PCB Design for Manufacturing Tips (DFM) - Phil's Lab #40

Ten tips on designing printed circuit boards (PCBs) with manufacturability in mind (DFM) with a practical example of the new 'LittleBrain++' board.
Going through basics, manufacturer capabilities and design rules, package selection, footprints and solderability, vias, traces, and more!
[SUPPORT]
Free trial of Altium Designer: www.altium.com/yt/philslab
PCBA from $0 (Free Setup, Free Stencil): jlcpcb.com/RHS
Patreon: / phils94
[LINKS]
Git: github.com/pms67/LittleBrainP...
Altium DFM Guide: www.altium.com/design-manufac...
Sierra DFM Handbook (PDF): pages.protoexpress.com/dfm-ha...
Rick Hartley: • Secrets of PCB Optimiz...
Perfect 0402 Footprint: www.worthingtonassembly.com/p...
[TIMESTAMPS]
00:00 Introduction
00:24 JLCPCB and Git Repo
00:51 Altium Designer Free Trial
01:09 What is DFM?
01:44 Recommended Reading
02:17 #1 Basics
03:16 #2 Manufacturer Capabilities
03:50 #3 Design Rules
04:44 #4 Package Selection
06:31 #5 Footprints
07:18 #6 Solderability
08:28 #7 Solder Mask
09:46 #8 Vias
12:13 #9 Traces
13:40 #10 Component Placement and Silkscreen
14:59 Channel Support
ID: QIBvbJtYjWuHiTG0uCoK

[@spehropefhany]

Thanks. FWIW, 0603 (5%/1%) are the smallest resistors where you can routinely get value markings on the parts, not just on the reel. Not such a big deal for digital-only PCBs but really helps in inspecting mixed-signal and analog PCBs.

[@t1d100]

Thank you for teaching us. This is a nice set of considerations. I do want to make one clarification. From your repeated comments, some folks that are new to PCB design might get the impression that traces can not be too wide, meaning the wider the better. This is not correct. The issue is that wider traces contribute to the propagation and reception of noise. Therefore, traces should only be wide enough to carry the current load and no wider. I hope that helps.

[@Ragnerok21]

My prayers have been answered, thank you Phil!

[@PhilsLab]

That’s great haha, thank you for watching :)

[@KshitijDadhekarkd]

Hey Phil, Nice video! If you find time, can you please make a part 2 where you show how to make a PCB panel for high quantity manufacturing and how that affects the gerbers and pick and place files. Thanks, KD

[@TheEmbeddedHobbyist]

My pet hate is large PCB space and tiny SMD parts can just push the costs up for no reson. Plus it was always good to see components flying off during a resonance search tests when we moved over from TPH to SMD. Amazing to see how much a PCB can bend at resonance. Great Vid, reminds me of my old working days.

[@PhilsLab]

Yes, good point - I agree completely! Thanks for watching:)

[@Napalm13]

Many thanks to Your tutorial, Phil! I used older one to create a PCB design and placed it on jlcpcb. Information was very valuable and helpful :)

[@PhilsLab]

Thank you! Very glad to hear the videos have been helpful :)

[@rick_er2481]

Amazing! Thankyou for the resources and the excellent video

[@PhilsLab]

Thank you very much, Rick!

[@mateoarv]

Great video, thanks Phil

[@PhilsLab]

Thank you for watching!

[@anilsuha5301]

It's purely awesome 👍 thanks phil

[@PhilsLab]

Thank you very much, Anil!

[@Bianchi77]

Nice video clip, keep it up, thank you :)

[@hikabarki5500]

Nice tutorial 👏👍

[@PhilsLab]

Thanks!

[@andershestad284]

Fantastic video! A lot of information in just 15 minuites, but still so easy to follow and presented in a practical way :)

[@PhilsLab]

Thank you, Anders - glad you liked the video! :)

[@peterlaidlaw8655]

Useful ... Thanks for sharing. The flow of thoughts works for me. 5/5 stars :-)

[@PhilsLab]

Thank you, Peter!

[@Graham_Wideman]

Nice video Phil! I'd be interested in hearing your position on component reference ids (R15, C3, U5 and so on). I notice that you seem to have omitted them on the Little Brain board.

[@PhilsLab]

Thank you, Graham! For first iterations of complicated designs, I'll typically leave them on for debugging/testing purposes. But once I'm fairly confident in my design, I'll remove them - as I think it just makes the board look nicer.

[@Program2live]

Really good information as per usual, when is the training course going to be available?

