Avoid the ‘Ferrari Problem’ and Simplify Your PCB Design

Estimated reading time: 1 minute

When I last spoke with DirectPCB cofounder Greg Papandrew, he mentioned that many boards are designed like Ferraris when what the product really needs is a Ford Pinto. Those of us who work in PCB design education, whether on corporate training or on the conference scene, tend to teach new designers how to build Ferraris. What we sometimes don't do so well is teach new designers how to identify whether a Pinto will get you safely to your destination.

So, if you need to take your Ferrari and convert it to a simpler version, how can you do it without losing your form and function? Better yet, how can you avoid the Ferrari problem altogether?

The operative word "simpler" could mean many things, and a designer's job in this area is to identify the "things" that create the most value in a design. This could be electrical performance, mechanical reliability, requirements to support a specific component type (e.g., fine-pitch BGA), or something else entirely.

1. Identify the Cost Drivers

Any PCB that could be reasonably termed “more advanced” is more complex and thus tends to cost more. There are several factors that can drive this, which are listed in approximate order of importance:

• Type of laminate material (PTFE, advanced FR-4, etc.)
• Etch and drill feature size and processing
• Layer thickness and layer count, especially HDI build-up layer count
• High BGA/QFN count
• Expensive surface finishes
• Specialized requirements like heavy copper

Here, the key is to identify the absolute necessities that are required for your device to function to its basic specifications. There are design choices I make out of force of habit, and I have to go back and check myself based on realistic operating requirements. 

To read this entire conversation, which appeared in the November 2023 issue of PCB007 Magazine, click here.