCBs are manufactured will also be presented, as well as important practices and concepts for a workflow geared towards industrial device manufacturing, such as Design For Manufacturing (DFM) and Design For Testing (DFT).

Students will gain practical experience of the above-mentioned subjects through practical work (especially on the computer) or small projects which may include the design of (parts of) a PCB for another teaching module.

EN:

During the module, the students will learn:
* what the main challenges are when designing a PCB;
* the good ways to partition a PCB floorplan;
* how to stack-up layers in a multilayer PCB;
* how to reduce electromagnetic interference in practice;
* how to correctly size and route traces;
* etc.,

One will also introduce how industrial PCBs are fabricated, as well as concepts and practices that are important in an industrial fabrication workflow, e.g., Design for Manufacturing (DFM) and Design for Testing (DFT).

The students will gain hands-on experience in the aforementioned topics during labworks or small projects that may include designing (parts of a) PCB for another module.

Basic knowledge of CAD dedicated to PCB design.
General knowledge of electronics and electromagnetism.

EN:

Basic knowledge in CAD tools dedicated to PCB design.
General knowledge in electromagnetism and electronics.