PCB Manufacturing Guide: 11 Manufacturing Tips

Electronic products are increasingly moving towards integrated technologies, namely, large-scale integration, hyperscale integration, or commonly known as VLSI and VLSI. While this technology has already miniaturized our everyday devices, this development of integration technology is making our devices smaller and smaller, and their main functions rely heavily on printed circuit boards (PCBs) and housing components. All the components that enable product functionality are soldered onto the PCB, while the housing serves to protect and enhance the product’s appearance. This article focuses on 11 key lessons learned from the engineers and manufacturing team at Geyuan Electronics regarding PCB project manufacturing.

11 PCB Manufacturing Experiences

Regardless of the type of PCB manufacturing, the basic manufacturing process remains largely unchanged. Even with some modifications, the fundamental principles remain the same. As a professional PCB and component manufacturer, we conduct a comprehensive DFM (Device-Driven Manufacturing) analysis for each product. Therefore, the main purpose of the following 11 summaries of PCB manufacturing experience is to: How to make PCB production smoother? If you are an engineer who frequently purchases or manufactures PCB products, you should know that the quality and results of PCB manufacturing are often unsatisfactory, especially when validating new designs, where some troublesome problems frequently arise. This summary of the most common problems and suggestions in PCB manufacturing aims to help you achieve smoother PCB production, reduce failures, and improve the overall quality of your PCB boards.

1. Ensure that manufacturing documents and documentation are consistent

During manufacturing, consistency with the manufacturer is crucial to avoid version discrepancies. It’s also essential to ensure the required processes, such as gaps, feature dimensions, feature spacing, and physical design, are met. The manufacturer will review the manufacturing documents, particularly the copper and mask features in each layer, to ensure reliable PCB fabrication. Manufacturing specifications are also vital, as they provide all other information for manufacturing the bare PCB. These include conformal coatings, surface finishes, specific materials to be used (LPI solder mask, etc.), impedance requirements, layer/material specifications, and more, all defined in the PCB manufacturing drawings. Complete and clear manufacturing specifications help ensure the design can be successfully implemented in production.

2. Bill of Materials Management

Bill of Materials (BOM) management is a well-worn topic. Purchasing materials, checking component availability, delivery dates, and production discontinuation status can all be accomplished through BOM file parsing. For example, the BOM parsing tool on Caixin.com can directly parse the BOM, providing comprehensive and clear information. In addition, during the PCB design process, it’s crucial to select common components whenever possible, especially those with readily available alternatives. This minimizes risk. Using common components offers the advantage of easy availability and sufficient supply.

3. Minimize the number of through-hole components

SMT components are easily handled by pick-and-place machines, but many large capacitors on the PCB require manual placement and soldering. Through-hole (THT) components are generally more expensive than SMD components, require manual soldering, and take more time. Connectors are the most common THT components and are also prone to manufacturing problems. Repeatedly inserting connectors into components they mate with can easily cause issues. Therefore, minimize the use of THT components and use SMT components as much as possible.

4. Provide heat dissipation

Most of the copper on a PCB absorbs heat during soldering, potentially leading to cold solder joints, which should be avoided. Ensure adequate heat dissipation for THT connections to large copper areas, such as ground or power planes. Ensure the spokes are thick enough to handle the total current flowing from your components to ground. Provide heat dissipation by leaving small gaps around the pads. Connections leaving the pads need to handle the current flowing into them.

5. Prevent incorrect PCB installation

Use keyed connectors so that they can only be inserted in one way. Note how to insert the PCB upside down using the following connectors. This is especially likely if the connector is a ribbon cable, as it may misalign the mounting holes, allowing the board to be mounted in only one position. Ensure the silkscreen printing clearly indicates the diode orientation and attaches one pin to the IC. Anyone with experience working with manufacturers knows that many assembly problems stem from missing or incorrect orientation markings.

6. Leave enough space

Sufficient space needs to be left on the PCB board. Overcrowding components on the PCB can lead to short circuits and other incorrect assembly, increasing costs. Avoid routing to the board edges. Keep traces within the PCB edges and keep components away from the board edges. Components close to the board may break or be damaged during panel removal. Another good practice is to place and route bypass caps immediately after placing the required components. Ensure bypass capacitors are placed close to their IC and that power is supplied to the IC after the capacitor.

7. silkscreen

Keep the silkscreen graphic away from the pads and follow the manufacturer’s minimum font size and line width guidelines.

8. Preventing PCB tombstoning

Tombstoneing occurs when a solder pad on an SMD device lifts up during reflow soldering. This is caused by uneven heating of the pad due to the trace not leaving the pad evenly. You can prevent misalignment and tombstoneing by ensuring that the pads are heated evenly.

