If your company is manufacturing a new electronics product and you are tasked with designing its printed circuit boards, then these tips will help you design them to run in the most efficient manner:

Design Tip: Leave Spaces Between Your Components for the Board's Wiring

If your new product needs its electronic components to fit in a small space, then you might be tempted to jam them all together on the printed circuit board. However, the board manufacturer needs to have ample space for wiring. If you place the components too close together, then the wires will not have enough space. Not enough space for wiring is a common cause of component failures and must be avoided.

Design Tip: Print Actual Size Designs and Match Their Components to Verify Space

Since the components that attach to your printed circuit boards are three-dimensional objects, it is hard to verify they have enough space while looking at a two-dimensional image on your computer screen. For this reason, you should always print out actual size designs periodically and see how they work with your physical components. This simple step will save you time over your printed circuit board manufacturer needing to make modifications to your final designs and holding up your parts.

Design Tip: Avoid Square Corners on Your Board Designs

When you are designing your printed circuit boards, you need to avoid relying on square corners. It is hard for the board manufacturer to make drastic turns with the wiring. Instead of using a ninety-degree corner, it is always better to use three bends of thirty degrees or two that are forty-five degrees. As with most design projects, it is important that you make sure what will work on paper will actually work on a printed circuit board.

Design Tip: Put Your Company's Logo and Information on the Silk Layer

It is becoming an industry standard to print your company's logo and component specific information about your printed circuit boards on the silk layer. While this information is obvious for your company, printing on the silk layer allows people in the future to request replacement parts or seek assistance.

Design Tip: Enlist the Help of Your Printed Circuit Board Manufacturer

Finally, if you need further assistance designing your printed circuit boards, then you should work with your manufacturer to develop a solution that will meet your needs. Taking advantage of your manufacturer's engineers and designers will ensure your new product has the most efficient printed circuit boards possible.

Check with a company like Streamline Circuits for more information.