[@PhilsLab]

Thank you! Currently working heavily on the PCB design course, I have the voice overs to do now and then it should be ready!

[@iuiz]

@@PhilsLab Also looking forward for it :). I hope there will be enough parts on JLCPCB available. STM32F401's are still missing and even Arduino chips are expensive now.

[@nicoladellino8124]

Very nice video, TNX

[@PhilsLab]

Thank you, Nicola.

[@nicat_nicat_nicat]

Thank you very much good informations

[@PhilsLab]

Thanks for watching, Nicat.

[@gabrielvigiano]

you are amazing... thanks for sharing...

[@PhilsLab]

Thank you, Gabriel!

[@krnnjhee36]

Hey Phil Thank you for video . Can you make +2 +3 hours videos please? Because they are very instructive

[@MacGyverKilla]

Hi Phil, where do you source your semiconductors? Whichever part I look for its out of stock for a year or years, even ADCs, sensors and everything by now.

[@PhilsLab]

Yeah, these days you either have to design 'in the moment' with what is currently available, or stockpile... Both not great options unfortunately :/

[@mateoarv]

Do you usually modify the paste layers when ordering a stencil? I usually just let JLCPCB decide paste apertures and such, but I'm curious if that's the best approach

[@PhilsLab]

No, I usually don't bother with modifying the paste layers. Haven't had a problem so far!

[@shantokhan9147]

Beautiful

[@PhilsLab]

Thank you!

[@Cutycats9]

If i get a ipc pcb design certification its good or not and why ? Thank you

[@peternierop3241]

Could you recommend somebody that can make a design? I am entirely new to this. I know what my boards should be able to do.

[@wdm_frwrd]

Thanks for video! Questions.. How to calculate track length for SDIO? Are there any built-in tools in KiCad or Altium? And since we're talking about timings and high frequencies, how to wire (track length, distance between conductors etс) SDRAM memory? Are you planning tutorials in the future? Thanks!

[@oscarpeters1351]

The data lines for the SD-card or the SDRAM have to match eachother, in Kicad you have a tool to match the track length. Max track length is not that critical as the speed ain’t that high like USB3.1 speeds which have a max track length of 12cm

[@DiegoColl44]

Nice.!! Thanks..!!

[@PhilsLab]

Thanks for watching!

[@benjaminhodzic4840]

Hey Phil I have a question about Altium, what are the biggest benefits of transitioning from KiCAD to Altium and is it worth it? Love your work, cheers.

[@wthornton7346]

I can tell you what the biggest drawback is... $3000. That is what an Altium license will set you back.

[@dhruslab9563]

Can you please upload the next video regarding the EKF

[@PhilsLab]

Yes, that’s coming in December :)

[@obregr]

god explanato i like your content

[@PhilsLab]

Thank you, Gregor!

[@ianthehunter3532]

What are some of the most common trace widths?

[@PhilsLab]

Typically, I’ll route signal traces at a min. 0.3mm but that really depends on the scenario. For ‘power’ 0.4/0.5mm but that of course depends on the current requirements.

[@ianthehunter3532]

@@PhilsLab Thanks a lot, I just asked because I tend to go up to 0.8 mm for power and I thought it was a bit much

[@jan.feucht]

Thank you for this great video, but could you please write next time numbers like the minimum drill bit size directly on the slide? Your videos have the same relevance as my university lectures to me. Thank you for sharing your knowledge and experience.

[@PhilsLab]

Thank you, Jan - yes, I'll put some example numbers directly on the slides next time :)

[@mdyusuf3174]

Wow nice

[@PhilsLab]

Thank you :)

[@arjunramesh6383]

Hi Could you do a PCB design of stm32 and 13.56 mhz rfid

[@alxcuisine9575]

Hi Phil! Great Video ! I would add though the one thing that btw JLCPCB keeps asking: a visible marking for the orientation of some of the components (chips- pin 1, diode, Cp (polarization) etc. And they aren't the only ones. PCB Assembly, no matter how well is is automatized, has still a lot of "human" steps, and we need to make the readablility of our board in the DFM process as clear as possible. That reduced the error rate greatly (pad component rotation, etc) - as there are to "standard rotation angles and centroid positions " for components - *EACH* PCB Manufacturer has different ones!

[@bobweiram6321]

LOL! Don't be surprised when you see a knock off of your lovely PCB after sending it to China.

[@jan.feucht]

Thats also something I am afraid of, do you have any example where this happens before?

[@siux94]

Half man half jlc pcb ad.