Circuit Board Design Tips for PCB Assembly

AdvancedPCB is North America’s leading One-Stop solution for PCB fabrication and PCB Assembly under one roof.  Our seamless process from PCB to Assembly was created to eliminate the need to manage different vendors for your turnkey prototyping needs.

Once your circuit board design is complete, simply place your bare board order and send your BOM (bill of materials) to your Sales Manager to request an Assembly Quote.  Parts procurement is easy; you can mail us all of your parts, some of the parts, or let us source all of the parts from authorized parts distributors like Digi-Key and Mouser.

Below, we have put together a list of tips that will be helpful when creating your printed circuit board design to minimize the cost associated with PCBA.

Smart Circuit Board Design to Minimize PCB Assembly Cost

Follow this short list of best practices to make sure your PCB Assembly will not be unnecessarily costly due to the layout of your circuit board design.

Component Location in Your Circuit Board Design

This can be an important cost driver for your PCB design if it is not taken into consideration during the layout phase.  Begin with the components that require a specific location first such as buttons, screens, or ports.

Keep your components on one side of the board whenever possible.  When components must be placed on both sides, try to keep sensitive, heavy, and/or thru-hole components on a “primary side”.  Components that will need special attention should also be placed on the “primary side”.

Minimize Trace Length

Try to place your circuit board components in a way that will minimize the trace length without jeopardizing functionality.

Component Orientation

When possible, make sure your components are place at a 0° or 90° angle in your PCB design.  Orient like components in the same direction whenever possible and make sure that the orientation of all polarized parts is the same.  Avoid placing your components in odd angles unless it is necessary.

Spacing Components in Your Circuit Board Design

It is best to space out your components evenly horizontally and vertically, leaving at least 100 mils between each component and 100 mils from the circuit board edge to minimize assembly costs.

Circuit Board Finish

Consult with your PCB Assembly provider to make sure the finish you choose will work best with the assembly process.

Circuit Board Design Software

Use a circuit board design software that has a library of a broad range of components such as PCB Artist® to avoid the need to create component footprints from scratch.

Contact your Sales Manager for more information about our PCB and in-house PCBA services.