Tag Archives: Duane Benson

Warped PCBs

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You just got a nice big PCB back from the fab shop. You set one on your desk to admire only to discover that it’s warped. What do you do?

There are two primary types of causes of board warping: process related at the fab or assembly shop, and layout-related issues. If it’s warped before assembly, it’s between fab and layout. If it’s flat before assembly and warped, after, it’s most likely between layout and assembly — although sometimes a fab problem won’t show up until a pass through the reflow oven at your assembly partner.

Determining the root cause is generally a bit of an iterative process. It’s tempting to start right off with your fab or assembly partner, but you need some information before giving them a call. You’ll need such things as the amount of warpage per inch, board size and thickness. With that, you need to take a good look at your design and consider copper pours, component size and component placement.

With that information in hand you can make your phone call. If the board is warped before assembly, call your fab shop. If it’s flat pre-assembly and warped post-assembly, call your assembly house.

The shop you call will want to talk over your design to help you pinpoint the cause. If you can rule out a design issue,then you need to talk with your partner to determine whether it’s a fab or assembly issue and next steps to take care of you.

 Here are a few design issues that could contribute to warping:

  • Uneven copper pour. Copper and FR-4 are a good match relative to thermal expansion, but they aren’t exact. A large pour on one side or corner of your board can lead to warping due to dissimilar expansion characteristics. This could cause warpage either at the fab shop or the assembly house.
  • Components with large thermal mass grouped together on the board. This would be more likely to cause problems during assembly than during fab. The thermal mass will act as a heat sink for that area on the board, which can lead to uneven expansion and uneven soldering.
  • A board that’s too thin for the size or number of components could lead to warping at any stage.
  • Odd shapes or large cutouts could also lead to warping at any point.

There may be other, more obscure causes, but those are the main design related causes. If it’s none of those talk with your partner.

Occasionally, design requirements lead to a board that is essentially non-manufacturable. Hopefully you never have this situation, but if you do, make sure that thickness, component location, pours, or cut outs really, really, really, need to be the way they are.

If you absolutely, positively can’t change anything, go back and try again. Then you can to look for heroic means to get the board fabbed and built.

Slight warpage might go away when the board is mounted. Just be careful with that. Some components may not stay securely soldered when you flatten it.

The board may need a special fixture during assembly to prevent warping. This will likely cost extra, but if you can’t change your design, and still need it built, it may be your best option.

Finally, if nothing works, you may need to look harder at the design, or look for a new fab or assembly house. We all like to think we can do just about anything, but every shop has its limits, and on rare occasion those limits can be difficult to spot.

Duane Benson
What if Godot was late because he was waiting for John Galt?

http://blog.screamingcircuits.com

Component Packages — Let’s Get Small

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I’ve been on a bit of a package binge lately. First talking about metric vs. US passive sizes, and then a very tiny ARM Cortex M0 from Freescale.

The Freescale BGA part checks in at 1.6 x 2mm. That’s cool and I’m almost always in favor of making things as small as possible, but, as I wrote in my prior blog on the subject, it’s not always possible. The 0.4mm pitch BGA is problematic unless you can spend a lot of money on the raw PCBs, or will have super high volume.

All is not lost, though. You still can use a tiny ARM Cortex M0 part. Just not quite as tiny. That same part also comes in a 3 x 3mm QFN package. You lose four pins (16 vs. 20) going from the BGA to the QFN, but if you can handle that, it’s a very viable option that doesn’t require any exotic circuit board technologies.

A few years ago QFNs were scary, but not so much any more. I’ve designed a few of them in using Eagle CAD. Just be sure to pay attention to the footprint. A 6 mil trace is more than small enough for a 0.5mm pitch QFN.

Duane Benson
Strive at all times to bend, fold, spindle and mutilate

http://blog.screamingcircuits.com/

Pour Or Not — Just What Is My Opinion?

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I posed a question about using copper pours (AKA flood) a not long ago. The premise was a simple microcontroller board with a 20MHz clock and no special requirements.

I had a couple of different comments on the post with some very good insight. Myself, I generally don’t use copper pours. My only reason is that I think it usually looks better without (although I do like the look of the cross-hatch pour on the Arduino). A well done flood can be pretty cool, but still my inclination is to only use it if it’s needed. If it’s a shop doing the PCB, the metal will be recovered and recycled, so the conservationist in me is pleased.

If it’s a home-etched deal, then a pour is probably a better idea because it will reduce the amount of etchant needed. Although you do need to be careful to keep plenty of space between things to prevent solder bridges. Solder bridging isn’t such a big deal on a PCB with a good solder mask, but it certainly is on a board with no mask or thin mask.

If there is a good reason, I will. Like a high-current motor driver — I use the pour to keep the current capacity up and the kelvons mellow. Heat-sinking is a good reason for a pour. High-speed stuff usually benefits from a flooded plane of some sort too and in four-layer boards, using the innerplanes for power and or ground is nice and convenient. But you all know that. I’m just rambling now.

Duane Benson
Does high speed stuff on a flooded plane require a speed boat?
Will too much heat sink it?

http://blog.screamingcircuits.com/

On My Via-In-Pad Soapbox (Again)

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There’s never enough time. There’s never enough money. There’s never enough room.

I certainly say those things often enough, and sometimes it’s actually true. But other times, I’m just not looking in the right places. Here’s a board that is pretty much plumb out of room. Everything is so tight that many of the vias have to be put in the pads. Well, maybe.

Take the IC footprint (above). It needs a via to take a couple of connected pads to the other side of the PCB, but there isn’t enough room between the IC and the part just below it. Naturally, the logical thing seemed to be to put the via in the pads. Unfortunately, doing so will make it difficult to get a good solder joint. The big open hole will wick solder down to the other side of the board.

At first glance there doesn’t seem to be anything to do. But upon closer examination, there is some unused space here. I’d just slide the part up a little, as in the illustration below.

Then move the via south a bit and connect it to the pads with a trace just long enough to accept some solder mask. The solder mask will stop the solder from chasing the via off the pad and getting sucked down.

Duane Benson
Some solder suckers sit South of Sunday

http://blog.screamingcircuits.com