Printed board design and layout is the key to Zero Defect Manufacture and this CD ROM provides a basic introduction to Conventional, Surface Mount, Ball Grid Array and Pin In Hole/Intrusive Reflow Assembly.

The interactive CD ROM contains the following guidelines: Conventional and surface mount layout, Surface mount and Conventional footprints, Resist, via hole, tracking and panel layout, Solder paste stencil rules, Printed Board Specifications

A brief introduction to printed board manufacture is provided along with guidelines on the correct specification of printed boards for fine pitch surface mount applications. This is ideal for engineers who need a basic introduction to circuit fabrication.

The defect guide browser provides photographic examples of defects or poor design rather than defect categories which makes it easy to compare potential problems with the disk content. Clicking on the photograph provides a full screen view with an explanation of the possible causes.

Two full animations of the surface mount and conventional assembly processes are included on the disk which includes the BGA, double sided assembly and through hole/Intrusive reflow conventional assembly and wave soldering. This section features a commentary by Bob Willis one of the UK's leading process engineers or it can be viewed with just a text guide. 
 
DESCRIPTION

This CD-ROM may be run without a full multimedia PC as the process guide, assembly stages and defect descriptions may be viewed and read without a sound system. However, maximum benefit will be obtained when using a PC with a sound card.
 
    
1To run from the CD place it in the ROM drive and double click on File Manager under Program Manager in Windows and select relevant drive. Double click on PCBDES, then CDROM and INSTALL.EXE. The program will start to load and you will be requested to enter the drive name where you wish the program to be installed. This will take a few moments depending on the speed of the PC. On completion of installation the program will automatically run. 

2 The following main menu will then appear with an introduction to the CD-ROM. This allows access to each of the sections by simply clicking on the relevant text. On each section menu there is the opportunity to exit and close the program. 


    
3 The two sections illustrate the conventional and surface mount assembly process and explains each of the methods used to assemble a board. This example screen shows the solder paste stencil printing operation.

4 The example screen illustrates printed board manufacture process. This section covers PTH and multilayer manufacture with selected video clips. 
    


5 The surface mount footprint design rules provide dimensions and layout guidelines for most common components including BGA. 

6 Each section of the design guide illustrates the steps of design and layout for cost effective manufacture and assembly.



7 The Design Defect Guide and Picture Gallery is contained on a number of pages, each with six defects per page. A photographic example may be selected for the type of defect, a description and a magnified view.