PCB CAD Layout
Do you have design in hand, a BOM and a schematic but no layout resource in house – then no problem! we have dedicated layout resources ready to assist you.
Why Newbury Innovation to help with your PCB CAD layout?
- From a simple design recovery to a layout born from a BOM and schematic we have dedicated layout engineers to take on your project.
- Once the data is in hand and assessed, we will quote a fixed price and lead time for completing your PCB layout.
- Engineers with decades of experience will apply latest best practice to completing your PCB layout.
- We can integrate displays, keypads and support the overall packaging of your complete product.
- We act as a seamless extension of your own development team to get your layout completed on time and to budget.
At Newbury group, comprehensive design advice is available from within our multi skilled teams. Depending on the scope of the challenge this may require a funded engineering discovery project to solve the issue. We can complete your layout using packages such as Altium and Easy–PC. ORCAD compatible netlists are directly readable. From a fully detailed product development to a simple layout project, starting from basic details we can tailor a PCB layout solution to meet your needs. Trying to recover an old design from an obsolete system or part complete detail? no problem we are also experts at design recovery
How do we proceed with your CAD layout?
We can start with as little as a hand sketch, Ultimately we will produce a detailed project file which will include your schematic with component details from our libraries. Each component symbol will have a description of that component. A fully detailed BOM is produced with supplier, stock codes and special notes if required.
From first principle we are designing for manufacturability and profitability and can guide you on creepage and clearance, copper weights, track widths and overall stack up of your PCB to meet the application need.
Once the schematic capture is approved, we can then create the PCB tracking interconnect layers accordingly. The benefit of applying schematic capture to drive the layout design is that the total makeup of the project is contained within an integrated and intelligent data set. Any changes or modification flow through the dataset maintaining the integrity of every part of the design database.
For Altium layouts we make use of internal smart interfaces that can check the provenance and availability of selected parts live during schematic capture. We run the system with rules set up to check the design at every stage and ensure it is fit for manufacture.
It is not always necessary to create a schematic if the design is relatively simple. It is possible using parts lists and schematics supplied by customers to go straight to layout of PCB tracking.
Components placed from our library are connected as shown in the schematic diagram by suitable tracking. When the layout is complete a net list is generated for sign off.
This is an area where requirements have become more demanding over the past few years.
Impedance control for differential and single end data lines, mostly in the regions of 50 or 75 ohms need more consideration for track widths and spacings, and where they are placed, be it on external or internal layers.
We use state of the art software to calculate these factors ensuring that correct impedances are achieved. These can be verified by provision of suitably designed test coupons which are measured on a calibrated impedance testing machine.
We have wide experience of design and manufacture of flexible circuits[link], where due consideration must be made for both the working environment, whether one time or dynamic flex, and for design for manufacture, to ensure the flex circuit is incorporated into a rigid carrier pallet.
Although flexible circuits have been around for a long time, they are still not widely used. Nevertheless, they can be very useful for connecting rigid PCB’s within stacks. For example, interlinking from perhaps a main microprocessor to a moving head interface board.
Layout considerations are quite different to those of rigids PCBs. Careful thought is required for coverlays to ensure the solder point widows are correctly aligned. They may also need rigid areas at specific points to create flatness for placement of SMD components. These can be made up from additional layers of rigid polyimide or FR4 material. Sharp internal corners and tight bend radii must be avoided.
Contact our team to find out more about our layout and CAD capabilities.
