How can I learn PCB design well? Although this problem is a commonplace, for many PCB design beginners, it is an urgent problem that they need to solve. Because efforts without direction are often in vain and meaningless. In this article, 2PCB has collected some suggestions from technical experts in the field of PCB and hardware on how to learn PCB design. We hope it will be helpful to everyone.
@Design Department Manager of an Enterprise As a PCB designer, you should learn basic circuit knowledge, understand the design rules of high-speed PCB design, master SI, PI, EMC, production process and other technical knowledge, and use them to arm your own PCB Design and practice solid internal skills.
In addition, I would like to recommend some books that are helpful for learning PCB design:
1. To learn PCB design well, you must first master a PCB design software, such as PADS’s “PADS9.5 Practical Strategy and High-speed PCB Design”, Allegro’s “FPGA High-speed Board Design Based on Cadence Allegro”, etc.;
2. To design high-speed PCB well, you need to master certain theoretical knowledge of SI/PI, such as “Signal Integrity Analysis”, “Signal Integrity Revealed”, etc.;
3. We need to master a simulation software and use simulation to guide and verify our designs when necessary, such as “HyperLynx High-speed Circuit Simulation and Practice”, “ADS Signal Integrity Simulation and Practice”, etc.
@ Senior Layout Engineer of a certain enterprise A qualified PCB engineer should first have a hard-working spirit and be good at communication and summary. Learn to humbly ask for advice from your seniors and communicate more with your peers. Some newly graduated students or engineers are confused because they lack good teachers or a good learning atmosphere. At the same time, they don’t know where they want to develop in the future. To put it bluntly, they have no career planning route. First, you must learn at least one EDA software and then use it skillfully. After that, learn various techniques of PCB design, the design of various circuit modules, and the PCB design of various typical products. Learn a few more EDA softwares.
If you have a certain foundation in PCB design, you have to take the initiative to learn PCB design for different types of products. As long as you have design ideas, you can understand it by learning a few more EDA software.
@A technical manager of an enterprise. Whether the PCB design is good or not can only be determined after installing components and testing the output. Of course, experienced engineers can conduct necessary reviews before issuing a board to reduce risks. And experience needs to be accumulated through continuous actual combat. As someone who has been there, I personally feel that as a newcomer, you can enrich your personal experience and knowledge in the following ways:
1) Exchange and learn more with practitioners with comprehensive product design experience in this industry.
2) It is best to turn the PCB design projects you learn into several physical objects for verification.
3) Don’t be afraid of making mistakes, be hands-on and be patient.
4) Read more information about circuit principles.
@Technical Director of an Enterprise If you want to do a good job in hardware technology, the continuous accumulation of experience is very important. It should be said that hardware is like traditional Chinese medicine, a job that becomes more popular as you get older. Therefore, for students who want to learn hardware technology well, they must first have the mental preparation and perseverance to “sit on the bench for ten years”. Secondly, mastering learning methods and making full use of the increasingly developed Internet platform can also achieve twice the result with half the effort. Regarding learning methods, I would like to offer a few opinions for your reference:
1. Learn in practice. If you don’t have any specific hardware work to do, no matter how much you learn, it will only be knowledge and cannot form experience. Combine it with your own hardware development position and master the details bit by bit.
2. To master hardware technology in depth, we must gradually and comprehensively sort out the component knowledge system, circuit-level technical principle system, large hardware system, hardware development process and tool application system based on the characteristics of our own industry.
3. Use the Internet, public accounts and other platforms to extend your reading and acquire a large amount of knowledge. Note that you must have your own knowledge system structure.