Aesthetic PCB Design Tips to Improve Functionality

Those of us hardware types who spend a lot of time designing PCBs often look at other people’s designs with interest, and in some cases considerable admiration. Some of your boards look so good. But is aesthetics important? After all, for most products, the delicate electronic components on that printed circuit board are kept safely inside a protective case. But how [Phil’s Lab] As he explains, aesthetic PCB designs can lead to functional improvements, so that more attractive designs also perform better, in terms of manufacturability (and thus performance), electromagnetic compatibility (EMC), and various others. factors that may be important.

First, making a printed circuit board easy to read and correctly positioning components and connections will speed up debugging by reducing errors. Keeping a consistent and not too tight placement grid can make the pick and place machine an easier task and reduce soldering problems during reflow. But there are also more serious concerns, such as applying layout partitioning, such as keeping analog circuitry together and away from noisy power and digital areas, that can make the difference between operating within spec and failing.

The video includes some other interesting tips, one of the highlights being the use of a grounded PCB perimeter zone, with a wavelength of interest across the junction. This will reduce side EMC emissions from the power plane, but also if you select a suitable surface finish and keep the solder mask open, you will have a complete free perimeter contact to ground the oscilloscope probe. Oh, and it looks good too.

Hackaday is no stranger to beautiful artistic PCBs, like the work of [Saar Drimer] and many others. But if a PCB doesn’t meet your needs, you should always consider the ‘Oreo’ build.

Source: news.google.com