Sam Sattel
Elevate your design and manufacturing processes with Autodesk Fusion
EAGLE Pro Webinar – BGA & Via Flight Patterns
If you’re planning to jump into the latest technology in electronic designs, like touch screens, 4G communications, or avionics, then you’ll most likely be digging into High-Density Interconnect PCBs (HDIs). And if you are, then prepare to see the space on your board layout shrinking before your very eyes! The first time you dive into an HDI design, you might wonder how you’ll ever fit all of those components and traces together in that tiny area. It just doesn’t seem possible. With your usual PCB design bag of tricks, like 50/25 vias and 10 mil tracks, it won’t be possible. You need to upgrade your bag! Join us for a free webinar where we’ll show you the tricks of the trade for HDI design with BGA routing and specialized vias.
Shrinking Board Sizes
There’s nothing simple about designing an HDI PCB, and you’ll start to work with a ton of interesting objects, like lasered microvias, traces that you can barely see, and blind and buried holes that snake their way through the inner layers of your PCB. But if you want to be able to design boards with large pin-count chips for use in mobile devices and other super compact technologies, then you need to learn about HDI design techniques.
Working on my first HDI design was a heck of a learning experience. I still remember looking, white-knuckled, at my first 500µm pitch BGA and having no idea where to start. How was I going to fan out all of those nets using my 10 mil tracks with only .5mm of space with which to work?! I was clearly way out of my zone of expertise here and needed some help.
So I started doing some research on what new tools and knowledge I needed to incorporate into my skillset. Ever heard of a “Dogbone” in PCB design? Yeah, neither had I. It turns out there was an entire world of vias that defied the realities of simply connecting the top to bottom layers of a board. There were blind vias, which could connect the outer layer of a PCB with an inner layer. And those buried vias, which could connect two inner layers together. And did you know that you can place vias within the pad of a component? That’s microvias at work.
My perspective had suddenly opened wide to an entirely new set of tools that could accommodate the unique needs of a high-density board layout. With these new tools in hand, I spent the next several hours trying to work my way through fanning out my BGA. And along the way, I had a flurry of questions going on in my mind, like:
- How small can my traces go? I’ve been using 10 mil traces my entire career, but suddenly the prospect of using a 2 mil trace seems necessary, can I do that?
- And speaking of smaller sizes, how far down the rabbit hole of miniaturization can my manufacturer go? I should probably check in on their capabilities for HDI designs.
- And might there be a faster way to fan out a BGA in the future? My first one took me days, but that’s not going to be realistic the tighter my deadlines get in the future.
All of these questions and more had their answers in the world of HDI PCB design. It’s an entirely new domain to explore, offering a variety of knowledge to soak in. To learn it all, you’ve got to start with the basics, and we’ve got you covered with a free webinar.
It’s a High-Density World
If you want to be on the front lines of electronics design, then prepare to dive into the world of High-Density Interconnect (HDI) PCB layout. You’ll be packing in traces and components closer than ever, requiring some super precise tools in your toolbox that will allow you to keep your manufacturing costs under control with all of that expensive real estate.
Ready for a new journey in PCB design knowledge? Join us for a webinar on BGA routing and blind, buried and microvia setup where you’ll learn how to:
- Minimize Layers. You’ll first learn how to keep your electrical layers to a minimum and save money on your manufacturing with the use of microvias.
- Maximize Board Space. You’ll also learn how to use blind and buried vias to maximize your PCB real estate and available routing space, especially on those high pin-count BGAs.
- Fan Out BGAs Like a Boss. With all of those specialized vias in place, you’ll now be ready to learn how to fan out your BGA in seconds with the advanced routing engine in Autodesk EAGLE.
We’ll be hosting this live webinar on May 16th at 2 pm EST for 30 minutes. There’s a lot to soak in, so get ready to take some notes!
Register here for our Eagle Pro: BGA & Via Flight Patterns webinar.