9. Understanding the manufacturer’s capabilities

This is a crucial part. If your manufacturer doesn’t have the capability for this process, it would be foolish to ask them to do it. Of course, even if they can do it, you still need to communicate and inquire. For example, whether small holes and traces are needed, which are more expensive, and if so, the outer layer is more easily damaged. Thoroughly understanding your manufacturer can help you reduce costs. While meeting requirements, try to keep components off the PCB as much as possible. Placing components on the top and bottom of the PCB requires additional assembly steps and increases the chance of assembly errors.

10. Perform DFM analysis

Problems in PCB manufacturing include acid traps, copper fragments, and silkscreen spacing and orientation. Therefore, performing Design for Manufacturing (DFM) analysis before production is crucial. A good DFM tool can help avoid these problems before PCB manufacturing. Insufficient spacing between components and pads can cause problems during soldering. In wave soldering, large components may obscure smaller components, leading to poor solder joints on the smaller components. It also significantly increases the difficulty of PCB rework and testing.

11. Design and manufacture suitable PCB enclosures

Ensuring your PCB has a suitable enclosure can prevent damage. If you need enclosure parts manufactured for your current PCB, please contact us. We not only provide PCB and PCBA manufacturing services, but also custom parts manufacturing services. Whatever materials you require for enclosure parts, we can serve you. Our manufacturing processes include CNC machining, injection molding, die casting, sheet metal fabrication, and metal injection molding.

PCB Design for Manufacturability (DFM) analysis can help avoid common problems.

Mastering core PCB design-manufacturability (DFM) principles can easily mitigate 90% of common quality defects and delays during the design-to-production transition. Below is a summary of industry-proven common PCB manufacturing experiences:

Layout and Spacing Control	Maintain safe edges: Keep copper traces and conductors at least 0.3mm-0.5mm away from the board edge to prevent exposed copper or short circuits during board cleaning.
	Set appropriate spacing: the spacing between lines and between lines and pads should not be less than 4mil-6mil to avoid bridging during production.
	Component density: Maintain sufficient spacing between surface-mount components to prevent shadowing or solder bridging during soldering.
Hole and Pad Design	Hole diameter limitation: The finished hole diameter of mechanical drilling should not be less than 0.2mm-0.3mm. Too small a diameter will cause the drill bit to break and increase costs.
	Sufficient pad width: The copper ring around the hole should be no less than 3mil-4mil on each side to prevent hole misalignment and breakage.
	Avoid pads on holes: Avoid blindly drilling holes under BGA or dense pins. If drilling is necessary, plug the holes (resin plugging).
Trace and copper optimization	Avoid sharp angles in wiring: Use 45° or rounded transitions for wiring, and avoid right angles (90°) or sharp angles to prevent acid buildup and excessive corrosion.
	Prevent isolated copper: Remove dead copper or isolated copper with no electrical connection to avoid electrostatic adsorption or microwave interference during production.
	Large-area copper cladding with a grid pattern: Large-area copper cladding should use a grid (hatch) design as much as possible to prevent uneven heat during soldering, which can cause the board to bend or blister.
Labeling and process documents	Avoid silkscreen printing on solder pads: Do not press the silkscreened characters onto the solder pads or steel sheet, otherwise it will affect the soldering strength.
	Verify production documents: Before outputting Gerber documents, carefully check the solder mask and stencil openings to ensure that the polarity, silkscreen direction, and panel markings (mark points) are accurate.

Choosing to collaborate with Geyuan Electronics on a custom PCB and enclosure manufacturing project

Custom PCB and enclosure manufacturing is a highly complex process, requiring meticulous attention to detail at every stage, from initial design to final testing. Understanding each step in the PCB and enclosure manufacturing process allows you to make informed decisions, optimize designs for improved manufacturability, and select manufacturers that align with your project goals. Partnering with an experienced and trusted custom manufacturer can significantly enhance the quality, performance, and market success of your electronics. Geyuan Electronics offers comprehensive services, from rapid prototyping and small-batch production to large-scale manufacturing and complete product assembly, committed to being your trusted partner in creating innovative electronics. We are dedicated to pursuing excellence, rapid response, and cost-effectiveness, allowing you to focus on what matters most: growing your business and meeting your customers’ needs. Contact us today to discuss how our end-to-end PCB manufacturing solutions can support your product development needs and help you gain a competitive edge in the market. Let us help you confidently and efficiently transform your designs into high-quality, market-ready products.

Summarize

The above content mainly introduces 11 experience summaries from the Geyuan Electronics team regarding PCB manufacturing. It’s important to consider that these are just common issues that may arise in the standard PCB manufacturing process. While the general PCB manufacturing process is consistent, significant differences can exist for certain specialized products. However, avoiding common problems during PCB manufacturing can bring substantial economic benefits to the company. If your company is starting a new PCB project or a custom parts project, please feel free to contact us for assistance.