Today, one of the many challenges in designing the PCB (printed circuit board) is getting it right the first time. There are many sources of error in PCB design.

Some of them are:

• improper schematics design
• improper component decal
• improper component footprint
• mechanical issues, such as incorrect placement of a hole or errors in measurements
• improper clearance
• poor design of high frequencies
• incorrect termination for critical signals
• poor placement of the components, especially for decoupling and filtering parts
• extending the high frequency CLK signals too far on the board (EMI/EMC issue)
• poor grounding (EMI/EMC issue)
• crosstalk because of the vicinity of tracks or parts
• incorrect current return pass
• poor power delivery tracks
• poor decoupling of Analog and Digital signals
• missing filtering circuitry (both emission and susceptibility issues)
• missing suppression circuitry (EMI/EMC)
• loops in the PCB design
• rapid CLK and fast rising and falling edges without proper termination (high emission)
• tracks behave as an antenna (both emission and susceptibility issues)
• insufficient layer of copper in the design, therefore poor grounding
• high ground impedance because of poor routing
• insufficient common mode noise rejection because of poor PCB design
• thermal issues (not providing  cooling pads or similar problems)

These are examples of some of the lessons the engineers at Global Power have learned over time. By applying our checklist, which has far more items than listed above, we significantly reduce the chance of an error in our work. For some applications, EMI/EMC requirements should be considered from the beginning. Otherwise, the board may need to be redesigned, resulting in a considerable loss of time and money.

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