Guiding Principles for ‘PCB Traces’ Design

A track, trace, or also known as pathway on Process control board (PCB) is a conductive path that connects two points on the board. The pathways are imprinted from copper sheets coated on the non-conductive board surface.
These traces can be of varying widths depending upon the flow of current pass through these signal tracks.
Discussed below are some considerations when designing conducting pathways on PCBs:

  • Find out the standard width of signal traces for PCB design:There should be a balance of the standard size pathways used for the design. Elaborately, with too narrow traces, there are greater chances of short occurrence. On the other hand, too wide pathways limits the number of traces to be given in the given board area. This situation may force to add more board layers and attach them to each other for communications.
  • Determine the size for signal tracks carrying current: The conductive pathways used on printed circuit board use limited current. So they should be thin in size.

    Hopefully, these guidelines will work well for your underlying PCB design project.