Ultimate Guide to robust PCB Design

About this tutorial

This tutorial provides insights into some important do’s and don’t of robust PCB Design

Do’s and DON’Ts when layouting

Respect all design rules

Design rules are there to help you. They represent the bare minimum of what a manufacturer knows to work. A big warning here: Just because the design rule test passes, doesn’t mean your design is robust, it simply states that when it fails it is guaranteed to fail during manufacturing.
Click here to find our design rules here

Avoid unneccessary thin traces over long distances

A whole copper plate is included in the base material. During the manufacturing process this is etched away. Even though the etching machines are extremely precise, thin copper traces means a lot of the stuff around them needs to be etched away. This is a very risky process the longer the trace becomes. Hence try to keep thin traces as short a distances as possible.

Avoid unneccessary little spacing between traces over long distances

Basically the same applies to trace distances for the same reason. If the space between them is to small, it is like a negative copper trace. This means chances are not every detail is etched away and hence short circuited. Hence try to avoid having too little space between traces longer distances.

Use copper fillings on both sides of the PCB

Remember copper is free. Every copper that you keep does not need to be etched away and hence poses less risk of causing any unwanted short circuits.

Example of a very bad design